NooB in a panic - I need to make a purchase decision QUICK!

[cricket1176]

My explorer kit would something like this:
1 eGo USB Passthrough battery (from $20 to $25 dollars each)
1 Regular 510 Atomizer (from $5 to $7 each)
1 LR 510 Atomizer (from $5 to $7 each)
1 package of regular, LUCID, or smart carts w/filler (from $5 to $7 per box)
1 Drip Tip (from $2 to $5 each)
1 Ego T or Turbine atomizer with tanks (from $12 to $15 each w/5pk of tanks)
1 Box of (polyfill based) cartomizers (from $5 to $11 per box)
1 Box of CE2 or Vortex (wick based) cartomizers (from $8 to $13 per box)
A nice sampling of e-liquid strengths and flavors...possibly even some pre-filled cartomizer samples.

QUOTE]

Great list! This is basically what I did...in a way[if i had seen this post earlier it would have saved me a lot of time though ]. I'm now discovering that my hubby could have really justed used a passthrough (ONE thing I have not ordered yet, lol) instead of the regular Ego kit. The only time he smokes is when he is drinking & gaming and his comupter is always right there.

 

[Rickajho]

I am an exception to that rule. I smoked 1-1.5 packs of Parliament Light 100's a day and needed 36mg for several months to keep me off tobacco cigs. Moved down to 24mg without a hitch, but moving down again to 18mg has been difficult. For me, the 18mg just doesn't cut it most of the time. Trying to make it through the day using 18mg always results in my craving cigarettes - and I haven't smoked in 18 months.

I would suggest that the OP buy juices in all of the strengths: 36-24-18-12-6-0. Once he finds the right level for him, he can use all of them up by combining them in the right ratios so there's no waste.

What I went with, after research, after all the great input from here, and talking to a different retailer was 24-18-12-0. My thinking was 36 sounded like it was needed only by the heaviest smokers going through this conversion. And the 6 was probably way too low for my habits. And anything I bought could be moved down with the "0" anyway. Being the cautious sort, I figured I would start at a 12, see how it feels and move up from there as needed. But the idea here is I have to get off the butts or face an eviction (Yes, this place would do it...) so having too little nicotine on hand right from the start is not going to be a good thing.

And I've only seen this one opinion so far that is making pretty much a 1:1 ratio argument regarding the absorption rate of the nicotine in the liquids.

The OP

 

[earthpig]

Ok. Lets do the math on nicotine content.

The poster noted he/she smoked lite cigs. I looked up the chart source I have to see what the nic level was for Parliment 100 lite cigs The number is .9mg.
Now times .9mg ( x ) that by 20 cigs , equals ( = ) 18mg.

Camel unfiltered are 1.4mg x 20 = 28mg
Camel lites are .7mg x 20 = 14mg

Note, most vapers inhale and use a carto faster than they will consume a real pack of cigs.

You all decide. I've just given you the math.

 

[melloyello]

i smoked gpc lights and vaping 16-24 mg ....i was a 2 pack/day smoker....i vape about 4 ml/day. i dontknow how that translates to above math...sound about right? i dont think its a bad idea to go 1 notch higher in nic when starting to vape so you dont crave the analog....after a while its natural to step down

 

[earthpig]

mn

That's the practice I use when adjusting new vapers to e-cigs in my business. I step them up 1 notch at first, and advise them to stay there until long after they quit (3 to 6 mo). Then cut back to match their old cig level. It seems to work marvelously for them. I will NEVER go over 24mg with them. It's irresponsible and even possibly medically dangerous.

 

[ricks]

I was a Marlboro red 1-2 packs a day smoker for 30 years and quit with my first vape with SmokeTip reg flavor 16mg. and never looked back.

 

[ricks]

I reposted by error. It did not post the first time.

 

[Rickajho]

I was a Marlboro red 1-2 packs a day smoker for 30 years and quit with my first vape with SmokeTip reg flavor 16mg. and never looked back.

Hi all. OP checking in here.

Wow. Marlboro red in that range and you were ok at 16 mg. Every transition experience is different.

