My Progression in the E-Cigarette World

[Mustang73064]

Greetings All,

Well I finally hit the "buy" button on a Starter Kit and I am now waiting for the mail man to deliver the goods.

I have been smoking for over 40 years and I know it is time to quit the habit or at least replace the habit. I have been interested in E-Cigarettes for a few years and would question anyone I seen with one, which have not been many. I have seen the ones at your local gas stations etc and felt that there was more/better in the market which lead to close to 14 hours of searching and reading on the internet in one day.

Too much information.

First of all, this website gets the old 2 thumbs up. The knowledge that is shared here made my research easier but at the same time gave me brain overload.

For newcomers like myself let me say that the basic thing to know is there is no wrong way to start. Yes, there are better ways to start but just starting is the first step.

I watched 4 or 5 20 minute plus reviews here on the website and at times wondered what the heck they were talking about when they started tossing about different buzz words, mixtures etc. I did see what I needed in the reviews, i.e. size of the device, volume of smoke and general workmanship of the E-Cig.

My wife smokes and she is interested also in E-Cigarettes. Looks, size, taste etc are what she is looking for in an E-Cig. We were going to take a Road Trip to a store 200 miles away this weekend but other things came along and we canceled the trip. That is when I did the online ordering of a stater kit. I am her Lab Rat tester and if the product I get even comes close to her expectations I know we will be on the road next week.

I ordered a Joyetech eCab Starter Kit. Yes, I watched the review that is here on the website but still went ahead and purchased it.

Now the problem. What to smoke???

OMG, there are 100s of flavors out there with ranges of nicotine from 36 to 0. I think it took me longer to pick one flavor/nicotine level then it did the starter kit.

So far I have been searching the websites of the vendors who sell E-Juice for sample kits and have only found one so far. (If you know of any vendors with sample kits, let us know). Even with a 10 pack sample kit I am still up in the air as to the nicotine level to start with (I do plan to hit zero in the future) and the flavors, I think I was on the buffet line filling my plate.

I "think" that the choice of what to smoke vice what equipment you use to smoke it is a determining factor as to your success rate of staying with E-Cigs. (Another reason I see a Road Trip coming up). I know that if I would have seen a package deal of starter kit and a 10 bottle sample kit of 1 m/l juice I would haven been all over it (It may be out there but I just never found it).

I will let you know how things progress once I get my starter kit and 1 flavor of juice.... and the Road Trip.

 

[kiwivap]

For newcomers like myself let me say that the basic thing to know is there is no wrong way to start. Yes, there are better ways to start but just starting is the first step.

Welcome aboard. Yes, I totally agree. I could have started better than the tiny pv I bought in desperation at the corner store, but it kept me off the cigs and worked until I looked up something better. Looking forward to hearing about the road trip. If you didn't get a car charger you might want to - then you can charge while driving. If you have a passthrough battery you can vape while driving.

Sample kits are good, or buying small bottles to try out. Vape Dudes do 10 ml bottles and if you use the coupon code vapedudes you get 40% of the first purchase. That works out pretty cheap and they have some very nice flavors.

 

[Antoly]

Just one recommendation: at the initial period of quitting consider nicotine level not lower than 18mg, I'd recommend 24mg. I personally know people who failed to switch to e-cigs just because they used too low-nicotine levels. Also with 24mg you can anytime dilute it with PG/VG down to the desired concentration.
Another warning: don't even try to count milligrams of nicotine in e-liquids and compare them with nicotine contents in cigarettes. Milligrams of nicotine in e-liquids and cigarettes are not the same. If you smoke pack a day, containing, say, 20 mg, this means you will need to vape about 80-100 mg a day in e-liquids, I.e. 4-5 ml of 20 mg e-liquid. This is my personal opinion, not a fact, but many people on this forum think the same. Good luck.

 

[Moueix]

I've been vaping for 10 days. I bought Volts from Smokeless Image for on the road, Riva's from litecigusa.net and I got over 45 different flavors of juices including the Smokeless image ones, DeKang, and Alice in Vapeland. By a HUGE margin, the Alice in Vapeland ones are my absolute favorite. They sell 3ml samplers in sets of 5. I can't recommend their juice highly enough. They're fantastic. Since your tastebuds are still clobbered from smoking, let them know in the "comment" box that you would like all of the samples with "extra flavor" as their juices are much more subtle than most. They're having a 20% off sale until Monday night too with code 1849. They're at AliceInVapeland.Com

Get the samples in 24mg strength since you're just starting to quit, but the 18mg strengths will taste better once you decide which ones you want to order larger bottles of. That was one of the first lessons I learned. When you find flavors that you enjoy so much that you start vaping just for the fun of it, you can get too much nicotine if you order the strongest nic levels.

Good luck!

