CONTEST: Ok,So Who Here Loves Vapin, But Can't Afford Their Favorite Mod.

[SmilingSlasher]

I can't say that vaping is failing me entirely. vaping has brought me one step closer to being a healthier person, and living a healthier life. I, also can't say I need a high priced mod. For those who don't know, I was the winner of Great Lakes Vapor's FIRST GLV Giveaway. Plus.......to beat that, when I won it I had only been a member at ECF for a month and a half. ECF has been a major influence in my life now, and vaping has become a "lifestyle", not the dirty "habit" smoking had become for me. So......I guess I'm saying I don't want a mod for me. I want one for my wife.

My wife has been the backbone of our marriage for the past 4 years. I lost my job, at a local auto parts store, 4 years ago. Troubled past and a "no tolorance for crap" attitude has held me back, not from just getting a job, but from lots of other things. She has carried our family financially, and with a solid stature. The price in that is she can never afford to buy the things in life she longs for. No shopping sprees. No new shoes. She shops as thrifty as she can, so she can afford to pay the insurance, groceries, and aminities of life.

Now don't get me wrong.......I do provide some things. I do odds and end work. Fix this, Mod a Wii or two to make some money, but it in no way provides an income that could supply her with all the things she wants or deserves.

In August, we were evicted from our home because of a spat between me and my drunk-*ss (former) neighbor ( see what I mean about that attitude?). We packed our entire home into storage and have been living the past 5 months in Kernersville, NC, with my best friend. Everyone here knows her......Give CrashTestJeep a big hand!!!! She really has been a "TRUE FRIEND". If you don't know one of those......PM her, she makes for a great friend!! Anyway...........

So, 5 months now, here in one lil bedroom. Me, my wife....her dog, my cat....and my cat's cat. That's how I got into vaping. At first, put off by it, I gave in to the curiosity and picked up her first lil PV. A Joye510. I hit it, impressed I looked into ECF. Soon I signed up and began my journey.

Now, CrashTestJeep has become the QUEEN of vaping, IMOH. She owns like 10 mods. My wife has been wanting to get her hands on one of those Chucks since CTJ got her first......The LiveStrong Chuck. If you were to pick my entry, I would want to give my wife a Lil' Chuck. She has had one design stuck in her head from day one. A memorial for her Dad. He passed away 2 years ago, on Thanksgiving after being in a coma for 18 days. He was the victim of a bad auto accident. He was her entire world......and I must admit, maybe mine too. I sometimes joke with her that I only married her so he could be my Father-in-Law. I sure do miss him. She sure does miss him.

Not everything is bad news though........Thursday my wife got us approved for a new apartment. We are gonna have a Home again!!!! No more burden to CTJ and her lil family.....no more feeling like we are intruding on other people. But it comes at a price. Now, she will have to wait even longer to buy herself a PV. We just got her a L2 510 kit, because it was the cheapest we could find. She likes it, it works.....but she deserves to have something special. For everything she does. Everything she sacrifices to help our family. To help me. She really is a selfless person.

I do let her use the GLV and even offered it to her, but she insists that I won it and I should keep it. She shoulda took it cause I sat on it last Saturday and broke it. Now I'm down to using the 403 I won from Drew. The 403 is an excellent lil e-cig and has kept me from going back to the smokes, and the GLV is getting fixed........but this still leaves my wife with the lil ol 510.

Please help her. Please help me, help her. I have tried to get her into ECF.....she has an account. She has even signed on and read some threads, but she mainly is just to tired to be online all night talking to people. Her name on here is "Diddys Girl" ( See what I mean about her being Daddys Lil Girl). She could really use a prize to keep her in high spirits. Lord knows, I'm no prize.....lol.

Thanks for the oppertunity to let us share. Thanks for thinking of others, and their needs. Thank you for letting me get this off of my chest. My prize has been getting this outta my head after months of thinking it. Mostly though........Thanks for being here. Just for being at ECF. You are helping change lives, lifestyles, opinions, and health.

420Smiles (Jimmy)

 

[stopx]

OK, christ, these other folks deserve this, I Withdraw.
Happy Vapeing y'all

 

[tribalmasters]

Must...have...vape...pleeeease!!