What I found from talking to a lot of people is the transition experience seems to vary widely. Seems to come down to not only what analogs you smoked, but how you smoked them (I'm a deep "inhale and hold it" kind of smoker.), and then onto individual vaping techniques and how often you vape.

I started with a VG 16 mg USA mix. And all got was that "wanna cigarette, wanna cigarette" craving all through out. Still, that phase got me down from 20-30 analogs a day to 10.

I bumped up to PG 26 mg Pal Mal. Much better - craving for the cigarettes went away.

Well sort of. I was feeling this chronic, somewhat light headed feeling. It took a while to figure that out. Too much nicotine or too little? I came to the conclusion that it was too little, too little vaping actually. You know that light headed sensation you can get when you have gone too long between cigarettes? It was like that. "Light headed" isn't really a good description but I think the smokers know what I mean. But after I upped the frequency of my vaping it disappeared. And at 26 mg liquids dropped to 6 analogs a day and then down to only 4. To me, a very fast transition from a pack and a half a day.

As a NooB I don't vape like I smoke. What I was doing was: pick up the e-cig, take a hit, put it down on the table or desk. Maybe a few minutes later, pick it up again, take a hit and set it back down. It's a change in habits. Once you get a .... lit you either smoke it - which is what you do - or leave it there and it extinguishes itself. But with an e-cig it's just so easy to put it down! You aren't compelled to use it like a lit cigarette once it's going. Since an e-cig is "push a button, it's 'lit', let go and it isn't doing anything or a waste" I have to actually make an effort to figure out how much to use it.

Make sense to the veterans out there?

 

[swedishfish]

mn

That's the practice I use when adjusting new vapers to e-cigs in my business. I step them up 1 notch at first, and advise them to stay there until long after they quit (3 to 6 mo). Then cut back to match their old cig level. It seems to work marvelously for them. I will NEVER go over 24mg with them. It's irresponsible and even possibly medically dangerous.

That's ridiculous. Tons of people vape over 24.

 

[swedishfish]

Hi all. OP checking in here.

Wow. Marlboro red in that range and you were ok at 16 mg. Every transition experience is different.

What I found from talking to a lot of people is the transition experience seems to vary widely. Seems to come down to not only what analogs you smoked, but how you smoked them (I'm a deep "inhale and hold it" kind of smoker.), and then onto individual vaping techniques and how often you vape.

I started with a VG 16 mg USA mix. And all got was that "wanna cigarette, wanna cigarette" craving all through out. Still, that phase got me down from 20-30 analogs a day to 10.

I bumped up to PG 26 mg Pal Mal. Much better - craving for the cigarettes went away.

Well sort of. I was feeling this chronic, somewhat light headed feeling. It took a while to figure that out. Too much nicotine or too little? I came to the conclusion that it was too little, too little vaping actually. You know that light headed sensation you can get when you have gone too long between cigarettes? It was like that. "Light headed" isn't really a good description but I think the smokers know what I mean. But after I upped the frequency of my vaping it disappeared. And at 26 mg liquids dropped to 6 analogs a day and then down to only 4. To me, a very fast transition from a pack and a half a day.

As a NooB I don't vape like I smoke. What I was doing was: pick up the e-cig, take a hit, put it down on the table or desk. Maybe a few minutes later, pick it up again, take a hit and set it back down. It's a change in habits. Once you get a .... lit you either smoke it - which is what you do - or leave it there and it extinguishes itself. But with an e-cig it's just so easy to put it down! You aren't compelled to use it like a lit cigarette once it's going. Since an e-cig is "push a button, it's 'lit', let go and it isn't doing anything or a waste" I have to actually make an effort to figure out how much to use it.

Make sense to the veterans out there?

I vape 24 mg and have since I've started. I have some 30 around if I want something higher.

My mother who was a long time smoker started with 36, but she quickly went down and is still going down in nicotine level. She now vapes 12-18.

