Have Direction but a Bit Overwhelmed. Any Advice Appreciated.

[anonabyss]

OK so I know what I'm looking for, simply the most effective and efficient nicotine delivery system. I don't care what it looks like (as long as it isn't huge or colorful), what it tastes like, or what it feels like. To be honest, I'm really only interested in something that will produce lots of vapor hassle free.

Initial cost isn't so much an issue but long term cost is, so refilling with e-liquid is looking like the best option for that, am I wrong? Do I need to use tanks to do this, or is it just as easy to do with older style cartomizers? My main concern, however, is endurance. Long atomizer and battery life (of battery and recharging pack) and high e-liquid capacity are key.

I hate to say, "OK everybody tell me what to think," but there's been so much information to weed through I've been having a hard time even coming up with a list to narrow down. Smartcarts does look like a very promising tank cartridge, but I'm not sure if that's the direction I should go in or if there's anything better that functions similarly. Any suggestions?

 

[Nathanial]

I would suggest an Ego, or an even more cost effective clone, would be the Riva 510.

I was near broke, but was able to afford the $30 for the kit, and $15 or so, for a 30 ml bottle of liquid. Two weeks in, and I'm about half way through my liquid, and everything from my kit is still top-notch.

My parents, and also my grand parents, have also ordered Riva kits since I've shown them mine. I know my parents will have been vaping for a week without an analog, tomorrow. I'm not sure when my grand parents officially started, so I cannot say for them.

But we got our kits from Liberty Flights. It's worth checking out, and I think will work out well for you. This is coming from a former, heavy smoker.

 

[ukeman]

jump to bottom fed mods.... Reo, Ali'i, Phidias.... you didn't mention "cost" as criteria.

if it is, stay with the eGo style and use either cartomizers or tanks. Make sure you learn about atomizer resistance (Ohm) to power (voltage/watts of the power source; eGo = 3.1 to 3.4 volts)

If not jump from bottom feeders to "smart" devices, that regulate the power so that whatever voltage you set, the power is regulated to deliver the same amount each and every time... Provari, Darwin, Infinity... and the upcoming Eclipse eq.

 

[Kent C]

Welcome to ECF!!


For a short summary - try this:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...buying-using-electronic-cigarette-primer.html

From what you say - I'd suggest starting with an eGo kit or a Riva - try Liberty Flights or cignot.com. The battery life is great and you save money from not having to buy a PCC (personal charger for on the go) with the cig size kits.

 

[Astronomer]

There is a lot of info, and you will get as much advise as there are people here.

Lots and lots of vapor hassle free... yeah, bottom feeding juice mods, but that is a giant leap into vaping. Not what I would really reccoemnd to a newcomer unless you wanted to jump straight into the deepest end of the pool.

I started with an eGo, and still vale that ( although I am not on the same kind of atomizer that originally came with it ) I recommend that to new people ( either that or a Riva which is less expensive and has a larger battery ).

At least that will give you a starting point, without spending too much money ( you can get a Riva kit for like $40 ) and see if vaping will do it for you. But if you want to jump way into the deep pool, a bottm feeding juice mod ( which I have not tired by the way but have read a lot about ) is a way of dripping, without dripping, same flavor, same consistency, but easy and of a lot of juice in a bottle that feeds your atty ( pump the bottle and you are good for 4-5 hits, then pump one time again )

I will probably end up with one of those myself someday, but there is still a lot to be said for starting with something less expensive like an eGo or Riva.

 

[swedishfish]

I'd start with the Riva as well. See if you even like vaping first. If you want to move on, it's only $30 and you can upgrade and keep this as a backup or buy tons of accessories for it.

Get some boge cartomizers and about 30 ml of juice. I'd order juice elsewhere but a Riva from LF is a great place to start.

 

[Nathanial]

I'd start with the Riva as well. See if you even like vaping first. If you want to move on, it's only $30 and you can upgrade and keep this as a backup or buy tons of accessories for it.

Get some boge cartomizers and about 30 ml of juice. I'd order juice elsewhere but a Riva from LF is a great place to start.

Yes, use the 20% discount banner on Liberty Flights, and a Riva bundle drops to $29.99.

I ordered my 30 ml of vanilla from Vapor Bomb, it's suited me well

 

[MickeyRat]

jump to bottom fed mods.... Reo, Ali'i, Phidias.... you didn't mention "cost" as criteria.

