n00b from Tulsa. Hello! and a Question: Where is the flavor?

[Ratman]

Hello all,

My name is Rob, 44 yr old from around Tulsa OK. Been smoking for 23 years and have managed to quit 3 days ago with the help of vaping and the info I have found here on this site. So thank you one and all who have contributed to the forum over the years.

I did a lot of research here before making any purchasing decisions. Based on recommendations from the membership, I bought the Element starter pack from Halo as well as their sampler pack of juice, giving me 9 flavors to try right out of the gate. I bought the Volt starter pack for my wife from Smokeless Image. We are both really pleased with the Halo element and their juice, especially the Tribeca! Not so happy with the Volt system and have arranged to return it. It was like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose to get any vapor at all and what you did get had little to no flavor. No thanks!

Being a tinkerer by nature, I continue to learn more and more about vaping and since I needed to purchase some new gear to replace the aforementioned Volt, I thought I would consider going bigger. While a Provari is outside of my budget this early on, I liked the idea of vv. I bought an eGo Twist today with a Smoktech DCHV 1.5 XL Carto and a Vision V2 clearomizer. I got home and unfortunately the Vision is DOA so will have to take it back to VaporKings tomorrow. Great people there by the way, I filled the XL with my favorite Tribeca and while I am getting decent vapor out of it, there is hardly any flavor. Same goes for the eGo 510 I picked up as an emergency backup. I get a little more flavor using an atty or one of the 2.8 carts from my Halo kit but out of all 4, I get the best flavor from the little Halo Element with cartomizer. I was really disappointed and am now wondering what the best setup is for getting good strong flavor? Do I need a tank system like a Vivi Nova to go on my Twist? It seems that would give flavor closest to dripping but it seems like so many tanks leak like a sieve from what I read here.

Is it my setup or my liquid? I like most of the Halo flavors, such as the Tribeca, HX3, Prime 15, Malibu. Even the Torque 56, Menthol ice, and Captain Jack are a nice change of pace vape. We disliked most of the Volt liquids. The grape, cherry, watermelon, my wife chose were ok but very, very weak . The vanilla tasted like a melted candle to me. Uggh.

Even with the setbacks, I am still quite happy to have discovered vaping and also such a great community here. I truly feel this is the answer I have been looking for to give me that edge to quit the cigs as well as a new enjoyable hobby.

I have gone on long enough here as I tend to do. Looking forward to reading more of your experiences and opinions here and hope to someday be able to contribute my own experience to help other n00bs like me.

-- Ratman

 

[pita1028]

Welcome. Finding the best Juice for your taste is the hardest part. When I first quit I was searching for a harsh flavor after years of Camels. I didn't find a flavor I was truly happy with until my tastebuds were back to normal. I would recommend trying different tobacco flavors for now and in time experiment with fruit and food flavors.

 

[Steelmage]

First of all congrats on making the switch from Analog cigarettes to Vaping. For me finding a good flavor, right amount of thoat hit and huge volumes of vapor I love has been a pretty big struggle. I've tryed about 50 juice flavors from at least 15 vendors. So far I've found only about 6 or 7 that I really like. I've found that there is a significant difference in flavor depending on the choice of Atty, Carto, cartridge for the same juice. Also the blend of PG / VG and Nic level also have a direct bearing on the flavor. Higher VG blends tend to have weaker flavor but more Vapor. Higher PG blends tend to have hotter or harsher throat hits and also brighter of more flavorful taste than what you would get from a very high VG or 100% VG juice. Straight dripping into an atty will give you about the closest flavor to what the juice actually tastes like. Each juice vender puts their own spin on a flavor so just because Grape or Blueberry didn't taste so great from on vender does not mean they all taste that way. Each venders juice tastes somewhat different. I always recommend buying small or sampler size bottles of juice and if you find one that's great order more. If is sucks your not out a lot. Of the devices you have the eGo Twist should be the best performer batter and votage wise. Flavor throat hit and Vapor production can vary significantly depending on the Atty or Carto and the ohm rating of them. Low Resistance 1.5 ohm to 2.5 ohm are lower resistance devices and tend to make more vapor and have more throat hit. Flavor level can be muted by a carto. One of my favorite juices is RY4 original blend 100% VG, 24 nic level from Liberty Flights or My Freedomsmokes. Surprisingly the best flavor comes thru for this juice using an eGo Low Resistance Type A atomizerand cartridge at 3.5 volts. Using a boge 2.0 Carto mutes and slightly changes the flavor so it dosn't taste quit as good. Another favorite of my is Pina Colada 70pg/30vg 24nic level from Jooglerjuice and it tastes best in a boge 2.0 LR Cartomizer at 3.7 volts. Your eGo twist should work great for these combinations. My best advice is try different carto's and atty's and different juice combinations of PG/VG and flavor strenghts from differnet venders. Someon told me when I started vaping that I was giving up a habit for a hobby and that was the truest advice I ever recieved. Keep on Vaping!!

