See, this is hard for me.
I feel like I know so many of you already. I could list names, but then some people will get big heads and others will feel left out and I can't ID everyone, anyway, and then I'LL feel like I left someone out, and hell. Wouldn't want to start out like THAT.
I know it's taken me awhile. I've been coming here for more than two years, now. I've suckled at the teat of knowledge this place has. Not necessarily intentionally. Google is my friend, but always, inevitably the search engine Gods steer me back here. The fact that I finally relented and signed up speaks VOLUMES for this place. I am only a member of one other forum on the internet, and I usually am more interested in what other people are saying, not because I don't love the sound of my own voice, I do, but that's my undoing, you see, because I have a penchant for labyrinthine, winding posts and saying stuff succinctly is a serious sore-spot for me. This truth will become self-evident.
There's so much I guess I need to say...how I found the place (covered), my history, experience, reviews, where I go from here. Best just to get into it, I guess.
I quit smoking in 2009 after ten years of the habit. I originally started because my Army buddy showed me a trick where if I let a cigarette dangle from my mouth, no one would check my ID card very closely and I could get into bars rather easily at the tender age of 20. But then I figured why not look older while I'm IN the club? Why not pass the time while "camping" out in the field with a quick smoke? Not just burning a cigarette, I was burning time. A relatively mild habit for six months of only three cigs a day became 6, then ten and eventually, I was a solid 1/2+ pack per day smoker. I maintained this through college and afterwards, during my three years of contractor work in Iraq.
I still contend that it's not the nicotine that I'm addicted to, it's the habit, and the habit is easy to put down. But it's zombie-like, it keeps coming back and it's difficult to kill effectively. I began working with my father (I bought some apartments and he is my minority partner), and call it hero-worship or admiration or respect, but I can't smoke around him or my mother, so in recent years, I wake up, I don't smoke all the work day, then at night I may have one or two. If it's poker night, or I'm going out to the bar, I'll have six or seven. I'd like to say this isn't a problem, and maybe it wasn't when I was in my 20s, but as I get older, I've found this is not conducive to the active lifestyle I lead. Smoking and the gym are similarly not good bedfellows.
In the entirety of my experience, I'd quit for three months, for six months, even for a year once, but I always picked the cigarettes up again. I worked an overnight shift with a guy stocking shelves at K-Mart. He was a retiree just keeping himself busy. One night, he bummed a cigarette off me and we were smoking when my boss came up and criticized me for allowing him to give in. He had been cigarette "clean" for 32 years, and after that night, he was again a full-time smoker. That's when I knew. "It could be 40 years from now, and that desire will still be in here. Somewhere." I thought.
When I went back to Iraq in 2009, I quit again, for a full six months this time, but I could feel myself readying for a drop off the wagon. I missed it. Then, I came across a new product, the e-Cigarette. I was past the point of nicotine addiction, but I missed the habit so terribly, like an old girlfriend who never quite clicked but was great in the sack. I had this real "cake and eat it too" happiness flowing through me and I quickly ordered a set.
The set I ordered was a Blu Electronic Cigarette kit from BluCigs Luckily, shortly thereafter, I found this forum and got "schooled". Blucigs sucked, at least for the vast majority of people, and this world was HUGE. The people in the malls, the advertisements on all the websites, the VULTURES looking for a cheap way to tap into this market were everywhere, but only because you can make knock-offs of quality products. The good vapes were out there...you just needed a forum like this to cast the light on them.
I was able to cancel my order, but was disappointed, because the Personal Charging Case (PCC) seemed to be an amazing feature I really wanted to take advantage of. So, after reading rave reviews of the 510, I ordered a complete kit WITH a PCC from the Vapor Station. Having a decent amount of money at the time, and wanting to find the best, or at least something good, I also ordered a Sidesho with PCC from Modern Vapor and a Janty Kissbox set with USB Passthrough from Janty USA.
Of these, the Sidesho arrived first, so kudos on shipping to them, since shipping to Iraq was notoriously slow. However, I found that the attys tasted terrible, produced little vapor and took a long time to break in. Additionally, when they did break in, 2 of the 4 batteries simply died quick deaths, for no apparent reason. They would work fine and then when they ran out of power, just wouldn't recharge. Definitely a very poor first impression.
