Morale Kit

[six]

I finally found a situation that makes my REO more difficult than smoking. I never thought I'd say that, but I'm just too pedantic about this to let it go. It's bugging me.

My Morale Kit. - I've described in the past the nature of my work and play and how they get me deep in to the wilderness sometimes and often mother nature presents me with difficult circumstances. I stay as prepared as I can for the potential tough situations to help ensure I live through them. ... This could get long so I'll try to be brief:

Normal gear in the truck or on a mule is pretty much everything one might need to survive a full week outside even in bad conditions... way more than a week if one has good skills and knows something about living in the wilderness. If not forced to abandon the truck, I'm certain I'd be just fine for a month or longer even in very bad weather. -- However:

Along with the normal gear, I keep a pack of items that I won't allow myself to be separated from no matter what. That pack contains those things I might rely on if my situation reduces me to needing to use very primitive methods of survival... It also contains a small 8X8X5" pouch with my morale kit in it. --- I was cleaning out some storage the other day and found one of my old backpacks. When I dumped it out, I found an old morale kit. -- It contained a tin with coffee, rubber bands, and filters (enough to make five 16 ounce cups of coffee) - a clean/dry pair of socks & underwear in a ziplock - 2 packs of dried lipton soup - 2 packs of instant oatmeal - 1 pack of hot cocoa - 2 tea bags - a toothbrush - a couple of motel sized soap bars - a candy bar - and a 5" round tin of drum tobacco plus a couple of packs of zigzags and a minibic with an O-ring keeping the valve from ever getting depressed.

I took great pains sealing that tobacco up so nothing could damage it. I used a couple of oxygen absorbers plus ran some Argon in the tin before I put the lid on. Then I used a silicone tape from the plumbing shop to seal the seam... I am absolutely confident that if I open that tin today and roll a cigarette, it won't have suffered much if any degradation after ~6 years sitting in the bottom of that bag..

So... That brings me to my conundrum... this idea I can't seem to let go of because I sometimes worry about little things for usually no reason at all. How do I add stuff for my REO to my morale kit? juice doesn't last forever, so I'm just not so sure filling a spare 6ml bottle and sealing it up will do the trick. Charge up a battery and let it sit a year or longer and it won't have nearly its capacity charge any more, so just tossing in a full charged batt might not be enough either... I suppose I could pre-cut some cotton wicks and keep a little folded over bit of paper towel... or maybe just put a 306 in the box.

I'm at a loss. The nice thing about that sort of morale kit is that you can count on everything in it to remain useful for a very long time... The only solutions I've come up with is to prepare a fresh vaping kit every 6 months or so and swap that in and out of my bag... or just throw the tobacco tin back in there and forget about it because if things have gotten bad enough I'm reduced to my primitive tools and skills to live through a few bad days, maybe I shouldn't be all that concerned about a few roll my owns to get my nic delivered until my situation improves or I run out of tobacco.

Thoughts? Ideas? Helpful suggestions? Obscene remarks and gestures?

 

[Ian444]

Definitely just run with the tobacco, make sure you have a lighter in there It takes about 24hrs to get that foul taste out of your mouth, but it'll give you the required nic fix, and when you get back to civilization and vaping again, you'll really appreciate the great flavor from vaping.

My other thought is, you have no torch? If you had a torch, you will need a battery, make it an 18650. The juice will last for a year, not sure how long the battery will last, but last point of charge could be your vehicle before you abandon it in worst case scenario.

 

[six]

My other thought is, you have no torch? If you had a torch, you will need a battery, make it an 18650. The juice will last for a year, not sure how long the battery will last, but last point of charge could be your vehicle before you abandon it in worst case scenario.

The work trucks all have PD35s and I just received a TN12 the other day... My last ditch "survival gear" kits have traditionally not contained flashlights... though, that bag I dumped out did indeed have a 1st edition maratac AAA in it. I don't remember putting it in there and had often wondered what became of it.

