New here, just saying "hi"...

[CaptSpaulding78]

Hello! I'm fairly new to vaping, about 1.5 months in now. After 26+ years of smoking with numerous failed attempts at quitting and using various methods, the wife and i decided we'd try vaping. Wish I would've come over years ago. I picked up a well over-priced eleaf istick tc40w with a Kanger subtank mini and a couple juices from a local shop and haven't looked back. I can't even stand the smell of cigarettes now. Besides quitting smoking, vaping has become an entire hobby for me. I've been watching several of the more known YouTubers, and looking forward to building some nasty coils when I pick up my new Reuleaux RX200 and (undecided as of yet) dripper next week. Some advice on budget friendly juice would be very welcome. Locally, prices tend to run $10/15ml and scale from there. The way my wife and I suck down vape, tho,I must find cheaper alternatives. We're apprehensive about buying online, not being able to taste before hand, but we need to find some other option. We tend to stick more with the fruit flavors, though I'm open to expanding my horizons. Anyway, I think I've dragged on long enough, any info and advice is appreciated!

 

[alittleangel]

hi,and good to know you in ECF,congradulation for your long way quit,very encouraging

cheers

 

[Susan~S]

Hello and welcome to the forum @CaptSpaulding78. Glad to have you here!

Check out this thread: Best Budget but Decent Juice Makers & Vendors Part 1. Many of these juice vendors offer sample packs and sell +60ml bottles of juice (at budget prices) once you find some flavors you really love.

The Reuleaux RX200 is very highly regarded and can be found at many online vendors for ~$40.

I often use vapeCrawler to see who has the best pricing. If I only want to see suppliers from the USA I make sure USA is "green" and all the others are "gray". If you go down to the very bottom of the page you can see all the vaping websites vapeCrawler searches.

I also keep this thread bookmarked: Deals and Steals | E-Cigarette Forum
Go to last couple of pages to see the most recent deals.

 

[CaptSpaulding78]

Hello and welcome to the forum @CaptSpaulding78. Glad to have you here!

Check out this thread: Best Budget but Decent Juice Makers & Vendors Part 1. Many of these juice vendors offer sample packs and sell +60ml bottles of juice (at budget prices) once you find some flavors you really love.

The Reuleaux RX200 is very highly regarded and can be found at many online vendors for ~$40.

I often use vapeCrawler to see who has the best pricing. If I only want to see suppliers from the USA I make sure USA is "green" and all the others are "gray". If you go down to the very bottom of the page you can see all the vaping websites vapeCrawler searches.

I also keep this thread bookmarked: Deals and Steals | E-Cigarette Forum
Go to last couple of pages to see the most recent deals.

Thank you!

 

[KayP]

Hi @CaptSpaulding78. Congratulations and welcome to ECF!

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. Sound choice on the RX200, and be sure to snag the Version 3.0 firmware upgrade when you get it. If you're going to go the built coil route, I strongly suggest Stainless Steel wire (I like 316 grade, others prefer 304, 317 or 430, but they're all fabulous) especially in TC mode, although it works well in wattage mode too. It's just great tasting wire. I'll be happy to talk drippers with you, but just a hint: for versatility in clones, try a Dark Horse; if you're sure you want a flavor chaser and don't mind tight(ish) air, a Plume Veil clone is hard to beat. For versatile authentics, without taking out a second mortgage, the Wotofo Sapor (top air so its hard to make it leak) and the Mutation V4 are both excellent and priced in the $30 range. Finally, the solution to your juice problem is DIY. I like fruits and spices myself, and have my juice cost down under 5 cents/ml; so cheap I blow cloud all day and don't think about it. DIY is not hard to do, but there is a learning curve. I have an extensive setup, with some money invested in it, but I make juice in liter quantities. It isn't necessary, though. If you don't mind making it in 50ml batches or less, 50 bucks will buy the tools and enough parts to make 500ml of juice, easy. You can get started with nothing more than a handful of plastic syringes for measuring, some VG, PG, flavors and nic, plus a coffee mug and a stainless spoon for mixing, and some empty juice bottles to put it in.

