Canadian Newbie....looking for guidance and advice from canadian memebers

[Desp_Quitter]

Hi...I am a newbie at this forum and I am looking for some support and guidance. I am a 1pack a day smoker....desparate to quit for health reasons....but love the social aspect of smoking....as many of us do.
I have seen some posts in other threads that have been very interesting and informative but unfortunately, I cannot participate. I realize that my questions may be answered in other threads so I apologize, but this is the problem when there is so much. Here are my questions below and I am hoping that I can get some fellow canucks to participate since we are somewhat more restricted than our sourthern friends.
1. What should I be looking for in a strater kit?
2.Atomizers, Carto's, Batteries, juice, mods, drips???? Lot's of lingo I have yet to understand.
3.Any canadians have success in quitting analogs (i understand that one) without having juice with Nicotine?? Since it doesn't seem like we are able to get our hands on juice with nicotine, I'm wondering if I should just make a run for the border??
4.I want something that has minimal maintenace trhoughout the day....I can vape it all day and do whatever maintence I need once I get home?? Do I need multiple cartridges, tanks or whatever to do this??
5.What is the re-curring cost/maintenance I need to be aware of when swtiching to Vapour? Is it more expesnive to Vape? There seems to be quite a bit involved??
6.Any recommended starter kits?

thansk for your support

 

[Eddie.Willers]

Welcome to ECF, eh?

You have lots of questions, lots of confusion over the lingo and lots of doubts - don't worry, we were all in the same boat when we started out.

But this forum is vape-central, and full of generous, helpful, friendly folk. First thing you must do is to get your post count to 5+ so you can join your fellow Canucks in the Canada sub-forum - they can give you the best help on Canadian suppliers etc. who will carry what you need - from what I understand, nicotine-containing liquid is widely available in your part of the world but it's not quite as open as in the USA.

Yes - a starter kit is the best place to begin. If you are not concerned about the device looking like a 'real' cigaret and you want a device that lasts the day then look at something like an E-Power. This uses a regular, commercial, rechargeable battery that should give 8-10 hours use between charging. The 'standard' 510 thread has been widely adopted in the vaping world so that gives you best access to third-party accessories and fittings.

Start with cartomizers - the Boge 2 ohm is good, or 1.7 ohm if you want more of a kick - and a liquid at 18-24mg as this will be enough to keep the cravings at bay for a Pack-a-day smoker.

Enjoy the ride, read and learn and keep in mind there's no such thing as a 'stupid question'.

 

[TonyTT]

Hiya!!!!, welcome to ECF, I know it's all a little overwhelming at first, but it's well worth the effort.

First off, getting nicotine juice in Canada isn't the major problem, it's trying to get it into canada. The solution to this, is to research Canadian juice vendors. There is a thread in the Canadian forum, that you once you get enough posts, you can ask to be PM'd (Private Message'd) a list of Canadian Juice and Hardware vendors. I really like Mapleleafvapes, and Jugheadz is pretty good as well. For hardware, I love canvape's prices, but to be fair I also live in Ottawa, so I tend to favour canvape and mapleleafvapes because they're located in Toronto, so shipping is always super fast.

It takes a lot of experimenting to get the set-up you want, and I have a ton of stuff that I tried and didn't really like for one reason or another. You also got to take into account how you want to allocate the money you do spend. I started off wanting the tastiest highquality juices, and I also didn't want to make my own. Juices are kinda like recipes, and some of them are almost like well kept secrets, some can set you back as much as 30 dollars for a 30ml bottle, and while they taste amazing, after a while I could not justify the cost. I think the one thing I did do right, was I bought a provari, almost straight out of the gate, after trying the 510-t model. So personally the things that were important to me were.

-Having something reliable, though expensive, meant I only had to buy 1.
-Not buying a ton of cartomizer's and constantly having to refill them. A cartomizer will last anywhere from 3 days to a couple of weeks depending, and you have to top them off with juice every hour or so.
-I didn't want to pay a ton for juice.

