Hi all. Recent convert to vaping.... or I should say almost-convert. Still smoking the stinkies but only a handful a day. I got an N300 starter kit from NHaler about 3 weeks ago I guess. I've been taking the vape to work, and saving the analogs for evenings and after meals.
Going into this adventure, I could not see using any of the food/drink/candy type liquids, and didn't quite get the appeal there. I smoke fairly high quality RYO (Bali Shag, Stokkebye), and before that, 10 years ago, I was paying top dollar for high end packs (Nat Sherman, Export A, etc). I actually *enjoy* smoking, like the taste of a good smoke, and assumed I could come close to that with a tobacco-based liquid. Well, I've tried several juices so far, that many users and reviewers have claimed was "the closest thing to analog," "easily my all day vape," and "just like the real thing." However, reading these reviews makes me wonder if we are vaping the same stuff, because nothing has come anywhere close to smoking a good cig for me. I've tried the following, and most of them, to my tongue, taste like the same stuff with different flavors thrown in. There's a common "maple syrup" type vibe that they all seem to share. This I'm guessing must be the actual PG/VG, since it's the one thing they all have in common. Here's the list, with my impressions:
Nhaler:
RY Not - sweet caramel
Flue cured - sweet and vaguely spicy/peppery
Signature Tobacco - just sweet
I don't get anything like tobacco from any of these.
Backwoods Brew:
Adirondack - Good. Earthy, vaguely pine-ish at first, but that mellowed out after a week or so.
Virginia - This is actually one of my favorites so far, but that surprises me because it's sweet. Almost sickenly so. I would describe it as smelling and even tasting a bit like cotton candy.
Smoke - Similar to NHaler's flue cured. Slightly sweet and spicy.
Backo - I wonder if they might have made a mistake prepping this one. It looks, smells and tastes like nothing at all. It has almost no color, odor or flavor to me.
Now from what I understand, these are Naturally Extracted Tobaccos. But, while they come a lot closer to that (in the sense of smelling/licking a wet, uncured, even uncut tobacco leaf), they still are a far cry from smoking anything.
Heather's Heavenly Vapes:
Legend - A ha. I think we're getting somewhere. I do taste something vaguely tobacco-ish here. But again, there's a sweetness that throws it off. While I could see this as having an aromatic pipe tobacco origin, it almost leaves with a grape taste, but fake grape. Like a grape Tootsie Pop, which is just odd.
Dark Horse - This one is similar to Legend, but maybe more earth, less Tootsie-grape.
Huntsman - Very earthy, plant-y, with some sweetness on inhale and a dry exhale. This is probably the most "natural" of the bunch, but still not like smoking.
Mocha Java Smooth - I added this one to the sampler pack because I was getting discouraged by the tobacco flavors and started to wonder if I should just give up on that and try a different flavor altogether. This one really does taste like the name. Definite coffee taste with a bittersweet mocha in there. A nice change, enjoyable after dinner, but a little goes a long way. Too long.
Now, I've ordered another sampler from HHV, to try the rest of their purity tobacco offerings, and I got larger bottles of Legend and Dark Horse, because I did enjoy those and could see settling in with them if nothing else grabs me.
And I've ordered some of the house NETs from GoodeJuice as well, yet to arrive.
So for those of you still with me, thanks for your patience. I write all this not to knock any of the vendors at all. Not my intention. These are just my n00b first impressions. I admit I might easily be doing something wrong. My delivery system has variable voltage, so maybe I haven't found the right heat for each of these. At first I was setting it on the high side, around 4.3V, and quickly found that everything tasted burnt after a few toots, so I dialed it down, and erring on the lower side now. Usually keeping it between 3.3 - 3.8V.
I guess the point in all this is that I'm hoping to find someone who can either validate my experience so far, or maybe tell me something obvious that I'm missing that fixes everything. I have read that I just shouldn't expect to get anything like a cigarette smoking experience from vaping, period. And that seems to be the case. But I'm also perplexed by all the juice reviews I've read, and how the experience others are having has been so consistently and utterly different from my own.