 

[CaptSpaulding78]

Hi and welcome. Sound choice on the RX200, and be sure to snag the Version 3.0 firmware upgrade when you get it. If you're going to go the built coil route, I strongly suggest Stainless Steel wire (I like 316 grade, others prefer 304, 317 or 430, but they're all fabulous) especially in TC mode, although it works well in wattage mode too. It's just great tasting wire. I'll be happy to talk drippers with you, but just a hint: for versatility in clones, try a Dark Horse; if you're sure you want a flavor chaser and don't mind tight(ish) air, a Plume Veil clone is hard to beat. For versatile authentics, without taking out a second mortgage, the Wotofo Sapor (top air so its hard to make it leak) and the Mutation V4 are both excellent and priced in the $30 range. Finally, the solution to your juice problem is DIY. I like fruits and spices myself, and have my juice cost down under 5 cents/ml; so cheap I blow cloud all day and don't think about it. DIY is not hard to do, but there is a learning curve. I have an extensive setup, with some money invested in it, but I make juice in liter quantities. It isn't necessary, though. If you don't mind making it in 50ml batches or less, 50 bucks will buy the tools and enough parts to make 500ml of juice, easy. You can get started with nothing more than a handful of plastic syringes for measuring, some VG, PG, flavors and nic, plus a coffee mug and a stainless spoon for mixing, and some empty juice bottles to put it in.

Thank you much for the info. I have been thinking of DIY, but hesitant to do much research yet, as i tend to get excited about new things and dive a bit too deep. Is there a YouTube video that you know of done by somebody well versed in DIY, though shown in a beginner's format like you described? Thanks again for the info. This site has proved very helpful, and not the least bit "elitist", a worry that keeps me from forums generally.

 

[mauricem00]

Thank you much for the info. I have been thinking of DIY, but hesitant to do much research yet, as i tend to get excited about new things and dive a bit too deep. Is there a YouTube video that you know of done by somebody well versed in DIY, though shown in a beginner's format like you described? Thanks again for the info. This site has proved very helpful, and not the least bit "elitist", a worry that keeps me from forums generally.

if you can make a cake from a box mix than you can mix juice. plenty of information here on where to get good supplies and it cost me $0.70 to mix 30ml of 6mg nic, juice. welcome to ECF and hope you have a great experience here

 

[suprtrkr]

Thank you much for the info. I have been thinking of DIY, but hesitant to do much research yet, as i tend to get excited about new things and dive a bit too deep. Is there a YouTube video that you know of done by somebody well versed in DIY, though shown in a beginner's format like you described? Thanks again for the info. This site has proved very helpful, and not the least bit "elitist", a worry that keeps me from forums generally.

I do not know of such a video. I am, in fact, allergic in the extreme to internet videos and I have to want to know something bad, and it has to be available in no other format, before I will watch one. I like to paraphrase an old saying: "video is the last refuge of the illiterate." Apologies for the joke, but I just dove in. In fact, I started DIY before I joined this forum and didn't even have these resources. Really, though, if you can follow a recipe in a cookbook, you can make juice. What you need is a juice calculator, ECigVape is my personal favorite. They're self explanatory, really. You put in the base type (VG or PG) of your nic and flavors, and tell the calculator your final PG/VG desired ratio, your desired nic level, and what percentage of flavor you want to try, and how much to make, then hit the button and read off how many ml of what to mix together. Measure out the stuff using the syringes, squirt them into the coffee cup, give them a stir until they're mixed and you're done, basically. A caveat: most people think juice tastes better once it steeps, ie, sits long enough for the flavors to marry. This is one of the reasons-- the other is I'm lazy-- I mix in large quantities. I run two 4oz bottles (or anything up to 6 bottles, depending on the flavor) of each of my flavors. When I have two or three or seven empty flavor bottles, I drag out my gear and make some. By the time I empty the "working" bottle, the fresh stuff is steeped. You won't do that at first, you'll want to taste it, but that's OK too, it's just not at its best yet. Another good hint is make small quantities-- like 10 ml or less-- until you get your recipe firmed up. Then make it in whatever quantity you like.

For simple (one flavor) fruit recipes, most people will find the sweet spot in the 10-18% flavor range; and most also usually like to add 2-10% sweetener. I buy my nic juice from MyFreedomSmokes and my flavors from Flavor Apprentice, although there are other quality vendors. I mix their Cinnamon Red Hots flavor 10% with no sweetener for my cinnamon juice. I mix their Peppermint 15% with 5% sweetener for my peppermint juice. And so forth. I just hit upon a really nice apple/cinnamon I like a lot: 9% Cinn Red Hots, 9% Apple Candy, 5% sweetener. Have fun