Newbies 101 @ MadVapes.com

[CottonEyedJoe]

Good Morning,
I decided to start this thread since I'm new to the forums and noticed that you can not reply/start any threads in my favorite e-cig website.
Started vaping about 2 weeks ago and love the fact that I can finally kick the analog habit that has been such a stronghold in my life since I was 18 years old. When I took my first drag off of a menthol cigarette I was literally hooked. But then I found out about electronic cigs back when they first came out. That was when they were extremely expensive. I finaly said enough when my daughters Teacher asked if she smoked cause she could smell it on her clothes OUCH! that hurt so much & I realized I had to try this e-cig alternative. Tried other ways but it did not help (nicotine gum,patch) much.
So I did my research on the best price,longest battery,best TH, and flavor. After researching for some time I found the website madvapes.com
Let me tell you this site the best prices around & a very friendly staff who are compassionate about helping you kick the habit and help with all of there products. What I finally bought in next thread
God Bless!
Sincerely
Joe

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

And this is what I purchased:
510 no box kit MANUAL (2 for the price of 1) includes small bottle of 24mg tobacco e-juice
Minthol 18mg @ 30ml

I noticed the minthol had a bit of a metal taste to it the first day but then again it was my first time vaping & it had to age a bit like others had said in the forums. But when it did...WOW I knew I was on to something. Taste pretty much close to the menthol sticks I was use to.
Battery life: these batteries come fully charged since I put both of them on charge the first time & they turned green within 5 minutes. My first battery lasted me 3 days or approximately 30 hrs of vaping before charging. afterwards it lasted 4-6 hrs of vaping and that's with moderate vaping. Have not even used the second battery yet and it's been 2 weeks.
Atomizer: Initially I did notice a slight metal taste to it but after vaping the first day it went away and had a nice smooth taste & deep throat hit to it.
Carts: Still using one out of 5 prefilled carts that came with the kit. At first it tasted like regular tobacco until I had vaped enough Minthol to overtake the weird combo taste. The carts last a long time & this one is just starting to show signs of heavy use. Made the mistake of dripping too much the first day & got some e-juice onmy hands, dont do this please, I thought I was the actor in the movie "Crank" with my heart rate racing from that little bit I got on me. It's funny now but scared the hell out of me then. Just be careful when you drip it in your cart; when it puddles up let it settle then wait until the taste of e-juice just starts to leave, then drip again. about 2-3 drops.
Oh yeah and for your first order Madvapes recommends and extra charger & I recommed an extra battery or two especially the 280mah mega if you were a heavy smoker.
God Bless
P.S. next thread: My second purchase

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Scond Purchase:
Well I finally figured out that I want to try mixing e-juice myself for new flavors. Got a tip on the ECF forum videos about where to buy some VG (Vegatable Glycerin) to use as a vaping base. Be forwarned tho, nobody in W-Mart knew what I was refering to and after 2 days of visiting my local store I finally found it. It's right ther on the bottom shelf in the hand cream & first aid section. And yes it's only $3.12 for a 6oz bottle that will last maybe a year. Make sure it states "USP" on the left top corner since that's the food grade and is not suppose to be harmful to you in any way. I even read the back of it and it states you can use it for chapped lips, so I would think it is perfectly safe.
I Bought: some extra atomizers (510 standard 3.2) various small empty bottles(get your hand on the 5ml ones since they run out quick online) another bottle of Minthol( 24mg @ 60ml) the first 18mg seemed kinda like a light menthol to me so i went for the next strenght up; plus my wife smokes too, if you want to call it that(1-5 a day) and will share with her as well. and 1 bottle each of Strawberry shortcake(5ml @ 6mg) and Blueberry to try out the flavors.
Well this is all for now & happy vaping
God Bless
Joe

 

[MickeyRat]

Madvapes rocks!!! Even though they do charge me sales tax because I'm in the same state. I can usually count on getting my stuff in two days from them.

