Beginner's Issues part 1 of ?

[The Ocelot]

This has likely been covered earlier, but the two cigarette sized devices that are most often recommended are the Volt by Smokeless Image and the joyetech eRoll (carried by many vendors):

Smokeless Image | The Best Electronic Cigarette

Joye eRoll Electronic Cigarettes, Starter Kits & Accessories by Joyetech

ETA: Sample packs are nice when trying new flavors. Most vendors offer a sample pack. ECBlend has six 5ml bottles (flavors of your choice, but the pg/vg ratios and nic strength need to all be the same) for $15.00. They also have a standing 20% off coupon: 10020.

Order by Bottle Size Liquid Selector - ECBlend

Vixen Vapor has a number of sample packs from different flavor categories - five 6ml bottles for $15.49, free shipping on Fridays.

 

[madqatter]

something the size of a cigar

A petit corona. (A bit narrower, actually.) Not much longer than a Blu disposable, and shorter than a Blu if put on a 350 mAh battery.

sounds too huge to fit in my watch pocket

So is a pack of smokes!

With the Evod detached from the battery, however, the Evod and two 650 mAh batteries fit in a mint tin (I lined mine with craft foam), which is about the same size as a pack of smokes and easily fits in my pocket.

I'm not looking for a lot of mods or accessories.

That's why I was proposing something simple. I just put some juice in, screw it together, and it's done. It's really not more complicated than the cigalike systems. The most significant differences in how they work is that instead of replacing cartridges you replace coil heads (less frequently, for less money) and there's a button.

You don't have to do it, of course. By all means do what you feel most comfortable with! I just want to be sure you understand what I'm talking about. It's not the Steampunk Mod from Vent69.

 

[nmackan]

My friend. I read some of your requirements and hope it can come to the point in time. In my country there is a saying It must be the front row. It must be the window side It should be $1. No sir no place in the world.
Now tell you what? If we ask all vapers 99.9% would say that they hate cigarette taste. I cant bear the smell and taste for my part. If you insist vaping in a very short time you will feel so too.
Nobody would deny the health issues with vaping I am comfortable with a right breathing and not having coughing fits in the morning. but I vape because I like vaping smell (If there is any), taste. makes me happy. I dont remember the taste and smell of my tobaco dont want stinking smell on my wearings hairs etc.
Vaping is not a joke. It is a way saves you from cigarettes much easier than any known methods. you find yourself free of smoking without any problem and without knowing yourself.
Now for the laughing part. I dont understand you guys what makes you trouble. One day I went out for a banking matter, in the middle of the process I noticed that I was wearing different shoes. In lunch break I called my wife and asked her to look which shoes I wore? when she found out She was in a laughing fit. I did not mind more just pretended I was not aware Anybody laughing to me wellcome people get money to make people laugh. If someone thinks me that I am a goofy let it be. I dont care Because I am not.
Do you laugh and note someone doing a funny thing and remember it? Nobody gives it a damn whether you smoke or vape.
I can walk in the street with my Vivi Nova mounted evic Nobody laughs (even in Turkiye) Some ask me known question I answer them most appreciate. other go nobody laughs.

My friend if you want huge vapours you will get a VV/VW mod. a Passable tank and see vapour. Leave the walking around the bush if you want to get rid of smoking you have to behave like Vaping not imitating to smoke
Happy vapings

 

[williebb123]

wow very wise words nmackan spoken from the heart

 

[The Ocelot]

Someday you'll be able to walk down the street sucking on something that looks like a clarinet with a nipple on top and smelling of strawberries and not even notice people staring at you.

 

[Denrock316]

Someday you'll be able to walk down the street sucking on something that looks like a clarinet with a nipple on top and smelling of strawberries and not even notice people staring at you.

Oh wow that is just too funny.

On a serious note I think a VV eGo (twist ,spinner, winder) and a decent clearo (Evod, ARO etc..) with a good RY4 he might feel pretty satisfied with.

This MBV Coumarin Pipe I got going this morning I am really loving especially with coffee.

 

[Jaguar07]

Someday you'll be able to walk down the street sucking on something that looks like a clarinet with a nipple on top and smelling of strawberries and not even notice people staring at you.

<--- smirks as I tongue the reed.

 

[GraCnT]

Someday you'll be able to walk down the street sucking on something that looks like a clarinet with a nipple on top and smelling of strawberries and not even notice people staring at you.