I'm happy vaping 24 and will probably continue with that because I don't crave cigarettes when I do. If I go lower I vape too much. I think people make a huge deal about nicotine levels. It'd be easier to OD on nicotine with cigarettes than vaping and I've never heard of an actual person doing that. People who have had blood tests have posted their results on the board and the nicotine level is very low even vaping 36 mg. Not that I'm recommending vaping that high but vape high enough to get you off cigarettes.

 

[ricks]

I find that every company has different tastes and levels of nicotine that are not accurate. Some people can use a mg level from one company and be satisfied and with another company it won't work. I had good results with SmokeTips. Other ones I tried left me missing something.

 

[earthpig]

Sweedfish
If tons of people vape over 24mg, they shouldn't , A marlboro Red is ~ 16 to 18mg. At 36mg it is 2x the nic level of Marlboro Reds.
Not wise, and too much stimulant.
Simple math.

Some say the nic level vaped is not as strong. I contend it is, but from my reading just hits at a differing speed in the system. But it is still nic and all there.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: Comparison of Carcinogen Levels Shows that Electronic Cigarettes are Much Safer Than Conventional Ones direct to report



This is a link to information listed in the ECF library.....This discussion has gone on a long time by the experts and many lab test have been done. No need to beat a dead horse.......

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...icles-validate-e-cigs-safer-than-analogs.html

 

[Doomed!]

Ok. Lets do the math on nicotine content.

The poster noted he/she smoked lite cigs. I looked up the chart source I have to see what the nic level was for Parliment 100 lite cigs The number is .9mg.
Now times .9mg ( x ) that by 20 cigs , equals ( = ) 18mg.

Camel unfiltered are 1.4mg x 20 = 28mg
Camel lites are .7mg x 20 = 14mg

Note, most vapers inhale and use a carto faster than they will consume a real pack of cigs.

You all decide. I've just given you the math.

Those numbers are per puff not per cigarette.

 

[Outre]

Coming in at the end here, but when it comes to nic strength, imho it all depends on the individual.

After smoking for 33 years, even with ramping down to lights and using an extra filter to smoke (Nicout) I thought that 16 mg in the sample kit I ordered would be tolerable for me.

Turns out it was a bit too much and I re-ordered juice at 12 mg happily.

Little more than one month in and I've not smoked an analog since starting e-cigs and have recently noted that my neighbors cigarette smoke really bothers me where before I wouldn't have noticed it.

So to each his own. Everyone will find their own pace kind of like water finding it's own level, eh?

Sample kits can be your friend for finding your flavor niche too.

 

[earthpig]

doomed.
You can look up your cig and find the nic content of a cig...times 20 for a pack. (example: Marlboro = .7 per cig X 20 = 14mg)
It then is equated to a carto of 1ml in e-juice, or the rating on the carto you buy. Generally a carto is = to a pack of cigs by their own claims. or 1 1/2 packs per carto, which is off.

No it's not an exact science, but an indicator of where you are at by comparison.

 

[cwbys4evr]

I went ahead and got an eGo. I was going to get a Prodigy but the website I was on did not have a kit for it. Basically I decided the smartest thing for me to do was get a starter kit with everything I needed. They said they would include a randomly selected bottle of ejuice, so I went ahead and bought a couple of flavors I thought I might like, which were basically "tobacco" (tasted like hazelnut, not bad at all) and cherry cola (loved it).

Previous to that I had been to a local tobacco shop and what they were charging I felt was ridiculous.

I love my eGo, I do not regret buying it.

 

[earthpig]

Upside in buying from a Kiosk or a store is generally you can try the product and get access to supplies immediately if needed. If a battery craps out, you can replace it same day. Need a carto now? You got it.
You can try the flavors , you can see if the unit works right and is a good match for you. Many advantages, so don't discount the upsides.
Downside is pricing. I personally think paying a little extra to eliminate issues up front is worth it.

 

[kiria4u]

I suggest a 150mah battery and an additional 250mah battery which has the capacity to go all day, but is a slight bit longer and heavier.

 

[earthpig]

kiria4u
That's my approach.

I have both sizes, and over time have a collection of about 11 batteries in differing sizes and colors. Auto and non.
I have many set up with differing flavored cartos as a choice and carry about 6 with me.

Love having options. Love the cig size.