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Also a note on the atomizer
I finally cleaned this one out for the first time since I started vaping 2 weeks ago and was amazed that it was not even dirty.
I guess by constantly keeping it wet while vaping it did not get that dirty.
I cleaned it out by using the empty bottle with hot distilled water trick I had seen on one of the videos from ECF forums.
I could not see any discolored water at all when I squeezed the water out of it. Even went as far as blowing in it a few times as well and nothing came out. So I have to say the atomizers that came with the kit are really good ones I see. Just do not press the button down too long or it will heat up & you can feel it in your hand as well. I don't think it will kill it since I heard in the forums that these atomizers have a safety cut off inside just for this purpose.
Oh yeah about the bottle, since I'm on a budget I'm trying to learn inexspensive ways to maintain my e-cigs and did alot of research here as well. This seems to be the best solution for cleaning them along with what I did afterwards by just blowing them out with my mouth. I was initially going to use the rubbing alcohol concept by letting them soke over night but I heard that it could put a strain on the heating element by constantly contracting/expanding it until it breaks. If you want to use this concept just empty out a small soda bottle and drill a hole dead center in the cap. Then screw the atomizer inside of cap with the heating element side of it inside of the bottle. Heat up some distilled water(tap water has chemicals in it that could ruin it) and fill the bottle(Imicrowaved my water for about 1:30). Screw on the cap with atomizer and point into sink and squeeze the water out. Afterwards let dry overnight in front of desk fan.

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Hi MickeyRat,
Thanks for the reply & hope newbies get a little knowledge out of this thread. And for the veterans of vaping please excuse me if I have let anything out or slightly off on some the tricks of the trade so to speak. It was mind boggling doing all of this research within a 2week period prior to my first purchase & choosing which e-cig to buy. And felt at times I was going to school for my Phd in vaping lol. But here I am finally on to a better & healthier lifstyle & I'll just say from one of my favorite comedians
Praise da Lord! haha (Tyler Perry of course)
Madvapes has helped me with alot of info that probably would have taken awhile to aquire just reading all of the threads & experimenting. And I am glad because I did not waste on cent on those other websites that claim theirs are the best and number #1 e-cig not to mention the extremely high prices. Oh by the way, my e-cig vaping this morning took on a whole new meaning after cleaning the atomizer last night with hot distilled water. WOW! what a different taste altogether. It's more smooth & deeper throat hit & is even closer to the coffin sticks I once smoked.
Sincerely
Joe

 

[DC2]

Atomizer: Initially I did notice a slight metal taste to it but after vaping the first day it went away.

Sounds like your atomizers had some "primer" fluid in there.
Did you clean them before using them?

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Hi DC2,
I am so glad I initially made the announcment to overlook anything I might have forgotten in my thread as a beginner.
Because I did forget to clean them out before using them & will clean the other atomizer I have not used yet when I get home tonight. Now I sound like a newbie for sure..haha
I do think I remember along my journey of learning all of this I seen a thread about doing this prior to vaping the first time you get your new e-cig. Thanks again for reminding me and yes it does make a difference between night & day when you clean them out prior to vaping the first time. WoW I should have done this in the first place, oh well live & learn.
Thanks Again
Joe

 

[Stosh]

Welcome to ECF, sounds as if your're enjoying the vaping experience!!

Keeping your attys clean is simple, you already found the wally world VG (glycerin), just put 5-6 drops in and heat it up with your battery, then blow it out for all you're worth. Quick simple and the atty is primed ready to go with a flavor. The less messing around you do with the attys the longer they seem to last.

p.s. love MadVapes also, wonderful service and prices.

 

[swedishfish]

Welcome Joe! Sounds like you're doing great!

 

[TomCatt]

Welcome Joe,
MadVapes was my first vendor. Your first 510 battery lasted for ~30 hours of vaping? That's fantastic. I was getting a couple hours out of a battery before needing to recharge. My latest order from MadVapes was stuff to make a box mod. I made a "Puck" style battery box mod. If you haven't run across ThePuck yet here's a link to how to build one - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/106016-how-build-puck.html. This box mod is designed to use NiMH rechargeable batteries; the kind you can pick up at Walmart. The parts for this from MadVapes was less than $10. And ThePuck gives very good step-by-step directions on putting one together.

Keep on Vapin' Joe!

