Newbie vaper puzzled by outrageously nasty taste

[Foggy Road]

OK, OK... the inevitable n00b experience is that you buy all the wrong gear at first. I'm used to that.

I only got the Kangers for taste-testing 'cos they were cheap and had small reservoirs -- guess that was a bad move! -- so I'll keep looking for better toys. Looks like the battery bases can be used with other clearomizers with compatible 510 thread (see I'm learning!) so I can look around for bottom-coil clearomizers compatible with the cute slender batteries.

I'm also investigating disposable dripping atomizers (sounds like some kind of sci-fi weapon to me!) with 510 thread.

Gotta re-emphasise though, some of those juices smelled awful just out of the bottle, without even heating them up. I guess I'm shopping "premium" from now on!

Yeah I was wondering if you had the 808 or 510 models. They made both. If indeed they are 510 you have plenty of clearo choices.

I think you'll want something with 1.8 ohm or higher coils for those batteries. I read that the ESMART coils were 2.6 to 2.8 ohm

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Consider picking up some unflavoured (base) mix & try diluting. Some high PG liquids seem pretty strong - I don't know if they maybe have more flavour because it's assumed they're used with less powerful gear, but they can be rather… out there.

 

[Red Beard]

This is a problem endemic to the way artificial flavorings work. Different people taste them differently. This is why whenever the topic of “what are the best juice flavors?” come up there are choruses of “no such thing”.

Something someone thinks is awesome the next person will find to be awful. Best practice is find a brick and mortar store with a juice bar so you can taste 20-30 flavors and find something you personally like.

This is interesting because I'm also having a real hard time finding decent tasting flavors. So how does this work? Do the shops offer a one-hit device so you can test all these different flavors, or do you walk in with an RDA and drip the different flavors? I don't think they would want me walking in with a 3 mil pod for testing purposes.

 

[Foggy Road]

This is interesting because I'm also having a real hard time finding decent tasting flavors. So how does this work? Do the shops offer a one-hit device so you can test all these different flavors, or do you walk in with an RDA and drip the different flavors? I don't think they would want me walking in with a 3 mil pod for testing purposes.

Back in 2015 when I started the vape shop had racks of El cheapo clearos filled with juices. They'd give me a (usually) dead ego battery and a (supposedly) sanitary cover for the drip tip.
More recently a different shop was using RDAs on their mod. They drip the flavor then burn off the excess and redrip with another flavor if you wanted.
Guess it depends on where you go. I doubt any will let you use your own gear.

 

[Red Beard]

Back in 2015 when I started the vape shop had reached of El cheapo clearos filled with juices. They'd give me a (usually) dead ego battery and a (supposedly) sanitary cover for the drip tip.
More recently a different shop was using RDAs on their mod. They drip the flavor then burn off the excess and redrip with another if you wanted.
Guess it depends on where you go. I doubt any will let you use your own gear.

Awesome! Thank you.

 

[GOMuniEsq]

The vape shops I've visited have a rack of pre-filled tanks. They'll screw whichever one you want to sample onto a tester mod and give you a disposable drip tip.

 

[vapdivrr]

I know you said your next juice purchases might be higher in vg, but dont go to high. If your going to be testing these juices in devices like the clearos , carts, or old style dripping attys, they have a harder time with thicker liquids. To be safe I would say 60vg for now

 

[Tazling]

Hi vapdivrr! Thanks for the warning about viscosity. I have read that I can, with care, dilute with distilled water and/or food grade ethanol (i.e. vodka or Everclear) to ensure easier flow. That is my plan for any super high vg that I try out. I have already tried a PG/VG of 30/70 with success, but any higher than that I think I'll try dilution.

I find the sheer range and variety of vaping hardware absolutely mind-boggling; been reading up on "mods" and "tanks," and it's an absolute jungle of jargon and specifications and standards out there! actually worse than electric RC aircraft, which is saying something. Also came across the most wonderful new word I've encountered for a long time -- squonking! Sounds like a good name for the sound of half-grown goslings, but turns out it's about the use of a mod with a juice tank inside that you can squeeze. Gotta love it.

The other thing I'm discovering is the artistry and craftsmanship going into some of the higher-end mods. Not that I have a yen to actually own anything that fancy, but there are some truly beautiful units out there, a tribute to human ingenuity and aesthetics. Like the legendary Caravela, the Templario (Templario Mods) or even this (much cheesier quality, but still pretty cool in a steampunk way): https://www.heavengifts.com/product/EUGENE-Lighthouse-Mech-MOD.html

If you're going to have paraphernalia, why not make them beautiful? Nice.

 

[HigherStateD]

You'll be diy juice making for sure. A lot of these flavor concentrates are used in, and come from candy making and food products in general. Definitely try cutting the awful juice. My guess, cheap flavors, and too much of them, paired with too much sweetner.

