GotVapes for Dummies

[bassmonster]

My two cents (For what it's worth) : I've always liked fluxos, but they do require fiddling and tilting to get the wicks going, but I love the flavor and temp they give. I found a fix someone posted in the forums once upon a time and I tried it, taking the fluxo to near epic levels: You pull the mouthpiece and the inner plug/seals to reveal the ceramic cup and wick. Then you take a piece of wick and lay it directly on top of the installed wick. (you can pull the tank off to do this easier) Doing this creates superb wicking and all but eliminates tilting and dry hits.

I thought Visions would be as good or better, but was sorely disappointed when I tried them. Constant dry hits, and tilting to soak the wicks did not work well.

All that to say this:

Given these truths, I love fluxos and I dislike visions, I was at once intrigued and apprehensive for the Vision Grande. Ever since I applied the double wick modification to the fluxos, I thought if someone could put double wicks in a CE2 style carto, it would be an out-of-the-box gem. And here it was.....Its classified as a Vision, it looks like a Vision, which caused a bit of indecision on my part....but it is a dual wick CE2 style tank, so I eventually tried it. All I can say is that it was everything I ever hoped it would be. You fill it and you vape it. That's it. No tilting, no fiddling, no dry hits. And it's easier to clean.This thing is a monster, and there are no tricks involved. The only thing I've found that's better is the C8 Cryptonite, but it's a little finicky. (hopefully less so on the new version_ Come on, Mailman!)

That's a little longer than I intended it to be, but I hope someon gets something from it.

 

[luvinit]

Thanks guys!!
Briar- I'm not sure what resistance they are,, I guess I didn't know there was choice! I'll have to go look at my invoice. And I haven't used them on the lavatube because I don't have an adapter yet. That should come today, so maybe I can crank the voltage down and try that. Maybe trying to use those fluxos at too high voltage caused the burning on the coils that I'm seeing and the juice is turning really dark. I tore one apart last night and took out that rubber plug that sits about the ceramic and put it back in and it did seem to wick better, but got a few gurgles. The other one I just tore apart and the wick is absolutely black! Pretty likely I need to crank the voltage down with those. I did try the fluxos on my KGO too and it didn't seem a whole lot better. Also, I change flavors about 15 times a day! Mostly because I haven't found anything I even want to vape all day,,, meaning, I like them all!

morgan- the one thing that seems to be working well right now is a couple DCTs on my lavatube, cranked up to about 4.7 but they aren't nearly as good on the KGO. I get great flavor and vapor on the KGO with single coil cartos and that's what I use when I'm out and about and at work. In an 8 hour shift I can go through 4 or 5 cartos.. I'm very good at the stealth vape at work! Makes me laugh when someone walks through and says.. hey, do I smell chocolate??

bassmonster- I don't have any wicking material,, can you buy that? And I saw those dual wick CE2s and yes, they look like they would wick a whole lot better than the stardusts I have. I almost bought a couple last night.

So this is what I ordered last night.. a Vivi Nova system.. very intrigued with that and it was on sale. I have high hopes for that one! I also ordered a mini-sub tank from Mom and Pop. I know that has a carto with filler in it but I got a good discount for my birthday so thought I'd give it a shot.

I think it's a combination of things.. having a bad tastebud event going on and I don't really know what I'm doing with the voltages thing. And I've got so much stuff around I can't remember which cartos are what resistance.. I guess I should have marked them somehow! Thanks for all your help, guys... I really appreciate it!

 

[Briar]

...I think it's a combination of things.. having a bad tastebud event going on and I don't really know what I'm doing with the voltages thing. And I've got so much stuff around I can't remember which cartos are what resistance.. I guess I should have marked them somehow! Thanks for all your help, guys... I really appreciate it!

Oy, do I know *that* one! As someone wise once told me: get thyself a meter. So I got a Provari.

But a meter would have done - I just wanted an excuse to get that panacea of all mods. Basically, a lot of problems really boil down to what exact resistance the carto is. I haven't noticed it varying much in Boges - but with lots of Clearos, you really gotta check. Clearos are more finicky power-wise anyway, and often folks blame the burnt taste/not enough taste/not enough vapor/dry hits on the construction, but it's really the resistance that's out of wack with what it's supposed to be. Sometimes quality control at the factory just hiccups for some reason, and vendors get slightly weird batches... Not that often, but it can happen. The moral of this monologue: check the res!

