Great posts Chris! I was a pack a day or more smoker for almost 40 years and now I'm on my second month with no cigs! vaping is great and it just gets better, glad you and your wife are off the cancer sticks!
Hello Everyone, Day 3 Vaping, Experience Report
- Thread starter Chris Brown
- Start date
- th_trl_thread_readers 0
- Status
Hi Chris and welcome! Life changing awesomeness! That is exactly how I feel! I smoked for 30 years and was up to 2-2 1/2 packs a day. I started vaping Oct. 31 and am now 11 days smoke free. I still can't believe it myself! It is LIFE CHANGING AWESOMENESS!
Kathy
Kathy
Chris, these are excellent posts! vaping and live performance! What I like most about it is you described what it was like to have this sort of professional life and how PVs could fit into it. It was like watching a short movie about your life on and off stage, PV in hand. Very well done!
You will find many different 510 cart mods here. I have not tried the blue foam yet, but I have tried the PTB with straw, but did not have great results. My personal favorite right now is CVS disposable facial sponges, which are like square buff-puffs. I thoroughly wash out the soap with hot water, let dry, and cut 1/4 inch strips, fold in half, add straw, stick in cart, and cut off at top. Wicks really great, excellent vapor, and you can really get almost everything out before topping. And MUCH less hassle and cost than the PTB.
Fave flavors. Loranns caramel, pralines and cream, bavarian creme, English toffee, pecan, black walnut. The fruits are in general not as good to me as I would have thought.
Capella's: double chocolate rocks! So does toasted almost, vanilla custard, and caramel. Milk choc and toffee is also very good. Capella's last longer than Lorann's too. Vanilla is a journey, annd not as easy as one might think.
I started out with a blue 510 kit, but now have many attys and mega batts from Totally Wicked. The mega batts last most of the day with me, and seem to hit harder than regular batts.
As for a gear tote, I use a USB drive case:
Micro Center - USB Thumb Drive Shuttle Case
about twice as big as a pack of smokes, and holds a luxurious amount of stuff. Right now mine has in it:
3 mega batts
1 3-mL syringe w blunt 17 g needle
2 attys
2 carts
4 3-mL juice bottles
3 6-mL juice bottles
3 5-mL juice bottles
I like having flavor choices.
Zips right up and fits in a coat pocket. The syringe is good for injecting juice into a cart straw, but I swear someone is gonna think I'm a ...... junkie.
And if you are on the computer a lot, a USB passthrough is a god-send. The 510 is a great starter PV, and several of the beefier high-voltage models use 510 attys and carts. I'm not interested in those yet, but perhaps one day.
A big welcome aboard! Keep on rockin', keep on vapin'!!
You will find many different 510 cart mods here. I have not tried the blue foam yet, but I have tried the PTB with straw, but did not have great results. My personal favorite right now is CVS disposable facial sponges, which are like square buff-puffs. I thoroughly wash out the soap with hot water, let dry, and cut 1/4 inch strips, fold in half, add straw, stick in cart, and cut off at top. Wicks really great, excellent vapor, and you can really get almost everything out before topping. And MUCH less hassle and cost than the PTB.
Fave flavors. Loranns caramel, pralines and cream, bavarian creme, English toffee, pecan, black walnut. The fruits are in general not as good to me as I would have thought.
Capella's: double chocolate rocks! So does toasted almost, vanilla custard, and caramel. Milk choc and toffee is also very good. Capella's last longer than Lorann's too. Vanilla is a journey, annd not as easy as one might think.
I started out with a blue 510 kit, but now have many attys and mega batts from Totally Wicked. The mega batts last most of the day with me, and seem to hit harder than regular batts.
As for a gear tote, I use a USB drive case:
Micro Center - USB Thumb Drive Shuttle Case
about twice as big as a pack of smokes, and holds a luxurious amount of stuff. Right now mine has in it:
3 mega batts
1 3-mL syringe w blunt 17 g needle
2 attys
2 carts
4 3-mL juice bottles
3 6-mL juice bottles
3 5-mL juice bottles
I like having flavor choices.
Zips right up and fits in a coat pocket. The syringe is good for injecting juice into a cart straw, but I swear someone is gonna think I'm a ...... junkie. And if you are on the computer a lot, a USB passthrough is a god-send. The 510 is a great starter PV, and several of the beefier high-voltage models use 510 attys and carts. I'm not interested in those yet, but perhaps one day.
