Am I the only person in town who knows what's going on?

[Scarey]

I strolled into a local tobacco shop that I know sells Vape gear. They get all of their supply from a relatively high profile website, and are listed as one of their authorized outlets. I decided to look over one of their Mech kits. They've obviously just collected together a bunch of stuff from their source and made a kit out of it.

I have a few issues with the kit...

For starters, its an anodized Bolt style mech. Okay, whatever.
It comes with a couple of CE4's. Really? CE4's in a mech kit?
It also comes with a Boge F-16 carto-tank. Not bad, but are they standard res cartos? Not gonna be very good performance on an unregulated device.
This all comes in an eGo style case.
With 2 panasonic protected li-ion batteries. Well, at least they're protected... BUT, why on Earth select those batteries, when their supplier also sells MNKE IMR 18650 1500mah batteries? "Well, here's a mech kit, with batteries that might not blow your teeth out. We could have gotten much safer ones, but they cost $3 more."
...
These batteries were just shoved into the pockets of the case. The supplier also sells battery cases...

I also gave another visitor sales spiels on all of the products they carried... The person behind the counter was in awe over how much my knowledge surpassed theirs...

Why, why, why must these places that sell vape gear continue to hire people that don't know what they're selling? I'd really not like to read about someone blowing their face off with a mech that they didn't understand the limitations of.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Good help is incredibly hard to find, good experienced help that is willing to work for what a start up business can afford, nearly impossible.

 

[dwarfcat]

Its all about a quick buck. Vape shops are popping up every where around here and tobacco stores are all now "carrying all your ecig needs!!". For the most part im pretty certain people are just jumping on the make a dollar bandwagon, making a massive order of items from china and selling them. They dont know how they work, they dont care how they work and they darn sure dont care about anyones safety. Thanks to places like this forum I try to educate myself and make wise decisions. This very matter is one of the reasons we can expect STRICT regulations all around.

 

[Stosh]

Vaping is still reasonably new, not a lot of experienced help out there. After all you just need to know battery chemistry, mah & C ratings, and how they relate, some chemistry for the juice, physics for the juice viscosity. Also a bit of electrical engineering for VV / VW, RMS vs. AVG, after all a review isn't complete without an O-scope trace of the power output. Metallurgy is also handy for deciding on what the MOD should be made of, or the coil to heat properly.

Face the facts we're vaping geeks, nerds...but we're not smoking!!

 

[CommaHolly]

I once had to tell an owner how a Twist worked. They didn't have a clue you could adjust the volts.

 

[Iffy]

The person behind the counter was in awe over how much my knowledge surpassed theirs...

Why, why, why must these places that sell vape gear continue to hire people that don't know what they're selling?

Sounds like ya never walked up to mall vaping kio$k! Plus, don't ya know dat it's easier to buy cigs on minimal pay than to actually spend some time to learn to $ave money thru knowledge...

Gotta ask, does da owner vape?

 

[DetraMental]

The closest vape stores around me carry one type of battery and several flavors of juice. That's it! I do all my shopping online.

 

[dwarfcat]

Im no where near the level of some of the people on this forum (example my battery thread lol) but I ask a couple basic questions and if they dont know the answer I walk out. For example
point to a t2 and a t3 and ask what the difference is.....if im met with a blank stare walk out. Luckily im blessed to have Mr E Liquid in this town and 99% of their workers are amazing and friendly.

 

[Scarey]

Vaping is still reasonably new, not a lot of experienced help out there. After all you just need to know battery chemistry, mah & C ratings, and how they relate, some chemistry for the juice, physics for the juice viscosity. Also a bit of electrical engineering for VV / VW, RMS vs. AVG, after all a review isn't complete without an O-scope trace of the power output. Metallurgy is also handy for deciding on what the MOD should be made of, or the coil to heat properly.

Face the facts we're vaping geeks, nerds...but we're not smoking!!

"No, really honey, I had to go buy that multimeter!"

 

[Scarey]

Sounds like ya never walked up to mall vaping kio$k! Plus, don't ya know dat it's easier to buy cigs on minimal pay than to actually spend some time to learn to $ave money thru knowledge...

Gotta ask, does da owner vape?

The kiosk at my local mall is unattended every time I walk by.

 

[Iffy]

The kiosk at my local mall is unattended every time I walk by.

They're out back having a smoke...

