I've been at this for one month, so I'm no expert, but I have bought a LOT of stuff trying to find my "preferred" equipment. I am (was) a HEAVY smoker. Smoked for 49 years, at least 2 packs a day, sometimes more!
I know everyone is different, with different preferences, different habits, different concerns regarding "what it looks like" or "what it feels like", but ... first and foremost, I LOVE to smoke. I know it's nasty and smells bad and is bad for me, but I LOVE it. After 49 years, it catches up to you and you find yourself out of breath walking up inclines or walking fast. Despite that, I still smoked like a chimney because I just love to smoke. I met someone with an e-cig who told me that he kicked the habit with these things. I thought it might work for me since I can still get my nicotine AND continue the behavior of puffing away! I'm down to 1-2 analogs a day but some days ZERO~!
Here is the road I traveled and why:
First e-cig: A kiosk e-cig knock-off which was a total ripoff - Don't go there! Even though it doesn't have a battery switch and looks like a cigarette, it's inefficient because a heavy smoker ends up charging it every couple of hours. I found myself smoking analogs like a chimney waiting for the battery to charge up. I still use it in the mornings with coffee-toffee juice. I've found that my 510 atty will fit on it, so when the original atty dies, I'll use 510's on it until the battery dies and then not replace it.
What the kiosk e-cig taught me was this: I cut down to between 8-10 analogs a day by using it. That's 30 less analogs per day! If I could find a more efficient system (and better juice!!), this might just "work". I spent 3 days on the computer reading this forum and watching videos to research out my plan of attack. I didn't want to waste money buying things that didn't work. I wasn't opposed to spending a fair amount to find the "sweet spot" for me; but if I was going to jump in, I might as well do it intelligently. After all, at $45 per carton, it would take a lot of hardware to equal what analogs were costing. Once you find what works for you, then the supplies for that will just automatically be much cheaper. I considered this sort of like a hobby and any new hobby costs money to get the requisite supplies for it.
Riva kit: Very economical from Liberty-Flights. You get 2 of everything along with extra cartridges and a charger that can be used with USB or plug it in the wall. I got the Riva rather than a regular 510 because of the extended battery life between charges. The folks on this forum suggested the Riva for that reason and they were right~! Being a heavy smoker, battery life makes a big difference! I can go almost a whole day on one battery but I always have the 2nd battery "in the wings" to use while a battery is charging. As for what it looks like (it's much bigger than a cigarette) - I don't care what people think. Heck, people gave me dirty looks smoking analogs so what's the difference? I have a habit and any way I can get nicotine into my lungs is fine with me. It's still America, after all. As for "feminine" ... before the '20's, women didn't smoke. It wasn't until advertising made it "cool" or "daring" that women decided it was something for them to do. So, smoking, per se, isn't gender specific.
ejuice: Someone on this forum suggested JuicyVapor.com and I have been VERY WELL SATISFIED. Not only is the shipping FAST, the guys actually interact with you (by email or phone) if you have questions. They have sampler packs so you can get small 3mL samples to try the flavors until you find your preferred flavor. I thought I would want "tobacco" but, for me, I've found that "Gramma's Apple Pie" and "Toasted Almond" and "Dex's 5-0" and "Nutty Toffee-Coffee" are the ones I like best. Taste is a very subjective "sense" so the sampler packs are ideal. When you look at some of the flavors, you'll wonder "what in the world are people thinking"?! I mean, seriously ... bacon? jalapeno? LOL Anyway, there's no accounting for taste, so everyone should just sample what they "think" they might like. I chose the above because someone on this forum said that usually, non-menthol smokers tend to like the "fruit" and the "nut" flavors. They were right in my case.
Lipton Pyramid Tea-Bag mods: The filler stuff in the cartridges seemed to not "hold" much fluid. Granted, I suck on them like CRAZY, but I could drain one in no time! My local stores don't carry pyramids so I ordered from Amazon. BE ADVISED: You get 6 boxes of 18 to a box! They're fairly cheap, though, so no big deal. They work really well if you follow THIS video's instruction:
YouTube - 510 Cart Mod Folded Rolled Frayed PTB
Even using the Pyramid Tea Bag mods, I was still filling up more often than I'd like to, which brought me to this:
eGo kit along with an XL atomizer and XL cartridges. I'm still trying this XL out. The atomizers that came with the eGo kit can be used on the Riva, too, so I'm using the XL only on the eGo battery. The eGo battery is similar to the Riva in that it has a long battery life between charges. Probably, (and I'm not sure about this, but probably) the XL atomizer and XL cartridges would have worked on the Riva battery. Since I'm not sure, I don't want to take any chances of using the XL atomizer on a battery that's not equipped to "handle" it.
