Here are some of my reflections on vaping that I hope might help someone where I was a couple weeks ago.
I am very happy I decided against the small analog style e-cigs - the ones that are supposed to approximate the size of a real cigarette. The aesthetic and tactile qualities would be lost on me. The increased utility of a larger eGo style battery is far more valuable to me.
Were I able to rewind I would have began by investigating larger mods like the Provari, Lavatube, Silver Bullet, etc. and skip the eGo 3.7v eGo batteries. That however is based on what I know now. Going into it I wasn't sure vaping was what I wanted so I wanted to spend as little as possible to give it an honest try. My eGo batteries accomplished that, but I think a happier medium would have been buying a eGo Twist variable voltage battery or two as my first battery.
I tried a cartridge once. Right away I preferred dripping. I bypassed all the inbetween stuff and went straight to buying a couple tanks. I haven't tried clearomizers or boge style cartomizers (by themselves) yet so can't comment from experience but I suspect I should have added some low resistance versions of those to one of my initial orders. That said, I think dripping gives me a good standard to judge all the other juice delivery gadgets by.
On the subject of juice: I did not try to buy juices that would mimic what cigarettes or pipe tobacco taste like. I don't doubt many of them out there are delicious but being a pipe smoker (as a hobby not habit) I have a way to appreciate the taste of tobacco without inhaling it straight into my lungs. We puff, we don't inhale. So I went with a vanilla, a few fruit flavors, one with a bit of menthol, and an Ry4 which has a tobacco flavor component added to vanilla and caramel flavors.
This, by the way, confirmed my assumption that juice can't really match the experience of actually tasting tobacco smoke on the palate. It is the throat hit that does match the sensation of smoking regular cigarettes. My advice to anyone trying to decide what flavors to try first - try flavors that sound good. Try a flavor you might like added to a soda or other beverage. Don't get me wrong, I've heard enough rave reviews of some tobacco juices out there I am anxious to try them, I just don't expect them make me think I'm actually smoking tobacco. They'll either taste good on their own merits as an ecig juice or they won't.
What I like about vaping and the "vaping world"
First off, there are a lot of great personalities involved - a delightful cross section of people from all walks of life.
It relieved me of my former tobacco addiction - snus - very well with a greatly reduced footprint of disadvantages.
Provided I can soon land on a set of hardware I am satisfied with and skirt the "hobby" side of collecting, tinkering, and all that and reduce my costs to restocking consumables and juice, the price of vaping is attractive.
I am enjoying the variety and exploration tho, so I can't say when that time will come.
What I do not like about vaping and the "vaping world"
Too many options, which wouldn't be so bad if so many of those options weren't bad ones.
There is a lot of seedy dealings going on. Buy beware! Too many shady business practices, too many knock-offs, immitations, rebranding, renaming, etc.
Not enough beta testing, quality control, and standardization.
It seems no sooner than some new product hits the market, there are other retails selling knockoffs and people are already talking about how the next version of it is to be released.
Another example. I saw a lot of reviews on how wonderful Boge cartomizers are, then I see information about how the "current batch has been giving people a lot of problems."
On the bright side, I do believe there are qualitiy products for sale, very honest retailers out there, with enough research and care you can avoid all the junk and end up paying a fair price for a quality product. Just be careful where you do your research, a lot of the reviews out there are paid for and dishonest, and don't take to long about it or that quality product might be obsolete and unavailable by the time you determine its safe to buy.
Overall, vaping gets a big thumbs up from me and I am glad to be on the journey.
I am very happy I decided against the small analog style e-cigs - the ones that are supposed to approximate the size of a real cigarette. The aesthetic and tactile qualities would be lost on me. The increased utility of a larger eGo style battery is far more valuable to me.
Were I able to rewind I would have began by investigating larger mods like the Provari, Lavatube, Silver Bullet, etc. and skip the eGo 3.7v eGo batteries. That however is based on what I know now. Going into it I wasn't sure vaping was what I wanted so I wanted to spend as little as possible to give it an honest try. My eGo batteries accomplished that, but I think a happier medium would have been buying a eGo Twist variable voltage battery or two as my first battery.
I tried a cartridge once. Right away I preferred dripping. I bypassed all the inbetween stuff and went straight to buying a couple tanks. I haven't tried clearomizers or boge style cartomizers (by themselves) yet so can't comment from experience but I suspect I should have added some low resistance versions of those to one of my initial orders. That said, I think dripping gives me a good standard to judge all the other juice delivery gadgets by.
On the subject of juice: I did not try to buy juices that would mimic what cigarettes or pipe tobacco taste like. I don't doubt many of them out there are delicious but being a pipe smoker (as a hobby not habit) I have a way to appreciate the taste of tobacco without inhaling it straight into my lungs. We puff, we don't inhale. So I went with a vanilla, a few fruit flavors, one with a bit of menthol, and an Ry4 which has a tobacco flavor component added to vanilla and caramel flavors.
This, by the way, confirmed my assumption that juice can't really match the experience of actually tasting tobacco smoke on the palate. It is the throat hit that does match the sensation of smoking regular cigarettes. My advice to anyone trying to decide what flavors to try first - try flavors that sound good. Try a flavor you might like added to a soda or other beverage. Don't get me wrong, I've heard enough rave reviews of some tobacco juices out there I am anxious to try them, I just don't expect them make me think I'm actually smoking tobacco. They'll either taste good on their own merits as an ecig juice or they won't.
What I like about vaping and the "vaping world"
First off, there are a lot of great personalities involved - a delightful cross section of people from all walks of life.
It relieved me of my former tobacco addiction - snus - very well with a greatly reduced footprint of disadvantages.
Provided I can soon land on a set of hardware I am satisfied with and skirt the "hobby" side of collecting, tinkering, and all that and reduce my costs to restocking consumables and juice, the price of vaping is attractive.
I am enjoying the variety and exploration tho, so I can't say when that time will come.
What I do not like about vaping and the "vaping world"
Too many options, which wouldn't be so bad if so many of those options weren't bad ones.
There is a lot of seedy dealings going on. Buy beware! Too many shady business practices, too many knock-offs, immitations, rebranding, renaming, etc.
Not enough beta testing, quality control, and standardization.
It seems no sooner than some new product hits the market, there are other retails selling knockoffs and people are already talking about how the next version of it is to be released.
Another example. I saw a lot of reviews on how wonderful Boge cartomizers are, then I see information about how the "current batch has been giving people a lot of problems."
On the bright side, I do believe there are qualitiy products for sale, very honest retailers out there, with enough research and care you can avoid all the junk and end up paying a fair price for a quality product. Just be careful where you do your research, a lot of the reviews out there are paid for and dishonest, and don't take to long about it or that quality product might be obsolete and unavailable by the time you determine its safe to buy.
Overall, vaping gets a big thumbs up from me and I am glad to be on the journey.
