Hi all! I was here about a year ago, but I failed to make the transition from analog to vaping. Well I'm back to try again, and it's going much better this time. I've only owned my vaping setup for 5 days, but even in that little amount of time I have learned a lot regarding the novice vaping transition, so I thought I'd post up. If this isnt' the right place for this, I apologize, but I looked around, and this seemed right.
WARNING: tl;dr - if you are new to Internet forums and don't know what that is, it's slang for "too long, didn't read" and is intended to warn the reader that a real blowhard is about to torture you with a very long post. So if you have a short attention span and see 'tl;dr' move on to another thread...
So, when I first tried vaping, like many people I thought the disposable ecigs would be good because some of them (njoy in particular) are the most cigarette-like as far as feel in your hand, and in your mouth. This is true to an extent, but they're expensive because they die quickly, and they don't generally taste very good. I found the experience lacking, and I failed to transition to vaping as a result.
Recently for an unknown reason I decided that I really wanted this, so I was going 'all in' as it were to attempt to transition away from analog cigs (for other n00bs out there, 'analogs' is what vapers call traditional tobacco cigarettes. Like many folks these days, there are many vape shops around my area, so I went in and asked for a lesson, and some advice as to what to buy to start out. I told the guy that while I wasn't afraid of spending a few dollars, I didn't want to go whole hog because I knew that as I learned and gained experience my tastes in gear etc would change and become increasingly sophisticated, and I didn't want to spend a bunch only to discover that I should have spent a bunch on other stuff.
He set me up with an Innokin itaste 1280 and an Aspire ET-S BDC tank, coming to about $50 with some ejuice. IMO this is a pretty solid n00b setup, as the vapor has a very 'pure' taste to it (I'm a menthol guy), the amount of vapor is copious compared to many other options in this price range. One thing that was different for me was that the draw is much easier than an analog, and this made it a bit difficult for me to feel like I was "smoking" as it were. And, having this feel was important to me (or so I thought) in my quest to keep cravings satisfied and get transitioned to full-time vaping.
But, I knew I needed time to get used to it, so I took the setup home. As I researched more while hanging around the house, I decided that I wanted a tank with an adjustable draw so that I could make it harder to 'suck' and therefore feel a little more cigarette-ish. I went to the shop the next day, and explained this. The same guy recommended the Aspire Nautilus Mini, which is a glass tank style jobber with an adjustable draw. I took this home and used it for a few days and it definitely did help with the 'feel' of vaping v. analog, which was cool.
However, the taste wasn't as good, and the vapor production wasn't as good either. So, after 3 days of using it, I just tonight went back to the ET-S BDC, and I like it a lot more. It is kinda rough to spend the $35 on the Nautilus Mini for a 3 day stretch, but I think that little time with the harder draw (but not as hard as an analog) in turn got me prepared to transition to the ET-S BDC easily, because now I have no problem at all with the easier draw, and am very satisfied (more-so than I was with the Nautilus Mini) when I vape with it.
Also, when I first started vaping this time around, I had trouble with a conflict between comfort of inhaling vapor, and not getting enough vapor, or enough 'hit' to be satsifying. What I mean is that if, with the easy-drawing ET-S, if I drew hard enough to get a satisfying feeling of taking a 'pull' I got so much vapor that it was uncomfortable to inhale for me. Conversely, if I took it easy to avoid that, I didn't feel like I was "smoking" if you know what I mean, and for me, feeling like I'm smoking is a part of this transition. The fix for this was the Nautilus Mini. Because a) the draw could be adjusted to be 'harder' and b) its vapor production isn't as good as the ET-S, it was a perfect combo; I could suck harder to feel like I was smoking in that sense, but not be overwhelmed by the volume or density of the vapor. Now, after a could of days of that, I can now strike a nice balance between the draw of the ET-S and the satisfying volume it creates, and I really like it a lot. In fact, I'm so happy with the result at this early stage that I'm happy to have bought all of those parts, even if the Nautilus only ever sees that 3 day usage, because it got me to where I needed to be.
Wow, if you're still reading, thanks for taking the time. Also if I've said anything in here that vets of vaping need to refute because I'm a dumbass, please feel free. In no way do I think I'm some sort of expert; these are just my observations.
Quick notes about my gear for anyone interested:
Innokin itaste 1280 - awesome. It's $30, or $35 as a kit with a lanyard and something else that I can't remember (I just got the stand-alone battery). It has pass-thru charging so you can plug it in to charge and vape simultaneously, it looks pretty cool, and at 1280 mah it has very strong battery life.
Aspire Nautilus Mini - $35 IIRC, and like I said, it did the job. If you really want to have adjustable draw, this is a great way to try it. It's not terribly expensive, the workmanship is top notch, and it works as you'd expect. When compared to the ET-S BDC it doesn't produce as much vapor, and (I think therefore, but might be separate issues) the vapor isn't as flavorful. That isn't to say that it's bad, it could be that the ET-S BDC is just new and way better; I'll defer to the experts here.
Aspire ET-S BDC - $9 Very impressive performance in my opinion for a $9 part. I think the reason for the higher vapor output is that it uses a dual-coil (still in one threaded piece) setup, where many others are single coil. Whatever the reason, I think this is a pretty good piece of kit. I know I'm a new fish, but it's hard to imagine anything else at this price performing better.
