I am new to the forum and a post about my experiences with vaping thus far seemed like a good way to kick things off. I have been vaping for about 4 months now. Overall my experiences have been very good, but there has been lots of frustration too.
The Good:
- Free from cigarettes for 4 months
- Improved lung function
- Me and my surroundings smell better
- My car is no longer a large ash tray
- I am saving a little money
The Bad:
- vaping aggravates my asthma (not as much as smoking, but it's still not good)
- I worry about keeping what is essentially flavored poison around the house
- I worry that vaping may have long-term consequences that we don't know about yet
- There is a lot to learn (this could be a good thing too) and a lot of pitfalls to avoid
My vaping history with more detail than you probably wanted...
- Started with blu e-cigs while trying to quit smoking. I used patches at the same time, and as I started weening off the patches I knew I would either start vaping more or go back to cigarettes. I opted for going deeper down the rabbit hole of vaping. (Note - in retrospect doing patches and vaping at the same time was dangerous and I wouldn't advise others doing this). I quickly grew frustrated with the blu e-cigs as they would not give much vapor, and would quickly get clogged up and taste burnt.
- Bought my first ego. It was a Rush e-liquid starter pack and I'm still using the battery occasionally. It came with a disposable CE4 clearomizer, which is now long gone; however, overall this worked pretty well. The e-liquid I bought with this was not Rush, but white-rhino brand at 24mg. The raspberry flavor I got was nice, but I found it hurt my throat. The throat irritation would subside after using it for a little while, but would come back each time I picked it back up after letting it sit for a while. I believe this was just due to the high nicotine level since I have not had this problem since moving to lower nicotine levels.
- I quickly bought another ego - this time larger and with variable voltage, digital display, etc. It was purchased at my first visit to a real vape shop and was a special they were offering with a Kanger Protank (presumably the original protank). Both the battery and the tank were quickly retired. The battery stopped working within 3 weeks, and I found the tank to be leaky and generally lackluster. One very good thing that came out of this was a recommendation by the folks in that shop to avoid 24mg. I bought a few bottles of 18mg juice and stopped using the heavier 24mg stuff. I also bought an iClear 16 that I'm still using today.
- Not long after my first vape store visit I found another vape shop that was closer to me. Here I bought a Vision Spinner (version 1) and a Kanger AeroTank along with a few more bottles of 18mg juice. Unfortunately this didn't work out so well either. The spinner died on me within a few weeks and I've had a lot of fights with my AeroTank. I'm still using the AeroTank, but I find it to be a bit of a pain. The liquid starts turning very dark on me within just a day or so of changing the coil, and the parts sometimes get stuck and have required me to get pliers involved. Still I searched on for vaping utopia.
- I decided that I would invest in a mechanical mod from here and bought a K100 with an atty deck from my local shop. They built the deck for me, gave me some generic looking blue batteries and a wall charger. Off you go! After reading many of the fine threads on this forum I realize that diving into RDAs and mechs without doing your homework is not that smart. I have since bought some better batteries and an xtar charger from RTD Vapor I have not rebuilt the atty yet, but plan to do my research and get the supplies I need to do this myself.
Where to from here...I am looking at better quality VV mods, real Joyetech ego's, and investing some time in learning more about RDAs/RBAs and mechs. I have been thinking that a VTR mod would be a good all around device to use in the car and at work. I think I still want a reliable ego for something slim to put in my pocket when on the go and to use as a backup. I also want something that hits hard with big vapor for those times when I am in the mood for heavier vaping. I am also hoping to settle down to 6mg nicotine across the board (I am currently at 12mg, down from 24mg and then 18mg).
Even though I am very much a noob I will offer this in summary as what I've learned so far:
- Be weary of who you buy from. Purchasing at a local tobacco shop that decided to start selling vape supplies was very bad for me (your mileage may vary). The prices were outrageous and it was all junk clones. Likewise online vendors should be researched carefully to ensure they are reputable. The forums can be a very good source for vetting online vendors.
- Don't take what someone at a vape shop tells you as gospel. Do your research and look for knowledgeable forum members who have been doing this safely for a long time. I have gotten some very bad advice from my vape shop and some good advice too. You need to do your own research and invest time to know the difference.
- You get what you pay for. If you combine bad batteries with poorly constructed cloned parts your risks will be higher and your chances of having a good experience with vaping will be much lower. Not all clones are bad and you don't need to pay a fortune for batteries, but you need to do your research. For example I plan to only buy my batteries from RTD Vapor going forward. Their prices are reasonable and I know I'm getting an authentic product.