I don't normally recommend this for someone new but, it just might meet the bill for you. Price and availability can be an issue with them but, besides the battery, you have one part to replace and that's the atomizer. The batteries are usually cheaper than the eGo replacement batteries as well. If you get something like a REO, you could drive over it with a tank and it would still work. Quality control is not as great as we'd like on those attys. So, you're going to get the occasional bad one but, if you stick with Joye's that shouldn't happen very often.

As for the juice, yes you're going to need to use it. The cheapest way to go, given your criteria, would be to DIY and not flavor at all.

 

[JWebb]

welcome anonabyss, I think the others and dormouse hit it right the Riva, or eGo is a great place to start.

 

[dormouse]

Riva 510 at Liberty flights - the lite bundle - is a great deal. Use Internet explorer and the front page of Liberty-Flights.com should give you something to click on in the upper left for 20% off your order.

And if you get a Riva 901 cone separately, that should fit any cartomizers that don't fit through the standard 510 cone's opening. And some juice and a 510 drip tip.

I think that shop is all out of Boge 510 standard and LR cartomizers but you can get those elsewhere. You will be adding juice to everything.

battery + atomizer + cartridge aka cart = cart needs juice often
battery + cartomizer aka carto = holds more juice, needs juice less often, but a cartomizer may only last a week (some are successful with cleaning cartos)

If you decide to try tanks, I think you can put a tank atty and tank on a Riva but you may need a small extender adapter.

 

[Calypso]

From your discription of what is important you may want to investigate the bottom feeders.
Pros:
Good battery life. I get ~3 days from a single battery (18650)
High on board juice level. Typically 6 ml.
Only one thing to carry. No need to carry extra batteries, carts, juice, and, and ,........
The mods look very cool IMO.

Cons:
They don't look like an analog. If that is important.
large size, about the size of a pack of analogs
Slight learning curve. Hmmm not sure if this is a pro or a con as sometimes other e-cigs have a learning curve also.

I wish I had started with a bottom feeder.

 

[Gussers]

The Riva and the eGo are pretty much the same thing from what I can tell. The same format, anyway. I can tell you I was in the same boat. I bought a 510 kit and was sorely disappointed. I was getting discouraged and finally decided to give it one more shot. I bought the eGo kit and have been using it ever since. I suggest to anyone that asks me about vaping they just skip the hassle and start with the eGo.
One tip, I found the cartridges to be a hassle. The vapor wasn't very strong and seemed very dry. I started dripping which was a huge improvement. I then got the eGo-T atty and tanks and was very impressed. I would suggest trying either or both methods out to see for yourself.
Good luck!

 

[CBB]

If start up cost isn't an issue I would get both a riva/eGo with a smart cart or giantomizer and a bottom feeder so you can vape all day or several days on a big feeder mod and still have a PV that will fit in your shirt pocket to go out places you don't want to carry a big box.

 

[anonabyss]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help. So what I have decided is I'll probably make my own liquid from 100g/L concentrate and dilute it with PG or VG down to about a third the potency (ie. 33g/L). Does that sound reasonable for starters or should I go lower? I'm accustomed to sucking down Camel Filters and Kamel Reds like they're candy. Also, while I'm familiar with the two chemicals, I'm not sure which to choose. It seems like VG is more pleasant to smoke but PG is more practical. Does VG actually deliver more per hit, or does the vapor just seem more substantial? Will PG give me a noticeable improvement in atty life?

Regarding the device, I'm leaning towards the eGo-T. I'm OK with dealing with less liquid capacity in order to avoid having to replace carts, assuming that's the only trade-off. Would I be wrong in making that assumption? Bottom feeders do sound very interesting, but it seems like I may have been a bit naive about high end e-cig pricing, and I think I'd like to start with something cheaper just to get a feel for vaping. They definitely sound cool though, and I'd like to look into getting one perhaps a few months from now, but I haven't had much luck finding them for sale. How much do they typically cost and where might one acquire them?

 

[swedishfish]

Order the ego-T but I'd definitely order some cartomizers as well.

I'd really try some premade juice before I ventured into the world of DIY. There's quit a bit to know. When I order juice I usually order 70%pg/30%vg. Enough vapor and TH and it's not too think or too thin.

