How much do you spend?

[tonofsteel]

Just signed up and I need to make some posts here to get off probation it seems. I have a legitimate question however: How much do you spend on E-Cigs?

For the most part I am interested in qutiting mainly for health reasons, but there was at one time a promise that you would also save money. There are so many vendors, products and e-liquids to try that it seems almost impossible to have a moderate budget.

For the hardware there are so many options and sizes. When I started to get into this I did not know about any variable voltage batts/mods and ended up getting a kit of Ego clones. These had a custom smart cart atomizer. Now I upgraded the atomizer to clearomizers, but there are many to try. All my batteries are not variable voltage so now looking into upgrading those.

For the liquid there are again so many options. There are vendors that offer hundreds of flavors as I am sure you all know. Finding out what you like is subjective and can take many orders of liquids to figure out a few that you enjoy enough to order on a regular basis.

For the past few weeks I have been placing orders and making wish lists of stuff that I want to try, or stuff that I have tried and want to order more of.

Right now between hardware and liquids from different vendors I can easily see myself spending $100 a week, or even double if I get carried away trying new things based on others reviews. Maybe once I learn enough and figure out which hardware/atomizer/clearomizer/pass through/liquid/PG-VG mix/flavors/vendor/shipping time/coil replacement periods/rebuild or not/mods etc I could probably cut this down to just ordering replacement parts and have a stock of liquid I enjoy with the odd new flavor thrown in here or there. So with discipline this could be $150 a month.

Do you end up saving any money? I have seen some peoples collections of hardware/liquid that has to cost thousands. Does it matter if you spend as much or more on this since it means not using analogs? Saving money was secondary for me, but if I end up spend 3x more on this stuff then I might start to question it. Almost seems like you can end up chasing the best flavor/throat hit/performance vapor dragon.

 

[swampmaster]

I was spending 500 a month on analogs, I have spent almost 600.00 in the last few weeks on supplies but I have stocked heavy in some stuff so it will slow down some here in a few weeks for me

Btw welcome this is a great place I am learning and read a bunch

 

[cigster]

I use Bull smoke products and Mount Baker Vapor and it's cheap as ..... A starter kit is only $30 and it's the same stuff as V2, which sells it for around $70. I actually just got another one because I wanted a new battery and it was only $10 more just to get another starter kit. The vapor juice is supor cheap too. It's like $7 for a $15 mL bottle that lasts me over 2 weeks. you just need to buy a 5-pack of blank cartomizers or full cartomizers that are similar to the flavor juice you buy and then pop the top off and fill em yourself. I've also found that it always tastes better. With carts you buy they can only put so much juice, but you can fill urs up and then keep adding more when it gets half done, which keeps the flavor you would normally lose after your first 3 or 4 drags from a normal cart. Hope that helps. Overall, using juice making this wayyyyy cheaper than cigs, even when they're only $4 like around me.

 

[El_tecolote]

With some self discipline you could do much less than $150 a month. But, as with most new endeavors, some get carried away and the self discipline flies out the window. Just keep in mind that you don't need to spend a small fortune to get a good vape and what works for one person may not work for you. Take your time, start out "small" and gradually progress.

 

[tonofsteel]

Hi cigster, I see you are in the US. I notice like with everything else here in Canada it seems we pay a premium compared to there? From the sites I browse I think you can find everything at roughly half the price in the US compared to here. It could just be me and my bias though. If I wasn't worried about my orders getting confiscated at the border I would try order some, but then the shipping would probably offset any savings unless I ordered alot.

The kit I got was pretty a pretty basic non variable Ego clone with a proprietary smart cart and it was $70. The places in Western Canada that I have dealt with do not offer any form of free shipping so it always adds $10-$20. Looking at $18 for 30mL bottles from my last order. Clearo $8 with replacement coils $2.50, seem to need at least 2-3 replacement coils a week. 15mL lasts you over two weeks? I quit analogs completely for two weeks and I notice at the start I was vaping like crazy, and lately it has slowed down to half, I went through 40mL in two weeks so far.

 

[DeepFriedDoitsu]

When I'm not chasing after new gear I probably average $50 a month on diy juice supplies.

 

[The Ocelot]

Hi - you're not on "probation," and will probably get more answers to questions you post in the new members forum than in the sub-forums. Look at the main page and see the number of viewers in each section; most of them are here.

When you first start vaping, there is an unavoidable learning curve to find out what works best for you, but lots of members look all the time for sales, deals and coupons and are more than willing to post them. Finding the right juice can be pricey, but if you look for sales, buy sample packs and buy from vendors who send free samples with orders, you can try quite a few.

After that...you may be a happy vaping dragon or you may succumb to the I want pretty shiny syndrome, no one can predict that.

but for every dollar you spend vaping, you aren't spending on cigarettes.

If someone had told me a few years ago that for $XXXXXXXXXXX I could really quit smoking for good and not go crazy while doing it, I would have jumped at the chance.

