First time buyer... Save me please!

[Jaixi]

Hey guys. I'm looking to get into smoking e-cigs instead of 2 packs a day of regular cigs...

I bought 2 starter packs of BLU cigs over 3 weeks ago and still don't have my order >.<

so.. I'm here, looking for a good e-cig that won't require me to wait a month or more for refills etc. I've read these forums tonight for hours.... but there seems to be an unlimited number of choices, and it's hard to tell whats good - everyone says something good and bad about all of them.

Is there an e-cig most people agree is one of the best?

And as far as the whole refilling thing goes im totally lost...

Sorry for the newbie post, thanks in advance for any help ^.^

 

[NPerez]

When I was shopping around for my first, I had narrowed it down to either the 510, the 901, or the m401. All good devices.

I've heard enough feedback from people that aren't crazy about the m401, so I marked that off the list. Some people love it. Some people don't.

I got a 510. I don't regret it. A lot of people claim to have a lot of e-cigs & rarely use anything other than the 510.. but I've heard that it lacks flavor compared to the 901, so I think I'll get a 901 someday as well.

So from my experiences & research, I'd say that there is no one best e-cig, but there are best choices for different priorities. If you want something that produces a lot of vapor, is strong on the throat, and is fairly safe to drip with (ie, dripping liquid directly onto the atomizer instead of in the cart), the 510 is a good choice (but the battery life sucks). If you want something flavorful & with a better battery life, then the 901 works well there.

As for re-filling - that will make more sense to you when you have an e-cig in your hand and see for yourself how it works.

There's 3 ways to refill -

One is to drip just a little bit of e-liquid on the atomizer, which isn't good for most e-cig models but produces strong vapor with a lot of flavor (but doesn't last very long).

The second way is to place a few drops of e-liquid into an empty/dried-out cartridge - this is what most people do. It seems like with some e-cigs, it's a pain to re-fill them yourself (some people use syringes by necessity.. with my 510 I've never had to do that). I only have one ecig, so I wouldn't be able to advise on which models are easy or hard to refill w/ liquid.

The third method is to buy pre-filled cartridges, and just replace them every time you run out - I think the industry pushes this, because when you do this you're constantly buying new carts.. but the quality of pre-filled carts is questionable, and you get less variety (there's dozens of flavor options if you buy liquid & fill the carts yourself).

 

[Taylor]

Check out videos by Scott - 'igetcha' on the forums.

Innovapor paid him for some tutorial vids on their site that are terrific. And of course the hour long video by Spikey is a must see.

 

[wv2win]

Here is my initial experiences. Some have found it helpful. If it's not helpful for you, good luck, anyway.

I read this forum and looked at older forum threads for two weeks before I purchased my first PV (personal vaporizer).

My first PV was a blue DSE901 from Phil at e-Smokey Treats - Electronic Cigarette's, The healthy alternative to traditional tobacco cigarette's. Like all suppliers, the kit comes with two batteries and a charger. Phil does provide two atomizers instead of just one. The battery will last about 2-3 hours before needing recharged. If I was starting out new again and just had to have a PV (personal vaporizer) that looked like a cigarette, I would have gotten the Joye 510/Janty Dura-C because of the manual battery.


Many users like the classic penstyle 801 model which has a larger atomizer and cart and a typical battery charge life of about 4 hours. The draw is lighter, more like a straw (to me) due to having 4 holes in the atomizer and the bigger cart. The 801 is larger and looks more like a big pen instead of regular cigarette. You can also purchase a USB pass-through for both the 901 and 801, which allows you to plug into a usb port on your computer or wall socket adapter and not have to worry about changing batteries. You can then purchase a portable battery pack for the usb pass-through and make your usb power portable. Make sure the power pack is at least 1000mAh power output.

Most users want an PV to provide the “throat hit” that is most like a real cigarette (analog as we call them) as well as long battery life. Many members have stated that one of the best ways to get consistent throat hit is to get a manual switch PV that allows you to push a button and heat up the atomizer more before you inhale. One that does that well is the screwdriver (SD) from trog at: - The ScrewDriver - An electronic cigarette that simply works. (Totally Wicked, USA is now also selling the screwdriver: Contact us / About us / Totally Wicked eLiquid / Electronic Cigarette e-liquid shop) It is more expensive but it provides long battery life (7-8 hours) and consistent throat hit. Plus replacement batteries cost $2-$3 instead of $15-$20 on the auto switch devices like the 901 and 801 and the manual switch 510/Dura-C and can be bought anywhere unlike the auto switch batteries or 510’s. There is also now a US manufacturer of a PV with a manual switch and big battery, the Prodigy from PureSmoker.com - Home of the USA Built PV !!!. And Steve is providing a 6 month warranty on the Prodigy and puresmoker is well supported by forum members.

Most members recommend that you use e-liquid or e-juice to refill your carts instead of use the prefilled cartridges that come with the starter kits. Plus it is more cost effective. My recommendation (others will differ on this) is to get a little higher nicotine (nic) strength because you can always dilute it with USP glycerin that you can get at a drug store for $5 or $6 if you find it is too strong. I use 24mg nic strength. The highest is 36mg and there is also 18, 11, 6 and 0. There are many different flavors to choose from. My favorite tobacco flavor is Kent from www.eastmall.net - Eastmall International Co.,Ltd or Rocky Mountain Vapor you have reached the mountain top of electronic cigarettes! : Home
It has a smooth but definite tobacco flavor to me. Others like the stronger flavors such as Camel. You can also reduce the strength over time.

Hope this helps and good luck.

PS: the smallest bottle of liquid is 10ml and usually costs $9.99. In general (everyone is different) you should get any where from 5-14 days out of that size bottle. In addition, you can wash out the fabric in the pre-filled cartridges and reuse them. The fabric is simply polyester batting which you can get enough for a year's worth for about $5 from Wal-Mart.

