My Newbie head is spinning

[ZOEY1188]

So far I've been reading and reading and am a bit more confused than when I first started researching. I really want to purchase an e-cig but not sure where to do so. I think I pretty much know what to buy but am at a loss with the whole juice thing and where the best place to get that is. So many choices and so much to know and learn. I think if I had it in front of me and could tinker with it, it would help make my decision but I don't and don't have a decent mall near me to find out. Thanks for your patience and help.

 

[fright88]

Welcome.

For someone with no expierence I strongly recommend the Riva 510 Lite kit from Liberty Flights. 33 bucks shipped to your door which is a great little package.

As for juice I believe Gourmet Vapor is still having 50% off sale. They might be a good place to start. Juice is really an individual thing. There are 3 vapers in my household and so far we have only agreed on 1 flavor of juice and that is Caramel Candy but even that isn't always good depending on vendor age ect. I would recommend thinking of flavors you like all the time. Like a gum you always chew or candy you never turn down. Or some other flavor that you like a lot. Get samples of those flavors from a couple different vendors to try. I personally think if you don't include mods finding a flavor is the most expensive part of vaping because the same flavor from 2 different vendors will often not taste the same. Once you find your flavors then you should be good to go.

 

[poetofisis]

Don't get discouraged, bud. Google e liquid and find sites with a good variety of flavors that don't want an arm and a leg. V4L, IVape, eJuiceMonkeys, etc. and then search the forum to see what others think of their quality. With the e-cig, do you want it to be like a normal cig? Get a kr808. Don't take that as a suggestion to buy one, lol, merely as an example of what to ask yourself to make an ideal decision. As for flavor, what real foods, drinks, etc. do you like? And there you have it. Simple trial and error from there... Doctor Vapor makes some nice videos on youtube that should make things appear much more clearly for you. Best of luck.

 

[tat2d4life]

+1 for Dr Vapor.... he takes a lot of the confusion out of beginning the vaping journey

 

[reprisal]

I'd go with the riva kit from LF that fright88 recommended. Pickup a driptip or two. I like LF's 510 metal type B drip tip. Some people dont like metal in their mouth though and they have driptips of other materials. You're going to want a drip tip whether you go with atomizers or cartomizers, odds are you wont end up using cartridges.

Also get some Boge 510 LR (2.0 ohm) cartomizers. 5 pack is 7.99 @ LF with 20% discount.

The riva kit comes with two atomizers (and 10 cartridges for them but noone uses cartridges).

With this setup, you can try dripping and cartomizers and see which you prefer for a total around $40 (before juice).

If you like the cartomizers you can get a pack of 15 of them for $20 and free shipping at crystalclearvaping.com

As for juice, I'd recommend looking at pinkspotvapors (dutch apple pie, pink spot (its like pink lemonade), tahiti breeze) I've had 7 of their juices and liked all of them.

Atomic Cinnicide from tastyvapor is pretty legendary and tastes like cinnamon red hot candy, VERY strong flavor, love this juice.

There's plenty of good juice vendors out there, but finding your favorite juices will take some experimenting.

 

[dormouse]

Not knowing anything about your cigarette habit nor how long each day you are away from power for charging, it's very difficult to make any recommendation.

In battery specs, 100mah is about 1 hour of moderate vaping with a standard resistance atomizer or cartomizer (which is all a slim ecig can use. fat battery models and various non-slim shape mods can also use the hotter low resistance parts that sue battery charger faster)

And most people here use and recommend manual batteries
And most people end up vaping with cartomizers for their favorite juices.

3-piece ecig is battery + atomizer + a stuffing and plastic cartridge aka cart (not a popular way to vape but OK for starting out) and the popular 3-pieces have cartomizers available (mainly blank cartomizers)

2-piece ecig is battery + cartomizer aka carto (a one piece disposable cart w/ internal atomizer - if you keep one damp you can get 4-7 days use or more out of one)

The most popular ecigs here

Joye 510 manual - 180mah (see Liberty-Flights.com, LiteCigUSA.net)
Joye 510 mega xl manual - 280mah but long (128mm w/ a cartomizer) (FreedomSmokeUSA and some others)

KR808D-1 manual (shorty w/ 65cm battery is 180-220mah, standard w/ 78mm battery is 280-320mah). Popular vendors are Vapor4Life for the standard style (manuals are mostly sealed, good sized button) and SmokelessImage Volt (as well as Bloogplanet Maxxfusion and Halocigs G6) are the rubberized finish style with totally sealed manuals but a very tiny button and short 5-second cutoff (but you can drag again right away)

The 510 is a 3-piece with plenty of blank cartomizers and few prefilled ones, with manuals you can use a drip tip on the atomizer to test juices, use cart on atomizer if you want, use cartomizers for your favorite thinner juices

The KR808D-1 is a 2-piece so there are a lot of prefilled cartos, a good number of blank styles of cartomizer, and to use as a 3-piece you can use a DSE901 standard resistance atomizer and carts (or drip tip if you have manual batteries)

I like both. I think 510 + Boge cartos gives a moister warm more vapory hit, and KR808D-1 give a hotter hit with more TH but maybe a bit less vapor? The KR808D-1 is 3.7v, so it runs a bit hotter than the 510. Both are 9.2 mm diameter and look thinnest in dark colors.

