What follows are random thoughts and babbling. I must be very lucky...
I didn't want this to become a new obsessive hobby, but I may already be in trouble.
I started smoking at 14 with stolen (from my Mother) B&H 100 menthols. Then switched to Marlboro Reds, bought with my lunch money. Later switched to Marlboro Lights. Then to Native lights bought on the rez across the street because I can get two packs for the price of one Marlboro.
I've tried to quit many times over the years. My experiences most recently with alternative nicotine delivery systems is:
1) Patches don't last (for me) as long as they're supposed to.
2) If the gum is in my mouth, I'm going to chew it. Might as well smoke cigars. (What do you mean, "Take it out?!? And do what with it???")
3) Lozenges burn my mouth and throat. Might as well smoke cigars.
4) The side-effects from Chantix damned near killed me.
I was only vaguely aware of e-cigs. Then I spotted a starter kit in a Walgreen's, and my curiosity took off. I tried a couple of different disposables and while one was down right nasty, the other was acceptable. Fortunately, I wasn't completely dissuaded.
After doing a lot of reading (And I mean a LOT), I settled on a Joye 510 starter kit and a bottle of USA Mix 24mg. When it works, it's about as close to an analog as I could've hoped. Love at first puff. The carts can be inconsistent. And I haven't figured out why. But when they're working right, they're awesome. Much better than I expected.
Then one day, I went to unplug a fully charged battery and drew a spark about a quarter inch long the second I touched the charger. The battery flashed and the LED on the charger went out. Dead. Very dead.
In a panic, I ordered a 510-T starter kit because I was already wishing for greater juice capacity. In the meantime, I went up to that store on the rez and bought a pack of Native Silvers (Ultralights). Analogs are NASTY, NASTY, NASTY! Thats when I decided that (still having nothing to lose) it was an opportunity to play with variable voltages.
After hacking together a socket, I played around a bit with some cheap cartos, and a stock 510 atty. No real surprises here. The greater the voltage the greater the TH and vapor. Not wanting risk the stock atty, I ran the el-cheapo all the way up to 6V expecting it to fry. It actually seemed to happier there. It was pulling almost 2 Amps, sizzling and popping, but it still works.
Still waiting for my 510-T system, and contemplating whether I could fix the charger, I noticed a jack on the side of it, "DC IN 12-24V." Since I happened to have a wall-wart that met the requirement, and having nothing to lose, I hooked it up and plugged it in. EUREKA! A green LED smiling back at me. Screw in a battery - three flashes and a red LED on the charger - back in business. Ahhh... Sometimes life is good.
Enter the 510-T. For me, near perfection. Although with the USA Mix 24mg, the throat-hit is near atomic, it is extremely consistent. A lower nico level and/or some fiddling with custom blends is in order. (Chocolate? Kona?!? Uh-oh...)
I only have a few minor gripes:
1) For the AC side of the charger to die from a static discharge represents poor electrical engineering. Probably something as simple as a clamping diode is missing.
2) Inconsistent 510 cart performance. Maybe it's just rookie-ism.
3) The 510-T tanks need a cap so I can fill several after they've been punctured. They don't leak a lot, but any is too much.
For refererence:
The impedance of my 510 attys is 3.2 Ohms.
The impedance of my 510-T atty is 2.4 Ohms. That probably explains the atomic TH.
The impedance of the cheap cartos is 3.1 Ohms.
I didn't want this to become a new obsessive hobby, but I may already be in trouble.
I started smoking at 14 with stolen (from my Mother) B&H 100 menthols. Then switched to Marlboro Reds, bought with my lunch money. Later switched to Marlboro Lights. Then to Native lights bought on the rez across the street because I can get two packs for the price of one Marlboro.
I've tried to quit many times over the years. My experiences most recently with alternative nicotine delivery systems is:
1) Patches don't last (for me) as long as they're supposed to.
2) If the gum is in my mouth, I'm going to chew it. Might as well smoke cigars. (What do you mean, "Take it out?!? And do what with it???")
3) Lozenges burn my mouth and throat. Might as well smoke cigars.
4) The side-effects from Chantix damned near killed me.
I was only vaguely aware of e-cigs. Then I spotted a starter kit in a Walgreen's, and my curiosity took off. I tried a couple of different disposables and while one was down right nasty, the other was acceptable. Fortunately, I wasn't completely dissuaded.
After doing a lot of reading (And I mean a LOT), I settled on a Joye 510 starter kit and a bottle of USA Mix 24mg. When it works, it's about as close to an analog as I could've hoped. Love at first puff. The carts can be inconsistent. And I haven't figured out why. But when they're working right, they're awesome. Much better than I expected.
Then one day, I went to unplug a fully charged battery and drew a spark about a quarter inch long the second I touched the charger. The battery flashed and the LED on the charger went out. Dead. Very dead.
In a panic, I ordered a 510-T starter kit because I was already wishing for greater juice capacity. In the meantime, I went up to that store on the rez and bought a pack of Native Silvers (Ultralights). Analogs are NASTY, NASTY, NASTY! Thats when I decided that (still having nothing to lose) it was an opportunity to play with variable voltages.
After hacking together a socket, I played around a bit with some cheap cartos, and a stock 510 atty. No real surprises here. The greater the voltage the greater the TH and vapor. Not wanting risk the stock atty, I ran the el-cheapo all the way up to 6V expecting it to fry. It actually seemed to happier there. It was pulling almost 2 Amps, sizzling and popping, but it still works.
Still waiting for my 510-T system, and contemplating whether I could fix the charger, I noticed a jack on the side of it, "DC IN 12-24V." Since I happened to have a wall-wart that met the requirement, and having nothing to lose, I hooked it up and plugged it in. EUREKA! A green LED smiling back at me. Screw in a battery - three flashes and a red LED on the charger - back in business. Ahhh... Sometimes life is good.
Enter the 510-T. For me, near perfection. Although with the USA Mix 24mg, the throat-hit is near atomic, it is extremely consistent. A lower nico level and/or some fiddling with custom blends is in order. (Chocolate? Kona?!? Uh-oh...)
I only have a few minor gripes:
1) For the AC side of the charger to die from a static discharge represents poor electrical engineering. Probably something as simple as a clamping diode is missing.
2) Inconsistent 510 cart performance. Maybe it's just rookie-ism.
3) The 510-T tanks need a cap so I can fill several after they've been punctured. They don't leak a lot, but any is too much.
For refererence:
The impedance of my 510 attys is 3.2 Ohms.
The impedance of my 510-T atty is 2.4 Ohms. That probably explains the atomic TH.
The impedance of the cheap cartos is 3.1 Ohms.
