Cost effective vaping tips and tricks

[sdennislee]

I am an addictive person.. probably why i got hooked smoking. Really hard for me with vaping as i have a awesome AltSmoke B&M near me. I get $10 discount for every $100 i spend. Seems like i am getting way too many $10 discounts.

I stopped in the Alt Smoke in Columbus as I passing through from Erie to Cincinnati. Great store, lots of stuff, friendly staff. Same with their Cincinnati location. Their New Philadelphia location is very tiny not much in the way of inventory.

 

[certus11]

My wife has the best money saving technique.

She bought one mod in August, one tank, and hasn't used or even tried anything else since. She got 5 coils with her mod when she got it and we still have 2 of those left.

In otherwords, since August, the only thing she's spent money on is her juice which we buy 236ml at a time for less than $45. She's spent less than $100 in the past 6 months.

You have got something worthy there buddy.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

My husband is the same way, he could care less about all the fancy stuff I'm buying. He is happy with his ego-t while I now have the itaste vv 3.0, MVP2, looking into ibtanked and ordering 12 juices a week! He is just vaping away on classic menthol we got here locally.

Well that sounds boring!! He must have not gotten the "tinkerer" gene when they were passing them out. I come from a long line of tinkerers with a few piddlers mixed in there too!!

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Here's my strategy to save money (doesn't actually work for me, but it might for someone):

1. While you're shopping (either online or in a B&M) keep saying to yourself "It will still be there next week. It will still be there next week"
But it could be Out Of Stock next week!!
2. Don't try to save money by buying a larger bottle of e-liquid if you haven't tried it before! Even if you liked other juices from the same vendor!
This I totally agree with!!

3. Stay away from ECF! It will tempt you mercilessly to try/buy new stuff.
Agree here too!!
4. Likewise, don't go near FastTech unless you have very good self-control!!!!!
OK, I agree on three out of four!!

What a life, huh??

 

[Agamer]

Here's my strategy to save money (doesn't actually work for me, but it might for someone):

1. While you're shopping (either online or in a B&M) keep saying to yourself "It will still be there next week. It will still be there next week"

2. Don't try to save money by buying a larger bottle of e-liquid if you haven't tried it before! Even if you liked other juices from the same vendor!

3. Stay away from ECF! It will tempt you mercilessly to try/buy new stuff.

4. Likewise, don't go near FastTech unless you have very good self-control!!!!!

Boo to you!! I didn't know FastTech was an option till I saw it here well there goes all the $$$$$$ lol

 

[redz22]

Honestly the best advice I have, and many people will probably disagree with this, is to buy clones when you can. You just have to do some research and make sure they are good quality clones. A lot of clones out there now are just as good as the original in vape quality, and some times even build quality.

 

[Completely Average]

4. Likewise, don't go near FastTech unless you have very good self-control!!!!!

I stay away from FastTech because I don't have the patience, and they rarely carry exactly what I want. Fortunately I have a B&M shop near me that stocks hCigar mods. I would rather pay the extra $30 and get a high quality clone today than have to wait weeks or months for what is usually a slightly cheaper (once you add in shipping), lower quality clone to arrive from FastTech.

 

[Completely Average]

You have got something worthy there buddy.

Been with her 20 years and still can't help but smile when I look at her.

When we first started dating I had just moved back from a bad out of state relationship. No money, no job, lived at home with my parents (At the age of 24, not good). For then first 6 months until I got on my feet she basically took me out and paid for everything. She would even give me gas money so I could pick her up so it looked like a proper date.

I knew then I had found a keeper.

 

[flexsr]

Ha I agree with the poster who. Said stay away from here after finding the setup you like - I spent thousands in beginning of my vape "career" then found the reo which satisfied me - my finical situation did change and I made a conscious decision to stay away from here - I wanna try everything when I come here - the reo did the trick for me so I had to keep my fingers away from here cause I was buying gear at an alarming rate and at end of the day it's the same .... really -


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[JQside]

...with Atty, I'm told rebuilding is easy enough and cheap enough...I have no experience but I'm sure someone can fill us in on tips for cheap long lasting atty's. One thing I will say is strong dark flavours in VG kill Attys much quicker than unflavoured PG. So vapeing plain PG, with occasional flavours will be cheaper for those who can do it.

I got by without analogs using Boge cartos for more than 2 years now. Just recently, tanks, RBAs, whatever you call them, have become part of my vaping arsenal. Protank and Kayfun coils are relatively easy to set up, as compared to RSST types. So now I can use dark flavors whenever I want as long as it's thin. A carto will probably just last 2 days, instead of week/s,

 

[csantiago1911]

For those of us who who want to use tank systems (clearos, cartomizers or rebuildable tank atomizers), building your own coils can save money.

Example for Cartomizers: pack of 5 costs $8.99... if each lasts one week, one year's worth of cartos will cost $93.75.

Example for Clearomizers: pack of 5 Protank heads costs $7.95... if each lasts one week, one year's worth of heads will cost $82.91.

Example for self-built coils:

100 feet of Kanthal A1 28 gauge costs $7.75. Assuming you use 6 inches for each build, that is 200 coils. If coils only last 7 days, one year's worth of wire will cost $2.02. However, coils can last 30+ days which would reduce your costs to $0.47 per year.