 

[ZorbaTheGreek]

I'm very happy to be off the analogs. I run my own business that has been very slow and I've barely been able to keep juice in my PV. I've had one battery fail totally, and one is starting to act funny, and I just don't have the money to buy parts. I used christmas money to get a couple spare atomizers. But batteries are twice as expensive. And it frustrates me that they fail since there is very little reason for them to besides bad design. A big battery mod is the solution I'm looking for, because even when the batteries die, they're much cheaper to replace than a 15$ battery for an ecig. I would really love to replace at least one of the less reliable parts with something that will save me money in the long run. As atomizers and juice aren't as expensive as the batteries. And, at my rate, I'm blowing batteries twice as fast as atomizers! I am satisfied with vaping. But down to one battery and one iffy battery. I would really like to step up to a more reliable power source. It's great of you to make this kind offer to help some vapers in need. I hope everyone you pick finds what they need in their new unit!

 

[OMB]

I have so much and feel blessed, and I hate to sound like I'm whining. I have been a heavy smoker for almost 30 years. Mom smoked while she was pregnant with me, and all my growing up years (in THAT case I have smoked all my 45 years). Yet, she was shocked when she caught me smoking at 15. Anyway, I have tried quitting in almost every way: Zyban, patches, gums, lozenges, Accupuncture,....and Chantix. With Chantix, I had such a bad reaction that I lost my cool at work and found myself very close to being fired. Nothing has worked. My mom died rather suddenly from lung cancer 8 years ago. She was losing weight, coughing, etc. She suffered in silence and she was so far gone by the time the Dr. found her cancer, she only lived 9 days from her day of diagnosis. I have tried....and tried...and tried to quit...and STILL I smoke!
I have a decent job, but where I am living is bleeding me dry-it's just too expensive. Because I cannot find anyone around here that allows renters to have pets, I am not able to get out of here right now. The oil heat is about killing me $ wise.
By going through ECF, I found a couple of angels! One sent me a charger and juice, the other sent me a 901!!! I have thanked them profusely....they made a huge difference in my life!! I can see quitting cigs, but I need more than 1 901 atty and battery. I was finally able to scratch together enough $ to order a 510, which is on a slow boat from China, I guess. Anyway-if I was able to get a mod of my chosing, I would then be able to "Pay it Forward" and help someone else, as my angels did for me. The 510 and 901 would be regifted to others who are unable to afford an alternative to smoking.
Thanks so much!! Your offer and selflessness are rare...and very appreciated by all here!

 

[jlmanno]

IAMREALITY. I truly feel heart warmed at what your proposing to give. I too was always a giver until an accident involving my being a volunteer paramedic/firefighter left me disabled. My wife is also disabled due to many different medical conditions. Though struggling financially we found the money to smoke until in desperation I took from what we had to begin vaping. Vaping has been a God send not only inn dollars saved but in the general improvements in our health. My wife and I share supplies, battreies etc. and although we have saved money from analogs we believed inthe saving efforts and have donated extra kits we've purchased to friends and family that also being financially disabled needed to share in vaping in attempts to help save their lives. We have 2 older children 20, 22 that are starting their lives on their own and cannot help us financially though they commend our switching to vaping after so many years of trying to quit. 30+ years for both myself and my wife. We also have an 11 year old in our home that recently donated some of his savings from gifts to us to purchase supplies for our vaping as he feels we are hero's for quitting the analogs. A mod would certainly benefit the struggle especially for my wife who struggles with the fiddling and frustration of constantly struggling to keep batteries going that are now on their last legs etc. She is out more as she helps our daughter to raise our newer grand children and tries to work a couple hours a day to support our vaping habit. I have gone without certain medications to continue to purchase supplies although they are less than half of what I did spend on analogs. I am at home more and spend more time here that I can fiddle with the more inferior kits I have. Not so much inferior as dying and deficient equipment. Any mod would be a great gift as we could help continue our endeavors to pass along PV's to others we feel are less fortunate than we are.
I have a PT that a generous forum member sent me that was getting me by ut is now failing, but we make due with what we have to continue vaping and improving our health. I hope that your generosity is rewarded ten fold, I know the feeling I've had donating a cart, bat, atty and a little juice to help another quit analogs. Unfortunately the people that struggle financially seem to as we did need that nic to help get through the day and get to the next. Thank you and be blessed, as well as all the other members out there struggling in this current economic situation. I always keep the hope knowing there is always someone out there worse off than we are.