 

[Vap3rV3nom]

It's been only 3 weeks of me smoking and I've spent over 800

 

[tonofsteel]

With some self discipline you could do much less than $150 a month. But, as with most new endeavors, some get carried away and the self discipline flies out the window. Just keep in mind that you don't need to spend a small fortune to get a good vape and what works for one person may not work for you. Take your time, start out "small" and gradually progress.

It is SO subjective it seems, and I think I have found some combinations of clearo/liquid that I think is good enough for me. But then I will read a review about some other atomizer. For example I heard about the F16, heard great reviews and also heard to use the smoktech DCT for better vape. Now I am looking at creating another order for the F16, the Boge replacement carts, and the DCT in 1.5 and 2.5 ohms to see which one really does work the best for me and my equipment. But to use properly I hear you need variable voltage to "dial it in". Then I look at the variable ego with pass through since this would work for me and on and on it goes

 

[Snickerfritz]

I bought a starter with two eGos for $35.00, a Kanger T3 and a head, around $10.00. I've been doing it just long enough to get a feel for how much juice I go through and it looks like it's about $11.00/wk.

 

[cigster]

I only spend like $20 bucks a month on juice and usualy nothing on accessories, but when I do it's just $15 for a bettery or $10 for a charger.

 

[tonofsteel]

I bought a starter with two eGos for $35.00, a Kanger T3 and a head, around $10.00. I've been doing it just long enough to get a feel for how much juice I go through and it looks like it's about $11.00/wk.

What is the PG/VG of your juice? I am using the Tabac BCC (it looks the same, but is it?) with 50/50 and had wicking problems, getting burnt hits. If I plug the vent holes and draw a bit every now and again then it works much better. When I do this it will draw a bit of extra liquid into the wick/coil and you can see a couple small bubbles come up from the wicks which indicate that a bit of liquid got sucked in. Taste is amazing after this and if you get a feel for it there will be no flooding. Every time I have tried messing with the wicks to take any out or flip the top seal it floods like crazy.

 

[Snickerfritz]

What is the PG/VG of your juice? I am using the Tabac BCC (it looks the same, but is it?) with 50/50 and had wicking problems, getting burnt hits. If I plug the vent holes and draw a bit every now and again then it works much better without this. Every time I have tried messing with the wicks to take any out or flip the top seal it floods like crazy.

The place near me only sells 50/50, but usually they'll cut it with some PG for me to make it a little thinner. I was getting burnt hits with the clearomizers that came with the starter kit. I'm still not sure if it means they're just toast or not. I haven't had the burnt taste problem since I went to the T3.

 

[yzer]

I've spent $836 since I started vaping in November of 2011. $154 was spent on a couple of APVs. The total includes the APVs and everything else from batteries to juice to DIY lab supplies. I have enough DIY supply to keep me in juice until the middle of 2014. During this time I quit smoking. I'm happier and healthier. I saved $3,510 by not buying any cigarettes for the last twelve months. Savings minus vaping expense is $2,674. These figures include the Sigelei ZMAX V.3 Telescopic (flat top) VW rig I bought this week.

 

[noi_max]

I'm not a fiddly, do-it-yourselfer kinda guy with this e-cig stuff, and I happen to like a premium juice. Even so I can get a 30ml bottle to last nearly 2 weeks, and replacement cartos for nearly that long as well.

I am not doing this on the cheap, and yet I'm still only spending roughly $7 a week to maintain. The guys that wind their own coils and mix their own juice will do it vastly cheaper than that. Either way it's still way less than buying a pack or more a day.

 

[tonofsteel]

I've spent $836 since I started vaping in November of 2011. $154 was spent on a couple of APVs. The total includes the APVs and everything else from batteries to juice to DIY lab supplies. I have enough DIY supply to keep me in juice until the middle of 2014. During this time I quit smoking. I'm happier and healthier. I saved $3,510 by not buying any cigarettes for the last twelve months. Savings minus vaping expense is $2,674.

How do you DIY? Did you find formulas/recipies somewhere or do you test/create your own? Did you have to get a hundred different flavorings or do you know what your into enough that a dozen or so is good enough? I did see some info on this but it seems to get the right taste could be tricky and there are so many flavor options.

 

[Talyon]

Not including my initial costs, as I love new gadgets, my weekly upkeep to Vape is about 15 bucks as compared to 70 that analogs were costing me. Going on a nice vacation this December, muahhahahahahaha!

 

[yzer]

I was saving substantial money over smoking back when I bought pre-made juice at $12.50 per 30 ml bottle. 30 ml still lasts me about two weeks. The nic base I use for DIY now is one of the best and one of the most expensive available.

 

[tennessee jedi]

Ive spent a little under a hundred on an ego twist, and a ego passthrough for my batt.. I bought a kanger t2, an iclear 16, and a protank and 5 different juices. I wanted to find out which tank or clearo i liked the best. I also got a case for it and chargers etc. So far so good and i dont smell like an ashtray.

 

[rkeenjr]

I just spent 250.00 on my start up... I bought a Smok Kear set and some e-liquid ($80) and then went and bought some a case, a couple of stands, and another clearomizer. I thought I was done until I saw a review on Lemon merguine e-liquid and had to have some. Sooo... Yeah I went overboard but I think I am done for now.

RKeenJr.