This really isn't that long and I thank anyone who reads it.
I loved dipping tobacco, snuff, but I promised my daughter I'd quit, and I did. In March 2011, I came across my first ecig from a tobacco store at a mall. "PurSmoke" (not puresmoker) was the brand and for $15 I got one battery and 2 carts. The battery died that night and within hours of purchase before the first cart was empty. What a rip off. I then ordered my first kit, a V2ecig brand. I called and verified the items were in stock before I ordered since some complaints about V2 and shipping were in their forum I thought it would be wise to verify my preorder. I called and V2 said they were in stock so I made the order- over $220. A week later I still don't have shipping info. I called V2 and found it was on backorder and would be 2 weeks or more before they ship it. I was ......! I canceled the order and received a full refund. Doing a search I found this forum and found a cool ecig review. Through the Forum Suppliers page I ended up ordering a Joye 510, from InnoVapor. Great service and company but the batteries died within a couple hours and I found myself constantly running between chargers and filling those stupid carts with 3 drops after every drag. The ejuice from InnoVapor was so thick I popped the drip spout off a 30mL bottle while trying to squeeze a drop in my atty. Later I corrected this with scissors by cutting the tip off but I lost a good 20mL on the floor, my laptop, table and found myself suddenly low on ejuice. Not only was my first kit frustrating, it was also getting messy. I ordered new juice from One Stop DIY, an Artisan Master Kit. I had some success with it and used the juicemeup calculator but it seemed like too much work for the money. This kit was cheap quality and the pipettes were hardly useful. Mostly because 15mL was the max I could make with the kit. I would have liked to make at least 30mL. Regardless, I could easily do the same with unflavored juice, and eye dropper and an empty bottle. There's really nothing Artisan about it... unless you make a bunch of 3mL bottles of different flavors. I still don't get it.
In April I ordered a new Riva 510 carto deluxe kit with BOGE 2.0 cartos from Liberty Flights along with some juices, PG Churchill and PG Highway, both 24mg. Nastiest juices ever. They ruined my cartos after a few days, turning them dark brown and clogging. The ejuices were absolutely caustic and pungent to the point of absurdity. The vapor was very smelly and no one appreciated it. I heard many complaints from family who had to endure the aroma until I ran out. "Is something burning?" These juices were so thin they would run through the BOGE cartos before I could even fill them completely. No, it's not just me with that problem either. But like I said, I did not like the flavor and no one liked the after smell. Through this forum I did some more research and found Halo ejuice. I decided to try it and ordered the Tribecca 24mg. This was a good flavor but the nutty aftertaste seemed to turn sour after vaping it a while. I needed something else. Unfortunately, I visited a swimming hole and someone stole my Riva kit from the car. I left the charger at home and had one battery on me with one carto. I can make it work...
When I got home I charged my only Riva, where it ended up staying between vaping, and went to Liberty Flights to order a new ecig kit. No more carto deluxe kits!!! I sent them an email about it and they said they "need a new vendor" for the kits and none were available. They were also short on the "Delrin Type D" drip tips for my carts. So now what... Through experience I found the Riva 510 wasn't even enough battery for me anyway. I needed more mAh's. I found AvidVapor through this forum and they had a nice 900mAh Riva kit and 650mAh passthrough Riva. I ordered them both along with some BOGE carts. I would have ordered the 1100 Mega T-Rex but from research I know it has a 10 second cut off vs. 15 seconds to the 900mAh Riva. On top of that, The TRex will stay off for 2 seconds if you hold it for 10. lol.. Anyway, the AvidVapor order shipped SUPER FAST and in record time I got it! In the kit I found a 2.0 Ohm X2 Dual Coil Clear Cartomizer that was a free sample. Curiosity is a beast. I had to try it so I loaded it with Tribecca 24mg and I'm telling you, I never went back to BOGE. This cartomizer is awesome... until a week later... when the fluid turns black because a coil has burned out. Oh, did I mention they're about $2 each? Well, in the first day of using the X2 I was so impressed I ordered 12 of them, 1.5 Ohm, and a few days ago, 12 more for my friend. When they start acting funny I take them apart. I am noticing the bottom coil burns out on all of them. Of the three I've had to change this has been the case with each. The tell tell sign is the dark-burned-looking fluid at the bottom of the cart. The top coil gets twice as hot because the bottom one isn't working and burns the poly fiber and the ejuice. I don't know what to say about it. They work great... break like anything else... costs a lot of money.