 

[hyperfluous]

it might look slightly off, but you could always go with a 510 to 808d adapter and use those halo cartos that you love on an ego twist as well

 

[proggieus]

Edit: I see you are already aware of Vapor Kings, Oh well i will still plug them for the service they have given me.

welcome to ECF, You are lucky as one of my favorite suppliers is from your neck of the woods, Looks like they have 2 retail locations. They have been great to me over the last year or so to the point that I make sure to continue to order from them.

Stop in there and you will be able to see all of the hardware and possible try some flavors(I don't know if they offer testing or not, i have only dealt with them over the internet)

Vapor Kings
Sand Springs Location (West)
110 North Garfield Avenue
Suite 300
Sand Springs, OK 74063
8AM to 5PM Monday through Friday

Tulsa Location (East)
4305-E South Mingo Road
Tulsa, OK 74146


For the record, I am not affiliated with vapor kings, just a loyal customer that they have taken good care of over the last year, Almost every order i make they have included a freebie or two or increased the quantity for no charge.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

I have three Nova tanks and zero leaks so far. I use it on a Twist. Awesome setup in my opinion. Like you I was dismayed by the flavor I was getting from almost everything. I think I was expecting way too much flavor going in and was disappointed. I just got some orders in from a couple vendors that will add extra flavor and it helped significantly. I've also realized that some flavors just aren't gonna be a good vape for me. For instance, I loooove caramel, so I bought several caramel type flavors. Every single one of them I don't like, and they are from four diff places.

I've also noticed that my taste is getting a little better the further I get from that last cig. But I think the flavor is what it is and there just isn't going to be the this big taste explosion like biting into an apple or something. That's a little disappointing but it's way better tasting than a cig no matter how mild the vape is.

 

[TulsaClint]

Welcome fellow Tulsan!

 

[Ratman]

Thanks for the welcome and advice everyone. Good points there about taste changing after being off the cigs for a while. I guess I need to be patient and then just experiment. That's half the fun isn't it?

 

[Ratman]

Well I wanted to give an update as this week has been quite a ride for my wife and I. First, pat us on the back for being smoke free. Neither of us touched an analog since we started vaping 8 days ago. That's the good part, along with both of us loving the experience and the hobby aspect of vaping. It has totally replaced analogs and given us so much more than cigs ever did. The downside is we have already spent over $300 bucks LoL.

I have spent hours and hours researching vaping, learning the lingo, the hardware and watching youtube reviews. Really like Phil Busardo's and Greene Grim's stuff. It would have been nice to know before ordering our starter kits what I know now. Would have saved a hundred bucks or so. Being off the cigs is worth it though at any price. It has been really enjoyable and frustrating at the same time. So many products seem to be low quality and rushed to market with a catchy new name before it works. It comes across as a new market gold rush where variety rules and quality drools. Some companies seem willing to put anything out there to cash in on the short term buck. I can only hope it bites them in the ... and we see the high quality companies/products rise to the top.

Here is our journey so far:
Hardware:
Halo Elements Advanced starter kit and Sampler juice pack - Was pretty happy with this overall. Pricey way to start.
Smokeless Image Volt starter kit - Weak, weak, weak. Gave it to a friend.
2xEgo starter kits (picked these up off CL NIB for $20 each. Win!) May not be real eGo but work very well overall.
Ego Twist 1000mah - Entry to variable voltage. Is helping us learn ohm/voltage relationships and how each affects flavor/vapor and TH. Happy with the investment.