I guess that's it for this novel of a first post. I'm looking forward to talking to you all on the forums in the future.
--Scratch
The Good:
- Free from cigarettes for 4 months
- Improved lung function
- Me and my surroundings smell better
- My car is no longer a large ash tray
- I am saving a little money
The Bad:
- vaping aggravates my asthma (not as much as smoking, but it's still not good)
- I worry about keeping what is essentially flavored poison around the house
- I worry that vaping may have long-term consequences that we don't know about yet
- There is a lot to learn (this could be a good thing too) and a lot of pitfalls to avoid
My vaping history with more detail than you probably wanted...
- Started with blu e-cigs while trying to quit smoking. I used patches at the same time, and as I started weening off the patches I knew I would either start vaping more or go back to cigarettes. I opted for going deeper down the rabbit hole of vaping. (Note - in retrospect doing patches and vaping at the same time was dangerous and I wouldn't advise others doing this). I quickly grew frustrated with the blu e-cigs as they would not give much vapor, and would quickly get clogged up and taste burnt.
- Bought my first ego. It was a Rush e-liquid starter pack and I'm still using the battery occasionally. It came with a disposable CE4 clearomizer, which is now long gone; however, overall this worked pretty well. The e-liquid I bought with this was not Rush, but white-rhino brand at 24mg. The raspberry flavor I got was nice, but I found it hurt my throat. The throat irritation would subside after using it for a little while, but would come back each time I picked it back up after letting it sit for a while. I believe this was just due to the high nicotine level since I have not had this problem since moving to lower nicotine levels.
- I quickly bought another ego - this time larger and with variable voltage, digital display, etc. It was purchased at my first visit to a real vape shop and was a special they were offering with a Kanger Protank (presumably the original protank). Both the battery and the tank were quickly retired. The battery stopped working within 3 weeks, and I found the tank to be leaky and generally lackluster. One very good thing that came out of this was a recommendation by the folks in that shop to avoid 24mg. I bought a few bottles of 18mg juice and stopped using the heavier 24mg stuff. I also bought an iClear 16 that I'm still using today.
- Not long after my first vape store visit I found another vape shop that was closer to me. Here I bought a Vision Spinner (version 1) and a Kanger AeroTank along with a few more bottles of 18mg juice. Unfortunately this didn't work out so well either. The spinner died on me within a few weeks and I've had a lot of fights with my AeroTank. I'm still using the AeroTank, but I find it to be a bit of a pain. The liquid starts turning very dark on me within just a day or so of changing the coil, and the parts sometimes get stuck and have required me to get pliers involved. Still I searched on for vaping utopia.
- I decided that I would invest in a mechanical mod from here and bought a K100 with an atty deck from my local shop. They built the deck for me, gave me some generic looking blue batteries and a wall charger. Off you go! After reading many of the fine threads on this forum I realize that diving into RDAs and mechs without doing your homework is not that smart. I have since bought some better batteries and an xtar charger from RTD Vapor I have not rebuilt the atty yet, but plan to do my research and get the supplies I need to do this myself.
Where to from here...I am looking at better quality VV mods, real Joyetech ego's, and investing some time in learning more about RDAs/RBAs and mechs. I have been thinking that a VTR mod would be a good all around device to use in the car and at work. I think I still want a reliable ego for something slim to put in my pocket when on the go and to use as a backup. I also want something that hits hard with big vapor for those times when I am in the mood for heavier vaping. I am also hoping to settle down to 6mg nicotine across the board (I am currently at 12mg, down from 24mg and then 18mg).
Even though I am very much a noob I will offer this in summary as what I've learned so far:
- Be weary of who you buy from. Purchasing at a local tobacco shop that decided to start selling vape supplies was very bad for me (your mileage may vary). The prices were outrageous and it was all junk clones. Likewise online vendors should be researched carefully to ensure they are reputable. The forums can be a very good source for vetting online vendors.
- Don't take what someone at a vape shop tells you as gospel. Do your research and look for knowledgeable forum members who have been doing this safely for a long time. I have gotten some very bad advice from my vape shop and some good advice too. You need to do your own research and invest time to know the difference.
- You get what you pay for. If you combine bad batteries with poorly constructed cloned parts your risks will be higher and your chances of having a good experience with vaping will be much lower. Not all clones are bad and you don't need to pay a fortune for batteries, but you need to do your research. For example I plan to only buy my batteries from RTD Vapor going forward. Their prices are reasonable and I know I'm getting an authentic product.
I guess that's it for this novel of a first post. I'm looking forward to talking to you all on the forums in the future.
--Scratch