If you want longer battery life and the ability to get hotter hits with low resistance atomizer and cartomizers (which also use battery charge faster) then you need to skip slim ecigs and look at Liberty-Flights.com (press the 20% off upper left front page first) and then look at Ego and Riva 510. Those are the two most popular choices. beyond that are mods or many shapes (box, screwdriver shape, and more) that use removable AA-shape industrial batteries, including higher and variable voltage ones.

 

[Seabrook]

I think you would like the Riva 510 Lite kit from Liberty Flights as fright88 suggested. Just pick up an extra batt charger, and you'll be good for at least 6 mos.

As for the juices, you might want to take a look @ Gourmet Vapor to see if their 50% off sale is still going. If you're on a tight budget, you might also look @ vaporrenu. I think their price is 7.99 for 30ml. If you have smoked for quite some time, you might want to order double flavor until your taste buds renew themselves. Don't vape any cinnamon, though, or you'll numb them back out. Have fun and welcome to ECF.

 

[reprisal]

I would not expect the 2 atomizers that come with the riva kit to last anywhere close to 6 months. Atomizers that last incredible lengths of time are not the norm, however, neither are atomizers that pop 10 seconds into use. I'd say a month is a normal amount of time for an atomizer. I still prefer cartos though, little hastle, cheap and each lasts 6-7 days of refilling. Could prolly get more life out of them by boiling them but its not worth it to me.

 

[wrx]

Good read up for newbie me..

 

[Seabrook]

I would not expect the 2 atomizers that come with the riva kit to last anywhere close to 6 months.

Oops, right you are reprisal. Sorry, I overlooked the fact that you need a few more atomizers or cartos. Good catch, thank you.

 

[swedishfish]

Save the atomizer to test juice and get a box of cartomizers.

As far as juice, I bought my juice before I got my kit. I did a search on the forum for my brand of cigarette and saw a juice that was recommended quite a few times. I ordered that and I'm still vaping it 7 months later.

It doesn't taste like my cig, but it's sort of close and does taste good. After I was off the cigs I ventured out and tried other flavors.

 

[swedishfish]

I would not expect the 2 atomizers that come with the riva kit to last anywhere close to 6 months. Atomizers that last incredible lengths of time are not the norm, however, neither are atomizers that pop 10 seconds into use. I'd say a month is a normal amount of time for an atomizer. I still prefer cartos though, little hastle, cheap and each lasts 6-7 days of refilling. Could prolly get more life out of them by boiling them but its not worth it to me.

My atomizers are 7 months old!

**I don't use them though, just to test an occasional juice. But you're definitely right! My tank atty lasted 2 weeks. One lasted 2 days.

 

[deezycakes]

I just ordered a Volt kit. I'm sort of in the same boat as you.

I bought a cheap one at a tobacco store to try it out, but it made me bored with only 2 flavors.

I would say buy a starter kit, watch a bunch of reviews, and read. It's like you have to be an Radio Shack employee to know how to use these things, haha

The kits that come with an e-cigg that looks like a real cigarette, will most likely be your best option.


BTW, watch checking out with paypal, I heard that it's against their policy, and if you do it often, they'll shut your account down.

 

[BlueMoods]

Yep.
1.Don't use Pay pal
2. Get a kit you think you will like, make sure you get at least 2 of everything except the charger.
3. Find a juice that sounds appealing to you - preferably 3-5 small bottles id different flavors ad 2-3 different nicotine strengths.
4. Be prepared to order more stuff in two weeks, by then you should have a bit better idea of what you like.

 

[tj99959]

At the very least, you will find this entertaing.

A PBusardo Review - 2 From ECBlend - Coconut Ice & RY4 - YouTube

 

[swedishfish]

I just ordered a Volt kit. I'm sort of in the same boat as you.

I bought a cheap one at a tobacco store to try it out, but it made me bored with only 2 flavors.

I would say buy a starter kit, watch a bunch of reviews, and read. It's like you have to be an Radio Shack employee to know how to use these things, haha

The kits that come with an e-cigg that looks like a real cigarette, will most likely be your best option.


BTW, watch checking out with paypal, I heard that it's against their policy, and if you do it often, they'll shut your account down.

It's fine to use paypal. You just can't mention anything about ecigs. Liberty Flights takes paypal.

 

[swedishfish]

I just ordered a Volt kit. I'm sort of in the same boat as you.

I bought a cheap one at a tobacco store to try it out, but it made me bored with only 2 flavors.

I would say buy a starter kit, watch a bunch of reviews, and read. It's like you have to be an Radio Shack employee to know how to use these things, haha

The kits that come with an e-cigg that looks like a real cigarette, will most likely be your best option.
BTW, watch checking out with paypal, I heard that it's against their policy, and if you do it often, they'll shut your account down.

That's debatable.

The more it looks like a cig, the smaller the battery. Rule of thumb is 1 hour per 100 mah. So if it's a 280 mah battery, that's about three hours.

 

[TUS172]

I read this site for weeks before joining and yeah at first it was totally overwhelming. But with the help of Youtube and all the tutorials and information given on this site I ended up with enough knowledge to not only begin vaping confidently, but also am going to build my first Mod soon (as soon as the parts come in from Madvapes). I began with Halo juices and few other juices (24mg) recommended by Gim Green and have been satisfied (only vaping for a week) but sooned read about DIY mixtures and calculators so I have ordered from a variety of sites to begin building my own liquids. I smoked analogs for 38 years and vaping is really the alternative I was looking for.