Am I doing it all wrong?

[beckdg]

please keep in mind how we smoked does not translate into nic strength for a new vaper in any way, shape or form. the inefficiencies of absorption, different techniques and physiological differences from person to person makes it impossible to pin down.

i know people who smoked 2 PAD who vape anywhere from 4 mg/ml to 24 mg/ml on nearly identical equipment with similar watt levels for example.

ETA: each person must find their own comfort level and trust their body. you will learn to self regulate rather quickly. i always suggest new vapers run a gambit of different level juices from the bottom up immediately when they begin. it's a small investment for a better comfort level and to eliminate constantly buying the wrong nic level for the user before they know better.

 

[DC2]

If you keep calling it "smoke" you're going to get in big trouble.

 

[Mud Pie]

I'd say take all your gear to a vape shop and ask the guy/gal behind the counter, "How do I use this ?". Any shop that respects their customers (and potential new) will gladly show you what to do. While all the printed advice here is good, nothing beats hands-on instruction.

When I switched from cig-a-likes to an Aspire VV and Nautilus Mini tank, the sales guy asked me if I ever used a tank system. I said no, just cig-a-likes for two years, but read up on tanks (on here, actually). He took the time to show me everything, from replacing the BVC, adjusting airflow and voltage, how to break it down to clean the tank, how to fill the tank properly, etc.. He then filled the tank with juice and I took a hit. He spent easily 20 minutes with me.

I left there totally comfortable in my new purchase.

 

[Jumpin' In...]

If you keep calling it "smoke" you're going to get in big trouble.

Yeah, maybe. But Binky called it "smoke" first.

 

[edyle]

If you can pick yourself up a simple disposable cigalike you'd at least have something to fall back on while figuring out your evod setup.

I noticed your later post mentioned turning up to 4.4 volts; that means you do have some sort of adjustability!!
I'd suggest you set voltage to 3.7 and leave it there most of the time; maybe turn down, but be carefull about turning it up.

I buy 100ml bottles of glycerin and there's just enough room left in them to top up with some bottled water and that's what I use as a general purpose base liquid. If you can do something like that you can mix some base and use that to dilute your 24mg liquid. Glycerin + 5 to 10% water; better yet if you can get PG. You can vape USP grade PG by itself; it's the simplest eliquid.

If you try to take a direct lung inhale on 24mg you will likely cough; use inhale to mouth first then from mouth to lungs

 

[beckdg]

may want to progress

first in the mouth hold and release.
then in the mouth and out the nose.
then in the mouth, remove ecig and inhale to lungs.
then direct lung hits.

stop at your preferred comfort level whenever you want. don't progress if you wish. or use a mixture. there's no wrong way.

 

[ElConquistador]

If you like your flavor, you can also order a bottle of it in low nicotine concentration and mix the two together. Like, if you mix equal parts of 24 mg and 6 mg, you would end up with 15 mg strength, which I would consider "medium" juice.

 

[Hitmetwice]

]HitMeTwice (I don't even know you; i'd feel uncomfortable hitting you once!), because it comes with NO INSTRUCTIONS AT ALL, and I can't see any way to adjust ANYTHING, have you any clue how to adjust it? I'm a gear head, and even I can't see anything adjustable about this danged thing. It has a button on it, and that seems to be the extent of it!

Why does it hafta be so inscrutable?[/COLOR]


Hahaha, looks like you, my dear, have been well looked after. Give it time, it's like riding a new bike after riding your old jalopy for 20 years, it takes some getting used to. If you fall off, pick yourself up and get back on.

If you wanna smoke grab your ecig, if you still wanna smoke grab your ecig again or heck, just have one.
As time goes by you'll probably find you'll reach for the ecig more and the smoke less. It seems to be a natural progression for most of us, go with it, go at your own pace. You may be able to switch over right away, some do, everyone is different so don't beat yourself up if you still smoke now and then

Enjoy your new journey and don't take much or any cash with you when you go to the store, what you have now should be fine for a newbie. Just take enough for a couple small bottles of liquid to check out if you want to.

End of unsolicited advice, all the best, Cheers.

 

[AndriaD]

please keep in mind how we smoked does not translate into nic strength for a new vaper in any way, shape or form. the inefficiencies of absorption, different techniques and physiological differences from person to person makes it impossible to pin down.

i know people who smoked 2 PAD who vape anywhere from 4 mg/ml to 24 mg/ml on nearly identical equipment with similar watt levels for example.

ETA: each person must find their own comfort level and trust their body. you will learn to self regulate rather quickly. i always suggest new vapers run a gambit of different level juices from the bottom up immediately when they begin. it's a small investment for a better comfort level and to eliminate constantly buying the wrong nic level for the user before they know better.

Excellent advice. I smoked a pk a day or more (usually more!) for 39 yrs, but when I first started I had to use 6mg, because I was chainvaping so madly that anything higher made me terribly sick. After the novelty wore off and the cigarettes were gone, I've been comfortably settled in around 10mg for quite some time; I can chainvape if I want to, at that level, but I don't *need* to, and mostly don't, so I think it's just right for this particular body. I think some of the factors in my low nicotine needs are that for the last 20 yrs I smoked, I smoked ultra-lights; and for the last 5 yrs or so, I smoked no more than a pk a day, because I couldn't afford to smoke more than that -- and a pk a day of ultra-lights doesn't provide that much nicotine, so I was very sensitive to high mg levels; add in chainvaping, and it didn't require a very high mg level to make me quite sick.

If I do a lot of tasting at some juice bars where the testers are 12mg, I *still* get a spinning head.

Andria

 

[Binkstress]

Hey, djsvapor:

I forgot to ask: what's a "beauty ring"?