Delivery methods:
Halo atomizers/cartridges - Work ok but pain to change flavors as atty still holds flavor from previous cart
Halo Cartomizers 2.4 oHm - These worked very well. Good flavor and vapor, even with small 180 mah starter batteries
Volt Cartomizers - Weak vapor, weak flavor. They were prefilled so maybe old??
Boge 2.0 Cartomizers - Currently our standard. Yet to find anything with as good of flavor/vapor as these. Little warm for me but she really likes the LR warmth.
Vision clearomizer 2 long wick - Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It came with a 1.8 ohm atty. Seems harsh regardless of juice used in it.
Smoktech MDCC - Love the size! Flavor is a bit muted though. I get like 80% of the flavor as Boge 2.0. I don't care for the airry draw either but it's usable.

Juice:
Dekang - These are from our local supplier. She likes them ok but I get a chemical or plastic taste from all but the peach and banana creme.
Juicy Peach
Cheesecake
Vanilla Bean
Ry4
Banana Creme Pie

Halo: Hit and miss. We love the Tribeca though. It's both of our favorites. I love the HX3 too. She likes the Tiki Juice as well and we both like the Malibu and Menthol ice all right.
Tribeca
HX3
Captain Jack
Malibu
Menthol Ice
Tiki Juice
Torque 56
Prime 15
Midnight Apple

Volt: The Watermelon was ok. All the rest were too weak to really tell. The Vanilla was horrid.
Grape
Watermelon
Cherry
Vanilla
Chocolate

Just ordered my first tank, a Texas Tuff Tank, 3 Ohm. Also ordered a bunch of juice for Vape Dudes. They are a;; 50/50 blends so looking forward to trying them out.

 

[Ratman]

I am hoping to find a 3Ml+ delivery system that will give as good of flavor as the Boge 2.0 cartos. I have also been experimenting with dripping on a bridgeless atty and cleaning and refilling cartomizers. Quite the learning experience!

 

[slipdiskk]

The vivi nova is the way to go on the ego twist. I've had no leaking issues with mine. Letting your liquid steep may also help. There are plenty of videos on how to do this on you tube. If you like cinnamon, try tasty vapors atomic cinnacide. Probably the strongest e liquid I have ever tried. Its good right out of the box.

 

[bebeau25]

Hey Ratman I too am from the Tulsa area. I live in Broken Arrow, and Vapor Kings is awesome!!! We are so lucky to have a vendor right is our home town. I just wanted to let you know that they are sold out of Tribeca alot. I love that flavor as well and will usually purchase as much as I can. They also sell a strawberry flavor made by an Italian co. I think its Ovale. It is extremely good. Another good flavor that I use in my ego-c with a V2 clearomizer is the cheesecake by Primo Vapor. Hope this helps a little. Vape on fellow Tulsan!!!

 

[Ratman]

Thanks Slipdiskk, I looked long and hard at the Vivi Nova. Really like the look of it and heard it was one of the best as far construction and lack of leakage. Most reviewers mentioned muted flavor though so it dropped down to 3rd on my must have list haha.

Btw, hope your name isn't due to a slipped disk. I have had back problems for 20 years and that aint no fun at all. Peace.

 

[slipdiskk]

If you vape a lot of cinnamon or citrus flavors most plastic tanks will crack and leak because of the acids in the juice. The vivi nova has an optional metal tank you can buy. Problem solved!

 

[Ratman]

Appreciate it Bebeau. Haven't tried the Ovale juice yet. Will have to check it out. Not really sold on the Primo (Dekang) Liquids but have had a pretty small sample size. I think we might do better with a higher blend of VG than the Primo has. Props to the folks at VK though. Nice folks.

There is a new place in town too over on 51st between harvard and yale called Designated Vapor. small setup but they are open till 7 so nice option if you need something in a pinch after 5 when VK is closed. Prices looked comparable.