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

I want to say thank you to all of the members who are here reading my first thread on my new found love..oops that should only be directed towards my better half HI HI
Well you get the picture anyhow. I am also grateful that my house does not smell like the bottom of a tobacco mill anymore and I am not burning me or my car seat on the way to work as well & think God I never had a three alarm fire incident in it also even tho I came close a few times. Now I can drive with the window down and wind in my face with out worrying about a stray ash landing back inside.
I do believe I'm snooring less even tho my wife does not agree 100% on this but I understand where she is comming from, We are always right as my Mother use to say.. hee hee
I'm using alot less pepper to help taste my food due to the analogs cutting down the flavor on just about evrything that goes in my mouth.
I have not heard anymore incidents from my daughters school about her smelling like she just took up a bad habit.
And I'm sure the list could go on and on. So any of you smokers out there wondering if this will work I say yes it will BUT you still have to do your part and set your mind to it first. Because like everyone on this forum has said it does not taste 100% like the cig they have been use to smoking for so long; but it's close enough for me and I'm sticking to it.
So go out and try a disposable first to see if you will like it. I did just that and bought one for $10.00 that lasted about 2 1/2 days(Century 21 @ Circle K) I was hooked after that.
Thanks Again for all of your help & concern
God Bless!
Joe

 

[Moonbeat]

Welcome and grats on quitting! And yes, MadVapes is awesome. I've pretty much moved all my purchases there.

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Welcome Joe,
MadVapes was my first vendor. Your first 510 battery lasted for ~30 hours of vaping? That's fantastic. I was getting a couple hours out of a battery before needing to recharge. My latest order from MadVapes was stuff to make a box mod. I made a "Puck" style battery box mod. If you haven't run across ThePuck yet here's a link to how to build one - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/106016-how-build-puck.html. This box mod is designed to use NiMH rechargeable batteries; the kind you can pick up at Walmart. The parts for this from MadVapes was less than $10. And ThePuck gives very good step-by-step directions on putting one together.

Keep on Vapin' Joe!

Well at first I was taking short hits on it it to get use to the different flavor & also thinking about the fact I have to charge this thing when it runs out of life. I charged it at home around 5pm that Friday(first initial charge which lasted about 5 minutes & went green) then vaped on it until 11pm that night before going to bed. Saturday & Sunday I used it all day for both of my 12 hour shifts at work; & finally around 7pm Sunday night just one hour before getting off of work to go home it started blinking the "red ring of death" oops that xbox hee hee
Well I charged it for one hour before leaving and vaped all the way home with the windows down & the wind in my face not to mention a great big smile knowing I had found something finally to take the place of my coffin sticks.
Thanks Again
joe

 

[cyberwolf]

Welcome to the ECF! Thanks for taking the time to share what has worked for you. Your advice about being kind to your atomizers is spot on. Keeping them wet and not overheating them will help them last as long as possible.

 

[CottonEyedJoe]

Good Morning,
Thanks for your reply, I wrote you earlier late last night and when i went to post it the forum had already logged me out, this happens alot and is nerve racking. Do i need to click on the box that states [remember me?] at the top of the screen?
I wrote quite a few replies yesterday and this happened almost everytime I finished. Almost makes me want to just read the threads instead LOL. How's the weather down there, I lived ther back when they were just carving Coral Springs out of the swamp back in 1972 and was 4 yrs old at the time. Wow how time flys by; They had just one Publix & one school in my area which was a couple of miles west of the big Welcome to Coral Springs sign. Also could you give me a tip on how to quickly search for my threads/post that I have because on my profile page it mostly states that I do not have any. Noticed that I did save one as Subscribe to and that helps greatly.
Thanks Again & Happy Easter
Joe

 

[DC2]

Thanks for your reply, I wrote you earlier late last night and when i went to post it the forum had already logged me out, this happens alot and is nerve racking. Do i need to click on the box that states [remember me?] at the top of the screen?

Yes, click that box and you'll be all set.

 

[Scottitude]

Welcome and congrats on quitting the stink-sticks. MadVapes definitely has a lot to offer. When you're ready to move away from tobacco flavors you should try some TopVapor Fried Apple.

 

[Saberth]

Very nice intro post and welcome to the forums!! It seems you took a similar route that i did, and by that i mean you made vaping a new hobby! I spent a few weeks reading all i could before finally placing my first order. Its a good thing to be informed. Good luck to you, and i m happy you are enjoying your experience.

 

[hawkizefan]

Madvapes really does rock. Their selection, prices and quick shipping are top notch. They have become my go-to supplier for just about everything.
I have also just recently figured out how to streamline my shopping with them. I now have my paycheck deposited directly in their account to cut out the middle man and all the banking hassels, lol.