Binky

 

[Binkstress]

Beckdg, I TOTALLY thought that my two packs/day would translate into 24mg. I was clearly wrong. I'll be cutting my 24mg and seeing what I REALLY am comfortable with. At least the 24mg won't go to waste.

My goal is to keep cutting until I can stop this nonsense and get back to being the non-smoker I was prior to September. (Five years of non-smoking down the drain. I'd punch myself in the throat if I could. The regret I live with every day is unfathomable.)

Binky

 

[Binkstress]

Oooh! You have some nice tricks, beckdg! I wish you'd been around when I was trying to learn sex. I think you coulda made it a whole lot easier! I'm gonna go try it this way. I'm sensing a whoooole lot less irritation. Thanks a big bunch! Smooches!

 

[edyle]

Hey, djsvapor:

I forgot to ask: what's a "beauty ring"?

Binky

In your first post you said

It comes with a sleeve that sits between the tank and the battery, but it doesn't fit snugly, so it rattles. I guess a better word is "jingles."

That sounds like a beauty ring. You need to screw it UPWARDS to hold the tank more securely in place

Like in this pic the one on the right

and here's a better example with an ego battery and a protank

 

[Binkstress]

Aha! I had it on upside down! Now that I've reversed it, it's not jingling anymore! Why on earth do you people hafta have so much jargon? Someone else referred to an "atty"; I've never seen that word in any of my reading, nor have I heard it in any of the YouTube videos. This "beauty ring" is a collar, why can't it just be a "collar"? Why create some confusing nomenclature? Why does all of this hafta be so confusing? I was forced to STUDY before I could purchase this stupid thing. It really shouldn't be this hard. Seriously.

There's also no good reason that these pieces can't come with SOME kinda instructions.

I'm not taking this out on you. I'm REALLY grateful for your help. I hated that I had an ill-fitting collar, and am delighted that it fits now. Before, I was thinking that I simply had an incompatible piece, and was minorly bummed, but now it's quiet and looks better, too! Thanks ever so much for straightening me out!

(I DID try it your way, but admit that I didn't try screwing it on. Well, I did, but not hard enough. The threads mustn't have been lined up, as it didn't work, so I gave up. I apparently didn't try hard enough, and gave up too easily.)

Yay! You rock, Edyle! You instantly recognized my problem!

Binky

 

[Binkstress]

Ha. I'm getting "nose hit" now, which is helping me to understand the concept of "throat hit."

 

[Dioxyde]

Heh, yeah the "beauty" ring probably should just be called a collar, anyways congrats on making the switch, as long as your device is working properly its probably best to simply focus on staying off the smokes for now and going for the evod instead. In my experience you will still have nasty withdrawals even with the nicotine, but it sure as hell makes them a lot more manageable,and once you get to that point where you know you're over it you can start dropping your nic level and opening up to the deeper side of vaping

 

[AndriaD]

Ha. I'm getting "nose hit" now, which is helping me to understand the concept of "throat hit."

The throat hit continues to be one of the most important aspects, for me; when i switched from light to ultra-light cigarettes 20 yrs ago, I probably tried every last ultra-light brand at Walgreens... only Virginia Slims continued to deliver throat hit even in ultra-lights, but one of the things I liked best about vaping when I started was that even 6mg had better throat hit than those ultra-lights!

The nose exhales will give you better flavor, and also more nicotine; until I got in the habit of the slow inhale and nose exhale, I just couldn't lay the smokes down -- but once I started doing the slow hit and nose exhales, I didn't feel the need for a smoke -- that was my first smoke-free day.

Andria

 

[jseah]

If I do a lot of tasting at some juice bars where the testers are 12mg, I *still* get a spinning head.

Andria

All the tasters I've ever seen has been 0 mg. The funny thing is last week I was in a vape store where they literally had testers for every single flavor they carried. They were in EVOD cartomizers, and I swear when I tried every single Space Jam flavor, they all tasted the same and they all had no flavor at all.

 

[AndriaD]

All the tasters I've ever seen has been 0 mg. The funny thing is last week I was in a vape store where they literally had testers for every single flavor they carried. They were in EVOD cartomizers, and I swear when I tried every single Space Jam flavor, they all tasted the same and they all had no flavor at all.

I can't really taste much from the clearos they use around here, either. Most of their testers are 6mg, but they keep a couple of the more popular flavors in 12mg also, so that those who like higher nic can see what it tastes like with twice the nicotine. One day I was there, and the doohickey for the 6mg of one of those was out of whack somehow or other, so I had to use the 12mg to taste it -- 5 puffs of that and I felt like I was spinning on the barstool! I remember when I *liked* that feeling, but not so much anymore; I've learned that if I don't stop vaping when I feel that, nausea is next on the menu, and I'd rather die than ever feel that again.

Andria

 

[Binkstress]

I should exhale through my nose all the time? Not just while I'm practicing? That sounds like a mean thing to do to my nose. It's an okay thing to do to my nose? I have delicate tissue there (I have allergies and get a lot of nosebleeds.)

Hmph. It's certainly gotta be a lot nicer for my nose than SMOKING, and possibly might even do it some good, since it's moist vapor. Huh. Thanks for that tip! Thanks also because you've apparently given me hope that I'll be able to get off cigs. Dioxyde up there scared me by telling me I'm still gonna have awful cigarette withdrawal (I need DISLIKE and I HATE THIS buttons!), something I hadn't known was gonna happen. Stupid Me had thought the crossover was gonna be painless and my body wouldn't notice because I was going from one source of nicotine to another, but now that I think about it, if that were the case, then gum and patches would be 100% effective. I thought that having some sorta analog with nicotine in it was gonna make this easy.

I didn't think this all the way through, obviously. :-/

Binky