Thanks! How's that for an intro post?
Going into this adventure, I could not see using any of the food/drink/candy type liquids, and didn't quite get the appeal there. I smoke fairly high quality RYO (Bali Shag, Stokkebye), and before that, 10 years ago, I was paying top dollar for high end packs (Nat Sherman, Export A, etc). I actually *enjoy* smoking, like the taste of a good smoke, and assumed I could come close to that with a tobacco-based liquid. Well, I've tried several juices so far, that many users and reviewers have claimed was "the closest thing to analog," "easily my all day vape," and "just like the real thing." However, reading these reviews makes me wonder if we are vaping the same stuff, because nothing has come anywhere close to smoking a good cig for me. I've tried the following, and most of them, to my tongue, taste like the same stuff with different flavors thrown in. There's a common "maple syrup" type vibe that they all seem to share. This I'm guessing must be the actual PG/VG, since it's the one thing they all have in common. Here's the list, with my impressions:
Nhaler:
RY Not - sweet caramel
Flue cured - sweet and vaguely spicy/peppery
Signature Tobacco - just sweet
I don't get anything like tobacco from any of these.
Backwoods Brew:
Adirondack - Good. Earthy, vaguely pine-ish at first, but that mellowed out after a week or so.
Virginia - This is actually one of my favorites so far, but that surprises me because it's sweet. Almost sickenly so. I would describe it as smelling and even tasting a bit like cotton candy.
Smoke - Similar to NHaler's flue cured. Slightly sweet and spicy.
Backo - I wonder if they might have made a mistake prepping this one. It looks, smells and tastes like nothing at all. It has almost no color, odor or flavor to me.
Now from what I understand, these are Naturally Extracted Tobaccos. But, while they come a lot closer to that (in the sense of smelling/licking a wet, uncured, even uncut tobacco leaf), they still are a far cry from smoking anything.
Heather's Heavenly Vapes:
Legend - A ha. I think we're getting somewhere. I do taste something vaguely tobacco-ish here. But again, there's a sweetness that throws it off. While I could see this as having an aromatic pipe tobacco origin, it almost leaves with a grape taste, but fake grape. Like a grape Tootsie Pop, which is just odd.
Dark Horse - This one is similar to Legend, but maybe more earth, less Tootsie-grape.
Huntsman - Very earthy, plant-y, with some sweetness on inhale and a dry exhale. This is probably the most "natural" of the bunch, but still not like smoking.
Mocha Java Smooth - I added this one to the sampler pack because I was getting discouraged by the tobacco flavors and started to wonder if I should just give up on that and try a different flavor altogether. This one really does taste like the name. Definite coffee taste with a bittersweet mocha in there. A nice change, enjoyable after dinner, but a little goes a long way. Too long.
Now, I've ordered another sampler from HHV, to try the rest of their purity tobacco offerings, and I got larger bottles of Legend and Dark Horse, because I did enjoy those and could see settling in with them if nothing else grabs me.
And I've ordered some of the house NETs from GoodeJuice as well, yet to arrive.
So for those of you still with me, thanks for your patience. I write all this not to knock any of the vendors at all. Not my intention. These are just my n00b first impressions. I admit I might easily be doing something wrong. My delivery system has variable voltage, so maybe I haven't found the right heat for each of these. At first I was setting it on the high side, around 4.3V, and quickly found that everything tasted burnt after a few toots, so I dialed it down, and erring on the lower side now. Usually keeping it between 3.3 - 3.8V.
I guess the point in all this is that I'm hoping to find someone who can either validate my experience so far, or maybe tell me something obvious that I'm missing that fixes everything. I have read that I just shouldn't expect to get anything like a cigarette smoking experience from vaping, period. And that seems to be the case. But I'm also perplexed by all the juice reviews I've read, and how the experience others are having has been so consistently and utterly different from my own.
Thanks! How's that for an intro post?
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I'm sure someone can pop in and recommend some of the "closest possible",,,,
