Easy Vaper

[brooksva]

Hello. I got a kangertech top box for Christmas from my family. Having smoked for 36 years, I played around with it forbabout a month and thought I could make vaping about the cigs I wasn't smoking. So much info on the web about vaping but true newbie info that I could apply to my habit was hard to find. What temp should I start vaping at, or this thing does wattage, should I do that instead of temp? Even trying to determine the amount of nic I should start at based on my brand led me to contradictory information. I went to the vape store and while they were very helpful - i was out of my element and easily twice the age of the rest of the entitled generation occupying it . Trying different flavors, I settled on this 6mg pink lemonade flavor. I bought my second 100ml bottle of this about 10 days ago and can't believe that as of today, I haven't smoked in 3 weeks which is unprecedented. I bought 25 coils in bulk from kangertech and finally figured out that vaping at 420 was way too high and the reason the flavor was going away in as little as two days. I vape at 200 degrees now and am in the 6th day on the current coil. All the decisions I had to figure out on my own were daunting but ultimately, vaping was like simply switching brands of Cigs. I vape where I used to smoke in my garage where I look at the old butts and empty packs and get to decide which guy I want to be going forward.

 

[Beamslider]

Welcome and congratulations on not smoking.

 

[bombastinator]

hello and welcome
Gratz on kicking the stinkies
Sounds like you have things well on hand. If you got any further questions though we’d be happy to answer em!

 

[AzPlumber]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Nikhforos]

Welcome!

 

[Bonskibon]

Welcome! Glad you joined.

 

[MJCSD]

Hello and welcome to ecf

 

[Letitia]

Congratulations on 3 weeks. Welcome to the community.

 

[Ralph_K]

Is that 200 C or F? 200F seem low.

 

[brooksva]

200F and yes, that is as low as it goes. I still am trying to figure out what works - don't want to replace coils every couple of days. Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[stols001]

Hi, welcome to ECF and congrats on switching to vaping. That's great..

That is a low setting may want to play with it some. Your wattage is most important as far as getting started I think, it keeps you in the correct "zone" so to speak.

Anna

 

[CagedSpam]

Welcome to ECF, best vaping forum.

Congrats on switching and sticking with it through the beginning rough patches!

 

[chellie]

Congrats. Former smoker for nearly 4 decades as well. Over 6 years without cigs and I use the toptank and love it but I do not use temp control - I use wattage. I use a .5 coil on 20 to 25 watts and for me it is a great replacement. My coils last pretty long and I vape alot. I am now on 3mg of nic or lower but I think 6 is probably good for you to start with since you are just switching. It seems like the right amount since is has been 3 weeks and you seem satisfied is great.

Are you using the topbox nano or mini?

 

[brooksva]

Thanks Chellie, I'm using the mini. So vaping at 20/25 watts- how long does a coil last you?
As I'm sure you recall, back in "the day" smoking in places like hospitals and grocery stores were common. From that came the designated smoking areas until places to smoke are gone now and with it the opportunity for smokers to congregate. Smokers hide behind trees in solitude now and generally are made to feel like criminals. None of that nor the wishes of our loved ones motivate the change, it's a personal decision and vaping provides an exit for those seeking one.

 

[Winchester]

Howdy and Welcome to ECF!

 

[chellie]

I do recall all the stuff you are saying. I worked as a casino floor supervisor and we smoked cigarettes while on duty on the floor in customer view. Ashtrays all over the place. Times have sure changed. I decided to vape because I wanted to stop smoking and thought it would be the perfect substitute and solution for me --- and it is!

My coils last on average about 2 weeks. I also keep the air flow control on fully open - I do not like a tight draw and it works very well for me - 100% satisfied. I was on 6mg (.06%) nic juices for a while and I started buying one bottle of e liquid at 6mg and one bottle at 0mg and I would mix them together to slowly decrease. I am really good at math but there are calculators at there. I would decrease it by mixing 3/4 of 6mg (.06%) and 1/4 of 0mg to bring the nic content down to 4.5mg , for example, and so on. I stepped down slowly, started at like 45mg on different equipment. I now buy 3mg and 0mg, do the mix thing and and am around 1.5 to 2 mg. It is not mandatory for me to get to 0 but I keep going down and think I will eventually get to 0.