Point taken, though. A good light won't add too much weight or take up too much space (slippery slope when I start saying that... then pretty soon my emergency bag weighs 60 lbs... but point taken for sure)

 

[Ian444]

On second thoughts, you might not want to have to share battery power between vaping and available torchlight. I'll stick to my first thoughts, take the tobacco. If its an emergency, then the 200 year old efficient nicotine delivery device is probably first choice, it even worked out at sea 150 years ago or more, and weighs little. But you could keep vape gear on the truck and use tobacco if you had to leave the truck.

 

[Ian444]

Instead of ribbon cut Drum, I would get some rope or twist style of tobacco, its much more compact for the same weight and stores for like 7 or 10 years or more as far as I know. Its pipe tobacco but will do the job, for example Samuel Gawith Brown Rope No. 4 Rum or Gawith Hoggarth Bulk Brown Bogie should do the trick.

 

[Rickajho]

Then again, I would think if you were facing being "stuck" in an outdoor situation you really didn't want to be in or plan on being in for between a week and a month.... I would probably have bigger concerns than where my next nic was coming from. When pressed with sudden emergency conditions - like unplanned two to four day stays in a hospital - the last thing I was thinking about was vaping. And I didn't.


Anyway, when it comes to practical matters: A bottle of liquids with no organic flavorings should hold up for a good two years. Coil and wick - tiny. Battery charging - not so easy. Solar is fickle. A more practical solution might be this: BioLite Wood Burning CampStove At least it's a dual purpose device.

 

[HgA1C]

If you are truly concerned over just getting nic, you may want to talk to your doctor and have your insurance cover your supplies. Most insurances will cover 1-3 months smoking cessation products every year. You may be able to get gum, lozenges, inhaler, or patches that are sealed straight from the factory, and only have nicotine in them. Personally I would throw a big box (well packs of gum sealed in plastic ) of gum and the tobacco in the bag with a stout rolling machine. That way you could get the nicotine throughout the day and have the smokes for a nightly reprieve from being in such a crappy situation. Also if you smoked filtered they use to make washable filter tips, probably still do.

 

[Filthy-Beast]

I've come up with is to prepare a fresh vaping kit every 6 months or so and swap that in and out of my bag

As I read your post this was my thought. Have two small bags that are easy to swap out and rotate vape stuff every 3 months.

 

[Funk Dracula]

I wonder if you could Macgyver two stacked CR123's with duck tape so they stand up right to line up with the fire pin, and a higher resistance coil to deal with 6V would work? Those batteries have a shelf life of something close to 10 years no?

I'm about to order a couple dozen CR123's anyways, I guess I'll see for myself when I get around to ordering them. I recently got into some flashlight collecting, and plan on donating one of them to my parent's house next time I'm around, but rather than load it with an 18650 I plan on throwing some CR123s in it along with a dozen spares. They can't be bothered with charging or finding the right battery at first so... lol

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Well, if the bag is to cover you for multiple days, you would need either multiple batteries (I go through at least 2 per day) or a means to charge one. A 306 atty, juice, and a reo are easy peasy in comparison.

I'd say either bite the bullet on the tobacco (you smoked for years, so smoking for the length of time that the soup and cocoa last prolly isn't the end of the world) or use an NRT product (maybe Nicorette tablets, which I use on long flights).

 

[minimalsaint]

Morale kits in survival are huge. I keep one for every member of the family in our survival gear, only swapping out the ones for the kids as they mature. I don't ever plan on smoking again, but tobacco and papers are included in the kits for my wife and I.
It's not so much about he nic fix when you are in a survival situation as it is having things that remind you of comfort, hence "morale kit". A cup of coffee, clean undies or even a fresh cig can put your mind in a better place and even give you the hope needed to push through the current situation.
I say keep the tobacco and papers. It is a simple solution to add to the kit and it will work every time. Just my .02

 

[SoftSell]

^^^ agree fully.
If a survival situation arose, vaping isn't going to cut it for this guy. It's not "oh man I could use a cigarette," it's more of a "I may not make it out of this sane, or alive"
What happens if the power goes down for an extended period of time? Are we really going to use precious fuel and generators to charge a few 18650s? This has crossed my mind a few times, and morale/comfort is huge in dire situations. I'd definitely still carry tobacco/papers, or maybe even some of those subpar disposable ecigs from gas stations. Still does the trick no?