Second to arrive was the 510. Better. Miles and MILES better than the Sidesho. Still, carts had little flavor and I was daunted in my search for cigarette replacement. Until I tried dripping with Djarum eLiquid. It actually produced small clouds of vapor that tasted a LOT like clove cigarettes! The throat hit was solid and could actually satisfy me just like a cigarette. However, constant redripping and the odd way the cartridges would pull the filler out did not impress me. It seemed like a lot of work for equivalent payoff. Vapor Station also failed to send me a carrying case for the 510. When I sent an email notifying them of the problem, they apologized and promised to send one right out, which never arrived.
Then, the Janty Kissbox arrived. I loved it. It had no PCC, but the batteries lasted long enough for a night out and dripping on the Kissbox tasted like a dream. I used the Vapor Station Cafe Sumatra eliquid on it and it tasted amazing. I used two parts Cafe Sumatra to one part Frost and IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING TASTE I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED WHILE VAPING. Ever. As in, to this day. I used the Kissbox almost exclusively. I tried to continue using the 510, but the taste and vapor were not as strong, though the throat hit was comparable. I put the others away and took my Kissbox everywhere.
A month or two later on, I saw another eCigarette and fell in love with it. Portable AND stylish, I ordered an M401 Dragon from TrueSmoker. (A site which was "frozen" when I checked a few weeks ago and now says is being "updated"...? Not sure what happened with this...) The M401 suffered many of the problems of the 510, but I liked the compactness and battery life of the Dragon, and while the taste was not as strong, I used it with Modern Vapor's Rum flavor and TrueSmoker's Whiskey and it went good with the bar scene. People at the bar always wanted to try it out and were impressed with the beauty of it. However, it suffered problems such as juice being sucked through the tip and an overall lesser experience than I had with the Kissbox, so eventually I took function over form, proving Louis Sullivan right, all along.
At this point, I had spent considerable amount of coin on the whole endeavor, and really wasn't interested in the silver bullet, the screwdriver and other giant-vaporizers. I had no inclination to get into mods. Besides, I was not unsatisfied with the Kissbox. It was a good, solid vape, and with the right maintenance and flavors, it was amazing. Even as I type this, I'm vaping on my ORIGINAL Kissbox and atty. Besides one manual switch, I've never had a single component of the Kissbox fail me, and I got some good use out of it. That's not to say I got two full years of use out of it, because it did its job. It kept me from smoking, I put it down and didn't even think about smoking for another year. In fact, when I TRIED smoking, it literally made me nauseous. The taste compared to my ecig was horrible.
Fast-forward another year to a month ago. I am currently working in Afghanistan, and one late night, I broke down and had a cigarette with a friend. It was as good as I'd remembered. But I didn't want to be a smoker again. I've spent much time getting in shape and I knew smoking would tear that away, as it always does. So, it was the motivation I needed to dig my Janty out of storage, clean the attys for good measure and start vaping again. In my search for the best current cleaning methods, I stumbled upon the Janty eGo Tank System. I realize fully that whether I buy the Ovale or the Totally Wicked Tornado Tank or the Joye eGo-T, they're all the same, but I spent an extra $8 for the Janty name, and picked up a JETS XL Set (with 10% coupon, courtesy of this forum) from Electronic Cigz. It's shipped, and I anxiously await its arrival. With 900 mAh batteries, I highly doubt I need it, but I picked up a PCC and two LR Attys from Janty herself. It may come in handy when I go on three-day camping trips. Future replacement parts, et cetera, I'll be far less concerned about the name on the box, but I figured I owed them something for the Kissbox.
The longevity of the battery and the rare refill requirement is perfect for a night on the town, and just what I've always been looking for! I pray it's as good to me as it has been to some.
I'm currently on page 89 of 234 (!) of this thread, and plan on reading it all before I'm finished. I'm a dripper. Never tried drip tips or cartomizers, but THIS is TRULY what I've been waiting for, and I know there have been mixed experiences, but I have high hopes for it especially since I'm a rigid 70/30 PG/VG user, anyway. Amount of liquid be damned if I can get even 80% the hit I get after a fresh drip consistently.