I buy only authentic Kanger coils. Another thing that I do is I have an old medicine/pills container - a big one and I rinse my coils in very hot tap water and then let it sit in a Styrofoam cup for a hour or two, rinse again, let it dry naturally on paper towels for a day or two and put in the old medicine container. I keep these extras in case I am running low on coils and can usually can get another use out of them. As you get more familiar you will just know if it needs to be chucked or rinsed.

Also, the toptank mini lets you build you own coils. I am vaping 6+ years and only started doing that - they helped me out on here and it really is easy -- don't know what took me so long and it is so MUCH less expensive. One you buy the rba piece (if it did not come with your kit --it is like 7.99) you just buy wire, cotton and a coil jig winder thingy and a ohm tester and for like 20 bucks or so you can probably make coils to last you for years! When you make your own -- you have access to the coil part and if it looks good you just have to swap out the cotton.

I am a big Kanger fan. I like easy! I have a toptank nano, the top tank mini and a top tank mini c. Only the top tank mini can take the rebuildable stuff but all three of these vapes use the same coils and the same batteries. Again - easy! And, I bought a battery, called the subvod mega by Kanger that is tube shaped and has the battery build it. The top tank mini fits it perfectly and it is a great spare battery to keep around just in case.

I know there are lots of people that love vaping with temperature control. I've not ventured into it because I am fully satisfied with the wattage I am at.

There are so many benefits to vaping. It has gotten to the point that I sometimes do not vape for hours. I never felt that way with regular analogs.

Keep it up! And congrats again.

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome and well done. First off, if what you're doing is keeping you off the sticks, you're doing it right. I don't vape TC, but I have tried it before and I would probably have been in the 300-350 F range. Not sure you should listen to that advice: I really prefer wattage mode on regulateds, and I vape a lot of mechs too.

 

[brooksva]

Thanks to you as well suprtrkr, you folks are very kind. Like I said in my original post, sometimes there is too much info out there. For every blurb where someone is saying wattage is the way to go, there are others that say temp sets a cutoff and is the best way to not be smoking cotton. I will continue to experiment and toggle between temp and wattage.

I think (ok, I know) I was chain vaping and likely wasn't giving the cotton enough time to re-absorb before I was hitting it hard again which probably would have toasted the cotton in either mode.

I have stopped carrying the cigs on my person but haven't flushed em either. Somehow I feel I am less likely to smoke one when they are readily available than I would be if I had to go out and buy them.
I know it's possible that I'm kidding myself as to why I haven't tossed them but so far it works. Putting one back in a well worn but mostly-full pack feels very very good and reinforces my rejection of them.

 

[r77r7r]

Thanks to you as well suprtrkr, you folks are very kind. Like I said in my original post, sometimes there is too much info out there. For every blurb where someone is saying wattage is the way to go, there are others that say temp sets a cutoff and is the best way to not be smoking cotton. I will continue to experiment and toggle between temp and wattage.

I think (ok, I know) I was chain vaping and likely wasn't giving the cotton enough time to re-absorb before I was hitting it hard again which probably would have toasted the cotton in either mode.

I have stopped carrying the cigs on my person but haven't flushed em either. Somehow I feel I am less likely to smoke one when they are readily available than I would be if I had to go out and buy them.
I know it's possible that I'm kidding myself as to why I haven't tossed them but so far it works. Putting one back in a well worn but mostly-full pack feels very very good and reinforces my rejection of them.

I kept a pack and a half out in the garage out of sight for maybe 5yrs. Kept panic at bay but I mostly never thought of them the whole time. Vaping works really well. Welcome to the board.

 

[brooksva]

I'm happy my hoarding isn't unheard of and doesn't speak to lack of commitment. Having tried and failed more times than I can count with gum, patches, hypnosis and Chantix, all have failed but this time is different.