Newbie questions

[Rahz]

I have lots of questions. I revieved my 510 yesterday and am going on day 2 tobacco free. These are some questions I have before buying round 2 of supplies.

I would prefer an automatic while in the car. I see Totally Wicked has Mega Automatic batteries. Is there a substantial difference between manual and auto 510s? I was thinking that perhaps the larger battery might help in this regard.

IF I go with mega batteries, I'll get a non-USB car charger. If I stick with manual, I'll probably upgrade to a USB passthrough for car. Either way, I'm going to get a USB passthrough for the house.

So second question, I've seen only the one kind of passthrough that has batteries. I would prefer a passthrough without batteries. I have found the Prodigy passthrough, is this the only non-battery passthrough available for the 510?

Third question. Yesterday I probably went through at least 50-60 drops of juice (18 mg) (estimated, not counting extra juice in carts). Does this mean I smoked at least 50-60 cigs worth of nicotine? I'm a pack a day smoker. And do vaping habits change over time?

I think that once I get used to the reduced sensation it will level off. When I smoked reds, my consumption went up for a week or two when switching to lights. Same thing happened when I switched to ultra-lights.

Last question, I'm using the Johnson Creek sampler. I like the mint chocolate and the vanilla, but really after a while I don't notice the flavour all that much. This isn't really a problem but I'm curious how other juices compare.

Thanks for answering any of these questions.

Kevin

 

[Giantfan]

I like auto batteries. Feels more natural. Like a real smoke. No thinking involved, just pull. Manual batteries aren't bad either. I like them too, but I have decided to stick with automatics all the time. To be honest, I think they are both very similar. Some people say the manual is so much better, but I really do not see that in my experience.

 

[Rahz]

Cool, thanks. I have read (I've been reading a lot) that the 510 autos aren't that different. The mega batteries are looking good. I wonder why Totally Wicked is the only place that carries them.

 

[Keef]

Re the flavour.
If you continuouslly vape the same flavour liquid all day your taste buds dont pick it up so much as the day goes on.

If flavour is important to you try changing 2 or 3 back and forth .

I used to swap them about, some are much nicer just after eating a meal.

Now I am not so bothered and just vape whatever is on hand.

 

[Arizona Dad]

As to your third question, check out this link:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/42302-nic-level-recommendations.html

 

[Kurt]

Rahz,

I think the 510 passthrough is only manual and with a battery. The battery is useful, actually, since you can unplug the PT and still vape a long time.

I have the mega batts from TW. They are manual, however. They last about 2x the regular length batts.

I got some auto batts by accident from TW at one point. I ordered manuals but got autos. I didn't use them, but I did notice that they were REALLY sensitive to their environment. Seemed anything would fire them up. They were wrapped in plastic in a little box, and just opening the box made 3 of them fire up. I didn't want autos in the first place, but this really drove the point home. Not sure if others have this problem with 510 autos, but that was my experience. Also loud sounds with set them off.

I like the manual batts because there is essentially no cutoff. I can take as big a drag as I want without it shutting off. On the other hand it would be nice to be able to puff without having to press the button...might give a couple of autos a longer try in the future...perhaps not all 510 autos are so sensitive.

Vape proud!
Kurt

 

[thewomenfolk]

You can add flavor drops to your juice to strengthen it, or even make your own juice. I find Capella flavors superior to Lorann's as they're so like the real thing. I use a Mint low-nicotine juice because I want some throat hit, but often I add Capellas Pralines and Cream to sweeten it a bit. If you get good juices, they won't lose their flavor. Try Nhaler's pear lung juice....a good example of one that I've found doesn't lose its flavor. It's truly one of the very special juices. Good luck.

 

[props76]

Third question. Yesterday I probably went through at least 50-60 drops of juice (18 mg) (estimated, not counting extra juice in carts). Does this mean I smoked at least 50-60 cigs worth of nicotine? I'm a pack a day smoker. And do vaping habits change over time?
Kevin

20 drops = 1 ml so 60 drops = 3 ml. That's the high end of average use. 18 mg is weak so that would explain that.

To make it simple, I find a rule of thumb is that e-juice nicotine is 10% of what you need from cigs. i.e one cig is 1.2 mg, so that 12mg of e-juice, or .5ml (10 drops) of 24 mg e-juice.

 

[Rahz]

Keef, yea I agree about the flavour dieing down. But I don't really care about what flavour I'm smoking. Was just curious if there was a retail juice that is more flavourful than what I've got. If they're all about the same, I won't worry about it. May even go unflavoured eventually.

Arizona Dad, thanks for that link. It makes a lot of sense and would put me at about 1.5-2 packs yesterday... which wouldn't be unusual. I smoked more when I switched to lights, for about a week or two, and I smoked more when I switched to ultra-lights. I can see myself getting used to this.

