Another Happy New Member

[SourDough]

Hi there. I've been lurking and learning here at ECF for maybe a month now. A ton of information is available and I know I've just hit the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to everyone who contributes. What a wonderful, supportive community. After over 30 years hooked on the analog's, 20/day or more, I'm well on my way to being an ex-smoker now thanks to you all. It's surprising to me to be excited to not smoke. That's huge!

I started out reading up on vaping here and confirmed I wanted decent equipment. A friend had tried the Blu things last year and they didn't last. Doing some math based on window shopping I became resolved that this is an investment that will pay off over time. So on 1/30 I ordered an eLeaf iStick 30W Mini with a mini Nautilus and 3 different juices at (tobacco, chocolate and pistachio).

I was kind of chuckling at the common themes here of gadget accumulation, search for flavor, and your focus on the next purchase as I researched some more.

I learned I really need a backup system too. I'm pretty serious and want to cover the bases. So on 1/31 I ordered the iPV 3 mini with a Kanger Protank II. Since I need to have multiple options available on the juice, I picked up an additional Protank along with some 3 more juices for good measure. Evidently I got off my aversion to trying something very far away from tobacco and ordered some apple pie ala mode, peaches and cream, and banana split w/ hot fudge juice.

I'm having some issues with the mini Nautilus as compared to the Kanger Protanks or the juices -- not really sure what's up.

The first batch of juice in the mini Nautilus quickly became blah to no flavor. The tobacco (18 mg)started out slightly sweet and I picked up hints of flavor in the pistachio (12 mg) initially but they quickly died out in the flavor department. These are both about 50/50 and I'm playing with 3.3 - 3.7 volts on the iStick. Setting the airflow on 2 or 3 but playing with that too; fluctuating from too much air on the inhale to little or no vaper on the exhale. Finding and maintaining a sweet spot is hard.

Then I tried the chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate flavor; a 100% vg juice at 18 mg. Really, really, really disappointing. I'm having the same issues but more so. Lots of playing around with settings but no flavor at all. (Incidentally I read on the Aspire forum that they don't recommend anything other than a 50/50 blend, period.)

My 2nd batch of juice came in last night. Finally there was FLAVOR in my vaper and everything was easy with the Kanger Protanks; no fiddling around required. I think there's an airflow adjustment attachment available for these but I didn't get it. Just straight up much better for me and it doesn't matter if they're on the iStick or the iPV very much at all. The juices are all 18mg and 50/50 blends. All 6 juices ordered are different lines(?) or juice houses(?).

The Kanger tanks came with 2.4 ohm atomizers versus the 1.8 ohm atomizers on the mini Nautilus. Replacement atomizers on hand for the Kanger tanks are also 1.8 ohm. I'm not sure if the ohm's are the difference though.

Suggestions/feedback on the above would be awesome. Any tips you want to share about vaping 100% vg in the mini Nautilus is greatly appreciated as I've got yet a 3rd order of juice coming and the sample packs are 10/90 pg/vg. Also want to look into fixing the flavor on the 30 ml. Death by Chocolate and the 15 ml. Pistachio. I'm making mistakes, I know, but I firmly believe I'm headed in the right direction.

Thanks for contributing to my delinquency and supporting my new ...... hobby. It's much healthier than the old one though my credit card is officially on ice now.

 

[Serielle Vapist]

May depend on where you get your juice, I make my own and have a 70/30 vg/pg mix in my full size Nautilus and it tastes fantastic, wonderful clouds with the airflow adjusted appropriately. I love my protanks too but have rebuilt all the heads in mine to 1.0-1.5 ohm and hit them at 20+ watts, hit like a beast too! I would experiment with some other manufacturers of juice and find soehing that works better for you.

 

[emily n portland]

Welcome SourDough!

Some juices will just never taste good, no matter what you do with them.
Some juices just do better with different devices/tanks.
Keep in mind your taste buds are still healing. Don't throw anything out at this stage, you may like it later.

