Hindsight is 20/20: Your first order mistakes

[drh713]

I'd like to share my experience. Someone out there who is about to place their first order may find it useful. For what its worth - I've always smoked menthol. Regular smokes are so lacking...

I purchased my first pv a few days ago and realize a few mistakes...

Mistake 1: I didn't check prices. I spent ~ $15 more for the eGo kit than I would have if I purchased from cignot, liberty-flights, etc.

Mistake 2a: I only ordered 20ml of liquid - 10ml bottles of 2 different flavors. I should have at least ordered 50ml of liquid as now I'm running low and I'm not sure when my next order is coming in. I wasted quite a bit just playing with the eGo

Mistake 2b: I like the two flavors I got, but am tired of 1 and can't use the other all day. I should have ordered at least 5 flavors, each in varying nicotine levels. I ordered mountain dew (I have a thing for mountain dew) and menthol. I love the menthol flavor (obsessed even), but I can't puff on it all day because...

Mistake 2c: The menthol flavor is 24mg nicotine. That number didn't mean much to me as I had nothing to put it in perspective. In the past few days, I've learned nicotine works quite well as a hunger suppressant and a...umm...laxative . The Mountain Dew is 0 nic. I can puff on it all day without feeling like I'm high on nicotine, and have a nearly empty bottle to prove it, but it doesn't provide the menthol feel I'm looking for.

(to sum up Mistake 2)
I'm content placing a second and third order to start trying different atomizers, cartomizers, etc, but I really, really wish I ordered more variety of liquid from the start. Mountain Dew is awesome, but as a menthol smoker, its lacking. I could puff on the menthol all day, but think I start feel a bit nauseous because of the high nicotine. Now 1 direct drop of mountain dew and 2 drops of menthol is just full of awesome, but that 24mg nic is still doing a number on me. If only I would have gotten some 0 nic menthol juice instead....

Mistake 3: I've been showcasing my PV to all the smokers I know. They all want to try it and I want them to try it, but I'm not trying to share a cartridge with them. While I doubt anyone wants to try my Minty Mighty Mountain Dew, I'd feel more comfortable giving them a few direct drips and a clean, empty cartridge. A handful of empty carts would be pretty cheap. I can even let them keep it....because I know they'll buy a PV to go along with it. (I guess some 'normal' flavor would help too)

Just my 24mg...I mean 2¢. Hopefully it will help someone...

 

[PoliticallyIncorrect]

Good advise on all counts.

Comparatively speaking, you didn't do all that badly on Mistake #1. Stories of people who spent $150 at a mall kiosk or less-than-principled website for a $35 KR808D kit are legion.

Something to add the liquid missteps is that before anyone gets a grip on what flavors they like, they'd do well—where possible—to buy 3ml sampler sizes. I could float an aircraft carrier on the unused 10ml or 30ml bottles of liquid I have laying around.

 

[Brewlady]

Mistake 3: I've been showcasing my PV to all the smokers I know. They all want to try it and I want them to try it, but I'm not trying to share a cartridge with them. While I doubt anyone wants to try my Minty Mighty Mountain Dew, I'd feel more comfortable giving them a few direct drips and a clean, empty cartridge. A handful of empty carts would be pretty cheap. I can even let them keep it....because I know they'll buy a PV to go along with it. (I guess some 'normal' flavor would help too)

Since I now only drip, I carry a few pre-filled carts with me, 18ml tobacco and menthol, with a spare atty. When someone wants to try it, I take off my "strange" flavored atty, and open a new cart for them. This way I can show them a cart, because lots of time people have said that it looks like too much work. I explain that I prefer to drip BUT then show them the cart, tell them that they are easy to refill, and they can keep the cart along with the ECF business card I hand them.

I could float an aircraft carrier on the unused 10ml or 30ml bottles of liquid I have laying around.

Have you tried to sell them in classifieds? I actually prefer to try juices this way, because they are already steeped when I get them. Doing this has helped me find juices that I've REALLY liked but wouldn't have ordered otherwise. Yesterday's mail brought (among a few others from the same seller) a bottle of TV Geoff's Blend, I like it enough that I'll be ordering it once this bottle gets to the halfway point. I've been a thrift store shopper all my life, so I like that we have our own place to sell unwanted juice.

 

[swedishfish]

Definitely good advice. BTW, where did you get the menthol you like?

 

[Hotwire]

I paid 150USD for my ego-t kit, they're now online at tw for like 69 I think lol...

BUT there is a silver lining.

The ego is a good kit.

Had my c/card been working I would have ordered an njoy pro duo.... Couldn't order as was waiting on new card and stumbled accross a kiosk selling the ego-t in Korea.

I'm pretty usre the ego is way better than an njoy pro duo, so I have probably saved a lot of hassle and frutration and the ego has got me off the cigs, so it's all good...

 

[sweetblackkitten]

they say to squeeze the condoms on the cartridges and cut off that lil end piece that will poke out like a nipple. gee can we please get better lingo for this lol!

anywho, i have a few of these in my carrying case if anybody wants to hit my VP =)

i need to get those forum business cards!

 

[Hotwire]

they say to squeeze the condoms on the cartridges and cut off that lil end piece that will poke out like a nipple. gee can we please get better lingo for this lol!

anywho, i have a few of these in my carrying case if anybody wants to hit my VP =)

i need to get those forum business cards!

Nipples.... Squeezing..... Condoms.... Poking out....

Methinks you have the wrong forum Kitty...

Jusss kidding! (and hoping this doesn't net me a ban...)

 

[ScottinSoCal]

Hindsight....