 

[crxess]

So I should stop using my Kanger t3-minis on my Mechs and maybe also put away my F-16 even though it is performing nicely?
While I don't care for or use Li-ion batteries, I suppose protected would be a hair safer than nothing, but seriously $3 difference for MNKE's. I need a link.
Hope my Efest and Panisonics meet approval.

Okay, I'm being a bit of a smart____, but seriously a few, actually several comments are of personal opinion only.
Not everyone Buys a Mech to Vape Sub ohm. Some people actually buy them so if a battery fails they can simply insert a new one.
A Mod with an 18650 2200mah will outlast a pair of Basic Ego batteries and cost much less to maintain. Either will run a c4 or Carto tank equally.
I would rather walk into a B& M and see that than a $159 BS cig-a-like kit the dealer picked up for $15 in quantity.

 

[Iffy]

So I should stop... but seriously a few, actually several comments are of personal opinion only...

 

[Scarey]

So I should stop using my Kanger t3-minis on my Mechs and maybe also put away my F-16 even though it is performing nicely?
While I don't care for or use Li-ion batteries, I suppose protected would be a hair safer than nothing, but seriously $3 difference for MNKE's. I need a link.
Hope my Efest and Panisonics meet approval.

Okay, I'm being a bit of a smart____, but seriously a few, actually several comments are of personal opinion only.
Not everyone Buys a Mech to Vape Sub ohm. Some people actually buy them so if a battery fails they can simply insert a new one.
A Mod with an 18650 2200mah will outlast a pair of Basic Ego batteries and cost much less to maintain. Either will run a c4 or Carto tank equally.
I would rather walk into a B& M and see that than a $159 BS cig-a-like kit the dealer picked up for $15 in quantity.

I don't necessarily mean sub-ohm even. A mech really does need "LR" toppers to keep up with a regulated mod. From 1-2Ω depending on taste. Granted, some people do like really low wattage, but I'm talking averages here. Putting a 2.5-3Ω topper on 3.7V only yields 4.5-5.5 watts. Most people who have expressed their wattage preference seem to like the 7-9 watt range. That calls for a 1.7-ish Ω coil. CE4's don't tend to run that low. And like I said, the carto tank isn't bad, depending on the resistance they have available in cartos.

Where batteries are concerned, If you know what your battery can handle, and never plan to stray from that, that's great. Sales staff that doesn't really understand batteries, selling anything but the safest batteries, not so great.

As to the prices, after double checking, the MNKE's are $5 cheaper ($9.99) than the protected batteries ($14.99).

I would prefer not link info openly, as I don't really want to call the shop out publicly, by name, and the website does list the shop as a B&M outlet for the products they carry.

 

[crxess]

Go ahead, I'm having one of those days anyway.

 

[madqatter]

Most people who have expressed their wattage preference seem to like the 7-9 watt range.

FWIW, I am discovering that I like mine lower.

 

[Vwls]

"Well, here's a mech kit, with batteries that might not blow your teeth out."

Haha this made me laugh out loud.

 

[Racehorse]

The closest vape stores around me carry one type of battery and several flavors of juice. That's it! I do all my shopping online.

BUT........to be honest, I live in a tiny town,I am the only vaper I know of besides one other person who has an actual "mod".

The truth is that a vape store, here, if all they carried was ego Ts, some CE4s and some juice, would more than service the community to "get them started".

I don't blame the B&Ms for not wanting to keep HUGE inventories..you know, vaping is changing so fast, products are so readily available on line and from China.....they can't compete with that, and maybe they don't even want to!

They have their place, though. Just let them be who they are. They have a lot more overhead too.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

Shoulda jumped the counter and schooled them noobs

Ok...not jump the counter but blasted em with some knowledge

As you walk out the door...tell em "Oh yeah...I invented that"

 

[Scarey]

BUT........to be honest, I live in a tiny town,I am the only vaper I know of besides one other person who has an actual "mod".

The truth is that a vape store, here, if all they carried was ego Ts, some CE4s and some juice, would more than service the community to "get them started".

I don't blame the B&Ms for not wanting to keep HUGE inventories..you know, vaping is changing so fast, products are so readily available on line and from China.....they can't compete with that, and maybe they don't even want to!

They have their place, though. Just let them be who they are. They have a lot more overhead too.

I'm not so concerned with what they carry, as much as what they know about the safety and efficacy of what they carry. It's the lack of knowledge that bothers me. Not the lack of selection.