Main problem is the carts. The first two cigarettes worth are great, but that's it. I can keep using it and keep getting vapor, but it doesn't satisfy like a full cart. I probably ended up vaping more trying to get that one good hit than I would with a full cart. Solution, use the carts twice, and then top them off. I could drip at home, but I do a lot of driving so I'll just take lots of carts with me.

Kurt, thanks for the advice. I'll stick with manual batteries for now, and do some more reading. I've got three manuals that will last for a while so I'm in no rush. Would be nice for driving around... but that can be kinda loud. Other than driving, I wouldn't have much use for them over the manuals.

Thanks for the help folks.

 

[Rahz]

20 drops = 1 ml so 60 drops = 3 ml. That's the high end of average use. 18 mg is weak so that would explain that.

To make it simple, I find a rule of thumb is that e-juice nicotine is 10% of what you need from cigs. i.e one cig is 1.2 mg, so that 12mg of e-juice, or .5ml (10 drops) of 24 mg e-juice.

OK, so since I smoke ultra lights, I may have smoked around about the ammount I normally do.

Not really how the advertisements portray it... but juice will still be much cheaper than smokes. Thanks.

 

[Rahz]

You can add flavor drops to your juice to strengthen it, or even make your own juice. I find Capella flavors superior to Lorann's as they're so like the real thing. I use a Mint low-nicotine juice because I want some throat hit, but often I add Capellas Pralines and Cream to sweeten it a bit. If you get good juices, they won't lose their flavor. Try Nhaler's pear lung juice....a good example of one that I've found doesn't lose its flavor. It's truly one of the very special juices. Good luck.

Thanks for the flavour advice. I noticed that the mint I have always comes across a little better than the others.

I was thinking about getting some real vanilla extract and using drops of that. Have people tried that?

 

[props76]

Not really how the advertisements portray it... but juice will still be much cheaper than smokes. Thanks.

I'm just talking about e-juice here remember. There are all those magic cart-o-mizers and carts out there that really do have one carton of smokes in them, in only .5 ml of fluid. Its magic, honest. I've got a special on today, those and some nice swamp land.

It was research from Rayen (sp??) the original inventor of e-cigs where I got this information from, based on their tests of test subjects smokeing a cig and vapeing then checking the level of nicotine in their blood. In the end it really comes down to the same thing as How many beer get you drunk? Depends on who you are, how strong the beer is, if you ate, ect ect ect... But as a rule of thumb 10% is darn close to me.

 

[Kurt]

I wouldn't worry too much about your nic levels in the beginning. Generally people run their nic levels a little high initially in order to really kill the craving for an analog, then back off once the physical habit of lighting up is less. I started with around 18 mg but now I am most comfortable with around 7 mg, with a couple drops of 24 mg added a couple times a day.

And translating drops to number of analogs is not meaningful, really. Your vaping habits will not often be very similar to your smoking habits, especially after a while. Why? Because once you light an analog, you generally finish it, but you may decide in vaping that a few drags is plenty, especially if it is higher nic. Or you may decide to back off the nic so you can just "pleasure vape" and puff away without getting too much nic. Your rituals around smoking will not be generally similar to vaping either. Rather than think about how many analogs correspond to how much liquid you use, just think about whether you are really craving an analog. If you are not, then you are likely getting enough nic for now. If you are, try upping the nic a little. You'll know if it is too much: jittery, nauseous, sick-feeling.

Or, like most of us, your transition to smoke-free will be somewhat gradual. I went by weeks. Week 1: 4-5 a day. Week 2: 3-4 a day. Etc. I'm now at about 3 per week.

Remember: there are many things in analogs that are addictive, not just nicotine. See the postings on MAOIs, which are present in US cigarette tobacco. In the beginning I really missing that head-rush CLUNK of carbon monoxide. Now not so much.

Good luck, and welcome aboard!

Kurt

 

[Rahz]

Thanks again. Yea, not so bad going from regulars analogs to lights, but I remember going from lights to ultralights, I would smoke big drags because I wanted the same feel. Then after a a couple weeks a regular toke felt normal, and a light cigarette then felt stronger than what I wanted.

 

[Jules22871]

The main thing that I like manual batts over auto ones, especially on the 510, is you cannot flood a sealed manual battery. It is very easy to overfill a cart, flodd your atty, which then will run down into your auto battery and before you know it, the switch in the auto battery is gunked up and your battery is done for. This doesn't happen with the manual batteries. You also have more control over how long you can draw on your ecig. My 510 batts do not have a cut off, or if they do I have never reached it. I was always hitting the cut off on my auto 901 batts.

 

[Giantfan]

The only time my 510 auto battery turns on when I don't vape it is when I drop it. It's generally not too sensitive.

I have a tendency to overfill my carts and atomizers and I noticed that there is never any liquid coming out of the little hole that screws into the battery. Haven't had problems so far. I guess I will have to wait and see.