Hello,
I thought I'd share my experience so far, maybe with a follow up in a couple weeks. First off, I must say that despite all the negative publicity of the FDA regarding e-cigs, there's an old saying, "Any publicity is good publicity." Indeed, I had heard of e-cigs before, but they were tucked away into some recess of my mind until I read the FDA garbage the other day. Here I am a week or so later with my e-cig.
Coming from no experience, it's very confusing with all the different models and companies that are selling. Wanted something simple to use and that had positive
reviews of both the product and the company selling them. Eventually I found and settled on the Bloog as my first purchase.
As important as the review, the question is "Why e-cigs?" For a multitude of reasons the main three are: 1. I've tried to quit before using a variety of methods, but found I'm addicted as much to the hand/mouth action as anything else. 2. Generally, I feel like crap. I smoke a little over 1 pack a day of Marlboro lights. I'm always tired, have noticeable diminished breathing capacity. 3. They've raised taxes so much on cigarettes it now costs me anywhere from 10-12$ for 2 packs. Yes, I know this is cheaper than in some places. I was working over in the UK not to long ago and I recall paying $12 for one pack out of a vending machine, and being delighted to see it had 17 cigarettes instead of 20... I digress. Just want a workable alternative! Go away FDA!
Anyhow, here is what I can say so far.
Ordering Process: Online, easy. Just a few minutes, and a few hours later my order says, "Staged for shipping" and "Waiting for Fedex Tracking Number." It then remained that way for Friday, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tuesday so I decided to give a little nudge via e-mail. Got a response fairly quickly that it was shipping that day and it did. Would it have if I hadn't sent my e-mail? I don't know.
Receipt of Product: Cool packaging, batteries seem to be fully charged so I can start using it right away. There was a nice bonus of some m&m's in the package, however what wasn't in the package was all the cartridges I ordered. From another post I can see this isn't an isolated case, but I shot off an e-mail and hopefully they'll rectify quickly. (Sent late Friday. I dont work on the weekend, dont expect them to either) I decided to read the instruction book which is humorous at times (Chinese translation and all). In one spot where it should say Bloog it says Vapor 4 Life
The product itself: I ordered the 11mg M'Boro Reds with the Bloog, and my initial taste reaction is that it's fairly close. There is some taste in there that is really weird to me because it triggers some memory of something in the back of my mind, but I can't seem to place it. (Note, that is not a negative, just kind of weird to me... Hope I figure that part out). The draws are good, and the 'throat hit' seems to approximate what I experience with my regular analogs. There seems to be a good amount of vapor, although a primer hit gets a lot more. Inhaling into my lungs and exhaling leads to a very insignificant trail of vapor in my exhale. Not sure if that's ideal, seems to be fine for me though.
As a new user, the amount of nicotine was a real concern for me. It's almost impossible to tell but from what I can gather it's better to underdose than overdose. The 11mg should be approximately close to the pack of analogs I had. The answer of whether it was appropriate or not seems pretty clear to me: Do I crave an analog despite having just vaped with my Bloog? Yes, sometimes. I've had 6 analogs since I got the Bloog, and guesstimate that I would have had at least 50 in that same time frame without them. I read a lot about people finding themselves
vaping "all the time" but I haven't found that yet. In fact, I'm finding that just 4-5 puffs generally seems to placate my desire for an analog. Also, I've found that while 'smoking' with my fiance who is on the analogs, I seem to 'finish' before she does. I think I may need to get some cartridges that are higher for when I do get a craving for an analog.
So far, the length of time that the cartridges last has surprised me. I kept wondering how Im supposed to know when to change, and finally today around noon the smoke volume seemed to completely diminish, but there was no burnt taste that Ive heard about. So it lasted me from Friday around 3pm until Sunday at 12pm. Wow!
The battery seems to last pretty long, Id say half a day at my current
vaping speed. The charger seems very finicky though, and I have to wiggle it around in the charger to get it to stay at the red color that indicates its charging. Im concerned that over time this may break the charging prong. The battery sometimes flashes multiple times and Im not sure what it means, the translation is somewhat confusing maybe someone can clue me in to the different messages.
I want to order some more cartridges to try different flavors, but right now Im concerned about receiving them. Will wait until I hear back regarding the cartridges I already ordered. All in all, very pleased so far, hopefully theyll make my order whole and will be a reliable supplier!
~Zlo5