Just another great excuse to have a VV...

Cheers.

 

[luvinit]

UPDATE! I got the little adapters for my lavatube,, slapped one of the stardusts on and dialed it way down to 3.2 and OMG.. the flavor is back! Who would have thought??? I am now enjoying my White Peach ala Zoe again!

I guess I really need to pay better attention to what I'm spending my money on. I bought a pretty lavendar stardust looking thing,,, what I THOUGHT was a stardust but I got that today too and there's puffy white filler in it!!! WTH??? I never would have ordered that.

I have to say though,,I'm very impressed with Gotvapes. Shipping is lightning fast,, I ordered this stuff late Friday night and it came today. Doesn't get much better than that! I will continue to buy my supplies here,, but I'll be paying MUCH better attention to what I'm buying!!! (duh!)

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Yeah luvinit!

Well, the verdict on the phoenix XL seems to be generally good, although some are having wicking problems right out of the box. A small percentage I think. People who have them working seem to love the vape. Again, higher voltage can be problematic.

Somebody on here said they were getting some today, if I remember correctly. Can't wait to see what you think of them.

 

[tidegirl]

I'm hoping for Phoenix (Phoenices? Phoenix? Phoenixes?) to be delivered today. I will be reporting as soon as I have vapes enough to report.

 

[luvinit]

I found a thread this morning about the Vivi Nova.. reviews. Some good, some not so good,,, I'm still hopeful though. I had to leave it though cuz it was turning into a pissin match on there.. makes me anxious! Geez, one guy has a bad experience and shouts it to the rooftops.. I get frustrated too, but geez! The only thing I'm worried about is all the fiddling around these guys had to do to get it to work right.. trimming wicks and such.. guess I'll have to wait and see. I will say though, Gotvapes shipping is lightning fast!! And I think I'm gonna have to try the phoenix.

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Yeah, some people do seem to be having big problems with the vivi nova. I've been having this debate with myself for days now. I want the metal one...yeah, but wait and see how they work...but they may be all out by then....you have stuff to vape with, so you can wait till they get them back in...yeah, but I want one...why, so it can join all the other stuff in the drawer you don't use 'cos it's too fiddly...but....etc. etc.

Hey Briar, I see you are one of the people who weren't getting much taste on the vivi nova. Any luck yet?

 

[Mark C.]

so far, the only thing i have gotten from gotvapes that works as intended out of the box, ive tried stardust, vision stone 3 tank (almost worked right), Vivi Nova (worst experience so far of my life, no leaking, gurgling or anything, just terrible weird flavor that wont go away), and Phoenix Bottom Coil 2.6-2.8 ohm... the phoenix works amazing... first one out of the box filled it upside down, started vaping (Flavor was amazing, just as good as a boge and maybe a little cleaner tasting, Vapor was very good, and throat hit is there... not to mention that i can run my 2.7 ohm phoenix at anywhere from 3.7 to 5.3 volts without a single dry hit and all those voltages are satisfying)

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

so far, the only thing i have gotten from gotvapes that works as intended out of the box, ive tried stardust, vision stone 3 tank (almost worked right), Vivi Nova (worst experience so far of my life, no leaking, gurgling or anything, just terrible weird flavor that wont go away), and Phoenix Bottom Coil 2.6-2.8 ohm... the phoenix works amazing... first one out of the box filled it upside down, started vaping (Flavor was amazing, just as good as a boge and maybe a little cleaner tasting, Vapor was very good, and throat hit is there... not to mention that i can run my 2.7 ohm phoenix at anywhere from 3.7 to 5.3 volts without a single dry hit and all those voltages are satisfying)

Thanks Mark - so happy you like it!

And sooooo sorry about the vivi nova. I had high hopes for a metal tank. So far, I'm glad that my sensible side has been leading my buy/not buy debate on this. Actually, I even had one in the cart, but decided to let it sit there until the metal tubes are up. Will probably wait now for a better version to appear.

 

[kellie]

Oh now I am gonna have to try the Phoenix I do love the Stardust tho

 

[Briar]

...Hey Briar, I see you are one of the people who weren't getting much taste on the vivi nova. Any luck yet?

The thinner juice solved my problem as far as wicking is concerned: I can chain vape that pup no problem. Taste-wise... Not sure yet. I don't have any good thin juices. Seems like the taste is there, just not quite as good as the Stardust, but good enough to be satisfying, I think.