Ocelot you made me smile because this is oh so very true!!!


I think most of us start off with a cig a like.... Wanting to replicate our analog experience. I know I did.... I wanted to duplicate the experience, to completely mimic and replace my coffin nails and "trick" myself into vaping..
I too started with the eon smoke. You know what? It did the job for me. I needed 6 batteries & 2-3 carts to get through the day (I was a 1-2 pad smoker)
It was expensive but smoking is expensive too. So was all my Dr. Bills every time I got bronchitis Lol.
I bought some juice and refilled my eon cartos and saved money there and thus began my next step into vaping and I haven't looked back. While I have a couple pv's and ego evod batteries, I still have a few 510 cig a like batts with boge 510 cartos. I like the portability and yes, they are discreet and I can fit in with the smoking crowd at my smoking breaks easier.
I chose the 510 because they the cartos are easily found. The kr808d-1 are as well so its just a matter of choice.
You can try smoktech and Joye and bloog... Bloog is a great battery and they have a huge selection of prefilled cartos too.
Johnson creek as others above said makes the juice for blu so you can start there if you like those flavors...
Halo IMO makes a great tobacco juice. I like "freedom, a more marb red type flavor.. Smoky and slightly sweet and tribeca a ry4 type flavor tobacco caramel vanilla"
As ocelot recommended ec blends is great with good prices.. Their ry4 is amazing! and my go to shop is mt. Baker vapor. Great selection, customer service and prices their tobaccos are iffy.. Coumarin pipe is good but their fruit and sweet flavors are great!!

Either system 510 or 808 that you may choose is good, they are popular and easily accessible. But vaping is vaping and smoking is smoking. There is a transition period and for me vaping has replaced my cigs. I will Vape forever, I enjoy it.
I wish you the best of luck,, stick with it! I hope you find that all day flavor!!

I apologize because, wow! I sure did create a long post!! Lol

 

[dice57]

Plain and simple cig a likes just don't cut it. In the long run they are more expensive, more frustrating, and you have to fiddle with them more than a quality pvd and rba. They won't give one the satisfaction and experience you think a camel or Marlboro gives you. you always have to replace the carts, clearos or blanks, cause they are cheap and don't preform any near what a quality rba can give you.
Also most people who only use the cig a likes eventually go back to smokes or continue to smoke while vaping.

Once one finds a system that is satisfying and performs as advertised, they find more joy, more satisfaction, and loose interest in finding a juice that taste just like their old smoke of choice. when they do try an analog, after a month or two of vaping quality vape, they think the old smoke taste like chit and wonder how in the world they could of ever been satisfied with tobacco that burned.

to me building a coil and setting it up on my rba, takes maybe 15 minutes, will get better at it with each build but only have done 2. once built it will last for weeks without doing a thing but filling it up. And it only cost pennies. Am going to try a new build tomorrow, not because I need to, but because I want to.

Frak it, done trying to explain something to some one who refuses to listen. good luck, was nice seeing a new face, ......Damn this is a great vape. Damn, .. don't let the door hi............

 

[tj99959]

If it looks like a cigarette, smells like a cigarette, tastes like a cigarette, it's a cigarette, not an e-cig. The reality is that the only way to make tobacco taste or smell like burning tobacco is to burn it. That said there are tobacco base flavors that are quite nice. You might like a RY4 (caramel tobacco) or 555 (hazelnut tobacco). That's because it's much easier to replicate the common flavorings added to tobacco than it is to replicate the tobacco itself.

My personal feeling is that most succeed as soon as performance becomes more important than looks. The reality is that the little cig look alike batteries are to small to produce sufficient amperage to do the job.

 

[Sambuca]

When did I ask for something better than a cigalike? My favorite setup so far has been the EonSmoke setup (808 battery with cartomizers). I'm wondering if someone can suggest a better threading/system for the battery, but that simplicity was what made me like those. Unfortunately the 3 batteries I had for it are gone now, so I figured if I'm going to start over, I might as well start over right by asking which system people recommend.

And that's a shame. I want a solid caramel-y tobacco flavor that reminds me of 27's (or better yet, Lucky Strikes), but so far, all the tobacco flavors I've tried to vape just taste like ..., except Blu, which really just tastes like cocoa to me.

hey Sammie,

i see 2 problems that you face (not having read the rest of the thread yet ).