One supplier for liquid that has great prices is: RUYAN Brown e-cigar with 25pc Cartridges - RUYAN e-cigar kit - Heaven-gifts.com Ruyandirect.com Best E-smoking Shop

They are in China and so after ordering, it usually takes 8-9 days to reach your door.

 

[wv2win]

Here is my initial experiences. Some have found it helpful. If it's not helpful for you, good luck, anyway.

I read this forum and looked at older forum threads for two weeks before I purchased my first PV (personal vaporizer).

My first PV was a blue DSE901 from Phil at e-Smokey Treats - Electronic Cigarette's, The healthy alternative to traditional tobacco cigarette's. Like all suppliers, the kit comes with two batteries and a charger. Phil does provide two atomizers instead of just one. The battery will last about 2-3 hours before needing recharged. If I was starting out new again and just had to have a PV (personal vaporizer) that looked like a cigarette, I would have gotten the Joye 510/Janty Dura-C because of the manual battery.


Many users like the classic penstyle 801 model which has a larger atomizer and cart and a typical battery charge life of about 4 hours. The draw is lighter, more like a straw (to me) due to having 4 holes in the atomizer and the bigger cart. The 801 is larger and looks more like a big pen instead of regular cigarette. You can also purchase a USB pass-through for both the 901 and 801, which allows you to plug into a usb port on your computer or wall socket adapter and not have to worry about changing batteries. You can then purchase a portable battery pack for the usb pass-through and make your usb power portable. Make sure the power pack is at least 1000mAh power output.

Most users want an PV to provide the “throat hit” that is most like a real cigarette (analog as we call them) as well as long battery life. Many members have stated that one of the best ways to get consistent throat hit is to get a manual switch PV that allows you to push a button and heat up the atomizer more before you inhale. One that does that well is the screwdriver (SD) from trog at: - The ScrewDriver - An electronic cigarette that simply works. (Totally Wicked, USA is now also selling the screwdriver: Contact us / About us / Totally Wicked eLiquid / Electronic Cigarette e-liquid shop) It is more expensive but it provides long battery life (7-8 hours) and consistent throat hit. Plus replacement batteries cost $2-$3 instead of $15-$20 on the auto switch devices like the 901 and 801 and the manual switch 510/Dura-C and can be bought anywhere unlike the auto switch batteries or 510’s. There is also now a US manufacturer of a PV with a manual switch and big battery, the Prodigy from PureSmoker.com - Home of the USA Built PV !!!. And Steve is providing a 6 month warranty on the Prodigy and puresmoker is well supported by forum members.

Most members recommend that you use e-liquid or e-juice to refill your carts instead of use the prefilled cartridges that come with the starter kits. Plus it is more cost effective. My recommendation (others will differ on this) is to get a little higher nicotine (nic) strength because you can always dilute it with USP glycerin that you can get at a drug store for $5 or $6 if you find it is too strong. I use 24mg nic strength. The highest is 36mg and there is also 18, 11, 6 and 0. There are many different flavors to choose from. My favorite tobacco flavor is Kent from www.eastmall.net - Eastmall International Co.,Ltd or Rocky Mountain Vapor you have reached the mountain top of electronic cigarettes! : Home
It has a smooth but definite tobacco flavor to me. Others like the stronger flavors such as Camel. You can also reduce the strength over time.

Hope this helps and good luck.

PS: the smallest bottle of liquid is 10ml and usually costs $9.99. In general (everyone is different) you should get any where from 5-14 days out of that size bottle. In addition, you can wash out the fabric in the pre-filled cartridges and reuse them. The fabric is simply polyester batting which you can get enough for a year's worth for about $5 from Wal-Mart.

One supplier for liquid that has great prices is: RUYAN Brown e-cigar with 25pc Cartridges - RUYAN e-cigar kit - Heaven-gifts.com Ruyandirect.com Best E-smoking Shop

They are in China and so after ordering, it usually takes 8-9 days to reach your door.

 

[Jaixi]

Thank you guys for your help. wv2win, NPerez, Taylor.

I went all out and bought a 510 starter kit (black with red LED) + usb battery thing.. so i can smoke at computer =p

Also used the chinese website, bought 60 ML of marlboro flavor 18mg liquid, bunch of empty cartridges (they were really cheap) extra couple white batteries and atomizers, and a portable charger case.

It looks good, and should get to me WAY quicker from china than it will from blucigs even tho I ordered 3 weeks and some odd days ago.

So... any opinions? Should I just cancel my blu cigs now? It looks like the 510 will be good enough for me. Is it easy to refill blu carts so I don't need to worry about their slow shipping? hmm. I'll prob cancel my blucigs order tomorrow unless I can find a reason to keep them, save the 120 bucks

Thanks again - cheers

 

[Breakfree]

Thank you guys for your help. wv2win, NPerez, Taylor.

I went all out and bought a 510 starter kit (black with red LED) + usb battery thing.. so i can smoke at computer =p

Also used the chinese website, bought 60 ML of marlboro flavor 18mg liquid, bunch of empty cartridges (they were really cheap) extra couple white batteries and atomizers, and a portable charger case.

It looks good, and should get to me WAY quicker from china than it will from blucigs even tho I ordered 3 weeks and some odd days ago.

So... any opinions? Should I just cancel my blu cigs now? It looks like the 510 will be good enough for me. Is it easy to refill blu carts so I don't need to worry about their slow shipping? hmm. I'll prob cancel my blucigs order tomorrow unless I can find a reason to keep them, save the 120 bucks

Thanks again - cheers

I wouldn't cancel even though it's tempting I know when an order seems to be taking too long. BluCigs are a decent brand and if nothing else you can keep them for a backup.