Hello from St. Louis - Smoke free and still finding my sweet spot

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propagandax

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 3, 2012
783
394
St. Louis, MO
Hello all. I started messing around with e-cigs around christmas after spending time with a family member who recently switched to e-cigs. I have been vaping for the last month or so and slowly reduced my stinky smoking to about 3 a day. Last Saturday was my last stinky and I feel great. Its been an expensive road but I think I am finally settling in. Just like others I wish I would have found this site earlier. Here is where I have been:

I bought the safecig original and micro first (google + good marketing) which was ok but the cartos are really expensive and about 30% of the time I got bad ones. Dropped about $200 at that site. Knuff with that.

Then I found this site. Now I own a Volt which I really like and have spend countless hours and money trying to find juices and cartos that I like. I am lazy so I still prefer pre-filled but did buy a huge bottle of 50/50 ry4 and some blanks which is my safety net when my pre-filled cartos run out.

Smokeless image pre-filled: So far the best I have found but not completely satisfied and crave more flavors
Elite vaporwork pre-filled: tasted like chemical and plastic. Yuck.
V4L WOW pre-filled cartos: Bought two sample packs and was extremely disappointed. They don't seem to work very well with the volt, I have to puff really hard and the vapor is almost non-existent. Something is not right here so done with these

Ok $300 later I am still trying to find my way. Wish I could find some pre-filled cartos with more flavor options but it seems the DIY path is where everybody ends up. Long term plans include an EGO or similar but that will be for recreation home vaping only, for public vaping I will stick with my Volt :). Any suggestions on cartos or juices? I need variety. Also my biggest issue so far is shipping times, no matter where I order it seems to take a week or more and if I need fast shipping its $20 or more. I even ordered from a St. Louis based E company and it still took a week, go figure. Local scene is limited, there is a kiosk at the mall that sells overprices EGO kits and 30ml bottle of juice but for $24 per bottle and they don't have 5ml samples (duh). Ok im done. Love this site and enjoy all the comments and experiences. Hoping I can find my sweet spot soon!
 

dormouse

ECF Guru
ECF Veteran
Oct 31, 2010
12,347
1,611
Pennsylvania
I use both V4L WOW cartos and Bloogplanet cartos (same as SmokelessImage) and I find their drag the same and V4L WOW cartos a bit hotter (especially at the lips - I use a plastic or selrin drip tip as a cool mouthpiece). I only use juices with 20% or less VG as well as a couple of V4L WOW juices (seem about the same thinness, and SmokelessImage juices are also 80PG/20VG). And I avoid all dark, cloudy or opaque juices because juices that drop flavoring sediment clog up and degrade a carto quickly. I can get 7+ days use out of a V4L WOW or Bloogplanet carto or about 15-20ml run through.

I also only use manual batteries (harder to damage/kill with juice leaks, easier to get a good hit every time with less work). My faves are the V4L ones that say they have a custom 10+ second cutoff since 5 seconds is not enough time to get a good drag if you want to press the button in 2 seconds early so nice vapor is waiting when you start dragging. I don't have any problem with V4L WOW cartos with my setup and notice little difference vs Bloogplanet/SmokelessImage cartos other than the latter being more absorbent and cooler at the lip end.

Re prefilled cartos - unfortunately they are not always well-filled. If they leaked people would be killing auto batteries with them. But I keep my cartos damp so it wasn't a problem when I used prefills.

BTW if you have any plans to put your Volt cartos on a big battery device using an adapter then I recommend a big battery 3.7v device, not an Ego (3.4v vs Volt's 3.6). But if you don't plan to put the Volt cartos on it then Ego's voltage is fine.
 
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luvinit

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 12, 2011
1,912
1,942
Northern NY, United States
Ahhhh I can SO relate! I'm over $400 in, in less than two months. And like almost everyone here, I wish I'd found this place sooner. But anyway,, I started with a V2 and was very happy with them,, they got me off the analogs. Fairly soon, I ordered an Elite 808, I'm a big fan of cartos... tanks and mods scare me:ohmy: I love this Elite,,, it's not obnoxiously huge but bigger and better battery life than my V2's (which I keep for back-ups!) and the blank cartos are BIG. I've amassed quite a stash of juice and even had to go out and buy a tackle box, of all things, to keep all my STUFF organized. My husband just laughs,,, but is very, very happy to have me off the analogs. I guess what I've decided is that it just takes time (and money!) to figure out what's right for you. For me, it's simplicity. I like to refill cartos.. it's part of my nightly routine. I like to try new flavors,,, some I love, some.... not so much. My latest fave is Highbrow Vapors Tiramisu.... oh my, is that one yummy! I like the fruits but the nutty chocolatey ones are ta-di-for. Why would anyone go back to analogs after a nice smooth Tiramisu??? It's going to cost some money in the beginning,, I've spent way more than I would have spent on analogs, but the fact that I don't cough and can climb a flight of stairs is priceless! So welcome, propagandax. You'll find lots of good info and great advice here...
 