Because the Riva cone wont fit over a cartomizer I have to modify them. I have a tool similar to a small ring spreader that I use to spread the cones flawlessly and in seconds, but only the stainless steel versions. Painted or powder coated cones could chip and I wont risk it. The 901 cone is great for using atomizers with drip tips and the stock cones I spread work excellent for the huge X2 Cartomizers. Suddenly, I have found a setup that actually works for me and seems unique. This thing will make more vapor than any ecig/juice mix I've seen on video or seen live. It does draw attention and stealth vaping is almost impossible. So from here I've learned ecigs are evolving and the average person will need a minimum 1100mAh for a day of vaping.
On the 10th I ordered more juice from Halo. Here it is the 16th and I still don't have it. Damn you USPS! This is very unusual and does not reflect any wrong doing from Halo but I'm sitting here looking at my receipts and I cannot help but cringe. I am caught off guard and without juice. My emergency bottle of ejuice is almost dry and guess what it is? Innovapor Menthol. It's enough to make any man quit this habbit. My extensive reciepts mixed with a juice I don't like has fueled a near rant and fit of frustration. I think I've had enough of this expensive habit. When I do the math I find ecigs are more expensive than my nasty dipping habit of $30 a month. I can burn through 60mL of that sweet, sweet Halo Torque 56, that's 2/30mL bottles in about 15 days. I asked around and found others who go through it even faster and 15 days seems about average. At $20 a bottle, roughly, that's $80 a month on ejuice alone. Yep, shocking! When I look at the costs that got me here, in ecigs, carts and accessories I am well over $500 in start up expenses. Adding redundant juice costs to that hurts so much I wont even add them together. If I throw in expendables like carts and other accessories.... well, lets not go there.
This forum is a resource of information. I wanted to do reviews, talk to others here but I cant post out of this newbie forum. For some reason I'm being penalized for not posting enough. Sure, the mods can move things around but I was hoping for more interaction early in this venture when it was important.Now it's late and I don't care anymore. It seems like two societies here. Sorry for the rant. I think that policy is adolescent at best. Maybe I don't understand the reasoning.
My ecig experience has been hard and tough and much of the info gathered here and from others is mediocre to somewhat useful. Not all of it mind you but most. Youtube reviews should be avoided at all costs. Especially that guy across the pond who seems to praise the dumbest ecigs I've ever seen. I swear he uses a special blend of ejuice designed specifically to produce showy vapor. In all his reviews the vapor never changes and he always has to wave it away from the camera. Go look for yourself. I'm starting to pay attention.
Generally, ecig batteries are about 3.5 volts and although they are the source of vapor production they alone don't really have a say in how much vapor is produced. That would be the duty of the atomizer/cartomizer or Ohms law. For instance, if I have a 3.0 Ohm atty on a 6 volt battery it will burn the same as a 1.5 on a 3 volt battery. The difference is power consumption and mAh's. A 3-4 volt battery of 400mAh may not last long and will surely be damaged from repeated dis/recharging from use with LR atty's and carts. This is why I mention ecig users need a minimum of 1100mah. In my opinion, reviews that talk about batteries and vapor production are neither accurate or wanted. It's a battery! But if you feel the need to burn 2.0 Ohms with a 6 volt mod, like the taste of burned poly fibers and have extensive financial resources for buying atty's or cartomzers; then knock yourself out. It's a free country (for now I think) and it's what you want that matters. I'm not knocking variable voltage or 6 volt units. They work for the users who want them but why they get them is what bothers me. It seems everyone wants to sell sell sell something and I think the truth is getting thinner as more units flood the markets. In the near future I'd expect "What works" will be a tough question to find an answer to.
As I end this post I appreciate the members who posted some useful info that I obtained here. But as I look back it was naive of me to take any of it seriously because it's only opinion. The forum was a tool to help me experience how ridiculously expensive this habit is becoming. I have 3 bottles of Halo left. I'll quit when the last bottle is empty... if it ever gets here from being lost in USPS land. I would have really appreciated a sticky thread or a fact sheet, easily accessible, so I could learn the absolute de facto of ecig mechanics before I took the plunge. Not a help page with links to threads 100's of paragraphs long. It could of saved me a lot of money and frustration. Companies will sell you whatever you want but no one recommends what to buy. For instance, slim battery ecigs- I think their only purpose is to help those make a transition from analogs because they resemble them but in fact are a needless expense in the long run.
PS: Currently, there is NO ejuice that tastes like real tobacco! Please stop this nonsense. Nothing even comes close.
BTW: The spending frenzy never ends.