After a lot of trial and error, the system I am currently on is:

Model: Provari VV E-cig from provari. The battery will generally last me a day and a half before I need to change it.
Juice Delivery System: I use a DCT dual coil tank system from canvape. It holds 6ml of juice around a cartomizer, and I generally refill it once every 2-3 days.

I have my spending down now to about 75 bucks every 2-3 months. I'll usually buy 3 packs of cartomizers from canvape (30 bucks), and 4 30ml bottles of juice (40 bucks).

I also HIGHLY reccomend buying clear juices, generally the fruity or candyish flavours, like apple, peach, cotton candy. Personally I don't like them as much, I much prefer the warmer flavours like caramel, wurther's and ry4; but I've found that the brown and dark coloured juices, kill cartomizer's a lot faster. Brown colouring seems to gunk up the works. A cartomizer with wurthers could last me 2-3 days before I don't like the vape, whereas, I've had apple going in one of my cartomizers for a month or two, and the only reason I change cartomizers, is because I end up dropping my e-cig, and breaking the cartomizer. If you have any questions just PM me, I think I may have thrown too much info at you

Again, welcome to ECF

 

[TonyTT]

Also thought it could be helpful to list everything I currently use, with the idea of never having to worry about my set-up during the day.

-Provari V1 with charger, and 3 batteries (1 spare, and two that I rotate, 1 charging, while the other is in the e-cig) 273.00$

-Smoktech Dual Coil Tank (I like to have 2-3 of them, each with a different juice, that I just keep on me in a glasses case. I get bored with a flavour, and I just screw on another tank. I will generally take a minute every 2-3 days to top em all off) 10$ each

-Smoktech Dual Coil Cartomizers (It's the cartomizer that is designed for the tank mentioned above. They last a really long time, give a great vape, but you need to make the hole bigger with a saddle-valve from home depot) 10$ for a pack of 5

-30ml bottle of juice (I will generally buy 4 bottles at a time, and they last me a good 2 months) 10$ each

-Drip tips (They go on the cartomizer so you have a mouth piece. I like the aluminum ones you can get from canvape, b/c I like the colours) 2.50 a piece.

-Saddle-valve (To make the holes bigger so that Juice can travel from the tank, into the cartomizer, you only need to buy one) 7$

And that's pretty much what I use. I've tried to cut costs down to the bare minimum, because I'm a student, and I can't keep buying every new toy as it comes out. I bought the provari, because I didn't want to buy another mod, so I just tried to gun for the best, and ever have to think about buying something else. This is kind of the no frills package.

p.s Dual coils are generally only something you use on an e-cig with a lot of battery power. DO NOT try and use the dual coils on a small cigarette looking e-cig. It won't be able to pump out enough power. Also i use the 2.7 ohm resistance dual coils.

 

[Desp_Quitter]

Thanks Tony....I'm not sure how to PM you, but I have add you as a friend. Hopefully, i can chat with you more. The provari seems a bit out of my budget. Since I am new and looking to try this out right now, I was thinking my initial investment shouldn't be more than $100?? Any ideas?

 

[fourtytwo]

One thing I found was that I was replacing one habit for another. I went from smoking to shopping for vaping stuff.
The first step is to buy something and get off smoking.
If you start off with an inexpensive starter kit like the Riva eGo (canvape has a good price on it), you can always move up to a more advanced setup later.
Keep in mind how much you smoke and how much those cost. If you smoke a pack a day and the average cost of a pack is $9 or $10, how much is it costing you per week...
Join us on the Canada sub-forum.