The filler in the XL cartridges leaked if the eGo battery was standing up. I'm still trying out tea bag mods for the XL. They seem to work fine and I'm not having to fill up as often. They don't leak. It takes a LOT of tea bags to fill one of the XL cartridges up, though ... but with 108 tea bags, I've got plenty!
eGo passthrough: I bought this because I am in front of my computer (work) all day, every day, so this is ideal~! Coupling this with the XL atty and XL cartridges with the tea bag mods lasts a LONG time between topping off~!
I've already killed the original 2 atomizers that came with the Riva. So, for me, it's 2 attys per month at the rate that I smoke, which is pretty much constantly.
Since I've found that the amount of vapor decreases (along with the taste) when the cartridge isn't topped off, I started looking at the new eGo-T (tanks). Here are 2 videos that convinced me that this was the way for me to go:
YouTube - Ovale eGo-T First Impressions Review....
and the follow-up review: (!)
YouTube - Ovale eGo-T Followup review- with a couple of tips....
I tried dripping the liquid directly onto the atomizer (but you have to still put on the cartridge so as not to burn your lips!) (*grin*) and it was AWESOME~! The flavor was great, the vapor is great and the nicotine "hit" was to die for!
So I've got this on order:
Drip Tips for Riva/eGo because I seem to like the flavor and nicotine "hit" when I drip directly onto the atomizer rather than use cartridges (whether they have regular fill or the tea bag mod fill).
Drip Tips for XL atomizer for the same reason as above.
eGo-T atomizers and tanks - - this seems to be the best of all worlds! I've got my fingers crossed. It's like a Drip Tip with the convenience of a cartridge! If I'm right, then this will be my final experiment.
If the eGo-T is "it" for me (and I am almost certain that it will be), then I'll just use the drip tips and regular attys and XL atty at my computer until they're all dead.
I know everyone is different, with different preferences, different habits, different concerns regarding "what it looks like" or "what it feels like", but ... first and foremost, I LOVE to smoke. I know it's nasty and smells bad and is bad for me, but I LOVE it. After 49 years, it catches up to you and you find yourself out of breath walking up inclines or walking fast. Despite that, I still smoked like a chimney because I just love to smoke. I met someone with an e-cig who told me that he kicked the habit with these things. I thought it might work for me since I can still get my nicotine AND continue the behavior of puffing away! I'm down to 1-2 analogs a day but some days ZERO~!
Here is the road I traveled and why:
First e-cig: A kiosk e-cig knock-off which was a total ripoff - Don't go there! Even though it doesn't have a battery switch and looks like a cigarette, it's inefficient because a heavy smoker ends up charging it every couple of hours. I found myself smoking analogs like a chimney waiting for the battery to charge up. I still use it in the mornings with coffee-toffee juice. I've found that my 510 atty will fit on it, so when the original atty dies, I'll use 510's on it until the battery dies and then not replace it.
What the kiosk e-cig taught me was this: I cut down to between 8-10 analogs a day by using it. That's 30 less analogs per day! If I could find a more efficient system (and better juice!!), this might just "work". I spent 3 days on the computer reading this forum and watching videos to research out my plan of attack. I didn't want to waste money buying things that didn't work. I wasn't opposed to spending a fair amount to find the "sweet spot" for me; but if I was going to jump in, I might as well do it intelligently. After all, at $45 per carton, it would take a lot of hardware to equal what analogs were costing. Once you find what works for you, then the supplies for that will just automatically be much cheaper. I considered this sort of like a hobby and any new hobby costs money to get the requisite supplies for it.