 

[KarrMcDebt]

And I'm so broke....well, I can still eat, but I quit smoking so that I could LOL.

And I need a juice box so bad that I made a pretend juice box out of crap I had laying arround the house, just to act as a security blanket till I can save up the money,....sometime next year. <sniff>

Look, here is the link to the picturs:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modders-forum/62699-my-first-mod-i-call-karma-box.html

Busted cell phone, a very old licorice tin (unknown origin), a momentary button (unknown origin), A locking button (from a toy lightsaber),..Oh, I had to buy the C clip from the Ace hardware accross the street, it cost $0.20, and the atty from the 510 starter kit I have. (wires from a busted piece of network cable).

I haven't had a cigarette in 40 days, thats 57600 agonizing minutes of withdrawl, and the worst part is now I realize how bad people smell, and just how bad Jack in the Box realy tastes. (I lived on Jack in the Box for years cuz its cheap and I couldn't realy taste it. Now that I can taste I don't know where I'll be eating.)

I spen hours dredging the forums for pics and descriptions of experiences with Juice boxes, just dreaming of the day when my hopes and wishes come true. The day the MailMan arrives bareing my new Holy Grail, and the end of my agony.

Oh, wait....
Nevermind, I just realized I can't afford to buy Juice to fill it.

 

[reeds101]

Awesome thing you are doing here, but I am very content with what I have.

 

[Drozd]

Geez...I just have to throw my story in there because of how insanely rediculous it sounds..I mean there are runs if bad luck and then there's this..
Background first off, I am the sole support for myself, fiance, her daughter and our son (born march 30 2007)
Starting June 14th 2007 I was at a job site and got my leg run over and my leg broken by a piece of heavy machinery (tibia and fibia broken)..I was lucky in the fact that I didn't need surgery to repair the break but I was in a cast, couldn't work, couldn't be as active with my newborn son as I wanted to be, couldn't really drive as my right leg was in a cast...couldn't do much but smoke analogs and the doctor (total ball buster) says I have to quit smoking and take chantix or he'll write me off and say theres nothing more he can do and thereby loose my workman's comp...so tried the chantix for a while which gave me terrible dreams, depression, and nausia...just couldnt quit with it or the gum..
So finally I'm cleared to return to work on Dec 9th 2007...but I hadn't been feeling so well for about a month and had gotten a new doctor so go to see him on the 10th...and bam there it was the big C...not lung cancer...for me it was testicular cancer...and I'm told I'm going in for surgery Dec 12th 2007...it'd be similar to a hernia operation and again "quit smoking" afterward I'd have to go through radiation therapy and hopefully I could avoid Chemo....so this time round I tried the gum and patch...as i healed from surgery over christmas still not able to be real active with my little boy...not wanting to smoke around the kids...but at the same time unable to quit and not much else for me to do...
Finally get out of radiation and work is slow which is ok because I was weak from the radiation and had apprenticeship school to keep me occupied...got in a couple months of work and then bam..
July 5th 2008...some kid playing with fireworks in the wee hours of the morning burns down over half the apartment complex we were living in...barely got me and the fiance and the 2 kids out with just what we were wearing at the time...everything lost, including the kid's kitten...and due to the medical run and bills no renters insurance at the time...lost all my specialized work tools, all the tools used for my side job...all the pictures and everything of our kids and our son's birth....totally devistated back up to a pack and a half to two packs a day plus the fiance up to a pack a day...
So months to scrimp and save to replace all my work tools and find a new place in the down turning economy and work in my trade becoming scarcer and scarcer but having to try and figure out where to get cigs and still replace the kids stuff...
So that's were I'm at now, still laid off for better than a year...trying to scrimp and save and replace the stuff my family lost from scratch doing the best I can on what little unemployment there is and using that to cover rent, utilities, and food for a family of 4...all the while scraping up change for 2 1/2 packs of smokes a day between the 2 of us..
It was a huge gamble scraping together enough to give a 510 kit a shot (which we split...heavy smokers on one 510 battery is not a good idea)...then scraping enough together for a second kit (thats what my other half and I gave each other for christmas this year) to get us through and still have enough $ to put something under the tree for our kids...I now HATE smoking around the kids I know it isn't good for them and for the most part the 510 is working but my MG strength is climbing 36mg and still getting cravings...and the batteries just aren't going to cut it when work takes off again in a month or so...tried another model and that really isn't working either actually it's worse than the 510...I think there might be a mod or 2 out there that might see me through and work out but I just don't have the $ to try out everything that might work..been scraping funds together to try and pick one out before the lure of analogs becomes too tempting (actually had one last week while trying to figure and balance bills)
Anyway that's my long involved story...I know it sounds almost comical...no one can have a streak of luck that bad right?...well I do....and the hell of it is my little boy is almost 3 now and I still haven't had the health or freedom from medical issues to really run around and play with him like a proper father...that's what I'm banking and hoping on PVs for, a better, happier, healthier time for my kids...