The only thing that concerns me slightly is the scattered reports of lesser flavor. Even though I love the cafe sumatra/frost mix from Vapor Station, it was mostly because it was the most powerful of all the flavors I bought. And I bought quite a bit. I tried DIY from a website I don't recall, but it was blue and they had a bunch of different flavors and you could make your own PG/VG ratios....I think I made a chocolate raspberry caramel everyone on here raved about. Wasn't that good, and couldn't taste much flavor. I got a sampler from Awesome Vapor, based on some reviews here. I had RY4, 555, Banana, Apple, Virginia, Camel, Coffee and Mint. Besides their mint, all their flavors...had NO flavor. From Modern Vapor, I got Red Bull, Cola and Rum, with Rum being the only flavor I really enjoyed tremendously. From TrueSmoker, I got another smattering of about seven flavors, again with only one really standing out in Whiskey. And Pepper, which didn't have flavor, but was good like mint for adding some TH to other flavors. From Vapor Station, we got the aforementioned Cafe Sumatra and Frost, but the Just Peachy, Texas and Black Cherry were just terribly faint in their flavors. Tampa was the best "cigarette" flavor I've ever tried. I got another six flavors from somewhere I can't remember, though they sent all their flavors out in glass dropper-bottles, and from there I got the fantastic Djarum eLiquid.
But, for the most part, flavors have disappointed. I want full-on flavor, kick-you-in-the face taste. A major mistake I made was predominately ordering from places where I also ordered "hardware", since they usually don't do both well. Another issue was the only other places I ordered from were the DIY and Awesome Vapor, which were equally as meh. Since ordering the new ego-T, I've placed some orders for new eLiquid based on some reviews here, including Black Licorice, Atomic Cinnicide, Cafe Macciato and Kretek from TastyVapor. From BackwoodsBrew, I got Malty Toffee, Espresso and Caramel Cappuccino. Since Vapor Station DID have some success, I placed another order there. They're out of Cafe Sumatra, but got another bottle of Frost, and based on recommendations here, I also got Phoenix, Seattle and Cherry Almond. As you can see, I chose new flavors based primarily on mega-taste. I know Cinnicide is notorious for ruining attys, so I may dedicate one of my Kissbox attys to it. They're old enough, anyway.
I don't think I really have a question. So, sorry for that. Only thing would be if anyone had flavor recommendations or they think of something I may have overlooked. Anyway, after two years and after reading this entire thread to start me off in this world, I figured it was at least polite to make an introduction.
So. This is me.
My name is Seth.
Nice to meet you.
Finally.
I feel like I know so many of you already. I could list names, but then some people will get big heads and others will feel left out and I can't ID everyone, anyway, and then I'LL feel like I left someone out, and hell. Wouldn't want to start out like THAT.
I know it's taken me awhile. I've been coming here for more than two years, now. I've suckled at the teat of knowledge this place has. Not necessarily intentionally. Google is my friend, but always, inevitably the search engine Gods steer me back here. The fact that I finally relented and signed up speaks VOLUMES for this place. I am only a member of one other forum on the internet, and I usually am more interested in what other people are saying, not because I don't love the sound of my own voice, I do, but that's my undoing, you see, because I have a penchant for labyrinthine, winding posts and saying stuff succinctly is a serious sore-spot for me. This truth will become self-evident.
There's so much I guess I need to say...how I found the place (covered), my history, experience, reviews, where I go from here. Best just to get into it, I guess.
I quit smoking in 2009 after ten years of the habit. I originally started because my Army buddy showed me a trick where if I let a cigarette dangle from my mouth, no one would check my ID card very closely and I could get into bars rather easily at the tender age of 20. But then I figured why not look older while I'm IN the club? Why not pass the time while "camping" out in the field with a quick smoke? Not just burning a cigarette, I was burning time. A relatively mild habit for six months of only three cigs a day became 6, then ten and eventually, I was a solid 1/2+ pack per day smoker. I maintained this through college and afterwards, during my three years of contractor work in Iraq.
I still contend that it's not the nicotine that I'm addicted to, it's the habit, and the habit is easy to put down. But it's zombie-like, it keeps coming back and it's difficult to kill effectively. I began working with my father (I bought some apartments and he is my minority partner), and call it hero-worship or admiration or respect, but I can't smoke around him or my mother, so in recent years, I wake up, I don't smoke all the work day, then at night I may have one or two. If it's poker night, or I'm going out to the bar, I'll have six or seven. I'd like to say this isn't a problem, and maybe it wasn't when I was in my 20s, but as I get older, I've found this is not conducive to the active lifestyle I lead. Smoking and the gym are similarly not good bedfellows.