 

[TonyTT]

Yeah, I forgot to put a disclaimer, it's important to work within your budget. I don't have much experience with other e-cig models. The 510-t made me so miserable that I kinda overcompensated with the provari. It's completely understandable that you want something to first start off. But I also have seen some of my friends whom I've turned onto vaping. They weren't 100% committed. Right out the gate, they just wanted to save money, they believed the ad, that a little battery was good for an hour of vaping, and so that's like enough for a whole day, since they smoked x amount of analogs, and it took on avg 7 min to smoke 1, and that a cartomizer was the equivalent of 12 analogs, then they did the math and figured that they 2 batteries, a pack of cartomizers and 10ml of juice to last a month and see how it goes. In the beginning, it is important to err on the side of overdoing it. If you want this to work out, you should be setting aside at least 30-40 dollars a week, and buying new things every week or so, because your e-cig is your last defense before cracking down and buying a pack of smokes. What if your charger breaks, what if your battery dies, what if you run out of cartridges or cartomizers. That means you have to go home, make an order, and wait by the mail box for 3-7 days for your replacements to arrive, and all you can think about is having a smoke. And no, Canada Post will not deliver on sundays, no matter how much you wish for it. I don't want to scare you, but I remember that period all to well. My e-cig tasted horribly like burning plastic, zero to no vapor, and I spent the most HORRIBLE 2 weeks using it, while I waited for a pack of Boge Cartomizers. It's good to have back-ups for your back-ups, and always have something new and shiny in the mail, at least in the beginning. It's actually probably more important than the vaping. We're human, we get bored with what we have, we need motivation to make it till next week. Nothing says "I can do it", like knowing you have 3 new flavours coming in the mail.

My friend got the KSD ego VV passthru from canvape, and he seems pretty happy with it. It might be a good place to start. It has 900 mah, which is a good place to start. the general rule is 100mah to every hour of vaping. It's also a passthru meaning you can charge it as you vape. It has a USB end so you "can" use your laptop to charge it, but the risk of frying a 2000$ laptop, with a 15 dollar piece of hardware is something I don't recommend. You can however get a USB to wall adapter from canvape for like 4 bucks I think. It says it's variable voltage, and you can set it from like 3.3, 3.7, and 4.2, but it's not regulated, meaning that heat of your vapor is going to pitter off, as the battery looses charge. Still, it's not a bad place to start I don't think.

vv eGo ego variable voltage ego ksd 3.2 3.7 4.2 pass through usb 900mAh 5 click electronic cigarette e-cig smoke vape vaper vapor vapour

If anyone else could take a look and maybe give some input?

 

[TonyTT]

Oh and stay away from tank systems....this might sound like confusing advice, but there's two kind of tanks systems, the ones that are plastic shells that wrap around cartomizers, and then there's these hybrid cartridge systems, where the juice is kept in a little plastic capsule on top of an atomizer. They're generally recognized by the letter C or T and then end, like the 510-t, or the EGo-T or EGO-C. They're finicky and don't work for everyone

 

[fourtytwo]

Yeah, I forgot to put a disclaimer, it's important to work within your budget. I don't have much experience with other e-cig models. The 510-t made me so miserable that I kinda overcompensated with the provari. It's completely understandable that you want something to first start off. But I also have seen some of my friends whom I've turned onto vaping. They weren't 100% committed. Right out the gate, they just wanted to save money, they believed the ad, that a little battery was good for an hour of vaping, and so that's like enough for a whole day, since they smoked x amount of analogs, and it took on avg 7 min to smoke 1, and that a cartomizer was the equivalent of 12 analogs, then they did the math and figured that they 2 batteries, a pack of cartomizers and 10ml of juice to last a month and see how it goes. In the beginning, it is important to err on the side of overdoing it. If you want this to work out, you should be setting aside at least 30-40 dollars a week, and buying new things every week or so, because your e-cig is your last defense before cracking down and buying a pack of smokes. What if your charger breaks, what if your battery dies, what if you run out of cartridges or cartomizers. That means you have to go home, make an order, and wait by the mail box for 3-7 days for your replacements to arrive, and all you can think about is having a smoke. And no, Canada Post will not deliver on sundays, no matter how much you wish for it. I don't want to scare you, but I remember that period all to well. My e-cig tasted horribly like burning plastic, zero to no vapor, and I spent the most HORRIBLE 2 weeks using it, while I waited for a pack of Boge Cartomizers. It's good to have back-ups for your back-ups, and always have something new and shiny in the mail, at least in the beginning. It's actually probably more important than the vaping. We're human, we get bored with what we have, we need motivation to make it till next week. Nothing says "I can do it", like knowing you have 3 new flavours coming in the mail.