I've heard great things about Vapor Stations tobacco juices. Many good reviews. They have up to 35 mg nicotine.

http://www.vsvapor.net/liquids.php

 

[DivisionMatrix]

The ego-t is good start, and the tanks hold a lot more juice than a cart, or even most carto's (i think). If you do diy be very careful with 100 mg/ml juice, at that strength it can kill children or pets. I would also reccomend mixing your pg and vg, 80/20 or 70/30 will give the best of both worlds in throat hit and vapor.
Also, he's a little backed up so shipping is slow, (I'm still waiting!!!!!) but this is a nice mod for a great price:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...harger-30-free-shipping-plus-20-ml-juice.html
not a bottom feeder, but it is a true 3.7v device

 

[anonabyss]

I have a lot of lab experience and equipment so I'm confident I can deal with the chemicals, but you're right, I'll probably buy a sample of some pre-made juice to compare. At first I don't plan on using any flavoring, having only 100g/L plus the PG and VG would be sufficient, right? How do you refill tanks and cartos, is a pipette good?

So the point of these mod boxes is to have a higher capacity battery and liquid reservoir to feed into the atomizer? How does it differ from a bottom feeder? What makes one like the Reo advantageous?

 

[ukeman]

the bottom feeders have juice delivery systems: squeeze...
juice from bottle to atty through a tube.
the batts are larger usually, so longer life, more consistent power.
box mods do not have feed system.. unless they are bottom feeder box mods.

Reo is very popular among the 3 or 4 models to choose from... but so are the others.

Best to go with your plan of learning more about the whole experience before spending $ for custom mods...

You will learn the basics of vaping... learning curve starts here.

I have a lot of lab experience and equipment so I'm confident I can deal with the chemicals, but you're right, I'll probably buy a sample of some pre-made juice to compare. At first I don't plan on using any flavoring, having only 100g/L plus the PG and VG would be sufficient, right? How do you refill tanks and cartos, is a pipette good?

So the point of these mod boxes is to have a higher capacity battery and liquid reservoir to feed into the atomizer? How does it differ from a bottom feeder? What makes one like the Reo advantageous?

 

[MickeyRat]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help. So what I have decided is I'll probably make my own liquid from 100g/L concentrate and dilute it with PG or VG down to about a third the potency (ie. 33g/L). Does that sound reasonable for starters or should I go lower? I'm accustomed to sucking down Camel Filters and Kamel Reds like they're candy. Also, while I'm familiar with the two chemicals, I'm not sure which to choose. It seems like VG is more pleasant to smoke but PG is more practical. Does VG actually deliver more per hit, or does the vapor just seem more substantial? Will PG give me a noticeable improvement in atty life?

About the highest you want to go is 36mg (that's mg/ml = g/l but, you know that) after that you're asking for a trip to the hospital. I think you'll find 24mg to be adequate though. On nic levels everyone's different and you can't use what you smoked to gauge it. I started on 24 and it worked fine for a while but, I ended up working my way down to 12 but, I use 24 for crave times. As for PG/VG. PG will give better throat hit. VG gives better vapor. You aren't interested in taste so we won't talk about their effect on that. The VG makes for a significantly thicker liquid though and that can be a problem with something like an eGo-T. Also some people experience allergic reactions (throat irritation not anaphylactic shock) to PG. Popular ratios are 80/20, 70/30 and 50/50. After that people usually go to all VG.

Regarding the device, I'm leaning towards the eGo-T. I'm OK with dealing with less liquid capacity in order to avoid having to replace carts, assuming that's the only trade-off. Would I be wrong in making that assumption? Bottom feeders do sound very interesting, but it seems like I may have been a bit naive about high end e-cig pricing, and I think I'd like to start with something cheaper just to get a feel for vaping. They definitely sound cool though, and I'd like to look into getting one perhaps a few months from now, but I haven't had much luck finding them for sale. How much do they typically cost and where might one acquire them?

I had to grin. There's a reason I don't usually jump off into bottom feeders for new people. The eGo-T is okay. The wicks in the attys can be a little finicky but, once they're right they, stay right. Cignot has the new eGo-B tanks. They are a little bigger. Brand new though. No reviews.

You can get the different Reos here. You have to watch the site to catch them in stock though. They are hand made by one guy.

If you are the type and I think you might be, you might want to spend some time in the mods forum. There are lots of instructions on build you're own there.

 

[anonabyss]

These bottom feeder mods are starting to look more and more appealing. I think I would prefer the Reo over the Ali'i or Phidias, but I'm not sure if I need a Grand or if the Mini is good enough. What is the benefit of higher voltage? How far does 3mL take you, roughly as much as a pack of cigs? It accepts a variety of attys and cartos. Wouldn't a cartomizer be redundant? How does one decide which atty or carto to use?