I was one who started with a little stick even though I was a heavy 3 pack smoker. I quit instantly, but I'm convinced that the only way I did it was by vaping every second of every day for the first 3 weeks or more. That's not practical for most people. It took 3 weeks to get sick and tired of constantly charging, worrying about and rotating batteries. By then, I had amassed a collection of 6 batteries and, including the PCC, had sunk at least $100 in the collection.
So I ordered a decent sized battery mod, a 14500 Baby Bullet. It was thicker but no longer than the crappy 180mah stick I was using and a battery would last an easy 6-8 hours without losing vapor production in 30 minutes. If I had started out with that, not only would I have saved myself $100, but I probably would not have had to constantly chain-vape in order to quit entirely and instantly.
IMO, most, not all but the majority, of people who are happy to stay with a cig lookalike permanently and exclusively were either light smokers to begin with, are unaware of the massively increased performance of a better PV, or they're "timid vapers" who prefer to "sneak vape" or they still smoke some analogs. I've seen these polls that show a 50/50 split between those who stay with the cig lookalikes and those who don't. I'm not buying it because they are skewed by people who have been vaping for less than six months or a year and those who never smoked much in the first place. That said, there are a couple (just a couple) of e-cigs that are not too terribly bad. I suspect most of the lookalike fans are using those particular models, in addition to the other factors of being light smokers and/or never having tried a bigger battery e-cig.
I'd like to see a poll of how many people used to smoke a pack/day or more, have been vaping for longer than six months, and have kept on using one of the e-cig lookalikes as their go-to vape. It think it would tell a completely different story. I'd guess 10% or less. There are posts on the new member boards every single day to back that up. A constant theme goes something like: "I wish someone had talked me into a bigger model", or "I wish I had gone straight to a bigger battery", or "I wish I hadn't wasted $200 on this stupid Blu or V2 or whatever" or "I don't know why I didn't get a kGo, eGo, mod or whatever a lot sooner."
There's a long thread somewhere here, dragged out over several months, that discussed the OPs frustration with the eGo fanbois who were always recommending eGos, regardless of the stated preferences of an inquiring newbie. (it was an old thread from when eGos were fairly new).
In the beginning, one of the posters was vehement that she would stay with her lookalike. She'd been using it for several months and couldn't imagine wanting or needing anything better. She argued and argued in defense of her beloved lookalike.
Then, she ran into a 40% off sale on an eGo and got one, fully convinced that she was going to hate it and give it to her brother. It was too big, too bulky and too over-hyped. But she agreed to give it a fair trial for a week and report back. A day or two after it arrived she had made a 180 degree turn around. She was blown away and loved it. She couldn't imagine what had been wrong with her for all those months. For the remainder of the thread, she was evangelizing for the ego.
I think a lot of the people who swear by the cig lookalikes as a permanent, exclusive PV simply have no frame of reference. Nothing particularly wrong with that; whatever floats their boat. In a way, they're doing themselves a disservice, which is also o.k.. But when they recommend a cig lookalike to some newbie who's smoking a pack a day or more and isn't absolutely insisting on a cig lookalike, they're doing that newbie a disservice based on their very limited experience and lack of any frame of reference.
Now, before you hardcore volt vapers get all ....-hurt and start flaming, read again. I made an honest effort to say "most", "many", "a lot of". There are exceptions to every rule and it's no insult to be exceptional.
. I have no problem taking my Inferno (roughly the size of a Sharpie) out in public, but I use my Lavatube when I'm home so far.