In the entirety of my experience, I'd quit for three months, for six months, even for a year once, but I always picked the cigarettes up again. I worked an overnight shift with a guy stocking shelves at K-Mart. He was a retiree just keeping himself busy. One night, he bummed a cigarette off me and we were smoking when my boss came up and criticized me for allowing him to give in. He had been cigarette "clean" for 32 years, and after that night, he was again a full-time smoker. That's when I knew. "It could be 40 years from now, and that desire will still be in here. Somewhere." I thought.
When I went back to Iraq in 2009, I quit again, for a full six months this time, but I could feel myself readying for a drop off the wagon. I missed it. Then, I came across a new product, the e-Cigarette. I was past the point of nicotine addiction, but I missed the habit so terribly, like an old girlfriend who never quite clicked but was great in the sack. I had this real "cake and eat it too" happiness flowing through me and I quickly ordered a set.
The set I ordered was a Blu Electronic Cigarette kit from BluCigs Luckily, shortly thereafter, I found this forum and got "schooled". Blucigs sucked, at least for the vast majority of people, and this world was HUGE. The people in the malls, the advertisements on all the websites, the VULTURES looking for a cheap way to tap into this market were everywhere, but only because you can make knock-offs of quality products. The good vapes were out there...you just needed a forum like this to cast the light on them.
I was able to cancel my order, but was disappointed, because the Personal Charging Case (PCC) seemed to be an amazing feature I really wanted to take advantage of. So, after reading rave reviews of the 510, I ordered a complete kit WITH a PCC from the Vapor Station. Having a decent amount of money at the time, and wanting to find the best, or at least something good, I also ordered a Sidesho with PCC from Modern Vapor and a Janty Kissbox set with USB Passthrough from Janty USA.
Of these, the Sidesho arrived first, so kudos on shipping to them, since shipping to Iraq was notoriously slow. However, I found that the attys tasted terrible, produced little vapor and took a long time to break in. Additionally, when they did break in, 2 of the 4 batteries simply died quick deaths, for no apparent reason. They would work fine and then when they ran out of power, just wouldn't recharge. Definitely a very poor first impression.
Second to arrive was the 510. Better. Miles and MILES better than the Sidesho. Still, carts had little flavor and I was daunted in my search for cigarette replacement. Until I tried dripping with Djarum eLiquid. It actually produced small clouds of vapor that tasted a LOT like clove cigarettes! The throat hit was solid and could actually satisfy me just like a cigarette. However, constant redripping and the odd way the cartridges would pull the filler out did not impress me. It seemed like a lot of work for equivalent payoff. Vapor Station also failed to send me a carrying case for the 510. When I sent an email notifying them of the problem, they apologized and promised to send one right out, which never arrived.
Then, the Janty Kissbox arrived. I loved it. It had no PCC, but the batteries lasted long enough for a night out and dripping on the Kissbox tasted like a dream. I used the Vapor Station Cafe Sumatra eliquid on it and it tasted amazing. I used two parts Cafe Sumatra to one part Frost and IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING TASTE I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED WHILE VAPING. Ever. As in, to this day. I used the Kissbox almost exclusively. I tried to continue using the 510, but the taste and vapor were not as strong, though the throat hit was comparable. I put the others away and took my Kissbox everywhere.
A month or two later on, I saw another eCigarette and fell in love with it. Portable AND stylish, I ordered an M401 Dragon from TrueSmoker. (A site which was "frozen" when I checked a few weeks ago and now says is being "updated"...? Not sure what happened with this...) The M401 suffered many of the problems of the 510, but I liked the compactness and battery life of the Dragon, and while the taste was not as strong, I used it with Modern Vapor's Rum flavor and TrueSmoker's Whiskey and it went good with the bar scene. People at the bar always wanted to try it out and were impressed with the beauty of it. However, it suffered problems such as juice being sucked through the tip and an overall lesser experience than I had with the Kissbox, so eventually I took function over form, proving Louis Sullivan right, all along.
At this point, I had spent considerable amount of coin on the whole endeavor, and really wasn't interested in the silver bullet, the screwdriver and other giant-vaporizers. I had no inclination to get into mods. Besides, I was not unsatisfied with the Kissbox. It was a good, solid vape, and with the right maintenance and flavors, it was amazing. Even as I type this, I'm vaping on my ORIGINAL Kissbox and atty. Besides one manual switch, I've never had a single component of the Kissbox fail me, and I got some good use out of it. That's not to say I got two full years of use out of it, because it did its job. It kept me from smoking, I put it down and didn't even think about smoking for another year. In fact, when I TRIED smoking, it literally made me nauseous. The taste compared to my ecig was horrible.
