It is overwhelming with all the choices, opinions, and jargon.
I wish I had found this forum before my first purchase. An overpriced 510 kit from a mall kiosk store. I immediately knew that vaping held potential. But it was a major pita to fill cartridges, too expensive to have and fill cartridges. And the cartridges didn't last very long at all. Battery life was not long at all, but hey I was not smoking and still enjoying the benefits of smoking.
Since then I found this forum and have read a bizillion posts. I had tried many types of everything in PVs (personal vaporizers), cartridges, cartomizers, and juices. I now own some modded high-end PVs that have variable voltages. But I wouldn't recommend the high dollar stuff to begin with.
But you don't want to buy cheap. You know the old saying "buy cheap, buy twice". It is definitely true with ecigs.
What I'd recommend to you is an
Mega Ego. They look nice, have a great ergonomic feel, and you won't drive/"walk around" looking like you're smoking a ..... The kit comes with two batteries so you can charge one while you using the other. You'll quickly find a routine where you can leave the house with two full batteries every day. I don't know how much you smoke but I was a pack/day smoker and the two batteries would always last me until I got home from work and long commutes. And usually through the evening. The Ego puts a little more voltage than a 510 stick model. This produces more vapor and a better taste, imo.
I would suggest you give cartomizers a try and you fill them yourself. They work longer, last MUCH longer, and are less messy to fill than cartridges. Buying prefilled cartridges you're going to go broke buying them. And you'll use them up before a vendor can ship you new ones, guaranteed. Cartridges are messy and a pain to fill. They never work just right and you're always fiddling with them to get them to work. Using the
condom fill method coupled with a taryn spin on a cartomizer is a very quick, non-messy, way to get A LOT of juice into a cartomizer. I can fill a cartomizer faster than I can fill the little problematic cartridges. With an Ego, I'd be looking for 1.8 to 2.5 ohm cartomizers. That ohm range will work well with the 3.7 volts of the Ego.
MadeVapes.com is a very good place to buy cartomizers, and other stuff. I'd order one/some of their little 5ml empty bottles to carry juice around with you in a pocket. A cartomer will hold 10 to 15 times the amount of a cartridge. and they don't leak like cartridges do.
I'd also order one of these
Ego cases when you order the Ego. Pretty inexpensive and a great way to carry your stuff. A little longer than a pack of 100's cigs. Fits (barely) in jeans front pocket, but better in a jacket pocket. This case looks nice and will hold your Ego, it's spare battery, the 5ml bottle, and a number of cartomizers. Very handy, compact way to carry around
everything you need.
Tobacco juice is hard to find that tastes good, and resembles the taste of smoking. My favorite by far is Halo juices. They are expensive but going to be much, much, much cheaper than buying pre-filled cartridges. My favorites are
Freedom (Marboro Light like) and
Torque56 (more like a Marlboro Red). I now mix my own clones of Freedom and Torque which makes it cheap, because I'm thrifty, LOL. I know a lot of people like the tobacco juices from
Backwoods Brew and
FreedomSmokesUSA, but Halo is my favorite. 18mg strength is probably a good nic level to start with.
So, there you have it:
- A Mega Ego kit (with spare battery, usb charger, USB wall AC adapter, couple of atomizers and some cartridges)
- Some 1.8 to 2.5 ohm cartomizers (they generally come in five packs. I'd buy a couple of packs).
- A five to ten ml bottle to carry juice.
- Some juice
- An Ego case to conveniently carry your stuff around.
The above is all you need. Compact and organized. This will perform well and you will not outgrow it anytime soon. If you decide ecig vapping is not for you, or you want to try something different, the above would sell easily here on the forum.
I have had nothing but good experiences with all the vendors I linked to in this post (good prices, fast, good customer service). Don't buy too cheap and end up buying twice. I'll never go back to smoking, this is better. Good luck with your vaping!