My friend got the KSD ego VV passthru from canvape, and he seems pretty happy with it. It might be a good place to start. It has 900 mah, which is a good place to start. the general rule is 100mah to every hour of vaping. It's also a passthru meaning you can charge it as you vape. It has a USB end so you "can" use your laptop to charge it, but the risk of frying a 2000$ laptop, with a 15 dollar piece of hardware is something I don't recommend. You can however get a USB to wall adapter from canvape for like 4 bucks I think. It says it's variable voltage, and you can set it from like 3.3, 3.7, and 4.2, but it's not regulated, meaning that heat of your vapor is going to pitter off, as the battery looses charge. Still, it's not a bad place to start I don't think.

vv eGo ego variable voltage ego ksd 3.2 3.7 4.2 pass through usb 900mAh 5 click electronic cigarette e-cig smoke vape vaper vapor vapour

If anyone else could take a look and maybe give some input?

I think starting off with something simple is not a bad thing. Those KSD eGo VV batteries are excellent. A couple of those and a few low resistance Stardusts eGo Vision Star Dust SR or LR and some juice, you should be good to kick those ciggies.

 

[ramman]

One thing I found was that I was replacing one habit for another. I went from smoking to shopping for vaping stuff.
The first step is to buy something and get off smoking.
If you start off with an inexpensive starter kit like the Riva eGo (canvape has a good price on it), you can always move up to a more advanced setup later.
Keep in mind how much you smoke and how much those cost. If you smoke a pack a day and the average cost of a pack is $9 or $10, how much is it costing you per week...
Join us on the Canada sub-forum.

I agree. I bought the 1100mah Riva kit from Canvape. It was a good price and batteries last pretty good. It even came with some empty cartridges to get you going (once you buy some juice).

On a side note and something to prepare for: The issue I'm having now is seeing all the flavours of juice and wanting to try them ALL! I spent more this month then I did on tobacco in a month.
BUT...I'm enjoying it and I'm getting healthier. I'm sure I'll calm down on the spending once I find the juices I love...or the wife puts dmeands a spending freeze lol.
In the meantime, I'm getting a nice little collection of half empty 10ml bottles

 

[LesVegas]

Hi Quitter. This is my first post but been lurking and reading the Canadian forum constantly for a couple months. Wish I saw it a little earlier as I started vaping 3 months ago and wasted a lot of money on the US ecig sites buying overpriced stuff that looks like a ciggy. Some things I ordered were refused by customs though I did eventually get refunds. Other things came through but just did not satisfy me and I thought this wasnt going to work.
My best advice is to trust any of the Canadian vendors you see mentioned often here on ecf. I have ordered from 10 in total and received bad service from only one, and that one is not a contributor here.
Buy an ego (or ego style) starter kit. The Riva kit from Canvape that was mentioned would probably be your best choice, and its only 50 bucks. The 1100 mah version will last you all day.
You will NOT find any liquids that taste like cigarettes but the cigarette flavours are the best way to start.
Buy 2 packs of either Boge or Kanger cartomizers to start and a few 10ml bottles of liquid at 18mg strength to start. You can move up or down from there.
Read the Canadian forum daily, its not just a great source of info but also support, and by reading about vaping you will be more inclined to want to vape and therefore not smoke.
Its tough at first, and you dont have to quit smoking immediately, I transitioned and have been cigarette free for a month and do not even miss it. I was a 1.5 pack a day smoker for almost 30 years and I loved smoking so it can be done.
Finding liquid you like at the best strength for you can be tricky and costly because of trial and error but with equipment you can spend as much or as little as you like.
Good luck to you.

 

[reminator]

hi there, canuck as well, so welcome to ecf, from montreal!

my 2 cents:

ordered a double 510 joytech ecigs (cigarette size lookin) + a on-the-go recharging case, and a 110v charger for 114$ at happyvapper.com then eliquids from vaporium.ca (there both in canada)

been lovin it ever since!