New Vaper Recommendations

[Spit]

Hi Folks,

Welcome to me. Maybe I won't need to post in the other forums but I pretty sure this has been asked before but yes I need help.

Lets see I started using an E-Cigarette about a month ago and have been able to cut my tobacco usage down to only one cigarette in emergencies when my battery runs out, probably once a week. I'm on the go alot I'm a dispatched engineer. Please pardon my words in the following writing I'm still learning the lingo.

I started my experience with a local store call availvapor here in fredericksburg and got almost matching his and her e cigarettes for me and my wife. The only difference is that I have a cylindrical brushed stainless steel battery that is adjustable in the voltage via a dial on the bottom, the juice container has a clear slit on each side and the atomizer just screws into what looks likes a silver coupling holding the tank and battery together. I was moderately happy with this product (knowing I would eventually need to upgrade as my experience matured) until the darn seals starting expelling juice occasionally either through the mouth piece and into the cap or along the coupling after screwing in the battery. Is this normal for all e cigarette devices including APV types?

So I am on the market for a new device, but all these acronyms and different types of attachments and batteries has my head about to explode. I'm not sure what goes with what. I'm extremely technically adept, and can figure out most things if they are sitting in front of me. I guess at a minimum, I'd like to get a device that will list me as long as 24 hours of use (pack a day type of guy), has the ability to replace a battery and that rechargable batteries that you slide inside a the tube I think is what i prefer, I'd like something that has good adjustable wattage (maybe voltage) that I can tune it to hit my throat pretty good. I read what looked like a good argument for adjustable wattage over voltage not sure if its true, but I'll go with that for now.

I also don't mind having to rebuild the atomizer myself to save money as well (if that truely does save money).

I have an additional concern.... I'm am really unclear on the juices. Availvapor has a juice that comes in a 10ml bottle called cowboy cut. It's 1.8% nicotine. Really nice flavor that is similiar to the dark blue american spirits i used to smoke, maybe someone out there has a better recommendation but whatever setup is recommended I'd like to know if there is a difference in the juices and which devices can handle them. Or if I could still use this stuff from avail vapor. It says it has propylene glycol, and vegatable glycerin. Maybe all of them have that but I'd like to stuck with the vegetable types if possible. I guess the only other flavor I'd consider is something that tastes like a hot tomale (the candy not the food).

Well I've written a novel sorry guys. Any help you can give in recommendations and tips I would be very appreciative.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Fisheeboy]

Spit, welcome to ECF and the fantastic world of vaping.
As I currently do not own any mods that have the take the battery out, put the battery in capability I shall not attempt to suggest one for you. But I promise that someone will.
I'm just sayin howdy and welcome but don't worry, you're gonna be getting plenty of responses I'm sure.

 

[Baron Sciarri]

Please give us a price range you would like to spend

 

[Baron Sciarri]

Oh btw the actual mod itself isnt causing the leaking it's probably the tank....sounds like an evod tank maybe from your description...before you give us a price range i would kneejerk recommend the vamo 3 or 5...has the replaceable battery and is low price and popular...

Innokin has great products...i would check out their mods for sure...you will get quality from them no matter the style or price

But seriously get a new tank...i like the smoktech t-dux 2.0 for 7 bucks but the aspire nautilus is better period...

If you arent concerned about money get the aspire nautilus and then find a mod that fits it well that has the features you like...

 

[insaneclouds]

I just started also and I recently found a shop called Poor Boys Smoke on the west side of Columbus. They have a lot of pen style ecigs as well as a large MOD selection. I'm just learning myself and the lady in there was so helpful and patient in explaining (more than once) how to use all the different equipment that I walked out of there actually knowing how this thing works instead of just pushing the button and hoping for the best, LOL! I've been to a number of shops in the area and I think I've finally found one I like. She wasn't pushy and didn't try to sell me something I didn't need, I hate that. I just stopped in to check it out and get a back up battery for when mine is charging and I ended getting a nice SMOK twist and a few bottles of juice. The lady said they make over 400 flavors, which is awesome too but I was most excited about finally finding a juice that taste amazing but doesn't hurt my throat!

 

[Necrotic]

Hello and Welcome! From the sounds of your descriptions I would say you have the Kangertech Evod VV Pen in stainless steel along with a Evod clearomizer. It is normal for a small amount of liquid to drip onto the battery head, but not to leak. A cause could be the seal inside of the clearomizer has broken. A lot of the time the cause is over tightening the clearomizer bases on. You don't want to twist it on like you're twisting on the battery cap on a flash light, you just want it finger tight.

