Welcome
tommyov!
Congratulations on making one of the best choices of your life: to quit smoking & start vaping. With a little friendly guidance from us, you'll soon be a happy vaper.
OK so first things first. You're not going to find
any brick-&-mortar shops selling e-cigs or e-juice. But no worries: we have great Canadian suppliers, right here in the GTA and all across Canada, that'll take good care of you. For example, when I order something from
Happy Vaper on a Monday, it's here by Wednesday. Yay!
Secondly: the SmokeStik you have? It's crap, & you're going to want something better ASAP. There's no getting around it. It's outdated, overpriced & dinky. That may sound harsh, but there's better available, for less $$ as well. Don't worry: a lot of newbies have bought worse in their early days. Just chalk it up to experience, and meanwhile let's help find you something that will be far more affordable, & pleasant to use.
My very first e-cig was a
Joye 510 (automatic, white w/red LED, 180 mAh) from Jack at
Happy Vaper. I vaped on it using standard
Boge 510 cartomizers (also from Jack). Here's a pic:
510 Pros: For their category they're nice quality; they're very affordable; they look & feel just like an analog.
510 Cons: Down the road, you're going to want more voltage. And the battery life on these is only around 2 hours or so, which is a huge negative for some. But - to be fair, you only need 1 hour to recharge them. (It's best to have two of these batts, so you always have one on hand while the other is recharging.) The 510
isn't going to be your e-cig for life...but as a starter model, it does quite nicely.*
*
This recommendation for the 510 should be taken with a grain of salt - some newbies find the 510 very unsatisfying. Some fall in love with it from the first puff. It worked like a charm for me, though I've outgrown it now. Just sayin'.
Now when it comes to the other half of your e-cig, you have some options.
- Cartridge + atty
- Drip tip + atty
- Cartomizer
Opinions vary widely on which is best. It's often more of a matter of what works for you, rather than what's good or not (though cartridges are generally reviled). I recommend 510 cartomizers because I've used them exclusively since day one & been very happy with 'em.
Cartomizers are basically a cartridge + atomizer all rolled into one, so they're simpler & more convenient. Each cartomizer has a brand-new atomizer built in, so it's fresher as well. Cartomizers don't have any of the nasty-tasting 'primer' fluid that attys have. They're also more affordable than separate attys; a 5-pak is often less than the price of one atomizer. They come empty, so all you have to do is fill them. If you can drip juice onto the filler inside until it's wet (and who can't do that), you'll be golden.
Note: Make sure you get the regular ones,
not the LR (low resistance) ones. LR cartomizers (and LR atomizers) aren't meant for use on the 510, & would kill your e-cig in short order. If you'd like to know more about cartomizers, just let me know & I'll PM you some info.
---
You can get a 510 battery
(manual or automatic - manual is activated by a button, automatic is activated by inhalation) from
Happy Vaper for only
$20. The USB charger is less than
$7. A five pack of 510 cartomizers is only
$10. Here are some links:
Happy Vaper - Joye 510 Battery - Black, Silver, White, Copper
Happy Vaper - Blank (empty) 510 Cartomizers
Happy Vaper - Joye 510 USB Battery Charger
---
Alternatively, if you want to have much longer battery life (how does anywhere from 6 to 12 hours sound?) - and assuming you don't mind having an e-cig that doesn't really look like an analog - then you should give the
Joye eGo (650 mAh) for
$26 or the
Joye Mega eGo (900 mAh) for
$30 a look-see. Many people nowadays recommend that newbies start out with an eGo, given the much better battery life.
Recharge time on the eGo/Mega eGo is in my experience about 2 hours or so. They also have the same 510 threading/connection as a 510 battery, so you can use 510 cartomizers (or 510 atomizers) with these larger batts just as easily.
If you do go with the eGo or Mega eGo...you will need the
eGo Fast USB Charger (
$10 - it's different from the 510 one), and the
USB Wall Plug Adapter (
$6). You see, the 510 is less powerful than the eGo or Mega eGo...so while you can safely charge a 510 batt through your computer's USB port, that's not advisable for the eGo. Links below:
Happy Vaper - Joye eGo Battery
Happy Vaper - Joye Mega eGo Battery
Happy Vaper - Fast eGo USB Battery Charger
Happy Vaper - USB Wall Plug Adapter
I wouldn't recommend anything larger or stronger than the Mega eGo to a newbie vaper. There will always be time down the road to ponder mods.
---
OK so now you just need juices with nic! There are numerous Canadian suppliers to choose from. I'm sure many folks here will offer recommendations. Here are just a few places to begin looking for juices:
-
Evapers (evapers.com)
-
Electro Vapors (electro-vapors.com)
-
Nic Fit Nation (nicfitnation.com)
When it comes to juices, you have two choices: premixed & DIY. Premixed has the convenience of being...premixed, lol. It's ready to use right away. There are some great premixed juices out there, definitely...and some not-so-great, lol.
I can't recommend any based on personal experience though, because I've DIY-ed virtually all my juices since day one. For newbies, I recommend DIY because not only will it save you a
lot of money, & let you try out way more flavours...but you'll end up with tastier juices, that produce a lot more vapour. It's also as easy as pie; nothing more than counting drops & stirring/shaking. An online e-juice calculator will even tell you how many drops of what to mix together.
As for the stuff you'd need (flavourless PG w/nic and/or flavourless VG w/nic...plain PG, plain VG & flavourings)...well, this post is already pretty lengthy. If you're interested in learning more DIY & why I recommend it over premixed, just let me know & I'll PM you.
---
Hope this post helped...apologies for going on so long. Meanwhile if you ever have a question...ask away! And please make yourself at home.
