Hello from South Carolina!

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kiele

Senior Member
Sep 1, 2014
74
29
Columbia, SC, USA
Hello! My name is Kiele, and I am a pretty brand new vaper! I am excited to continue in the world of ecigs and look forward to talking to you people! Like most of you folks I am trying to quit smoking for good and vaping seems like the easiest way to quit, and well, I've tried almost everything else from books to self-help tapes to cold turkey.

So far, so... ok! I have had 4 cigarettes in the past 8 days, and I usually smoke a pack a day, so I am really happy! But I have a lot of questions and am still super confused by the vapor lingo.

A history of my e-cig use and some ?s:
-Middle of 2013, I bought a Blu ecig from the gas station... it was broken so I got like 2 puffs out of it and was pretty miffed. Bought a pack of cigarettes instead.

-A couple of weeks later I was fed up from smoking and coughing and hacking, so I bought another Blu. This one worked, but I still wanted a cigarette! And still smoked!

-I joined the Reddit e-cig forum and learned a little more about ecigs and mods and such. Against the advice of a Reddit poster, I bought a cigarette look-alike rechargable ecig from Vapor Couture. They are cute, and I really thought they would work for me. Nope! I still have my Vapor Coutures and use them sometimes, but they don't produce enough vapor and they die in about three hours. They aren't the best. Still kept smoking.

-Last week, I stopped by a local vaping store, SC Vapors, and talked to the customers and employees there about ecigs. I tried out the flavors and picked a couple and also bought an "eGo-T" starter kit with 2 no-brand eGo batteries, a charger and some clearomizers with no names or labels. I really liked them at first! I didn't smoke at all last week and was really happy! My boyfriend was even smoking around me and I felt no need to smoke. I was amazed to say the least! THEN, one of the clearomizers broke (SURPRISE, right? LOL) and I was annoyed. It just broke right in my mouth... So gross! So I went to the store again the next day and got a more expensive clearomizer. It says iClear 16 on it.... Is that a brand-name or no? It works ok, but I've noticed a burnt plastic taste in both of them over the past couple of days. Do you know what this might be? Is it just because I'm using some no-name China stuff?:vapor:

-And now I'm kind of back to square 1. I liked vaping last week before the nasty taste of burnt plastic. Maybe I need to upgrade already, but I am not super wealthy. I guess I want to switch to some sort of mod, but something affordable. I didn't smoke at all when the vapor was good, but Saturday I smoked and yesterday I smoked because my eGo was grossing me out. I just really want to quit for good!


Anywho, thank you all for reading! Any advice would be great! And please introduce yourselves!
 

kekkonshiki

Full Member
Sep 2, 2014
10
7
Austin, TX
Hello Kiele,

I think many of us can understand your frustration. When I started vaping I had many experiences with shoddy batteries and atomizers. It is never fun to get a mouthful of juice. I went from a no-name device to a Vamo with a Protank, and from there to mechanical devices with rebuildable atomizers. I would recommend at least an iTaste VV 3.0 with either a Protank mini or a Aspire Nautilus mini. The price point is a bit higher, but you will make up for it in quality of the device. If you compare it to a pack a day habit, the whole setup can save you money in less than 2 weeks.

Just my 2 cents, I never had much luck with any iClear atomizers.
 

EBates

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Nov 4, 2013
3,858
4,659
Texas
Welcome aboard

I suspect your burnt tasting vape is due to the wicks in your iclear 16 either being dry or the atomizer head needs replaced.

The iclear is a top wick tank, when the wicks are not fully saturated the heating coil inside the tank atomizer head will get hot enough to burn the juice. To prevent this from happening periodically tilt the tank such that the wicks are submerged in juice.

If the atomizer head has too much burnt juice build up it may be better to replace the atomizer head. The shop you bought the iclear from should have replacement heads. If possible, get them to show you how to do it yourself. Getting a couple of spares is probably not a bad idea as well.

Good Luck
 

Kaezziel

Supreme Overlord of Everything
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jul 29, 2014
4,536
47,824
Houston, TX, USA
Hi Kiele! Welcome to the community!
I'm pretty new to the forum, myself, but I've been vaping for around 5 years. I've been through the gamut of vape equipment and have definitely been through the highs and lows of the entire vape experience...
That being said, the best recommendation that I could make for you would be to pick up an iTaste MVP 2 and an Aspire Nautilus Mini with the replaceable BVC (Bottom Vertical Coil). The MVP 2 is a rock solid device with an extremely long battery life, and the new Nautilus Mini has been getting rave reviews from most of the people that I've spoken to about it. The upfront cost is going to be more than the little eGo batteries and iClear clearomizers, but definitely worth it in the long run... keep your eGo batts... you can use your Nautilus on it while the MVP charges!
Then you get into juice... that for me is where ALL of my money goes! LOL
A few good places that I recommend are:
www.giantvapes.com
New Orleans Electronic Cigarettes & eJuice « New Orleans Electronic Cigarettes & eJuice
Giant is a bit more expensive and carries a variety of juice brands
Nola makes their own juice and it is quite inexpensive but very tasty

Hope this helps, and again, welcome to the community and congratulations on giving up the cigs!!
 

VannyPak

Super Member
Sep 2, 2014
641
290
Amarillo, TX
I suspect your burnt tasting vape is due to the wicks in your iclear 16 either being dry or the atomizer head needs replaced.

Definitely one of these two things are happening with your iclear.

I would definitely go with either the Aspire Nautilus mini or just the Nautilus (which is what I have). They are great tanks and you don't have to worry about certain juices cracking them.
 

Kaezziel

Supreme Overlord of Everything
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jul 29, 2014
4,536
47,824
Houston, TX, USA
Thanks Kaezziel! That is really, really helpful! :cool: It seems like the MVP2 is very popular here.

Glad I could help!
There is a reason that the MVP 2 is popular. You can toss it out the window of a moving car, stop and go back to pick it up and it'll probably still work!! The ONLY real downside to it is the battery isn't replaceable, so when it dies, it's dead. That's gonna be quite a ways down the road though... I'd say at least a year with pretty heavy use!
If you have any problems or questions, just post them here in the forums and I promise that someone will help you. Also, you can PM most people and they'll get back to you as well. I'm on most days, so you could PM me pretty much any time if you have any trouble or questions.
 

SthrnCelt

Moved On
ECF Veteran
May 9, 2013
180
220
Columbia, SC
Hi Kiele. Hey we're neighbors. I'm in West Columbia. Why not take a ride to Lexington and visit Elite Vapors. The guys over there are really knowledgeable and can help you find what's going to work for you. Most vape shops I've been to are a little on the...well...ahem....rednecky side. That's fine for BBQ but not with vape stuff.
 
I am also a newbie here and started out with an MVP iTaste starter kit but also bought a kanger protank 3 at the recommendation of Mt. Baker Vapor. They stated that there have been problems with the plastic tanks and the top wicks as well but I've found that with the Kanger Protank 3 that I'm having problems with burning through the coils frequently (I am a heavy vapor user) and I'm not sure why this is. But the battery life of the MVP is great! It lasts up to 8 hours for most moderate users.
 
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