A big welcome aboard! Keep on rockin', keep on vapin'!!
Chris and Amanda, welcome and a great journal! Wish I could have put the analogs down as easily, but the carton that usually lasted a week has lasted more than three and they are almost all gone! Not buying any more.
Trying all the flavors is the most fun, so much better than tobacco. Hopefully I'll get as brave and try mixing my own.
Trying all the flavors is the most fun, so much better than tobacco. Hopefully I'll get as brave and try mixing my own.
Chris and Amanda, awesome post! Took me 2 full weeks to go analog free. (Going on about 30 hours w/o cigs for me-i'm using a 510). You are lucky to have found flavors that "worked" for you right away. I haven't tried too many flavors myself but I wonder if you might like one of my new faves- 555? It's a slightly tobacco, nutty flavor. A bit reminiscent of toffee. I also recently tried a Tennessee Cure. It wasn't really my thing but you might like it. It had a fairly strong, mildly sweet vanilla flavor mixed with a smokey tobacco taste.
Nice play-by-play Chris. I wish I'd found these e-cigs while still playing. (Last band broke up in May after 8 years.) I would have saved a fortune on cig ash burns on the drumheads. I second your request to not have bands set up during the day. In addition to being a pain, many of the nicest clubs stink like stale beer and smoke in the daylight. There's something just not right about setting up when the sun's coming through the front windows.
Sorry. Back to the subject. My wife and I were like you, stopped the old cigs the same day we found the ecigs. Even with the need to refill, buy attys, etc., it's still a much better life with an ecig. Welcome to you both.
I second your request to not have bands set up during the day. In addition to being a pain, many of the nicest clubs stink like stale beer and smoke in the daylight. There's something just not right about setting up when the sun's coming through the front windows.Sorry. Back to the subject. My wife and I were like you, stopped the old cigs the same day we found the ecigs. Even with the need to refill, buy attys, etc., it's still a much better life with an ecig. Welcome to you both.
Thank you all for the kind feedback. Going to vapor truly is life changing awesomeness and it just keeps getting better.
Day 11 vaping / non-smoking started 2pmcst today for me and all is well..
I still haven't craved analogs at all and at this point I don't think that I ever will. I have however found myself craving vapor a few times but really since I can vape less puffs more often I don't crave nicotine as much in general... not as many ups and downs I guess. It's inspiring to me how vaping replaced my smoking so easily. It keeps me asking my self what other changes can I make to improve my life even more. I hope that other new vapers can have similar experiences.
Some observations...
I think that one factor that worked in my favor is that I vaped 24mg almost exclusively for the first week. Some 18mg here and there but mainly 24mg. I probably had as much or more nicotine than I had been getting with smoke.
By the beginning of week 2 I was finding that lower strength juice was satisfying too. I think a lot of that had to do with developing the ability to taste the subtle flavors of different juices. At first I just wanted a certain feeling but the more I vaped the more I appreciated the overall experience. Right now I'm vaping 15mg in one pv and 20mg in another and I'm just as satisfied as I was a week ago with 24mg in both.
A side note... I've also discovered that I like VG in my mix. To me it feels a little smoother than PG only mixes (especially 20+mg blends). The added vapor production is nice too... feels good coming out. It's like.. I want a good throat hit but I also want it to be smooth and to me VG adds some smoothness.
Another great effect that vaping has had on me is waking up feeling good. I think that for me it's easier to wake up in the morning and feel good now. My body felt worn down each day when I woke up as a smoker but with vaping I feel much more refreshed and renewed.
Day 10 (yesterday)...
Woke up, vaped and made coffee, topped up my carts.
A songwriter friend showed up to do some writing. He's the guy I referred to as 'ex-smoker friend' in a previous entry. He hasn't smoked in months but he is definitely attracted to my vaporizers. He's been talking about smoking a pipe again for the holidays and I think I might get him a 510 kit so that he has an alternative.