WARNING: tl;dr - if you are new to Internet forums and don't know what that is, it's slang for "too long, didn't read" and is intended to warn the reader that a real blowhard is about to torture you with a very long post. So if you have a short attention span and see 'tl;dr' move on to another thread...
So, when I first tried vaping, like many people I thought the disposable ecigs would be good because some of them (njoy in particular) are the most cigarette-like as far as feel in your hand, and in your mouth. This is true to an extent, but they're expensive because they die quickly, and they don't generally taste very good. I found the experience lacking, and I failed to transition to vaping as a result.
Recently for an unknown reason I decided that I really wanted this, so I was going 'all in' as it were to attempt to transition away from analog cigs (for other n00bs out there, 'analogs' is what vapers call traditional tobacco cigarettes. Like many folks these days, there are many vape shops around my area, so I went in and asked for a lesson, and some advice as to what to buy to start out. I told the guy that while I wasn't afraid of spending a few dollars, I didn't want to go whole hog because I knew that as I learned and gained experience my tastes in gear etc would change and become increasingly sophisticated, and I didn't want to spend a bunch only to discover that I should have spent a bunch on other stuff.
He set me up with an Innokin itaste 1280 and an Aspire ET-S BDC tank, coming to about $50 with some ejuice. IMO this is a pretty solid n00b setup, as the vapor has a very 'pure' taste to it (I'm a menthol guy), the amount of vapor is copious compared to many other options in this price range. One thing that was different for me was that the draw is much easier than an analog, and this made it a bit difficult for me to feel like I was "smoking" as it were. And, having this feel was important to me (or so I thought) in my quest to keep cravings satisfied and get transitioned to full-time vaping.
But, I knew I needed time to get used to it, so I took the setup home. As I researched more while hanging around the house, I decided that I wanted a tank with an adjustable draw so that I could make it harder to 'suck' and therefore feel a little more cigarette-ish. I went to the shop the next day, and explained this. The same guy recommended the Aspire Nautilus Mini, which is a glass tank style jobber with an adjustable draw. I took this home and used it for a few days and it definitely did help with the 'feel' of vaping v. analog, which was cool.
However, the taste wasn't as good, and the vapor production wasn't as good either. So, after 3 days of using it, I just tonight went back to the ET-S BDC, and I like it a lot more. It is kinda rough to spend the $35 on the Nautilus Mini for a 3 day stretch, but I think that little time with the harder draw (but not as hard as an analog) in turn got me prepared to transition to the ET-S BDC easily, because now I have no problem at all with the easier draw, and am very satisfied (more-so than I was with the Nautilus Mini) when I vape with it.
Also, when I first started vaping this time around, I had trouble with a conflict between comfort of inhaling vapor, and not getting enough vapor, or enough 'hit' to be satsifying. What I mean is that if, with the easy-drawing ET-S, if I drew hard enough to get a satisfying feeling of taking a 'pull' I got so much vapor that it was uncomfortable to inhale for me. Conversely, if I took it easy to avoid that, I didn't feel like I was "smoking" if you know what I mean, and for me, feeling like I'm smoking is a part of this transition. The fix for this was the Nautilus Mini. Because a) the draw could be adjusted to be 'harder' and b) its vapor production isn't as good as the ET-S, it was a perfect combo; I could suck harder to feel like I was smoking in that sense, but not be overwhelmed by the volume or density of the vapor. Now, after a could of days of that, I can now strike a nice balance between the draw of the ET-S and the satisfying volume it creates, and I really like it a lot. In fact, I'm so happy with the result at this early stage that I'm happy to have bought all of those parts, even if the Nautilus only ever sees that 3 day usage, because it got me to where I needed to be.
Wow, if you're still reading, thanks for taking the time. Also if I've said anything in here that vets of vaping need to refute because I'm a dumbass, please feel free. In no way do I think I'm some sort of expert; these are just my observations.
Quick notes about my gear for anyone interested:
Innokin itaste 1280 - awesome. It's $30, or $35 as a kit with a lanyard and something else that I can't remember (I just got the stand-alone battery). It has pass-thru charging so you can plug it in to charge and vape simultaneously, it looks pretty cool, and at 1280 mah it has very strong battery life.
Aspire Nautilus Mini - $35 IIRC, and like I said, it did the job. If you really want to have adjustable draw, this is a great way to try it. It's not terribly expensive, the workmanship is top notch, and it works as you'd expect. When compared to the ET-S BDC it doesn't produce as much vapor, and (I think therefore, but might be separate issues) the vapor isn't as flavorful. That isn't to say that it's bad, it could be that the ET-S BDC is just new and way better; I'll defer to the experts here.
Aspire ET-S BDC - $9 Very impressive performance in my opinion for a $9 part. I think the reason for the higher vapor output is that it uses a dual-coil (still in one threaded piece) setup, where many others are single coil. Whatever the reason, I think this is a pretty good piece of kit. I know I'm a new fish, but it's hard to imagine anything else at this price performing better.
but I'm still waiting on my batteries to come (lol, yeah, that doesn't sound quite right no matter how I rephrase it)
