New member from New Zealand a bit overwhelmed

[Eskie]

Yeah, DIY juice is probably the easiest part of vaping to do yourself. Just measure and mix. Sounds like you already figured out some hardware solutions that work for you. The Pico is a nice little device, and the Triton 2 a reasonable tank. Your iJust sounds like a nice secondary.

Once you have your hardware sorted out, figuring out what juices you like can be more important than what hardware you use. Once you know your own palette and style of use, you can make informed choices on any other stuff you want to get, or just experiment with. If you're already satisfied with the performance of what you've got, play around with different juices. There are some I really like I didn't expect to, and others I thought sounded great but didn't work for me. Your preferences will also help you in choosing any flavors (if any) should you decide to mix your own as well.

I agree with Baditutde that building your own down the road will ultimately give you the best control for the best experience. But the more you know what like or dislike will really help in guiding intelligent purchases less likely to disappoint. I know laws and regulations vary by country, and am not aware how available things are like juices, but a big part of the appeal of vaping for me is experiencing new flavors, as well as not smoking, of course.

 

[Jimmygk37]

DIY isn't all that bad. It's just a little bit of this and a wee bit of that, and VOILA! JUICE!

Haha, if it's that simple I may just have to try it!

 

[BrotherBob]

Yes flavour is a big thing for me over clouds. Would you mind me asking what setup you run for flavour?

I'm at: high ohm ,MTL, low watt vaping Magma & Origen V3 deep well RDA's. Maximum taste and minimum e-liquid (I DIY) consumption, and this seems to be my sweet spot. The deep well and settings above give a good 45 min. to hour vape without re filling. I spend next to nothing on costs of wire and rayon wick.

 

[BrotherBob]

Haha, if it's that simple I may just have to try it!

Might like to read:
dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Hoosier's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
DIY Resources
You will want to scroll down to Sir2fyablyNutz thread, he lists most of the places you can find recipes.
Re: First DIY Order
How hard is it to get in to DIY liqiud?

 

[Jimmygk37]

Sounds like you already figured out some hardware solutions that work for you. The Pico is a nice little device, and the Triton 2 a reasonable tank. Your iJust sounds like a nice secondary.

Thanks @Eskie for the affirmation, it settles me for no more new shinys at the moment!
At the moment local vendors in NZ can't sell juices with nicotine in them, in saying this there is one vendor that does get around it and I've gone through most of their selection with no real ADV. So I have to get juices from the United States and with shipping etc it makes it possible to only get a few at a time.
I'm getting there slowly and think I just need a bit more patience, and yes the main thing for me is flavour and not smoking ever again!

 

[Jimmygk37]

Might like to read:
dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Hoosier's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
DIY Resources
You will want to scroll down to Sir2fyablyNutz thread, he lists most of the places you can find recipes.
Re: First DIY Order
How hard is it to get in to DIY liqiud?

Thanks again @BrotherBob, am definitely going to have a read of these. Also thank you for letting me know what setup you're running, appreciate it.

 

[rice721]

Hello and welcome.

Aside from suggesting you try going the rebuildable route and DIY'ing your own ejuice (which you said you weren't looking to do) I say you're pretty much set with what you have.

Enjoy your vape(s)

 

[tpedwards]

Welcome jimmy, nothing to add from me. I'm in Australia and curious about the how and why you can't buy nic ejuice. Reason being i was importing nic from NZ for quite awhile till recently.

 

[djsvapour]

At the moment local vendors in NZ can't sell juices with nicotine in them, in saying this there is one vendor that does get around it and I've gone through most of their selection with no real ADV. So I have to get juices from the United States and with shipping etc ..

I can't speak for NZ but there were some Vendors quite happy to 'get around' issues in Australia by using loopholes.
I can't quite find it in my heart to forgive those brands mind you, as when one of the world's leading franchise chains simply price-gouged Australians to make massive profits, the rest of the vaping community around the world should have put them out of business in other domestic markets.

It didn't happen.

It's one thing to take advantage of people, it's a whole different ball game to a) geo-block people from accessing websites in other countries to check prices and b) play 'innocent' in the court of public opinion.
Personally, I boycott that franchise now.
I also find it appalling how the community (much like everything in the world) won't stand up and be counted on these issues.

Gosh, I have some quite strong opinions on this.

 

[Jimmygk37]

Hello and welcome.

Aside from suggesting you try going the rebuildable route and DIY'ing your own ejuice (which you said you weren't looking to do) I say you're pretty much set with what you have.

Enjoy your vape(s)

Thanks @rice721, DIY is something to look into but for now I'm happy just being a bit more simple til I know more.
Yeah it took a lot of researching hours to get where I've got, but I have loved every minute of it! More trial and error still to be done of course, but excited nonetheless.

 

[Jimmygk37]

Welcome jimmy, nothing to add from me. I'm in Australia and curious about the how and why you can't buy nic ejuice. Reason being i was importing nic from NZ for quite awhile till recently.

Thanks @tpedwards, sorry I may have stumbled on another couple that you can get juice with nic from. However from what I've found the prices are pretty up there and the selection isn't large at all.
Most places will sell you the flavoured juice and you have to use your own nic to mix with it. Would be interested to know where you were getting yours from, and if it's the same place I've used here?
Here's a wee basic bulletpoint blurb that it's prohibited
"under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 to advertise, sell and distribute e-cigarettes that contain nicotine derived from tobacco, including nicotine-containing e-liquids".
Basically the place I go to, you sign up to their club and they act on your behalf to mix it for you and you get your juice with nicotine.

 

[Jimmygk37]

Gosh, I have some quite strong opinions on this.