If you really are looking for a new mod there are a couple very cheap ones. The cheapest bet being the MVP 2.0. Now this mod does not have batteries you can take out, but it has a 2600 mAh internal battery with a passthrough (you can vape while it charges). I've read a lot of people praising this device and really it is cheaper than one with interchangeable batteries in the long run. The only real downside I hear is that the max wattage is 11 watts. You can find the device usually for around $45-$55. If you truly have your heart set on a APV with interchangeable batteries the Vamo v5, Itazte SVD, Provari Mini, Itazte 134, Sigelei Legend, Joyetech eVic, Sigelei Zmax and 20W, the list really goes on and on. All of these are adjustable voltage/wattage. The cheapest ones would be the Vamo, SVD, Legend and Zmax. Each of these are under the $80 mark. I myself own a Vamo v5 and it only cost me about $37 for just the mod tube itself. A nitecore i4 charger will be around $20-$25. Aw, Efest or Sony batteries seem to be the most popular batteries. I bought 2 AW 18650 batteries for $18. So roughly for around $80 I started vaping with my Vamo. My best advice is to research each one and get your mind set on that single one and find out exactly what you need! Of course if you do go with one with interchangeable batteries do not go with any (insert word here)Fire batteries. If you're looking for a new tank you can go with the kangertech protank 2 and buy the kangertech aerotank control base for it. I use this along with the aerotank, but I use much less juice with the single coils from the protank 2. The Protank is around $20 and the aerotank base is around $6. The aerotank is around $20-$30. Also the Aspire Nautilus is a name you will see thrown around quite a bit, this one is around $30-$35.

As for rebuilding coil heads, 100' of 30 gauge kanthal wire - $6, 1 bag of organic cotton balls from cvs - $3, ohm reader - $20, various tools to help build coils - $20, 1 pack of 5 coils varies from around $8-$20 for some. So for roughly $50 you can build an endless supply of coils! I'd recommend rebuilding coil heads to anybody, just make sure you watch a lot of videos about it.


For Juices there is a tremendous difference in them! All juices do contain Vegetable Glycerin and Propylene Glycol. Even 100% Pg/VG will have trace amounts of the other in it. Most people go 40/60 VG/PG. The Propylene Glycol is what really carries the flavor of the juice and gives you the throat hit. Vegetable glycerine basically makes the vapor. Now the more PG you have in a e-juice the more liquidy it will be, much like water. With higher VG you have a more viscous liquid similar to syrup. There are a quite a few sites that sell juice where you can tweak the VG/PG ratio out there. I use Zeus juice and they have the option for you to change the VG/PG to whatever ratio you prefer. I use 40/60 as with most people but some people are allergic to PG or sensitive to VG (I wonder if anybody is allergic to PG and sensitive to VG...). Now for a pack a day smoker I'd recommend 18 mg or 1.8%. I used to smoke around 15 cigarettes a day (it varied between the years, but for the last 2 years I'd smoke 15 or so). I use 18 mg and it works just fine for me. Now bare in mind that the higher the nicotine content the more throat hit you will also receive. I have also tried a 24 mg High Life from good life vapor (very vanilla flavored with a touch of tobacco... highly recommend this product!) and it was extremely good. Some flavors you may find have next to no throat hit (most of these are the fruity flavors) and some have hard throat hits (hazelnut I ordered I can only take small hits as it kicks the back of my throat like Chuck Norris).


I hope some of this helps!

 

[Gigglin]

Hi Michael, I'm about to go off on a tangent but that's what happens when you dive deep in to this world.

I'll take my best shot at helping you. It sounds like you started off with some type of ego twist styled battery with an evod which is totally decent and I still use often enough. The leakage can be caused by a lot of things such as every aspect being screwed on tight/proper seals being created/ too much/too little wick for the consistency of juice you have, something you would learn about if you got in to rebuilding. As for your desire to get in to removable 18000/26 series mods and rebuilding, it absolutely can save tons of money as 10 dollars worth of kanthal and cotton can last you a year depending on how much you tinker. But as with all things there is an incredible range of devices out there ranging from 10-300 easily for both mods AND atomizers. I'm throwing around a lot of terms but thats kind of because you have to familiarize yourself with all the terminology to understand what you are looking at most of the time. I'll try to break things down but just googling what you don't know will likely glean far more information than I can share.