-Dario
I loved dipping tobacco, snuff, but I promised my daughter I'd quit, and I did. In March 2011, I came across my first ecig from a tobacco store at a mall. "PurSmoke" (not puresmoker) was the brand and for $15 I got one battery and 2 carts. The battery died that night and within hours of purchase before the first cart was empty. What a rip off. I then ordered my first kit, a V2ecig brand. I called and verified the items were in stock before I ordered since some complaints about V2 and shipping were in their forum I thought it would be wise to verify my preorder. I called and V2 said they were in stock so I made the order- over $220. A week later I still don't have shipping info. I called V2 and found it was on backorder and would be 2 weeks or more before they ship it. I was ......! I canceled the order and received a full refund. Doing a search I found this forum and found a cool ecig review. Through the Forum Suppliers page I ended up ordering a Joye 510, from InnoVapor. Great service and company but the batteries died within a couple hours and I found myself constantly running between chargers and filling those stupid carts with 3 drops after every drag. The ejuice from InnoVapor was so thick I popped the drip spout off a 30mL bottle while trying to squeeze a drop in my atty. Later I corrected this with scissors by cutting the tip off but I lost a good 20mL on the floor, my laptop, table and found myself suddenly low on ejuice. Not only was my first kit frustrating, it was also getting messy. I ordered new juice from One Stop DIY, an Artisan Master Kit. I had some success with it and used the juicemeup calculator but it seemed like too much work for the money. This kit was cheap quality and the pipettes were hardly useful. Mostly because 15mL was the max I could make with the kit. I would have liked to make at least 30mL. Regardless, I could easily do the same with unflavored juice, and eye dropper and an empty bottle. There's really nothing Artisan about it... unless you make a bunch of 3mL bottles of different flavors. I still don't get it.
In April I ordered a new Riva 510 carto deluxe kit with BOGE 2.0 cartos from Liberty Flights along with some juices, PG Churchill and PG Highway, both 24mg. Nastiest juices ever. They ruined my cartos after a few days, turning them dark brown and clogging. The ejuices were absolutely caustic and pungent to the point of absurdity. The vapor was very smelly and no one appreciated it. I heard many complaints from family who had to endure the aroma until I ran out. "Is something burning?" These juices were so thin they would run through the BOGE cartos before I could even fill them completely. No, it's not just me with that problem either. But like I said, I did not like the flavor and no one liked the after smell. Through this forum I did some more research and found Halo ejuice. I decided to try it and ordered the Tribecca 24mg. This was a good flavor but the nutty aftertaste seemed to turn sour after vaping it a while. I needed something else. Unfortunately, I visited a swimming hole and someone stole my Riva kit from the car. I left the charger at home and had one battery on me with one carto. I can make it work...
When I got home I charged my only Riva, where it ended up staying between vaping, and went to Liberty Flights to order a new ecig kit. No more carto deluxe kits!!! I sent them an email about it and they said they "need a new vendor" for the kits and none were available. They were also short on the "Delrin Type D" drip tips for my carts. So now what... Through experience I found the Riva 510 wasn't even enough battery for me anyway. I needed more mAh's. I found AvidVapor through this forum and they had a nice 900mAh Riva kit and 650mAh passthrough Riva. I ordered them both along with some BOGE carts. I would have ordered the 1100 Mega T-Rex but from research I know it has a 10 second cut off vs. 15 seconds to the 900mAh Riva. On top of that, The TRex will stay off for 2 seconds if you hold it for 10. lol.. Anyway, the AvidVapor order shipped SUPER FAST and in record time I got it! In the kit I found a 2.0 Ohm X2 Dual Coil Clear Cartomizer that was a free sample. Curiosity is a beast. I had to try it so I loaded it with Tribecca 24mg and I'm telling you, I never went back to BOGE. This cartomizer is awesome... until a week later... when the fluid turns black because a coil has burned out. Oh, did I mention they're about $2 each? Well, in the first day of using the X2 I was so impressed I ordered 12 of them, 1.5 Ohm, and a few days ago, 12 more for my friend. When they start acting funny I take them apart. I am noticing the bottom coil burns out on all of them. Of the three I've had to change this has been the case with each. The tell tell sign is the dark-burned-looking fluid at the bottom of the cart. The top coil gets twice as hot because the bottom one isn't working and burns the poly fiber and the ejuice. I don't know what to say about it. They work great... break like anything else... costs a lot of money.