Mistake 1: OK, I got my eGo and didn't like the atomizer/cartridges. I read a bunch, saw that experienced people like the CE2 ceramic catromizers. Great! I ordered 5 packages of them at 2.4 ohms and couldn't wait to try the first one when they came in. Took a couple of hits and coughed up a lung. Decided they weren't for me and dumped all but the package I'd opened (didn't throw them away, traded them with someone local). During a desperate moment, several days later, I tried one again and *loved* the hit. My first trial was right after I started vaping, and my throat wasn't used to the difference. Once I acclimated to it, I loved the cartomizers. I had to re-order.

Mistake 2: Heard about clear cartomizers. Heard about clear *giant* cartomizers. Excellent! Too impatient, ordered in a higher resistance than my CE2s (3.1 ohm, instead of 2.4 ohm) and they suck. They suck bad. No vapor, no flavor, no joy. And I ordered 5 packages of them. But, this time, I didn't dump them, I tried them on someone else's higher power PV. They don't suck at higher power. In fact, at 5.0 volts, they're too strong (just like my CE2s were when I first tried them). So my purchase of clearomizers has inspired the purchase of two new PVs - one at 3.7 volts, and one variable voltage, 3.3v to 6.0v. Blew the crap out of my budget, and set me back - oh - probably another 4 months before I see any savings from vaping over smoking, but I hope this is the last hardware I'll need.

Mistake 3: Throwing out juice before I tried it on a good carto/PV combination. I've ordered several types and found I didn't like it, so I chucked it. One bottle I thought I had thrown away (it tasted like unwashed ...) turned up and I wondered if maybe....
Yeah. Time spent steeping, to settle the flavors, my tastebuds healing more after 30 years of smoking, and a better battery/cartomizer combination transformed the flavor. It tastes great now - one of my favorites. I wonder how many of those flavors I threw away would also be great now?

It all comes down to being impatient and wanting it all *right* *now*.

 

[mlinky]

LOL, great posts!!

 

[drh713]

Definitely good advice. BTW, where did you get the menthol you like?

dfwvapors. Its called US Menthol.

 

[Scotch827]

My mistake..............Greensmokes... before i found this forum. With hindsight..they did get me off analogs. Live and learn.

 

[throatkick]

My greatest mistake was not following up with PVs the first time I was exposed to them. Had I been a bit more methodical about it, I would have ripped apart one of those stupid mall-bought tinker toys and perhaps begun my quest for something better over 2 years ago! Oh well.....

Other mistakes:

not dripping - personal preference of course
confused mega ego and xl attys
not buying a passthrough
buying 2 Leos (1 was more than sufficient)

 

[Liv2Ski]

Nice post drh713 and hopefully it will help someone. Welcome to ECf and happy vapes to you

 

[Jimi Hendrix]

Buying a 510 mega when I could've gotten a Riva from Liberty-Flights for the same price

Buying low res (2.0 ohm) cartos not realizing I couldn't use them with the 510 mega battery.

 

[maverick1957]

My first and ongoing mistake has been not ordering enough of my favorite juices. So early last week I ordered 4 bottles of my favorite menthol (777) from Clouds of Vapor and a 30 ml bottle of my fav Vanilla Classic from FSUSA, thinking that I had plenty of time for them to arrive using Priority mail.

Well, I didn't count on a winter storm dumping ice and snow all over the deep south causing all forms of life to come to a standstill, including the mail! From now own, I intend to stock up on my favorites.

 

[Phil McRotch]

Separately purchasing "upgrades" ([extra] batteries, atties, charger) to my 510 at different times, which in turn, ended up being an entire eGo kit on its own, and I basically ended up paying a bit more than I potentially could have saved if I just bought the kit package.

Bottom line: if you're planning on upgrading, make it the kit version of what it is you're upgrading to. Still... in the end, I saved money if I look at what I would have spent on analogs.

 

[Brewlady]

Separately purchasing "upgrades" ([extra] batteries, atties, charger) to my 510 at different times, which in turn, ended up being an entire eGo kit on its own, and I basically ended up paying a bit more than I potentially could have saved if I just bought the kit package.

Bottom line: if you're planning on upgrading, make it the kit version of what it is you're upgrading to. Still... in the end, I saved money if I look at what I would have spent on analogs.

I bought a second eGo kit just because it was on sale. What I didn't realize until I got the kit was how convenient it is to have two batteries charging at once. Another plus is getting the five pre-filled carts, I carry them with me for people to try it out. It's just a win/win in my opinion.

 

[BlackMetalBuick]

No really a mistake so much as a personal preference, but if I could go back I wouldn't have spent money on prefilled carts, cartomizers, filling syringes, etc, seeing as now all I do as drip.

 

[Slothy]

I'm expecting my first kit (501) to arrive today and I've already realised I've probably got a few things wrong.

1) Given I smoke like a crematorium after a holiday weekend, the 501 will likely be a bit lightweight for me.
2) I should have ordered a passthrough!
3) Being located in Australia, my juice will have to come from OS and my first order may not last until I can receive a second.
4) I'm an incurable tinkerer and I really should have kept my nose out of the modding forum because the mental cogs are now whirling away before I've even had my first vap!

 

[Illudezion]

Great post! I got so excited to order I didn't really the search and ended up getting V4L which isn't bad but still wish i looked around first as i would have came across the Bloog. Oh well. I also only ordered an additional 5 carto on top of the 5 that comes with the starter kit and wish I had ordered more. At least I ordred 2 set of sample so I could get a feel for which flavor I like.