crbrown

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Jan 25, 2011
704
736
Kansas
Hello all. I started messing around with e-cigs around christmas after spending time with a family member who recently switched to e-cigs. I have been vaping for the last month or so and slowly reduced my stinky smoking to about 3 a day. Last Saturday was my last stinky and I feel great. Its been an expensive road but I think I am finally settling in. Just like others I wish I would have found this site earlier. Here is where I have been:

I bought the safecig original and micro first (google + good marketing) which was ok but the cartos are really expensive and about 30% of the time I got bad ones. Dropped about $200 at that site. Knuff with that.

Then I found this site. Now I own a Volt which I really like and have spend countless hours and money trying to find juices and cartos that I like. I am lazy so I still prefer pre-filled but did buy a huge bottle of 50/50 ry4 and some blanks which is my safety net when my pre-filled cartos run out.

Smokeless image pre-filled: So far the best I have found but not completely satisfied and crave more flavors
Elite vaporwork pre-filled: tasted like chemical and plastic. Yuck.
V4L WOW pre-filled cartos: Bought two sample packs and was extremely disappointed. They don't seem to work very well with the volt, I have to puff really hard and the vapor is almost non-existent. Something is not right here so done with these

Ok $300 later I am still trying to find my way. Wish I could find some pre-filled cartos with more flavor options but it seems the DIY path is where everybody ends up. Long term plans include an EGO or similar but that will be for recreation home vaping only, for public vaping I will stick with my Volt :). Any suggestions on cartos or juices? I need variety. Also my biggest issue so far is shipping times, no matter where I order it seems to take a week or more and if I need fast shipping its $20 or more. I even ordered from a St. Louis based E company and it still took a week, go figure. Local scene is limited, there is a kiosk at the mall that sells overprices EGO kits and 30ml bottle of juice but for $24 per bottle and they don't have 5ml samples (duh). Ok im done. Love this site and enjoy all the comments and experiences. Hoping I can find my sweet spot soon!

I haven't tried them but Halo has the same type of cartos (horizontal) as SI and Elite Vaporworks.
You might like their liquids better.
Good Luck
 

adubs

Full Member
Sep 27, 2011
50
97
St. Louis, MO
Hi there....I'm from the Lou as well...I've been using e-cigs since September. Started with Apollo, then V2 and finally the Volt. I also used the pre-fills in the beginning and was searching everywhere for more choices. Tried V4L, Halo, Elite Vaporworks, Smokeless Image and others but the truth is that once you make the leap to filling your own, you will be much happier. The guy at the Mills is WAY overpriced! I buy the empty cartos from Elite Vaporworks because they are the cheapest (horizontal) ones I have found and I get juice from a few different vendors. I started out buying sample packs and went from there. I do buy pre-fills for going out so I don't have to worry about topping off but there are some really great juices out there! Good luck Vaping and there is a "show-me vapors club on here that meet every month (haven't been but plan to at some point).
 

RevsVice

Full Member
Jan 22, 2012
35
7
Phoenix
I bought the safecig original and micro first (google + good marketing) which was ok but the cartos are really expensive and about 30% of the time I got bad ones. Dropped about $200 at that site. Knuff with that.
Word up! I dunno how they do it, but if you search Google for "electronic cigarette", safecig is the second entry after the Wikipedia link. So I go there and think aha! this must be it.

Thankfully I found ECF before I bought anything!
 

Lady J

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Nov 9, 2011
737
930
Ohio
propagandax and adubs, y'all should seriously consider going to the next local meet. They are the third Saturday of the month at Side Pockets in St Charles. I went to my first one last weekend, and it was great. Everyone was so nice. I got to sample a bunch of juices, and I was able to purchase from Elite Vaporworks right there on the spot. I even got to try a Helix mod, which I immediately fell in love with. There's a Facebook group you can join to meet local vapers, and you can find info here on the forum.

small warning: if you go to one of these, be prepared to drool and immediately be overtaken with "mod envy." :D
 
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