I don't regret buying it. I am sorry, though, that it doesn't want to work with my favorite all-VG juice.

I didn't have to trim the wicks on the thinner juice - that one would be unpack-and-go.

I think people are having taste/wicking problems because some heads are either not quite right, or the resistance is off. IMHO.

P.S.: I just found some ok-tasting thin juice, and put it into ViVi. And the taste is good. I'm just going to get myself some thinner juices, is all. I'm running out of most of them anyway.

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Thanks Briar. My juices are 30% PG at most, which is still pretty thick, so not sure it would work for me either. More PG than that makes me cough too much.

Did you try thinning out with water or alcohol? Would also mute the taste somewhat, but not too much if you add just a little at a time until it's just thin enough.

 

[Briar]

Thanks Briar. My juices are 30% PG at most, which is still pretty thick, so not sure it would work for me either. More PG than that makes me cough too much.

Did you try thinning out with water or alcohol? Would also mute the taste somewhat, but not too much if you add just a little at a time until it's just thin enough.

I don't thin them normally - I'm a flavor hound, losing even a little would bug me.

But also keep in mind that this is just my experience, some folks reported that they had no problems with all-VG whatsoever. I think this tank is *very* well made and has a lot of promise. That I had a couple of problems with my particular heads doesn't mean that you will. And the beauty of this system is that if a particular head is funky for some reason, it can be easily and cheaply replaced. I'd say try it if you are at all interested in this system. In all likelihood it will work for you.

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

I don't thin them normally - I'm a flavor hound, losing even a little would bug me.

But also keep in mind that this is just my experience, some folks reported that they had no problems with all-VG whatsoever. I think this tank is *very* well made and has a lot of promise. That I had a couple of problems with my particular heads doesn't mean that you will. And the beauty of this system is that if a particular head is funky for some reason, it can be easily and cheaply replaced. I'd say try it if you are at all interested in this system. In all likelihood it will work for you.

I hear you! I do simple DIY juice, so can dilute and add flavor easily, right in the tank/carto if needed. Before settling (maybe!) on the 2 I've recommended, I did a lot of that with different juice systems.

Yeah, still tempted by the vivi metal tank. Think I'll get a couple of metal tubes for now, and wait for the next go-around.

 

[tidegirl]

I am intrigued by the viv nova too, but will wait for reports on how it works. I can't spend that much money on everything that comes out to be a guinea pig. I jumped on the stone II as soon as it released and never have been able to get it to vape without dry hits or gurgling. If I'm gonna have to fiddle and fight with something, it will be something that costs a few bucks instead.

 

[Randyrtx]

DIY makes it easy to avoid too thick liquids without compromising flavor. I mix using 70% PG, 30% VG, and 5% distilled water. The result has a viscosity that is close to using PG alone. And, even at only 6mg/mL nicotine level, I still get a good TH.

 

[Briar]

I'm often tempted to go back to trying diy liquids. It's hard for me to get the flavors right though. I've tried and failed miserably a few times.

DIY makes it easy to avoid too thick liquids without compromising flavor. I mix using 70% PG, 30% VG, and 5% distilled water. The result has a viscosity that is close to using PG alone. And, even at only 6mg/mL nicotine level, I still get a good TH.

 

[Randyrtx]

I'm too lazy to be very advanced with mine. I have 2 tobacco flavors that keep me happy, and I mix up 120mL batches of them at a time. My recipes are just the main flavor plus a bit of sweetener.

Some day I plan to try out other recipes, especially some non-tobacco flavors.

 

[Briar]

I'm too lazy to be very advanced with mine. I have 2 tobacco flavors that keep me happy, and I mix up 120mL batches of them at a time. My recipes are just the main flavor plus a bit of sweetener.

Some day I plan to try out other recipes, especially some non-tobacco flavors.

Heh... You don't know how lucky you are! Here is what happened with my last foray into this: I was trying to make a custom tobacco fix. It took me four moths, what with all the trials, and steepings and what-not. Finally it was right - I named it "The Perfect Tobacco". It had 15 (!!!) ingredients. And I loved it. And two months later, I hated it. After that I just gave up. I found a few flavors out there in vendor-land that I rotate through, and have stuck to them for awhile. Of course most of them are all-natural and some only come in VG. I'm going to write to my favorite juice vendor and ask if she can make it in 50/50...

I do go to the vendors that have custom mixing options once in a while though. It's fun, and it's not my labor. LOL