It's all good, everyone has them and everyone is entitled to them.

 

[tpedwards]

It was from soulblu jimmy. It is pricey, however i diy and only bought nic from them. 48mg/ml, i only vape at 1mg and mostly unflavored so it goes quite along way.

 

[Jimmygk37]

Never heard of it @tpedwards, looks like Aussie based with a Kiwi online ability. Thanks for the heads up though, the stuff I can get here is $2 less but also it's only 30ml and not 50ml. Would you say quality is good?

 

[tpedwards]

The quality is equal to any other I've used.

 

[NealBJr]

Thanks @tpedwards, sorry I may have stumbled on another couple that you can get juice with nic from. However from what I've found the prices are pretty up there and the selection isn't large at all.
Most places will sell you the flavoured juice and you have to use your own nic to mix with it. Would be interested to know where you were getting yours from, and if it's the same place I've used here?
Here's a wee basic bulletpoint blurb that it's prohibited
"under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 to advertise, sell and distribute e-cigarettes that contain nicotine derived from tobacco, including nicotine-containing e-liquids".
Basically the place I go to, you sign up to their club and they act on your behalf to mix it for you and you get your juice with nicotine.

I know you've mentioned you didn't want to start DIY for your own juice, but you may have to pseudo do it your own. I have heard of people from Australia having to buy unflavored nicotine juice, then add the nicotine themselves. Unfortunately, that's legislation you have to go through.

As far as the new equipment, luckily you have a wide selection to choose from. Being a former smoker myself as well, I know there's no %100 replacement for cigarettes when you first start. It will still take a bit of effort for most people. When I started with ecigs, I went from a pack per day to 3 per day instantly, then tapered it down from there. The whole process of being cigarette free took about 4 months I'm guessing.

Again, I can only talk about my experiences.. yours might be different. Back when I started, it was a high nicotine level, low airflow for me. I started with a 1.8 ohm coil on something called a CE4. I went from that, to an AGA-T2 rebuildable... but that was to save money on coils. Back then, when the CE4 coils were used up, you had to throw away the whole thing and buy another, and they cost about $6-$10 each. Todays coils are much cheaper now, so you have a lot more options.

I'd be concentrating on getting off the stinkies first. See what works for you. Before you get a tank, look at what ohm coils they offer first. Also look at the airflow options. Usually, for new vapers wanting to quit Ecigs, I recommend a higher nicotine juice, higher ohm coils, and lowered airflow. This maximizes the flavor, still gives you enough nicotine to help you quit. Cloud chasing shouldn't be your main concern, but maybe as a hobby. Today, I have a "heavy cloud" chasing device for the occasional vape, and a mid level cloud device as my main. I think I'm going on my third year of cigarette free vaping, so it took a while to get here. I have a whole bunch of items it took for me to get here, but when you add it all up, I still saved a lot of money. Keep at it.

And welcome to the forums!

 

[rice721]

Thanks @rice721, DIY is something to look into but for now I'm happy just being a bit more simple til I know more.
Yeah it took a lot of researching hours to get where I've got, but I have loved every minute of it! More trial and error still to be done of course, but excited nonetheless.

I'm sure you will begin to venture down the DIY road very soon as most "habitual" vapers do eventually, myself included .

Aside from tuning / dialing in your vape to get exactly what you want, I find that it also helps keep my mind off of analogs.

 

[Gramdogg]

Cheers for the reply, it may be a case of me reaching for the top of the ladder to get to the top, when I should be getting on the bottom rung and going through the journey.
I'm a little scared to get extra shots of flavouring with the juice I get as it has to come so far and if it's too strong or I just don't like it from the start then I'm stuck waiting another 2 weeks for juice to use.

Yeah I tried alot of flavours 1st to see what I liked.

 

[Gramdogg]

EVOD is much like an ego. DIY and coil building sound much harder then it is. I've only been vaping little over 4 months. DIY is just easy math you can use a DIY calculator online and coil calculator as well. Just look up the mm of drill bits like 5/16th to get the size correct then it's as easy as wrapping wire around a post. The EVOD Glass is a better MTL tank with BVC's but I prefer the old EVOD's because they are easy to rebuild or just dry burn and rewick with cotton. To compare a pack of 5 sub ohm coils here is about $20, I can make like 15 for $0.75c. With DIY instead of paying $20 for 30ml you can make it yourself for $5 or less. I use my EVOD's about 6 times for every 1 time I use sub ohm... better when chain vaping IMO. And yes it's not really a "waste of money" just because you have cool gear as oppose to a pile of cigarette butts lol. I think the best deal out today to try rebuilding is the Kanger DripBox. For less money then a tank or RBA you get a whole kit. Another cheap introduction to rebuilding is the Kanger SubTank/TopTank Mini clone, just make sure you get the version 2 as version 1 has a gross tasting insulater. All protected non mech mods have short circuit protection so you really can't mess up and hurt yourself.

 

[Gramdogg]

Flavours I like the most are watermelon, huckleberry and my watermelon menthol blend with a ton of menthol. The menthol makes all your other flavours POP because it clears your palate as well as your sinuses lol. Problem with not doing DIY is your local vendor may be stingy on the flavour to make more profit, you could add 20-30% flavour and still be way cheaper. Without added flavour shots you may not even be tasting the flavour the way it should taste. One of my local vendors is almost tasteless without added flavour shots. Like really if you need $1+ of added flavour why not just make it that way and charge $1 more per bottle instead of selling almost tasteless juice! I find it funny when they call a juice "premium" and sell it for $20 when all it is, is .50c more flavour added or 30 seconds of adding different flavours.