Well, you're going to find a lot of Blu bashing here and, heh, I'm one of the bashers having started with Blu myself. But I will say this much: they got me started and you can get a long way with 'em.
I had around a two pack a day habit. Got a Blu and immediately dropped to the maybe half a dozen cigs per day range. It was literally somewhere in the 80 to 90% drop in the number smoked. I was stunned. Nobody believed I'd cut back like that, much less quit. Especially not me. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to quit. And failed. And was miserable while failing. This was weirdly... easy? I dunno. Hard to describe.
I did move on to another set up in time because of Blu's limitations (and overpriced cartridges) but it's not a terrible starter kit for your first time out. And it's dead easy to use. Not to mention, the cartridges are just everywhere now. Easy to find. And what's called the "cig-a-like" around here (the ones that try imitating cigarettes in shape and such) did seem to help me at first because they were more... like smoking? Heh, even caught myself "flicking ashes" with the Blu. Laughed when I saw myself do that.
But, yeah, I got a long way with 'em. I didn't stop dead smoking but it kept going down over time. Then started just hating the taste of cigs. It was so weird to see myself begin to be repelled by cigs after 35 years of smoking I didn't tell even family members what was going on for a week or two. Kept expecting something to go wrong or wake up and find it some weird dream.
Coming to a full stop with cigs took a few weeks. I didn't even try to quit. If I really wanted one, I had one. I just kept losing interest more all the time until now I can't really imagine bothering with cigarettes. Moving on to a more advanced (not the most, just more than Blu) set up and experimenting with different e-juices that are available was when I came to a total stop with cigs. Cigs seem so... harsh and boring really. They come in menthol and not menthol. That's about it. I have... lessee... a vanilla, a blueberry, banana mango smoothie, a cherry, a kind of cinnamon, caramel tobacco like, and one that's as good or better than the Blu disposable (made by the company that makes Blu's liquids)... lined up and ready. I like the variety. Helps keep me from even thinking about the cigs now. They seem so... bleah in comparison.
Basically, what you said. For the kit, you have cartridges (the term here is "cartomizers" often shortened to "carto") that screw onto the batteries. They hold the liquid that makes the vapor and has the flavoring and nicotine. Blu uses about 1 ml (milliliter) per cartridge. How long that'll last you, hard to say. Depends on your habits. Don't buy "one cartridge equals" comparisons, they're just marketing. Some will last a while, others go fast. It seems to vary with liquids.
A couple of things. One is when the flavor seems gone, don't toss the carto just then. I found if I rotated flavors, I could come back to a "bland" carto and it was okay. Sometimes, I guess, you get used to a flavor and don't taste it as well. Come back later, it could be fine.
If you get a "burnt" taste, that's absolutely a dead one. Cartos have a cottony looking polyfill that holds the juice. When they get dry and scorch, the carto is dead.
Now, you can refill them. Not once they burn but ones that go "bland". I'm sure Blu would prefer we don't tell people that. Heh, too bad.
You can save some money that way. Blu also uses what's called 510 threading. Which means other cartos can work with your batteries. There are "blanks" (no juice in them) out there and they can be pretty cheap and you can fill them yourself. Save even more money.And Blu's juices are made by Johnson Creek. They won't sell you the Blu liquids as they have an exclusive deal with Blu but they have liquids that are quite close and, also, more variety than Blu has.
The "Classic Tobacco" of the disposable--a flavor I still like--I've just about duplicated by mixing some JC liquids. Not quite "there" yet but real close now. Something about Blu's "Classic Tobacco" I like. Can't quite pin it down but I'm pretty stubborn and gonna find a way to get whatever it is that I like somehow.
Not to mention, in a pinch, the system I use now (Joyetech Twist variable voltage batteries which are "eGo style" battiers) have 510 threads so I can pop a Blu cartridge on them if I want. Sometimes do. Not so much these days but sometimes.
And, yeah, you will vape more frequently than you took drags of a cig. The nicotine absorption is a bit different. I always recommend newer newbies (I ain't no "veteran" myself... well, not yet) read [url]http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/337017-inhalation-technique-e-cigarette.html[/URL]. Shifting around my inhale a bit made a big difference.
With smoking, you draw as directly into your lungs as you can as that's the fastest way to deliver the nicotine (and it's absorbed fast that way, gets to the brain in as little as seven or so seconds!). With vapor, the nicotine is absorbed more in the mouth and nasal passages. In fact, if I inhaled vapor like a cig, I coughed my head off. Inhaling water seemed to make my lungs mad.
I found it a more pleasurable thing than smoking. And I liked smoking. Even seeing it screwing up my health. I still just liked it. Vaping I slowed down, more relaxed, slower inhales. Spend more time with the flavor. Exhale through the nose, get more taste.
And now, I like vaping way more. There are still cigs in the house. I just don't... care...
(And I think I got long winded again and took some tangents that weren't quite what you were asking but it's evening and I'm lazy and don't feel like editing. Hopefully there's some useful stuff in my babbling.
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