We sat around and played some songs and wrote a little bit. Normally I would have had a cigarette burning the whole time but vaping easily replaced that. Much less waste with vapor... with tobacco my money was burning away every time I let one sit ... lol not this time Songwriting was semi-productive but the experience of vaping instead of smoking was great because singing feels so much better when you don't smoke... it really makes a huge difference. For me this might be one of the greatest benefits of going to vapor... I can breathe again = It's easy to sing again.
When he left I had some chicken fried steak for dinner (yum) and vaped with coffee for a little while until it was time to get ready for the gig.
Night 10...
Headed out to go make music. In the car I thought about how music equipment always smells like bars and how I think that vaping helps give the car a better scent than if I didn't vape. Most juices have very little scent but whatever scent they do have always smells better than bar scent lol.
OK... this was a new experience...
While I was setting up my equipment I heard someone in the audience quietly say "look his electric cigarette is on"... at first I thought I was imagining things but I checked anyway. Whoever said that was right. I was kneeling down and my PVs were in my back pocket... One of the buttons was getting pressed. 8-o It got pretty hot.. The atty was hotter than I've ever had one but it seems to work fine still and it didn't look/smell like the cart or filler had melted at all. That was a funny experience and what's strange is I never figured out who said it. If they had been a vaper I'm sure they would have came up and talked to me so I'll probably never know lol
An old friend of the family was there and he was interested in getting his sons some PVs. He had seen them at the mall. I told him about how easy it had been for me to switch and I told him to google e cigarette forum before he bought anything.
The venue we were at last night was kind of an upscale place and it was non smoking so for most of the night I went outside with the smokers to vape instead of vaping indoors right out in the open... people would have thought I was smoking and I didn't want to have anyone complaining about the band to the management.
It was only our 2nd time at the venue and it's an easy/good paying gig so I definitely didn't want to mess that up. I did however slip over to a corner of a separate room and vape with no problem and I also did a few stealthy hits on stage facing away from the audience, but nothing obvious.
At the end of the night during tear down / load out when there was mainly staff left I vaped indoors freely with no problems. The bartender had seen them at the mall and thought it was cool. The managers didn't seem to mind either. That was a nice experience that would have been impossible as a smoker.
After the gig I came home, played a little bit of guitar and got online for a little while. I ordered 2 more nobox kits from cignot... great price in general I think it ends up being about 17.50 per 510, plus you get 5 carts and a charger with each kit... I have plenty of carts but I can definitely use the chargers.
I also did a little bit of research on high voltage mods... I think I'm going to order some battery connectors from altsmoke and build a 5v mod pretty soon. I have electronics experience from building and repairing guitar effects and I think that the hardest part for me will be making it look nice hehe. From what I've read people seem to really enjoy the 510 atomizers at 4-5 volts and also it will be a fun project.
Aah. All in all day 10 was perfect. Another great day vaping.
Day 11...
Today is day 11... I woke up, vaped and made coffee (that's getting redundant huh)... so far I've just been chilling out, vaping, surfing the web a little bit and typing this. I have 3 days off before I gig 4 nights in a row so I'm going to try to relax as much as possible and enjoy my down time.
Now it's now... great day so far.
One more time, thank you all for the kind words and the warm welcome!
I hope these posts will help other new members make the transition to vaping in the easiest way possible.
Best, Chris Brown
Day 11 vaping / non-smoking started 2pmcst today for me and all is well..
I still haven't craved analogs at all and at this point I don't think that I ever will. I have however found myself craving vapor a few times but really since I can vape less puffs more often I don't crave nicotine as much in general... not as many ups and downs I guess. It's inspiring to me how vaping replaced my smoking so easily. It keeps me asking my self what other changes can I make to improve my life even more. I hope that other new vapers can have similar experiences.
Some observations...
I think that one factor that worked in my favor is that I vaped 24mg almost exclusively for the first week. Some 18mg here and there but mainly 24mg. I probably had as much or more nicotine than I had been getting with smoke.
By the beginning of week 2 I was finding that lower strength juice was satisfying too. I think a lot of that had to do with developing the ability to taste the subtle flavors of different juices. At first I just wanted a certain feeling but the more I vaped the more I appreciated the overall experience. Right now I'm vaping 15mg in one pv and 20mg in another and I'm just as satisfied as I was a week ago with 24mg in both.