CVS Organic cotton is $3.49 for 100 triple-size cotton balls. I estimate that one cotton ball is good for at least 10 wicks if you are extremely wasteful, and probably 25 wicks if you are careful and efficient. Assuming 10 wicks per ball, that is 1000 wicks per bag. Assuming wicks last 7 days, one year's worth of cotton wicks will cost a whopping $0.18.

 

[Razorback]

For those of us who who want to use tank systems (clearos, cartomizers or rebuildable tank atomizers), building your own coils can save money.

Example for Cartomizers: pack of 5 costs $8.99... if each lasts one week, one year's worth of cartos will cost $93.75.

Example for Clearomizers: pack of 5 Protank heads costs $7.95... if each lasts one week, one year's worth of heads will cost $82.91.

Example for self-built coils:

100 feet of Kanthal A1 28 gauge costs $7.75. Assuming you use 6 inches for each build, that is 200 coils. If coils only last 7 days, one year's worth of wire will cost $2.02. However, coils can last 30+ days which would reduce your costs to $0.47 per year.

CVS Organic cotton is $3.49 for 100 triple-size cotton balls. I estimate that one cotton ball is good for at least 10 wicks if you are extremely wasteful, and probably 25 wicks if you are careful and efficient. Assuming 10 wicks per ball, that is 1000 wicks per bag. Assuming wicks last 7 days, one year's worth of cotton wicks will cost a whopping $0.18.

How long does it take you to rebuild a coil? And what is your ratio of good vs bad builds? Not knocking you, just curious if it's worthwhile to pursue this avenue.... Also, where do you get your supplies and where do you find the best tutorials? Thanks!

 

[csantiago1911]

I can rebuild, mount and wick a coil in about 7-10 minutes taking my time. My first three coils were not pretty but worked... now my success rate with coils is 100% on my kayfuns and drippers. I get my wire at Temco. Cotton balls from CVS or Walgreens.

 

[csantiago1911]

Regarding tutorials, they are all over youtube and lots of info here on ECF. Here is the one that helped me most in understand building microcoils/contact-coils:

Rebuildable Atomizer / Micro Coil Basics - YouTube

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

I'm in NYC and I'm used to paying NYC prices for cigarettes. For three people mind you. Yeah, I'm no help in this thread. I've been buying like crazy and I'm still in the green as far as my former cig budget is concerned. Oh, and I'm STILL buying for three people, but it's vape stuff now instead of cigs. Thankfully, my husband and mother in law are simple. She uses the Innokin AIO for which I just buy black Boge cartos in bulk and she uses some of the cheapest and in my opinion, gross, e liquid around in them. Hubby is a bit more pricey. He uses the iTaste VV v3 with Mini Protanks 2's, iClear 30 b and iClear 16b. When he uses the iClears, his juice goes fast. He found his ADV though, which while it isn't cheap at least shopping for him is easy. Pink Spot's Swagger. Not a cheap juice at all unfortunately, but he has it in ALL of his tanks. I'm going to start buying him the 120 ml sized bottles.

 

[Razorback]

Regarding tutorials, they are all over youtube and lots of info here on ECF. Here is the one that helped me most in understand building microcoils/contact-coils:

Rebuildable Atomizer / Micro Coil Basics - YouTube

Thanks. I'll be looking into it. I'd only be rebuilding protank 2's and Vision Vivi Nova coils most likely... I've kind of settled in on those 2.

 

[Leothwyn]

How long does it take you to rebuild a coil? And what is your ratio of good vs bad builds? Not knocking you, just curious if it's worthwhile to pursue this avenue.... Also, where do you get your supplies and where do you find the best tutorials? Thanks!

I'm with csantiago... building coils is easy, and saves tons of money. For a long time I was just dry burning and re-wicking my protank heads (another easy way to save some money), and I saw someone mention that they don't bother with dry burning - it's just as easy to make a new one. I thought they were crazy at the time. Turns out they were right.
I was a little overwhelmed with the idea of building coils at first, but now that I've been at it a while it's really quick and easy. The other day I was about to leave the house, and noticed that one of my tanks was starting to taste a little off. I didn't have much time, but thought I could probably build a coil pretty quickly before heading out. I was able to make a new one in about two or three minutes. I totally rushed that one (it worked fine though). Usually it takes me a bit over five minutes.

 

[Maurice Pudlo]

If your chasing flavor, clouds, or prestige you aren't going to be saving much if anything.

I've found a flavor so DIY is coming soon, I'm able to blow the cloud volume I desire big or small depending on my coil build, and to fulfill my vision of prestige I'm hunting down a Caravela & Senisis combo or Nemesis & Striker combo.

The stuff I'm using now is no more or less costly than my smoking ever was, so life is good, even at local vape shop pricing.

If money is real tight, and you have an acceptable level of dexterity to build coils, I'd think a dripping atomizer on a mechanical mod with DIY juice would be the ticket to low expenditure vaping. Cotton, kanthal, DIY juice, battery charger, a good battery or two and the MOD.

If you just did unflavored 0mg/ml juice you could vape for life on a little bit of nothing.

Maurice