Because the Riva cone wont fit over a cartomizer I have to modify them. I have a tool similar to a small ring spreader that I use to spread the cones flawlessly and in seconds, but only the stainless steel versions. Painted or powder coated cones could chip and I wont risk it. The 901 cone is great for using atomizers with drip tips and the stock cones I spread work excellent for the huge X2 Cartomizers. Suddenly, I have found a setup that actually works for me and seems unique. This thing will make more vapor than any ecig/juice mix I've seen on video or seen live. It does draw attention and stealth vaping is almost impossible. So from here I've learned ecigs are evolving and the average person will need a minimum 1100mAh for a day of vaping.
On the 10th I ordered more juice from Halo. Here it is the 16th and I still don't have it. Damn you USPS! This is very unusual and does not reflect any wrong doing from Halo but I'm sitting here looking at my receipts and I cannot help but cringe. I am caught off guard and without juice. My emergency bottle of ejuice is almost dry and guess what it is? Innovapor Menthol. It's enough to make any man quit this habbit. My extensive reciepts mixed with a juice I don't like has fueled a near rant and fit of frustration. I think I've had enough of this expensive habit. When I do the math I find ecigs are more expensive than my nasty dipping habit of $30 a month. I can burn through 60mL of that sweet, sweet Halo Torque 56, that's 2/30mL bottles in about 15 days. I asked around and found others who go through it even faster and 15 days seems about average. At $20 a bottle, roughly, that's $80 a month on ejuice alone. Yep, shocking! When I look at the costs that got me here, in ecigs, carts and accessories I am well over $500 in start up expenses. Adding redundant juice costs to that hurts so much I wont even add them together. If I throw in expendables like carts and other accessories.... well, lets not go there.
This forum is a resource of information. I wanted to do reviews, talk to others here but I cant post out of this newbie forum. For some reason I'm being penalized for not posting enough. Sure, the mods can move things around but I was hoping for more interaction early in this venture when it was important.Now it's late and I don't care anymore. It seems like two societies here. Sorry for the rant. I think that policy is adolescent at best. Maybe I don't understand the reasoning.
My ecig experience has been hard and tough and much of the info gathered here and from others is mediocre to somewhat useful. Not all of it mind you but most. Youtube reviews should be avoided at all costs. Especially that guy across the pond who seems to praise the dumbest ecigs I've ever seen. I swear he uses a special blend of ejuice designed specifically to produce showy vapor. In all his reviews the vapor never changes and he always has to wave it away from the camera. Go look for yourself. I'm starting to pay attention.
Generally, ecig batteries are about 3.5 volts and although they are the source of vapor production they alone don't really have a say in how much vapor is produced. That would be the duty of the atomizer/cartomizer or Ohms law. For instance, if I have a 3.0 Ohm atty on a 6 volt battery it will burn the same as a 1.5 on a 3 volt battery. The difference is power consumption and mAh's. A 3-4 volt battery of 400mAh may not last long and will surely be damaged from repeated dis/recharging from use with LR atty's and carts. This is why I mention ecig users need a minimum of 1100mah. In my opinion, reviews that talk about batteries and vapor production are neither accurate or wanted. It's a battery! But if you feel the need to burn 2.0 Ohms with a 6 volt mod, like the taste of burned poly fibers and have extensive financial resources for buying atty's or cartomzers; then knock yourself out. It's a free country (for now I think) and it's what you want that matters. I'm not knocking variable voltage or 6 volt units. They work for the users who want them but why they get them is what bothers me. It seems everyone wants to sell sell sell something and I think the truth is getting thinner as more units flood the markets. In the near future I'd expect "What works" will be a tough question to find an answer to.
As I end this post I appreciate the members who posted some useful info that I obtained here. But as I look back it was naive of me to take any of it seriously because it's only opinion. The forum was a tool to help me experience how ridiculously expensive this habit is becoming. I have 3 bottles of Halo left. I'll quit when the last bottle is empty... if it ever gets here from being lost in USPS land. I would have really appreciated a sticky thread or a fact sheet, easily accessible, so I could learn the absolute de facto of ecig mechanics before I took the plunge. Not a help page with links to threads 100's of paragraphs long. It could of saved me a lot of money and frustration. Companies will sell you whatever you want but no one recommends what to buy. For instance, slim battery ecigs- I think their only purpose is to help those make a transition from analogs because they resemble them but in fact are a needless expense in the long run.
PS: Currently, there is NO ejuice that tastes like real tobacco! Please stop this nonsense. Nothing even comes close.
BTW: The spending frenzy never ends.
-Dario