 

[kiwivap]

Wow Moueix - I wish I had been as onto it about flavors when I started. 45 is terrific. Well done on the ten days. BTW - some of your flavors may taste better after a week or two when they've steeped more.

 

[tidegirl]

ONE juice??? Definitely get some more samples in the mail ASAP!

OK, that is sort of a joke, but seriously, if you hate that juice do not give up. Finding the juice you love is infinitely more difficult than finding a starter kit that will work for you. The kit choices are overwhelming to put it mildly. Shopping for juice seems fun and easy... so many choices, so few cartos... but what sounds fantastic can taste like garbage. A trip to the brick and mortar could be very fruitful. My B & M lets you try juices before you buy. If yours does this, you can stock up on juices that you know you will love.

I love your idea about a starter kit with juice samplers. I have never seem one either though. Vendors, are you listening???

As for strength, with 40+ years you will probably need at least 18-24 mg, but it depends on how much you smoke too. if you were a heavy smoker you may need 30 or even 36 mg, but I would at least try 24 to start, and increase if you need it. I was a pack a day smoker for 24 years. I started with 18 mg and that probably would have been perfect, but my pomegranate blackberry blueberry juice was so yummy I couldn't put the PV down and I was ODing on the nic. I quickly had to step down to 12 mg, and I could happily chain vape all day with no ill effects.

 

[Mustang73064]

Just one recommendation: at the initial period of quitting consider nicotine level not lower than 18mg, I'd recommend 24mg. I personally know people who failed to switch to e-cigs just because they used too low-nicotine levels. Also with 24mg you can anytime dilute it with PG/VG down to the desired concentration.

Thanks for the tip. I went with 18mg on my initial order. Your advice just confirms my wanting a sample pack of 10 with different levels so that I can find that sweet spot.

 

[Mustang73064]

Get the samples in 24mg strength since you're just starting to quit, but the 18mg strengths will taste better once you decide which ones you want to order larger bottles of. That was one of the first lessons I learned. When you find flavors that you enjoy so much that you start vaping just for the fun of it, you can get too much nicotine if you order the strongest nic levels.Good luck!

Thanks for the link and tip.

 

[Mustang73064]

ONE juice??? Definitely get some more samples in the mail ASAP!

OK, that is sort of a joke, but seriously, if you hate that juice do not give up. Finding the juice you love is infinitely more difficult than finding a starter kit that will work for you. The kit choices are overwhelming to put it mildly. Shopping for juice seems fun and easy... so many choices, so few cartos... but what sounds fantastic can taste like garbage. A trip to the brick and mortar could be very fruitful. My B & M lets you try juices before you buy. If yours does this, you can stock up on juices that you know you will love.

I told you I was a Noob.. hahahahaha. Yes, after reading more here on the site I do need more than one but as it seems which one?? That Road Trip I speak of next weekend should prove very interesting. From the tips I've received so far, the mail man may be getting a work out also.

thanks

 

[Mustang73064]

Update: Well I did some searching on the internet for "sample packs" of Juice. Surprisingly I did not find a of them. Oh, I did find the standard sample pack of 5 bottles of juice for X amount, small discount.

I found sample sizes from 3ml to 10ml with quantities from 6 to 10 bottles.

Now, with no experience as of yet and from advice to have "more than 1 bottle" of juice handy I hit the "buy" button again.

Here is what I purchased: (Note: I do not work for the company, receive any benefits etc, etc)

Aquava Vapor - 100ml/200ml Sample Pack - 29.95/54.95

100ml Electronic Cigarette eLiquid Sample Packs & eJuice Varieties

For the eLiquid Sample Pack you select your Flavors and you'll get 1-10ml bottle of each of the flavors you select!

(Less that $3 for a 10ml) Shipping was $5.00.

A good selection of flavors and I went wild picking 10 different ones. Yes, you can select the nicotine level.

Hurry up Mail Man

 

[Z_Ghost]

Mustang73064

I just started and already have 5 bottles of juice here and another 10 on order.
So many choices, so little time..
Hope it works for you and your wife, it's working for me so far.

 

[_Damion_]

In my experience, one of the toughest parts that people have when transitioning from analogs to PVs (personal vaporizers) is that it doesn't "feel" the same. Not just the nic hit, but especially the throat hit and vapor production. For this, I recommend trying flavors that have some sort of menthol component to them. I don't know if menthol was/is your thing for regular smoking, but the added menthol to vapor really gives the throat hit a boost that may get it to the realm of analogs. My favorite flavor by far at the moment is called Harmony from ElectronicStix. It is a cinnamon/menthol blend and has a great throat hit as well as a very thick vapor production. Halocigs and Mountain Oak Vapors also have really wonderful juices and I would recommend checking them out. Happy vaping!