Also, check out hangsen. It's a flavor company that claims to be all natural.

 

[Tazling]

Thanks HigherStateD, I checked Hangsen's web site (very sloooow) and didn't see any actual claim that their flavours are natural. Plenty of language about "pure" and so on, but no language actually describing the flavourings used. OTOH they get some pretty good reviews, and apparently they're popular enough that there are fakes on the market! That's a kind of indirect compliment I guess.

 

[HigherStateD]

Sorry, my phone hates their web site, but here's this... (Oh, and it's exensive, but flavourah brand "rich cinnamon" flavor claims to be high quality cinnamon. I'd really like to get your thoughts on it)

 

[Coyote628]

You just gotta try cannoli be one. You probably wont like it but i do. Thats the thing about vape flavors it seems. I like something but somebody else wont.

 

[Armor1]

OK, OK... the inevitable n00b experience is that you buy all the wrong gear at first. I'm used to that.

I only got the Kangers for taste-testing 'cos they were cheap and had small reservoirs -- guess that was a bad move! -- so I'll keep looking for better toys. Looks like the battery bases can be used with other clearomizers with compatible 510 thread (see I'm learning!) so I can look around for bottom-coil clearomizers compatible with the cute slender batteries.

I'm also investigating disposable dripping atomizers (sounds like some kind of sci-fi weapon to me!) with 510 thread.

Gotta re-emphasise though, some of those juices smelled awful just out of the bottle, without even heating them up. I guess I'm shopping "premium" from now on!

May I suggest a Joytech Exceed Grip. Nice fairly cheap. Does what it’s suppose to do. Would be a good starter.
Personally I made all the same mistakes when I started vaping to quit cigs. I just wasn’t getting what I needed to quit.
I can also recommend The Zen Vaper for juice. I’ve been using them for over a year now. Great flavors and great prices.

 

[vapdivrr]

Hi vapdivrr! Thanks for the warning about viscosity. I have read that I can, with care, dilute with distilled water and/or food grade ethanol (i.e. vodka or Everclear) to ensure easier flow. That is my plan for any super high vg that I try out. I have already tried a PG/VG of 30/70 with success, but any higher than that I think I'll try dilution.

I find the sheer range and variety of vaping hardware absolutely mind-boggling; been reading up on "mods" and "tanks," and it's an absolute jungle of jargon and specifications and standards out there! actually worse than electric RC aircraft, which is saying something. Also came across the most wonderful new word I've encountered for a long time -- squonking! Sounds like a good name for the sound of half-grown goslings, but turns out it's about the use of a mod with a juice tank inside that you can squeeze. Gotta love it.

The other thing I'm discovering is the artistry and craftsmanship going into some of the higher-end mods. Not that I have a yen to actually own anything that fancy, but there are some truly beautiful units out there, a tribute to human ingenuity and aesthetics. Like the legendary Caravela, the Templario (Templario Mods) or even this (much cheesier quality, but still pretty cool in a steampunk way): https://www.heavengifts.com/product/EUGENE-Lighthouse-Mech-MOD.html

If you're going to have paraphernalia, why not make them beautiful? Nice.

I bought a caravela back in the day, batch 2 and it was absolutely beautiful! I had it about a year and totally got into box mods, so I sold it . At that time I got 5x's the price I paid.....my favorite mod maker is olc stratum , they do some really nice work...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Coyote628]

I bought a caravela back in the day, batch 2 and it was absolutely beautiful! I had it about a year and totally got into box mods, so I sold it . At that time I got 5x's the price I paid.....my favorite mod maker is olc stratum , they do some really nice work...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Shoulda kept that caravela. I understand they are hard to come by nowadays, especially an authentic one.

 

[Tazling]

Update (I was off on a sailing trip for a while)... when I returned I found nifty boxes in the mail with mini flavour samples of high-vg all-natural juices from Kai's, VV, Kind etc. Haven't even begun to work my way through them yet, but I did get a (disposable) drip atomiser and "drip tip" mouthpiece for taste testing.

The atomiser is 510 thread so it fits on my Kanger "pen" vape devices. So far it seems like a good way to taste stuff: I put just 3 or so drops into the atomiser, let it sit a few sec then fire up the device and try out a flavour. I notice that towards the end of the vape (running out of liquid?) the taste gets worse, with some of those same nasty notes that I was complaining about earlier (but not as strong). So I'm guessing the disgusting taste was a combination of harsh artificial flavourings and maybe overheated PG due to the poor wicking of the original Kanger clearomisers?