Mods: Pretty much anything fancier than your starter set up, they come in two main flavors, mechanical and regulated, mechanical mods are very straightforward for someone who understands technology as they include nothing but a metal tube to conduct electricity from a battery to the atomizer up top. I would not necessarily recommend starting with these without thoroughly understanding the relationship between a batteries amp rating, your atomizers resistance, and safety. What I would recommend is looking at the spectrum of regulated devices while you get your head as tightly wrapped around mechs as possible. These regulated devices do what they say they do and they regulate the discharge from the battery to what you set in your vv/vw options. These devices come with things like minimum resistance requirements to fire and maximum wattage limits dependent on the chip powering the device. You can look at the ever popular mvp2 by innokin which does not meet your request of a replaceable though it does boast a hefty battery life. The mvp will not fire under 1 ohm nor will it let you exceed 11 watts output which allows it longer life. Every regulated device will have restrictions like this and depending on what you want to spend you can get devices like the itaste vtr/Sigeli 20 watt or the Seven 22 which use 18650/22650 rechargeable batteries respectively and can go up to 15 20 or 22 watts. Then towards even higher end you have DNA30 and OKR Mods which can go to 30+ a number of which offer removable batteries.

Atomizers: If you're going to rebuild you just have to go to youtube and watch a bunch of videos and then eventually you'll have the courage to do it yourself, buy an IGO W or something similar and practice and if it's for you it will take. If not The Aspire Nautilus is probably the nicest glass tank out there along with some Aspired BDC carts or Kanger T3s you would be set for a while. I feel like I've gone long on this already so I'll leave this open to you to ask questions.

When it comes to juice the options everywhere are propylene glycol vegetable glycerin nicotine and flavorings. You can go max vg if you want to minimize pg but the juice will be thicker and it will hit your throat less, but it will produce more visible vapor. Try out as much different juice as you can because that truly is the hardest part.

Enjoy

 

[GPC2012]

There are a bunch of APV's that are good, my two favorites are the Vamo V3, or V5. and the SVD. Some people will tell you there are problems with the SVD fire button, but there are problems with everything ever manufactured. I have never had a problem with mine. As for tanks, I like my Aspire BDC and my hypertank. Both are reasonable in price and dependable. When you do purchase I suggest doing it online with one of the many registered suppliers here. If you want to you can watch reviews on pretty much all of the devices on utube. E liquid is another thing that you can find in the thousands of registered suppliers. I personally feel better shopping with one of the registered suppliers they have to be at least somewhat dependable to remain registered on the forum. Don't rush, do a lot of surfing and find what is right for you. Personally I don't like to have to wait for something to be shipped from over seas to many possibilities for something to go wrong. Good luck.

 

[Spit]

Please give us a price range you would like to spend

I guess my price range would be 100 to 150 being the max. Maybe more if its a durable setup that will last me a long time.

 

[Spit]

Thank you all for your replies so far. I'm so appreciative. I'm going to look into the recommendations so far. Here are some pictures of what i have attached and broken apart. I think the gentleman above who spoke about the seals being overtightened is probably correct. I'm going to have to watch that with anything new I purchase.

 

[CreepyLady]

I guess my price range would be 100 to 150 being the max. Maybe more if its a durable setup that will last me a long time.

Ok If you want to spend the $$ to get a good device that will last you through the long haul - go Provari, Reo or Sigelei (this last one is really only suggested because of variable wattage) with an RBA/RDA. (Rebuildable Tank Atomizer/ Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer) these are the devices that are rock solid and stand the test of time.

To explain it out - you have a VV eGo style battery and some type of evod like clearomizer now, thats enough to get off smoking, but if you intend on vaping long term it is well worth it to invest the 150 in solid equipment because you will waste 5x that on mediocrity. Seeing you are an engineer and not squeamish on learning how to build - this will save you money - but more importantly- give you undoubtedly better performance.

You mention variable wattage - I really thought this necessary in the beginning as well, but its just not. Variable voltage is the same thing- its just a different road to the same place. If you rebuild coils then technically you dont need variable squat, because you build your coil to a resistance that will give yourself the performance you like on every vape - no adjustments needed.

My personal experience went cig-a-likes, eGos, VV eGos, tube mods, MVPs - all with assorted tanks to find "the performance" and finally to Reo w/ RDA. It turns out that is what I wanted all along. A rock solid device with consistent performance and building my own coils to get the flavor, vapor and throat hit I prefer. Now that being said, you may hate Reo - so please dont think I am suggesting you just go straight there! Consider all 3 devices above because they are all great (Provari, Reo and Sigelei) they are all TOTALLY different from one another in HOW they work and WHAT they do. Check out some youtube video reviews so you can see how they work, their menus and hear what some of the reviewers have to say. See which devices pique your interest the most and check out their corresponding subforums here so you can see what the folks who own them and use them daily think. From all of that - you should be able to pick the "one" for you.