A side note... I've also discovered that I like VG in my mix. To me it feels a little smoother than PG only mixes (especially 20+mg blends). The added vapor production is nice too... feels good coming out. It's like.. I want a good throat hit but I also want it to be smooth and to me VG adds some smoothness.
Another great effect that vaping has had on me is waking up feeling good. I think that for me it's easier to wake up in the morning and feel good now. My body felt worn down each day when I woke up as a smoker but with vaping I feel much more refreshed and renewed.
Day 10 (yesterday)...
Woke up, vaped and made coffee, topped up my carts.
A songwriter friend showed up to do some writing. He's the guy I referred to as 'ex-smoker friend' in a previous entry. He hasn't smoked in months but he is definitely attracted to my vaporizers. He's been talking about smoking a pipe again for the holidays and I think I might get him a 510 kit so that he has an alternative.
We sat around and played some songs and wrote a little bit. Normally I would have had a cigarette burning the whole time but vaping easily replaced that. Much less waste with vapor... with tobacco my money was burning away every time I let one sit ... lol not this time
Songwriting was semi-productive but the experience of vaping instead of smoking was great because singing feels so much better when you don't smoke... it really makes a huge difference. For me this might be one of the greatest benefits of going to vapor... I can breathe again = It's easy to sing again.When he left I had some chicken fried steak for dinner (yum) and vaped with coffee for a little while until it was time to get ready for the gig.
Night 10...
Headed out to go make music. In the car I thought about how music equipment always smells like bars and how I think that vaping helps give the car a better scent than if I didn't vape. Most juices have very little scent but whatever scent they do have always smells better than bar scent lol.
OK... this was a new experience...
While I was setting up my equipment I heard someone in the audience quietly say "look his electric cigarette is on"... at first I thought I was imagining things but I checked anyway. Whoever said that was right. I was kneeling down and my PVs were in my back pocket... One of the buttons was getting pressed. 8-o It got pretty hot.. The atty was hotter than I've ever had one but it seems to work fine still and it didn't look/smell like the cart or filler had melted at all. That was a funny experience and what's strange is I never figured out who said it. If they had been a vaper I'm sure they would have came up and talked to me so I'll probably never know lol
An old friend of the family was there and he was interested in getting his sons some PVs. He had seen them at the mall. I told him about how easy it had been for me to switch and I told him to google e cigarette forum before he bought anything.
The venue we were at last night was kind of an upscale place and it was non smoking so for most of the night I went outside with the smokers to vape instead of vaping indoors right out in the open... people would have thought I was smoking and I didn't want to have anyone complaining about the band to the management.
It was only our 2nd time at the venue and it's an easy/good paying gig so I definitely didn't want to mess that up. I did however slip over to a corner of a separate room and vape with no problem and I also did a few stealthy hits on stage facing away from the audience, but nothing obvious.
At the end of the night during tear down / load out when there was mainly staff left I vaped indoors freely with no problems. The bartender had seen them at the mall and thought it was cool. The managers didn't seem to mind either. That was a nice experience that would have been impossible as a smoker.
After the gig I came home, played a little bit of guitar and got online for a little while. I ordered 2 more nobox kits from cignot... great price in general I think it ends up being about 17.50 per 510, plus you get 5 carts and a charger with each kit... I have plenty of carts but I can definitely use the chargers.
I also did a little bit of research on high voltage mods... I think I'm going to order some battery connectors from altsmoke and build a 5v mod pretty soon. I have electronics experience from building and repairing guitar effects and I think that the hardest part for me will be making it look nice hehe. From what I've read people seem to really enjoy the 510 atomizers at 4-5 volts and also it will be a fun project.
Aah. All in all day 10 was perfect. Another great day vaping.
Day 11...
Today is day 11... I woke up, vaped and made coffee (that's getting redundant huh)... so far I've just been chilling out, vaping, surfing the web a little bit and typing this. I have 3 days off before I gig 4 nights in a row so I'm going to try to relax as much as possible and enjoy my down time.
Now it's now... great day so far.
@plantlvr and KathyinColorado... it's an amazing feeling isn't it. To be a non-smoker, to breathe deep again, to live without fatigue, to have magnified smell and taste, to have a lifestyle that feels safe, etc etc. I'm so glad we found vaping.
@Kurt: Thanks for all of the great info! LOL you made me think... someone should do a documentary about the beauty of vaping.