 

[BockinBboy]

I never smoked (or vaped) in the woods while hunting, so I'm not sure if that would actually deter animals from your area or not... but I could imagine any smells that aren't native would make the smarter animals head the other direction... which wouldn't be a good thing for survival. Of course there is the wind direction and positioning that would come in to play, but odds aren't in your favour in survival situations... I'd opt for an NRT type (patch, gum, etc..) if the nic is enough of a morale booster for you. But if its the ritual of a real smoke that provides the morale, then not much else can replace that for it to last years in a pack if it must... I dunno though, lots of angles to look at it. For me, I have come to enjoy vaping more than I enjoyed cigars (the analog I switched to vaping from), so something to vape would provide more morale than a well kept cigar... but the draw of it all is the nic - so any nic delivery would probably sky rocket my morale at that point LOL

- Bboy

 

[Rickajho]

I wonder if you could Macgyver two stacked CR123's with duck tape so they stand up right to line up with the fire pin, and a higher resistance coil to deal with 6V would work? Those batteries have a shelf life of something close to 10 years no?

I'm about to order a couple dozen CR123's anyways, I guess I'll see for myself when I get around to ordering them. I recently got into some flashlight collecting, and plan on donating one of them to my parent's house next time I'm around, but rather than load it with an 18650 I plan on throwing some CR123s in it along with a dozen spares. They can't be bothered with charging or finding the right battery at first so... lol

Bad. Basbadbadbadbad.Non rechargeable CR123's? That's how the guy in Florida blew part of his face off and put PureSmoker out of business in the process. DO NOT USE NON RECHARGEABLE CR123'S IN A VAPING SETUP!!! Simply don't have the required amp output.

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

I have a morale kit for the wild that contains cigars in a waterproof traveldor and an urban morale kit that would contain the pv, juice and batteries along with a 12v charger for my daily use.

Lately, I spend a lot more time in urban areas and my vehicle is also my home.

 

[Funk Dracula]

Bad. Basbadbadbadbad.Non rechargeable CR123's? That's how the guy in Florida blew part of his face off and put PureSmoker out of business in the process. DO NOT USE NON RECHARGEABLE CR123'S IN A VAPING SETUP!!! Simply don't have the required amp output.

Well, yeah of course you'd have to, like I said, vape higher resistance to deal with the 6V, and keep the amp draw below 2A. Flashlights have been drawing continuous ~ 2A-3A off of CR123s for years and years. Pretty sure mods in their infancy were CR123, then RCR123, then larger ICR/IMR we use today.

But yeah, don't vape your Reo as usual! CR123's going boom is ironically the lesser of the problem, the fumes from a boomed CR123 are indeed highly toxic.

Anyhooo... should of prefaced that suggestion with (better know what you're getting into/doing).

Cheers

 

[Rmcgloth]

Snus? The swedes seem to think it is a pretty good solution, though I have no info on shelf life. I keep a sealed pack of backwoods black cigars in my pack. I agree with several other posters here, if I'm shooting zombies, it's going to be with blue smoke blowing out of my flaring nostrils.

 

[2buildawall]

Snus dries out when stored for any length of time. It does only take a bit of water to bring it back to some sort of working condition if it is not to old. After a year though it isn't worth the trouble even if stored properly.

 

[K31Scout]

My bug out bag would have my MVP2 (long battery life) and a couple of Evod tanks (light weight) plus a 30ml bottle of 36mg nicotine juice. The Evod's can give a good vape at 6W or so and conserve power consumption. Could use an exposed coil to light some tinder as well. I'd keep the real tobacco in there as well.