My first order, with 20/20 hindsight.

[uzzaperez]

Just finished reading "The SEARCH for the PERFECT E-CIG" and that is a really nice guide. Fills a lot of the blanks on actual use with various models.

It was very well explained your reasons of how you decided what you thought was best. That kind of explanation is infinitely more valuable to me then "cause I like it" that seems to be the norm when learning about something new (not the norm for this forum/community)
Read the 5 pages, and the only thing I found missing is what supplier/suppliers you recommend. Maybe even something like, "If I could do it all over again with what I know now, this is what my original order would have looked like" and list that info also.

I was hoping you could share that info with me as well.

I received the above PM and figured he was right that this info would help add to the OP, but I decided this would be a good new post because http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/electronic-cigarette-reviews/64170-search-perfect-e-cig.html is a little bit dead and I’d like to here from others too: What would you order if you were placing your first order today, knowing what you know now?

My first order would be from vapor4life for a few reasons. First, because you can order your cartos in different flavors instead of being limited to packs of 5 cartos all in the same flavor (they sell sampler packs and also accept requests for swapping flavors around if you note your request in your order comments). Second, because they throw in a few extras and that really helps to spruce up your order – especially if it is your first kit. Third, because their juice (Nobacco) is a much better juice than the standard Ruyan/Dekang stuff you will get if you hunt around for the absolute bottom dollar price set up you can find. Personally I am willing to have my total order run a few bucks more to get better juice and a one stop shop.

My first order would not be one of their kits because I would be paying for some stuff I don’t want, like the XL battery, and the kits don’t include important stuff like the pass-thru. Anyway, my first order would look like this:

• A manual pass-thru. This is a must to experience the best vaping experience (higher voltage) and also to increase the lifespan of your batteries. I would order a manual because it is sealed and won’t get anything in it if you accidentally flood your atty while learning to direct drip. $15.

• Four batteries – two manual, two auto. IMO you are better off having four batteries than paying for a PCC. Four batteries will last a most vapors all day without a PCC. Plus, batteries do eventually wear out. Also, you will want to try both manuals and autos to see which you prefer. I prefer autos because you can use them hands free, but that is just me. $15 each at V4L – that’ll hit the budget L

• Two chargers, one USB and one normal plug in. You’ll want to be able to charge two batteries at a time, one at a time is just a pain. And the wall and USB types will give you flexibility on where to charge. $10 or $15, I don’t remember.

• Two or three packs of cartos, with a request at check out for a mixed bag of flavors and nic levels if you don’t know what your nic level is yet. One of the packs would be of blank cartos – to get the most out of your experience you are going to want to familiarize with filling and refilling, and also you’ll want blanks to use your juices in. $8 or $9 per 5 cartos.

• A few different 5ml Nobacco flavors, whatever I felt like trying out, but bearing in mind that I wouldn’t get the pure flavor unless I used them with same flavor cartos or blank flavor cartos. I would order each flavor in both 36mg and 0mg so you could mix them to get whatever mg level you liked without sacrificing flavor. But keep in mind that the 36mg and the 0mg cost the same as the 16mg – so if you know you always like the same 16mg level all the time just order that. The juice is a must – psychologically, if you don’t have anything to refill a carto with you will end up vaping it dry to try and get the most out of it and doing so will soon ruin your carto. The 5ml juices are about $3 each.

My next order would be more juice and blanks once I had an idea which flavors I liked. Maybe a Prodigy from puresmoker with a 510 set up and a 510 to cartomizer adaptor from healthcabin for direct dripping cartos on the Prodigy.

As far as juice flavors go, flavor is on the tongue of the beholder but I recommend trying 555, Green Tea, Tequila, Cola, Cognac, Vanilla, Cuban Cigar, Watermelon and RY4 (I never would have ordered green tea, but I got a free sample and loved it) – these aren’t all my favorites, but they represent a good range to get an idea what is out there and not one of them is like the other. I absolutely do not recommend Peach or Mint – the flavors aren’t bad, they are just so one dimensional that they are incredibly boring.

I hope this helps. And if you are on a budget you can absolutely find a cheaper supplier out there, the quality of the juice flavors will be the only thing to suffer from doing so.

 

[mystal]

thanks for this, very good idea

 

[butchrobotpope]

That's a great set of suggestions for anyone new to vaping. My next purchase is going to be from V4L actually.

In retrospect, my initial pv order was pretty good. Everything I received is still in good working order, almost two months on. I can thank ECF for all the awesome info at my disposal.

 

[quasimod]

Quoted from ECF Forum Rules, item #8:

8. Posting the content of PMs or personal emails on the forum is not allowed. All PMs and emails are deemed to be confidential and cannot be made public except with the prior written consent of the author.