 

[cassavetes]

I can't really say I need anything at the moment. Of course there's a lot of mods I'd like to try, but there's probably many others who could benefit from this more than myself.

Just want to say this is super kind of you, Jeremy. Glad to know there are stll kind hearted people out there. Good karma for you.

 

[MastiffMike]

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[SmilingSlasher]

I tried to keep it factual and left out the emotional/personal parts (I don't think grooveling/whining does me any good - I got myself addicted and have nobody to blame but myself).

Are you trying to imply that some people here are lying? And......We are all talking about our LIVES, so that alone kinda makes it personal, and emotional for that matter. Grooveling/Whining, as you put it, does nobody any good.......but I've yet to see anyone in this thread do either ( Except in the part I've quoted). And NONE of us were MADE to start smoking.....We all chose that path.

So why the smarmy comment? We all have a reason to be posting here in this thread.......Don't try to step on someone else, just to finish the race. Stop and take a look at around. Find the way to finish, while supporting the other runners........it'll pay off in the end.



And @ Drozd....... Sounds like you and me run the same race. From one near miss to the next. LOL Hope everything is starting to turn your way, man. Keep ya head up!!!!!

 

[hope4health]

Well first of all I accidentally ran into this forum looking for help with my volcano. I am new to vapeing and don't even really know what all the mods are, i recieved my volcano 2 weeks ago monday and it has been a nightmare. the kit came with 25 cartridges "which i was excited about" but i should have gotten more or something because it took around 22 of them to break in the atomizer and i have really only enjoyed 3 carts in the past day in a half and it actually isn't that enjoyable to be honest, because it doesn't produce a good throat hit or much vapor for that matter. I have been a camel smoker for roughly 15 years and as most of you know camels are harsh ciggerates and i love the throat hit that they give. I can't really afford another kit right now so i think i will be stuck with this one for awhile and hope that the atty don't die as ill probably only be able to afford new carts for the next few months tell work picks back up in the spring, I do landscapeing and there isn't much work during the rainy season in washington lol. Well anyway enough of my whinning i think it is really cool what you were doing, and well to be honest when i was reading the post my eyes were wide and mouth open and then a big smile poped up on my face "WOW there are truely some Awesome people out there"

Take care and keep vapeing...

 

[MastiffMike]

420Smiles,

Sorry my original post offended you. That was not my intention nor was it meant to be "smarmy". Some people have a hard time opening up (especially on a public forum) and I guess I'd fall into that catagory. I tried to give as much detail as I felt comfortable with but I guess it was poorly written. Lesson learned. Now I see why my wife spends hours a day reading a support forum but yet has never posted...

As for your other comments,aAs I stated in my post, I wrote mine BEFORE reading anyone else's so how could I be speaking about anyone but myself?

What IAMREALITY is doing is wonderful and I certainly didn't intend to tarnish the thread in any way nor have my story cause an uproar. I've deleted my post and hopefully that'll be the end of it and this thread can go back to it's intended purpose.

 

[SmilingSlasher]

Norm.....