Only thing I can say for sure is vaping is quite a bit more fiddly than smoking and each persons experience and preferences are unique.

Good luck on your vaping journey!

 

[jlh74]

Have you tried upping your volts while using the nautilus? Mine seems to vape best at around 4.7-4.9 volts. My Kangers however vape best at 3.5-3.8 volts.

 

[chav]

I definitely like my kanger tanks over my aspire tanks for flavor, not to fantastic in the cloud department though. Not sure how much you have looked in to the composition of your juices but if you want more vapor production, I personally would get something with more vg in it. I like 30 pg / 70 vg mixes. Welcome to the community, and we're all glad you're quitting the cancer sticks

 

[SourDough]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Emily. I'll be sure to hold onto the juices currently categorized as duds.

jlh74 ... I've only gone as high as 3.9v on the iStick. I'm not sure what you're using with your nautilus but from what I've read here and the iStick review done by ?? at Tasteyourjuice.com, the iStick runs about .5v hotter than indicated on the display. 3.9v actually equals about 4.4v. I'll keep in mind trying to crank it up a little though. Right now I think 18 mg is pushing the high side of nic level for me and the hit may be too much. Thanks for your input.

Serielle Vapist -- Thanks for chiming in. Definitely going to keep looking for the flavor

 

[SourDough]

Thanks chav.... I'm not cloud chasing by any means. Blowing smoke is one of the things I enjoyed about the analog's though. A little somethin'-somethin' on the exhale is nice when I vape.

 

[Serielle Vapist]

Hey Sour, I like a lot of the juice from Gotvapes, they have a lot of good stuff there, also try DIY flavor shack, they have a lot of D.I.Y. stuff but their premixed juice is really good too. If you want to you can order double flavors from DIY Flavor Shack as well to test your theory if your taste buds are outa whack.

 

[Debadoo]

Welcome Sour Dough and congrats!!! Pg carries flavor, vg carries vapor. So high vg won't have as much flavor as pg. But, some juices do much better after steeping a couple three weeks, some are great right out of the box. Make sure you drink a LOT of water, especially with higher vg. I vape 70pg cuz heavy vg makes my chest feel congested. You can also use a couple drops of distilled water to thin out your vg if you have any wicking issues.

Haven't used an Istick, and don't remember from a vid I watched. You keep mentioning volts....does it have a volt mode and a watt mode? If so, you might enjoy more just putting it to watts, and going from there. I recently opened the air holes on my naughty to the second largest, and upped my watts on my hana clone, and am enjoying that. I've always preferred a tighter draw, but now that I'm getting used to an airier draw, it's kind of nice. Just keep playing with it, and you'll find what you really like!

 

[SourDough]

Hi Debadoo. Thanks for the welcome. Sorry for the late reply but I took your suggestion and let the Death by Chocolate steep.

After almost a week I got better chocolate flavor with a perfume after taste. Not good. Then I let it sit for a few more days with the lid off, as I've seen suggested in other threads. Now, since I'm keeping an e-liquid journal and using a star system to rate the juices, I'm giving it 3 1/2 stars. Yea! That's a vapable juice and no longer a waste of money.

This is the delimna of just starting out, you need juice to vape but some juices just have to steep. It's a quandary.

Since my initial post the Nautilus Mini hasn't overtaken the Kanger in my preferences but it's being a champ with the high VG juices and that's cool too. I've worked out the operational kinks, thus far, and am happy with my airflow and vapor production too.

Three weeks in, my goal is to find 5 juices that I really like to keep in rotation. I have 2 definites and 1 maybe/it'll do for now. Picking up sample packs has really been helpful in the flavor search department.

Anyway, that's my update and I hope some find it helpful as they are lurking

Thanks again to everyone for your support and suggestions.

PS: Debadoo, yes the iStick display can be shown in volts and watts. Since the iPV display is in watts only I've since changed the iStick display to watts as well. Less confusion for me.

 

[NoCancer]

Welcome SourDough! Great to hear you're quitting after so long, glad to have ya here!