I know this is a crap ton of info - but feel free to PM me if you have questions or want more details, help finding reviews - anything Its a hard spot to be in when you are just learning everything and I know I wouldve saved a few hundred bucks if I had understood the differences in devices and that I was just going to throw one in a drawer and buy a new one lol

Welcome to ECF and much luck to you and your lady on this adventure

 

[coalyard]

+1 on Creepy Lady's advice. It is really easy to blow a lot of cash on other things trying to find what you are after in the first place. That being said, I don't own a Provari, but I understand they are fantastic regulated mods, and from everything I have heard, I would buy one myself if I were after another tube type device.

More important is what to put on top of the device. You said you are willing to learn building coils. It really isn't all that difficult, it just requires some trial and error experience. A Kayfun Lite+ clone is a great tank rebuildable system, and a good clone such as H-Cigar or Ehpro will set you back between 40-50 dollars. It is money very well spent. The Kayfuns in general are very trouble free, they don't leak, and they are very easy to build. They will also work well with almost any coil you build for them. On a Provari, I would suggest 1.5-2.0 ohms. You may also want to pick up a couple of trouble free clearomizers, such as the IClear 30s, which will work for you while you learn how to build.

Juice is a very subjective matter, and it is one of the most difficult aspects of finding real satisfaction in vaping. Try sampling at a local B&M to try to pin down general flavor profiles you enjoy, ie. fruits, sweet, dry, bakery or candy flavors, etc. Lots of online companies offer sample packs of different flavors, and I would suggest you go that route before investing in larger bottles. There are tons of companies out there, so I am not going to suggest any here; do some reading here on ECF and pick a few that sound good to you.

Welcome, and good luck to you!

 

[Spit]

Thank you Creepylady that helps alot. I started viewing Rip Trippers videos and a few others and it doesn't look that hard at all. I'm sure there are more. Say how do I PM you. Maybe I haven't had enough posts to become a full fledged member. I have a few more questions. I like the Provari and the Sigelei, the Reo is nice but not sure about having the full of a bottle of e liquid sitting in my pocket or car in the hot sun for about 6 hours while I go into a site. Its a plastic bottle at that. That said its is a very simply looking rig with a great concept. and I do intend on eventually doing some spicy type of fluids at some point, I'm am really big on mexican food. If they had a chimichanga flavor man would that be good. I'll still vape the tobacco flavor that i have now. I'm sure that'll change over time too.

So the Sigelei sounds reasonably priced at my first glance to get me started and would leave me enough money left over to get into RBA/RDA. Will it support that. The V5 seems to be VV and VW, the videos I've seen on it is that the version you are referring to or is it another?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[CreepyLady]

One more post and the servers reset (20-25 past the hour, so just reply anything on this thread and you can PM in a few minutes) You can left click on the member name right in the thread here and you will see private message as an option

Sigelei has a good reputation, any version thats suits your fancy would be sufficient and will support RDA/RBA.

You probably will not have a good time with spicy/chimichanga eliquid - there are concerns with vaping capsaicin. It was used in the industry at some point to add throat hit, but there is a lot of information supporting it as a horrible idea so pretty much, its nearly impossible to find and rightfully so.

And as far as Reo - that bottle is sealed it is the ONLY thing that doesnt leak that I ever owned lol especially in -15 degrees or on an airplane or in Florida heat. I ran the gamut of tests on mine

 

[Spit]

Oh that's a bummer, I saw this hot tomale candy flavor and I was just itching to buy a small bottle and see how it works. I'm glad I didn't buy it. Me and the wife picked up from the local avail vapor a bottle of cinnamonice flavor its not that bad at all feels like a cinnamon menthol has a good throat hit on her little evod.

 

[CreepyLady]

The hot tamale flavor will probably be more so the "Hot Tamales" candy cinnamon and not a literal tamale. So spicy cinnamon red hots. You will see that A LOT. Cinnamon and Menthol have a great throat hit individually and tend to have a mac truck hit together, a lot of folks love the "fire and ice" flavors

PS WooHoo 5 posts you will be able to PM in the next 0-5 mins

 

[josepDhrudy]

I'm new to vaping and this thread also had helped me a lot. The information shared and the recommendations is of great help to me.