At any rate I have some amusing research ahead, sampling and rating my new natural flavours. Given my fondness for variety I might just have to get a more powerful 510 battery and a better quality RDA so I can change flavours easily and often... or who knows, I might find a favourite that's just so overwhelmingly tasty that I never change flavours again I'll keep notes on my taste tests and post them later if folks are interested.

This is a tricky taste test experience because I find the flavour of e-juice lingers a long time. Like hours. I mean in the mouth and nose, not in the RDA which I can clean out with alcohol. Dunno why I experience such persistence of the vape taste.... Anyway it's difficult to taste more than one flavour per day! I tried an organic peppermint which was quite nice, refreshing and gentle; and a raspberry that was zingy. Although the fruit flavour might never be a favourite, it certainly didn't make me go EEEEEEEW YUCK and want to spit, like the artificial flavours I tried earlier this summer. I think I'm on the right track towards happy vaping.

The hardware remains totally confusing; I'm gonna start a separate thread and ask about RDAs.

 

[HigherStateD]

Update (I was off on a sailing trip for a while)... when I returned I found nifty boxes in the mail with mini flavour samples of high-vg all-natural juices from Kai's, VV, Kind etc. Haven't even begun to work my way through them yet, but I did get a (disposable) drip atomiser and "drip tip" mouthpiece for taste testing.

The atomiser is 510 thread so it fits on my Kanger "pen" vape devices. So far it seems like a good way to taste stuff: I put just 3 or so drops into the atomiser, let it sit a few sec then fire up the device and try out a flavour. I notice that towards the end of the vape (running out of liquid?) the taste gets worse, with some of those same nasty notes that I was complaining about earlier (but not as strong). So I'm guessing the disgusting taste was a combination of harsh artificial flavourings and maybe overheated PG due to the poor wicking of the original Kanger clearomisers?

At any rate I have some amusing research ahead, sampling and rating my new natural flavours. Given my fondness for variety I might just have to get a more powerful 510 battery and a better quality RDA so I can change flavours easily and often... or who knows, I might find a favourite that's just so overwhelmingly tasty that I never change flavours again I'll keep notes on my taste tests and post them later if folks are interested.

This is a tricky taste test experience because I find the flavour of e-juice lingers a long time. Like hours. I mean in the mouth and nose, not in the RDA which I can clean out with alcohol. Dunno why I experience such persistence of the vape taste.... Anyway it's difficult to taste more than one flavour per day! I tried an organic peppermint which was quite nice, refreshing and gentle; and a raspberry that was zingy. Although the fruit flavour might never be a favourite, it certainly didn't make me go EEEEEEEW YUCK and want to spit, like the artificial flavours I tried earlier this summer. I think I'm on the right track towards happy vaping.

The hardware remains totally confusing; I'm gonna start a separate thread and ask about RDAs.

That lingering flavor you experienced is from commercial juice. I can't stand the stuff. Mixing your own is, IMHO, far superior.

That off taste, if my suspicion is correct about the "dripper" you bought, is possibly metallic? A dry coil can create that.

 

[Tazling]

Awww HigherStateD, I'm still trying to figure out which threads are compatible with which, and you want me to start doing chemistry experiments as well? Gimme a few months

 

[Baditude]

This is interesting because I'm also having a real hard time finding decent tasting flavors. So how does this work? Do the shops offer a one-hit device so you can test all these different flavors, or do you walk in with an RDA and drip the different flavors? I don't think they would want me walking in with a 3 mil pod for testing purposes.

Shops vary. Most allow you to "drip" with your own rebuildable drip atomizer if you have one. If not, they usually have tanks with their different flavors you can put on your own mod, or also supply a mod you can borrow. They have disposable "condom" mouthpieces to put on for sanitary purposes.

Find out if their samples have nicotine in them(and what strength), because that may or may not affect how they will taste at home.

I did get a (disposable) drip atomiser and "drip tip" mouthpiece for taste testing.

Given my fondness for variety I might just have to get a more powerful 510 battery and a better quality RDA so I can change flavours easily and often...

Disposable 510 drip atomizers, or rebuildable drip atomizers (RBA), are a great way to sample flavors.

If you get a mod, make sure it is variable wattage. Changing the wattage setting can really change the flavor of the juice. Some flavors are best at a lower setting, and others best at a higher setting.

 

[Baditude]

Awww HigherStateD, I'm still trying to figure out which threads are compatible with which, and you want me to start doing chemistry experiments as well? Gimme a few months

Juice attachments can differ by how they attach to the battery device. Male threaded clearomizers (often called 510 clearomizers) attach to 510 threaded mods, while female threaded clearomizers (often called ego threaded) connect to eGo type batteries.

Adaptors are readily available to allow a female-threaded Ego clearomizer to attach to an 510 battery, and vice versa.