A) finding a good cigarette flavor substitute is really, really hard. you can't do it cheap. go to the e liquid section and start reading threads. i gave up looking for "that taste" so i vape other things. there are folks as determined as you are and some have had success. iirc, this is one of your less expensive options:

eliquid | e cigarette liquid | e liquid | e juice | ejuice


for a simple system, you need 2 things, batteries and attys.

i would suggest evods and/or some cheaper dripping attys, like these:

Kanger Evod Rebuildable Clearomizer - Mt Baker Vapor - Electronic Cigarettes

SmokTech Bridgeless Atomizer - Mt Baker Vapor - Electronic Cigarettes

i use kanger type attys with ease. the coils are easy and cheap to replace (and even cheaper to rebuild):

Kanger eVod Coil replacements

BOTH of those suppliers give top notch service. both are in the form, waay down at the bottom of the page. you can speak with the owners if you need to. no more than 2-4 days to get your stuff from them, so no worries.

batteries are different. for "ease of use" i like these 2, the itaste more than they other, but the mega goes up to 6 volts. you may want higher voltage for your tobacco flavors.

Itaste VV/VW 3.0 by Innokin - NettMix Custom Vapes

Variable Voltage eGo-V v2 Mega Battery (1200mAh) with Built in Passthrough Function and LCD | eGo-V v2 Mega Battery

i've used both of those suppliers, 2 - 4 days to get your stuff (in MY case, all get me my stuff in 2 days, MBV in one. stellar servive in my opinion.

in addition, the second one has a "build your own" sample pack. 100mil for $30. that way you pick 10 different ones. there's a big range to choose from.

i hope you find something.

the juice is cheap from MBV, i use it. BUT not really big on their tobaccos. plus their juice needs to steep. you probably want something for now. the USA ain't bad after a 2-4 week steep. tastes like a lite cig.

 

[Jaguar07]

Hi Sam:

I'm going to paraphrase your questions and answer inline, where I can.

Marlboro No. 27's that taste exactly the way I think a cigarette should taste, and I get that flavor every single time I go in. I'd hoped that the forum could just have a recommendation for "this is the best tobacco flavor you can buy," but so far, I've seen no such answer.

I too smoked Marlboro 27s from the day I found them. I find that Hollywood e-liquid flavor "Gold Tobacco" in 18mg/ml nicotine is a very close approximation to Marlboro 27 flavor. I rarely do that straight. I usually mix a bit of that into NicVape "black and blueberry" or NicVape "blueberry" etc. These are all "Store" bought flavors I'm referring to. I also mix my own.

What am I doing wrong here, and how can I make an electronic be as satisfying as the real thing?

There are a very wide variety of e-cigs now. I got a free Njoy at the ECC event yesterday and I was suprised it was that bad for what they advertise.
I'd say move to an Ego C-Twist or the Twist type battery mod of your choosing to start with. They are about $20-$30 for the battery. Charger can be bought for $10 or so. Protank or Protank II tank. Then fill that tank with the juice I suggested earlier. You won't feel like you missed something when you inhale that. It WILL give you a solid hit.

Your last issue is a problem that has no fix. You either have to use cig-a-like things that are lackluster at best on a good day, or step up to the larger, bulkier devices that perform.

You're asking for a Ferrari that fits on your bike rack, yet performs at least as well as a Porsche. That isn't likely to happen, yet.

The Ego C-Twist is about three times the diameter of a real cig, and longer, and at 900mAh lasts me about 6 hours of vaping per day. It's considerably heavy for it's size. You can get 1300mAh versions too, that are a bit longer yet. Most of the Ego devices fit nicely in a shirt pocket. I generally turn them off and carry them in my pants pocket. Ego is one of the many brands of these available but they all look like the ego. You DEFINITELY want adjustable voltage.

I started vaping with a blu e-cig disposable. That lasted less than a day, I still have it in my car in the glove box. Then went to Ego C-Twist with a Kanger MT-3 tank on the top. Performance is reasonable but I felt tethered to my USB charger. I moved up to a Variable Voltage Lave Tube 1.5. Size increased significantly but so did time away from the USB charger. Now I use a combination of devices. Ego for short hops here and there. Provari V2 and Vamo V3 for typical days away from the house. An Omega clone for dripping on an Igo-L, strictly at home only.