Fast-forward another year to a month ago. I am currently working in Afghanistan, and one late night, I broke down and had a cigarette with a friend. It was as good as I'd remembered. But I didn't want to be a smoker again. I've spent much time getting in shape and I knew smoking would tear that away, as it always does. So, it was the motivation I needed to dig my Janty out of storage, clean the attys for good measure and start vaping again. In my search for the best current cleaning methods, I stumbled upon the Janty eGo Tank System. I realize fully that whether I buy the Ovale or the Totally Wicked Tornado Tank or the Joye eGo-T, they're all the same, but I spent an extra $8 for the Janty name, and picked up a JETS XL Set (with 10% coupon, courtesy of this forum) from Electronic Cigz. It's shipped, and I anxiously await its arrival. With 900 mAh batteries, I highly doubt I need it, but I picked up a PCC and two LR Attys from Janty herself. It may come in handy when I go on three-day camping trips. Future replacement parts, et cetera, I'll be far less concerned about the name on the box, but I figured I owed them something for the Kissbox.
The longevity of the battery and the rare refill requirement is perfect for a night on the town, and just what I've always been looking for! I pray it's as good to me as it has been to some.I'm currently on page 89 of 234 (!) of this thread, and plan on reading it all before I'm finished. I'm a dripper. Never tried drip tips or cartomizers, but THIS is TRULY what I've been waiting for, and I know there have been mixed experiences, but I have high hopes for it especially since I'm a rigid 70/30 PG/VG user, anyway. Amount of liquid be damned if I can get even 80% the hit I get after a fresh drip consistently.
The only thing that concerns me slightly is the scattered reports of lesser flavor. Even though I love the cafe sumatra/frost mix from Vapor Station, it was mostly because it was the most powerful of all the flavors I bought. And I bought quite a bit. I tried DIY from a website I don't recall, but it was blue and they had a bunch of different flavors and you could make your own PG/VG ratios....I think I made a chocolate raspberry caramel everyone on here raved about. Wasn't that good, and couldn't taste much flavor. I got a sampler from Awesome Vapor, based on some reviews here. I had RY4, 555, Banana, Apple, Virginia, Camel, Coffee and Mint. Besides their mint, all their flavors...had NO flavor. From Modern Vapor, I got Red Bull, Cola and Rum, with Rum being the only flavor I really enjoyed tremendously. From TrueSmoker, I got another smattering of about seven flavors, again with only one really standing out in Whiskey. And Pepper, which didn't have flavor, but was good like mint for adding some TH to other flavors. From Vapor Station, we got the aforementioned Cafe Sumatra and Frost, but the Just Peachy, Texas and Black Cherry were just terribly faint in their flavors. Tampa was the best "cigarette" flavor I've ever tried. I got another six flavors from somewhere I can't remember, though they sent all their flavors out in glass dropper-bottles, and from there I got the fantastic Djarum eLiquid.
But, for the most part, flavors have disappointed. I want full-on flavor, kick-you-in-the face taste. A major mistake I made was predominately ordering from places where I also ordered "hardware", since they usually don't do both well. Another issue was the only other places I ordered from were the DIY and Awesome Vapor, which were equally as meh. Since ordering the new ego-T, I've placed some orders for new eLiquid based on some reviews here, including Black Licorice, Atomic Cinnicide, Cafe Macciato and Kretek from TastyVapor. From BackwoodsBrew, I got Malty Toffee, Espresso and Caramel Cappuccino. Since Vapor Station DID have some success, I placed another order there. They're out of Cafe Sumatra, but got another bottle of Frost, and based on recommendations here, I also got Phoenix, Seattle and Cherry Almond. As you can see, I chose new flavors based primarily on mega-taste. I know Cinnicide is notorious for ruining attys, so I may dedicate one of my Kissbox attys to it. They're old enough, anyway.
I don't think I really have a question. So, sorry for that. Only thing would be if anyone had flavor recommendations or they think of something I may have overlooked. Anyway, after two years and after reading this entire thread to start me off in this world, I figured it was at least polite to make an introduction.
So. This is me.
My name is Seth.
Nice to meet you.
Finally.
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