I'll give the facial sponges a try. I've read good things about them and also the larger buff puffs. Other than when I tried the blue foam I've been using the double folded loosely rolled frayed Lipton pyramid tea bags (wow that name is too long) and they work great. I am able to fill 2 carts (I carry 2 510s) and vape them as much as I want all night without topping up. I've only hit atomizer on the way home from a gig in one of my PVs once since I went to this cart mod. It's pretty easy to make and definitely worth a try. Search youtube for "two minute rho mod".
I ordered some of the Capella's flavors that you recommended and I'm looking forward to trying those. Especially the chocolate flavors. I ordered double choc, choc fudge brownie, caramel, coffee bean, cola and vanilla custard. I think the cola might be nice with chocolate...we'll see... I guess you never know until you try it with vapor. They have 30% off until the 30th which was cool also.
I've looked at those case logic cases a few times and I'm considering ordering one. Really though that would just be so that I can have more options and not really out of necessity. My carts seem to last the whole time when I'm away from the house. I carry the pcc with 2 carts, backup atty, battery charging and also the 2 assembled 510s... I just rotate the batteries every time one finishes charging. I also carry a backup box with a spare battery and and 2 6ml droppers but I haven't needed to use the extra stuff... only once have I even needed to use one of carts from my pcc and I've never needed to open the backup box. However... the more juice I mix the more I want to carry it with me... so I'm thinking one of those case logic cases instead of my backup box... that would give me lots of juice options without taking up much more space.
@jghunter1: From what I've read I think I'll enjoy 555... next time I order parts I'll grab some. I really like ry4 as a tobaccoish flavor so I'm thinking that 555 will be right there with it.
@cliff5550: Life is absolutely better with an ecig. You are so right about something being wrong or wierd with being at the bar while the sun is still coming through the windows. LOL the stale beer/smoke smell is funky but worst of all you can see how icky the floors are LOL ... Keep making music...the world needs more good drummers.
@Kurt: Thanks for all of the great info! LOL you made me think... someone should do a documentary about the beauty of vaping.
I'll give the facial sponges a try. I've read good things about them and also the larger buff puffs. Other than when I tried the blue foam I've been using the double folded loosely rolled frayed Lipton pyramid tea bags (wow that name is too long) and they work great. I am able to fill 2 carts (I carry 2 510s) and vape them as much as I want all night without topping up. I've only hit atomizer on the way home from a gig in one of my PVs once since I went to this cart mod. It's pretty easy to make and definitely worth a try. Search youtube for "two minute rho mod".
I ordered some of the Capella's flavors that you recommended and I'm looking forward to trying those. Especially the chocolate flavors. I ordered double choc, choc fudge brownie, caramel, coffee bean, cola and vanilla custard. I think the cola might be nice with chocolate...we'll see... I guess you never know until you try it with vapor. They have 30% off until the 30th which was cool also.
I've looked at those case logic cases a few times and I'm considering ordering one. Really though that would just be so that I can have more options and not really out of necessity. My carts seem to last the whole time when I'm away from the house. I carry the pcc with 2 carts, backup atty, battery charging and also the 2 assembled 510s... I just rotate the batteries every time one finishes charging. I also carry a backup box with a spare battery and and 2 6ml droppers but I haven't needed to use the extra stuff... only once have I even needed to use one of carts from my pcc and I've never needed to open the backup box. However... the more juice I mix the more I want to carry it with me... so I'm thinking one of those case logic cases instead of my backup box... that would give me lots of juice options without taking up much more space.
@jghunter1: From what I've read I think I'll enjoy 555... next time I order parts I'll grab some. I really like ry4 as a tobaccoish flavor so I'm thinking that 555 will be right there with it.
@cliff5550: Life is absolutely better with an ecig. You are so right about something being wrong or wierd with being at the bar while the sun is still coming through the windows. LOL the stale beer/smoke smell is funky but worst of all you can see how icky the floors are LOL ... Keep making music...the world needs more good drummers.
One more time, thank you all for the kind words and the warm welcome!
I hope these posts will help other new members make the transition to vaping in the easiest way possible.
Best, Chris Brown
hi im new to the site and just wanted to say hi to everyone. i need to say hi 2 more times after this lol
- Status
Similar threads