 

[NicoHolic]

The reality is that the only way to make tobacco taste or smell like burning tobacco is to burn it.

This basically nailed it. I have zero experience with cigalikes but I tried a lot of juices, including a NET, and this is what I found in independent research duplicating that done and posted here by many hundreds. You may not find those I found that come closest in pre-filled cartridges.

If you're going to buy another cigalike and use prefilled cartos, stick with KR808D-1. I'd buy today (22% off sale ends today) and get the Smokeless Image Volt Pro Starter Kit with 65mm automatic batteries, the "Smooth" sampler (tobacco) and their Portable Charging Case (PCC). The Volt batteries have a grippier surface and are regulated. They're available in a wider selection of colors and LED tip lights. Their automatic ones are sealed to be fluid resistant (not fluid-proof though). Their PCC has a 1,000 mAH replaceable battery (four full charges of a 65 mm cig battery), the battery under charge just snaps in, rather than screwing in, and there's a space for a second 65 mm battery with carto or longer battery without. Starting out with the PCC and two 65 mm cig batteries fully charged, a carto on one in the PCC plus a 5-pack of cartos, would give you 1440 mAH and about 5 ml of juice. The cartos can be refilled several times, for a small fraction of what they cost new, with juices not available in prefilled, so save them and the silicone end caps when done.

Smokeless Image is running a 22% off in stock items sale through Sunday with code restock919 You get it all for about $50.

Note they're having problems with their manual batteries not charging in their PCC or MegaCase, so go the auto route with this kit.

FWIW, I started with an eGo battery and a clearomizer. A 650 mAH eGo and eVod clearomizer should fit in a medium (toro vitola) cigar tube (I use the Mini ProTank clearomizer and it does).

 

[Sambuca]

hey Sam,

the problem with "smaller" is that it just isn't "easy". you have to charge cheap batteries all day that will die soon on you. not cost effective.

here's a pic of my 2 favorite batteries:



mega on the left, 2 itaste v3s, an n-joy and a dbox dube for comparison. the itaste are the smallest and cheapest vv/vw battery you can get. use them well and they should last a long time.

 

[Sambuca]

Sam,

i did some checking. this might be what you are looking for:



if that isn't your cup of tea, check the vids on the side of the page for comparisons.

here the halo site:

Classic White | G6 E-Cigarette Starter Kit | Halo Cigs

 

[athousandyears]

It's not the Steampunk Mod from Vent69.

I'll have that

 

[Wow1420]

Bloog, Smokeless Image Volt, Halo G6, are all going to perform in the same class as your Eonsmoke did. They can deliver a hit of nicotine and some flavor, but they aren't going to give you the satisfying "smoke" experience you're asking for.

It simply takes a larger, more powerful battery to deliver that. Ego batteries are the entry level device for a decent expience. A typical ego is 14mm wide and a few inches long. Longer length gives longer battery life (number of puffs). The ego twist (variable voltage) device that many are talking about is the same width but adds to the length. (I'd recommend the iTaste VV 3 over a twist, but that's a new topic if you're ever willing to look in that direction.)

 

[rhean]

...one other thing if you are going for a cigarette-like experience: PG gives you "throat hit," while VG gives you vapor. You may prefer a liquid that's proportionally more PG than VG, so look into the make-up of the juice you're ordering.

 

[firephly]

"Ecigs nic delivery is totally different from smoking. Most of us were looking for that 'rush' as when we smoked the real cig. Doesn't happen."

Yeah I think it just seems like that isn't gonna happen, I know what you mean. I did try upping the nicotine level of my juice and it made the hit seem a bit closer though...

 

[unknown_shooter]

i think everyone who quits wants the same thing - something that "hits" and tastes like their favorite analog.

the big thing to remember is that after xx years on analogs, your taste buds are dead & probably covered with a layer of tar & other unpleasant things. what *you* perceive as a "great taste" smells & tastes like burning ... to a normal taste bud. after just a few days of vaping, the crud starts to come off your tongue & your taste-buds wake up..

then youre in trouble, cause that awesome analog isnt going to cut it anymore.. youll need to choke down half a carton of ...-flavor before they taste "good" again.. at that point, most of us start looking for something acceptable to working tastebuds that tastes nothing like you remember..