Your first post didn't offend me. It just seemed that the last lil bit in your post was "off". You didn't need to erase it. When I read your post the last snippit of it was what I quoted......Then you went back and edited the post and added the part about not reading the thread before you posted. I'm not mad or anything......I'm glad you are here at ECF. As I'm glad we all are.......but none of us should feel like others are lying to get ahead or to get something.

As for "openning up" in a public forum......I can understand. I have been a forum member at Xbox-Scene and at XBMC.org.......and on other forums too, so open forums are not new to me.....BUT, being able to talk to people in the forum, about my life outside of the forum.....well that only happens here at ECF. I feel like the people here care about me. Care about you....and yours. We are all here for support and the only way to support people is to know what or who you are supporting. That simple.

I'm not the biggest person on sharing. I don't do the MySpace, the Facebook.....and I only Twitter cuss words but here.....I feel I can share with no feeling of being bashed. I'm not bashing you.........just trying to get you to understand. Hopefully we have cleared this up. You have a good day, Norm. Tell your wife to keep reading that forum........but make sure she drops a lil "Hello" to her fellow forum members. They need support too.

 

[Overlord]

What you are doing is great, this can help a lot of people who will probably never get their hands on a mod.

Me and my wife were hardcore smokers. At the end of our last smoking phase, we were spending beyond our means on cigs. I came across the Blu ads and found out about the world of vaping.

Being married with 4 kids, crippling debt, I found enough to get each of us a kit and some juice.

These kits have lasted us enough up until recently more near the holidays. Bought juice here and there but the hardware was stretched out beyond its means. It worked for us and for that we're grateful to everyone here.

For the last 2ish months, my wifes hardware has been failing and she's resorted to analogs here and there especially when im at work and something goes wrong with her 401. But its been getting worse and i've resorted to using an old atty and a NiMH battery mod I made so she could use my semi working 510. Due to her lack of knowledge, it has been abused in the last month and is failing too.

To help her, I borred money from a family member and bought a Protege for her that should be here any day. Although adding debt to more debt is not the way to go but this is important as the kids and I couldn't live without her.

Its extended battery life, solid construction and replacement cost of the battery is what interested me in this plus its size. I really want her off of those analogs for good but she can't stand the frustration thats coming from our failing equipment. I've always had my eye on a Protege too but at the cost its currently at, all I could afford was one for her.

Take Care

 

[Drozd]

And @ Drozd....... Sounds like you and me run the same race. From one near miss to the next. LOL Hope everything is starting to turn your way, man. Keep ya head up!!!!!

No doubt and to you too...here it seems like it may be looking up finally with some big projects needing to be built soon...it now comes down to if jobs get dispatched before unemployment runs out..
but yeah you sound like me in the "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" club..

@norman I don't think it sounded snarky or like you were accusing anyone of lying...and to be truthful this is the first time I've written my whole story down and theres so much bad luck to it it almost becomes comical...but I totally get the pride and some things are too personal/emotional thing..
For me it's backwards though...pride and have a strong showing for my family not lose it in front of them...out here on the net, finally writing it all down is kinda cathartic ya know...no way would I have broke down in front of my family thinking about the fact that I got hit with a cancer diagnosis before my first born even turned 1..strong for them you know... a lot of 1 ball jokes and "quit smoking? why? what'll it do give me cancer?" jokes...but out here where theres a sense of annomity and no really knows you it kinda feels good...like the concept of an AA meeting where no one's gonna judge and if they do so what who's gonna really know...as men, as proud stong men we put up that image sometimes we gotta vent somewere and let it out..but if you're not comfortable with that thats fine too..

 

[techtony]

I would like you all to know that I am in no means a religious man but I pray that life gets better for you all. The Gov't should quit fighting these and hand them out to poor smokers, smokers with out jobs. I pray that for once the Gov't does the right thing. I would much rather see this than the crack ..... down the street having a new kid every year just to get more Gov't cheese! love to see my tax money going in her crack pipe.

 

[Drozd]

maybe thats what they should have done with all thse shipments they seized instead of destroying them...but seriously poor and collecting unemployment I may be...but when it omes down to it I can hustle a side job making something out of leather to keep me and the old lady in smokes for a few days easier if its just juice for a month or two...but exploring pricey hardware to keep off the analogs thats the hard part

 

[booboo]

Sweet..........................!