Riva kit: Very economical from Liberty-Flights. You get 2 of everything along with extra cartridges and a charger that can be used with USB or plug it in the wall. I got the Riva rather than a regular 510 because of the extended battery life between charges. The folks on this forum suggested the Riva for that reason and they were right~! Being a heavy smoker, battery life makes a big difference! I can go almost a whole day on one battery but I always have the 2nd battery "in the wings" to use while a battery is charging. As for what it looks like (it's much bigger than a cigarette) - I don't care what people think. Heck, people gave me dirty looks smoking analogs so what's the difference? I have a habit and any way I can get nicotine into my lungs is fine with me. It's still America, after all. As for "feminine" ... before the '20's, women didn't smoke. It wasn't until advertising made it "cool" or "daring" that women decided it was something for them to do. So, smoking, per se, isn't gender specific.
ejuice: Someone on this forum suggested JuicyVapor.com and I have been VERY WELL SATISFIED. Not only is the shipping FAST, the guys actually interact with you (by email or phone) if you have questions. They have sampler packs so you can get small 3mL samples to try the flavors until you find your preferred flavor. I thought I would want "tobacco" but, for me, I've found that "Gramma's Apple Pie" and "Toasted Almond" and "Dex's 5-0" and "Nutty Toffee-Coffee" are the ones I like best. Taste is a very subjective "sense" so the sampler packs are ideal. When you look at some of the flavors, you'll wonder "what in the world are people thinking"?! I mean, seriously ... bacon? jalapeno? LOL Anyway, there's no accounting for taste, so everyone should just sample what they "think" they might like. I chose the above because someone on this forum said that usually, non-menthol smokers tend to like the "fruit" and the "nut" flavors. They were right in my case.
Lipton Pyramid Tea-Bag mods: The filler stuff in the cartridges seemed to not "hold" much fluid. Granted, I suck on them like CRAZY, but I could drain one in no time! My local stores don't carry pyramids so I ordered from Amazon. BE ADVISED: You get 6 boxes of 18 to a box! They're fairly cheap, though, so no big deal. They work really well if you follow THIS video's instruction:
YouTube - 510 Cart Mod Folded Rolled Frayed PTB
Even using the Pyramid Tea Bag mods, I was still filling up more often than I'd like to, which brought me to this:
eGo kit along with an XL atomizer and XL cartridges. I'm still trying this XL out. The atomizers that came with the eGo kit can be used on the Riva, too, so I'm using the XL only on the eGo battery. The eGo battery is similar to the Riva in that it has a long battery life between charges. Probably, (and I'm not sure about this, but probably) the XL atomizer and XL cartridges would have worked on the Riva battery. Since I'm not sure, I don't want to take any chances of using the XL atomizer on a battery that's not equipped to "handle" it.
The filler in the XL cartridges leaked if the eGo battery was standing up. I'm still trying out tea bag mods for the XL. They seem to work fine and I'm not having to fill up as often. They don't leak. It takes a LOT of tea bags to fill one of the XL cartridges up, though ... but with 108 tea bags, I've got plenty!
eGo passthrough: I bought this because I am in front of my computer (work) all day, every day, so this is ideal~! Coupling this with the XL atty and XL cartridges with the tea bag mods lasts a LONG time between topping off~!
I've already killed the original 2 atomizers that came with the Riva. So, for me, it's 2 attys per month at the rate that I smoke, which is pretty much constantly.
Since I've found that the amount of vapor decreases (along with the taste) when the cartridge isn't topped off, I started looking at the new eGo-T (tanks). Here are 2 videos that convinced me that this was the way for me to go:
YouTube - Ovale eGo-T First Impressions Review....
and the follow-up review: (!)
YouTube - Ovale eGo-T Followup review- with a couple of tips....
I tried dripping the liquid directly onto the atomizer (but you have to still put on the cartridge so as not to burn your lips!) (*grin*) and it was AWESOME~! The flavor was great, the vapor is great and the nicotine "hit" was to die for!
So I've got this on order:
Drip Tips for Riva/eGo because I seem to like the flavor and nicotine "hit" when I drip directly onto the atomizer rather than use cartridges (whether they have regular fill or the tea bag mod fill).
Drip Tips for XL atomizer for the same reason as above.
eGo-T atomizers and tanks - - this seems to be the best of all worlds! I've got my fingers crossed. It's like a Drip Tip with the convenience of a cartridge! If I'm right, then this will be my final experiment.
If the eGo-T is "it" for me (and I am almost certain that it will be), then I'll just use the drip tips and regular attys and XL atty at my computer until they're all dead.
