Greetings everyone,
My name is Nate, and I hail from Austin, TX. I've been a lurker for a while now, and figured it was about time to register and actually participate in the community.
A little about me:
As I previously said, I live in Austin, TX (originally from Dallas/Ft.Worth). I am married, pushing 30, and I work as a QA Engineer for a major online marketplace. I have been an on-again, off-again smoker for the better part of the last 15 years, and I was first introduced to e-cigs a few months ago by our department intern, who has an l88b (Blu). It was around this time that I found the forums. I was not a heavy smoker, so I figured i would just go ahead and get an l88b, assuming it would be adequate. After everything I had read, I should have known better, but I digress.
My first kit was a black l88b (Volcano), and for the first few days I was happy as a clam, so I ordered a few extra atomizers and an assortment of carts. Over the next few weeks however, I became all too aware of the l88b's numerous shortcomings firsthand. Another major problem for me was that at least once every day or so, I would get a horrible craving that just couldn't be fulfilled by anything less than an analog.
I nearly threw in the towel several times, but I ready didn't want to give up quite that easily, so I did more reading, and decided to try to address and correct some of the issues I had with the L88b. I have always been something of a "modder" or "tweaker" in regard to many things, so this seemed like a natural progression for me.
The first thing I did was order a manual battery for a J108 (Sidesho), which was an unbelievable improvement over the stock Volcano auto batteries. I ordered another manual battery, and this time I ordered a small bottle of juice as well, as I was growing tired of dealing with the inconsistencies of the pre-filled carts. I began refilling empty carts, and experimented with both dripping and dipping. Again, there was enough of an improvement to keep me going on this path, and I ordered several more bottles and flavors of juice and began mixing, in an attempt to find my "perfect" blend.
I continued this for a few more weeks, but still wasn't completely satisfied. I would still get the unquenchable analog cravings, though much less frequently. I decided that in order to attempt to better deal eliminate my cravings, I needed to increase both the volume of vapor and the throat hit. I was also growing tired of re-using the Volcano carts, so I decided to order a few 306a atomizers and a few packs of blank carts, to see how they would perform.
My J108/306a hybrid worked great, and after another week or so, my analog cravings were nearly gone entirely, but I still wasn't quite happy with the vapor volume/density, or the throat hit. I was also getting tired of having to constantly top off those tiny carts (although the 306a carts did seem to last much longer than the l88b carts). I concluded that this was probably the best I was going to get out of a mini, and decided that unless I wanted to fall off the bandwagon, I needed to try something else.
I ordered a manual 510 kit last week (with a PCC and USB passthrough as well), and haven't looked back since. The 510 is everything I was looking for, and I haven't had an analog craving since I got it. The only place I find it lacking (compared to my J108/306a) is in taste/flavor, but I am working on adjusting my juice mix to compensate, and even with the flavor issue, I am very satisfied with the 510.
In regard to juice, I use mostly 18mg PG Dekang, with a small amount of VG added. My two regular blends are a 1:1 mix of Turkish Blend and RY4, and a 5:1 mix of Turkish Blend and Menthol.
I am going to stop writing now, as I seem to have composed a short novel, but if there is anything else you would like to know, just ask.
My name is Nate, and I hail from Austin, TX. I've been a lurker for a while now, and figured it was about time to register and actually participate in the community.
A little about me:
As I previously said, I live in Austin, TX (originally from Dallas/Ft.Worth). I am married, pushing 30, and I work as a QA Engineer for a major online marketplace. I have been an on-again, off-again smoker for the better part of the last 15 years, and I was first introduced to e-cigs a few months ago by our department intern, who has an l88b (Blu). It was around this time that I found the forums. I was not a heavy smoker, so I figured i would just go ahead and get an l88b, assuming it would be adequate. After everything I had read, I should have known better, but I digress.
My first kit was a black l88b (Volcano), and for the first few days I was happy as a clam, so I ordered a few extra atomizers and an assortment of carts. Over the next few weeks however, I became all too aware of the l88b's numerous shortcomings firsthand. Another major problem for me was that at least once every day or so, I would get a horrible craving that just couldn't be fulfilled by anything less than an analog.
I nearly threw in the towel several times, but I ready didn't want to give up quite that easily, so I did more reading, and decided to try to address and correct some of the issues I had with the L88b. I have always been something of a "modder" or "tweaker" in regard to many things, so this seemed like a natural progression for me.
The first thing I did was order a manual battery for a J108 (Sidesho), which was an unbelievable improvement over the stock Volcano auto batteries. I ordered another manual battery, and this time I ordered a small bottle of juice as well, as I was growing tired of dealing with the inconsistencies of the pre-filled carts. I began refilling empty carts, and experimented with both dripping and dipping. Again, there was enough of an improvement to keep me going on this path, and I ordered several more bottles and flavors of juice and began mixing, in an attempt to find my "perfect" blend.
I continued this for a few more weeks, but still wasn't completely satisfied. I would still get the unquenchable analog cravings, though much less frequently. I decided that in order to attempt to better deal eliminate my cravings, I needed to increase both the volume of vapor and the throat hit. I was also growing tired of re-using the Volcano carts, so I decided to order a few 306a atomizers and a few packs of blank carts, to see how they would perform.
My J108/306a hybrid worked great, and after another week or so, my analog cravings were nearly gone entirely, but I still wasn't quite happy with the vapor volume/density, or the throat hit. I was also getting tired of having to constantly top off those tiny carts (although the 306a carts did seem to last much longer than the l88b carts). I concluded that this was probably the best I was going to get out of a mini, and decided that unless I wanted to fall off the bandwagon, I needed to try something else.
I ordered a manual 510 kit last week (with a PCC and USB passthrough as well), and haven't looked back since. The 510 is everything I was looking for, and I haven't had an analog craving since I got it. The only place I find it lacking (compared to my J108/306a) is in taste/flavor, but I am working on adjusting my juice mix to compensate, and even with the flavor issue, I am very satisfied with the 510.
In regard to juice, I use mostly 18mg PG Dekang, with a small amount of VG added. My two regular blends are a 1:1 mix of Turkish Blend and RY4, and a 5:1 mix of Turkish Blend and Menthol.
I am going to stop writing now, as I seem to have composed a short novel, but if there is anything else you would like to know, just ask.