 

[unit40]

Man was I lucky. I had placed an order for my first Vapor Kings and a week later recieved an e-mail that the order was delayed cause of backordered stuff.. While waiting that week i had seen V4L and had read this forum day and night. I cancelled my order with the "othrt guys" and ordered stuff from V4L. Not a kit, but exactly the things I wanted. Now I know I don't like auto batteries that much - they seem to malfunction on me. And I don't like the carto flavors at all. My fear is they are all chemically designed flavors and not real tobacco. I may be wrong about that, but now I go with blank cartos, great that V4L has colored ones now, and am on a quest for some great USA tobacco juice.

 

[dk2]

Hi I'm soon to be initiated into the world of vaping and found this thread to be very useful.

 

[thewomenfolk]

-----

Indeed, the flavor is in the tongue of the beholder. I love MINT. But not just any mint. I get mine from Rocky Mountain Vapor in the 50ml bottles. It gives a great throat hit and loads of vapor. But the Original Poster has done a great service for us. I appreciate this thread!

-----

 

[yellowmonkey]

Thanks for the honest post.I am read to start vaping and am doing my homework on this forum.Thank You this was a very real post with no hidden motives

 

[uzzaperez]

Quoted from ECF Forum Rules, item #8:

8. Posting the content of PMs or personal emails on the forum is not allowed. All PMs and emails are deemed to be confidential and cannot be made public except with the prior written consent of the author.

Thanks. I didn't know. I kind of took the hint from the PM that he thought it was "missing" from my post and ran with that idea. Glad he didn't mind, as I could tell from his comments to my response in The Search for the Perfect E-Cig thread. The rule makes sense though. That'll teach people to PM me

 

[uzzaperez]

And I don't like the carto flavors at all. My fear is they are all chemically designed flavors and not real tobacco. I may be wrong about that, but now I go with blank cartos, great that V4L has colored ones now, and am on a quest for some great USA tobacco juice.

I'd agree that the Nobacco cartos I like don't taste like they are flavored with natural flavors. The flavors remind me more of Jelly Belly jelly beans - you can make just about any flavor. But I like vaping more than jelly beans, and I really like the Nobacco cartos.

Decadent Vapors (strong flavor) and Ecopure (weak flavor, but very clean) are good flavors that taste very natural. And pretty expensive, but as they say, you get what you pay for.

 

[Ryum]

its fine with me that he posted the PM, if that helps

also I posted the same question in my thread before PMing him, so the quote could have been from there.

One question I had for ya Uzza is, what kind of life expectancy are you getting on your cartomizers?

I'll post my "first order" later on when I place it. Since I started looking into all this a couple people I know want to find out what I learn. I am going to talk to them before I place the order so I can get everything at once if they want to buy anything.

 

[quasimod]

its fine with me that he posted the PM, if that helps [...]

Yep. According to the rules, that's all it takes. I didn't mean to come off like some little jumped-up Hall Monitor, or anything. Just giving a heads up. I finally got around to reading the rules a couple of weeks ago (after I received a warning because I broke one of them), so they're still fresh in my mind.

 

[Wildcard]

The post should be a sticky because I would of changed the order I made last week to suit my needs more. Building your own kit to fit your lifestyle is a good idea. It would be nice to have reccomedations on the V4L website or other manufactures sites for people like me to figure out what choices would be right for them. But they do supply the link for here at the forum and that itself is priceless. At least I am confident that I made the right choice by ordering from V4L. This will be my first ecig ever and I hope I can kick the analogs out of my life forever. Everytime I get on this forum I learn somthing. Thank everyone for their contributions. Maybe soon I will be educated enough to help others the way others are helping me.

 

[fog80]

i just received an order from vapor4life and the clove and smilin menthol were awesome!

 

[Belletrist]

until recently the big kits *did* include PTs--i believe the substitution is being made because they have a new PT model coming in the next week or so, and were emptying out stock on their old PTs and they uh, only have the old ones in pink atm. so that'll prob change again.

 

[Rahz]

Ultimate starter kit:

1 Big Chuck -w- a couple batteries and a charger.
20 Pack of atomizers
1 Big bottle of e-juice and a small bottle for refills.
Instructions on how to drip.

 

[kase]

Damn Rahz! You just posted my post for me. To a T!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[unit40]

Man was I lucky. I had placed an order for my first Vapor Kings and a week later recieved an e-mail that the order was delayed cause of backordered stuff.. While waiting that week i had seen V4L and had read this forum day and night. I cancelled my order with the "othrt guys" and ordered stuff from V4L. Not a kit, but exactly the things I wanted. Now I know I don't like auto batteries that much - they seem to malfunction on me. And I don't like the carto flavors at all. My fear is they are all chemically designed flavors and not real tobacco. I may be wrong about that, but now I go with blank cartos, great that V4L has colored ones now, and am on a quest for some great USA tobacco juice.

I just wanted to clarify that when I had cancelled my first order because of a backorder issue, it was not with vaporkings.com, it was with electroniccigaretts.com. Sorry for the confusion Rob.