Noob rant, ecig problems..

[JSOC]

I quit analogs for health reasons, but I'm starting to get quite fed up with the risks, costs and maintenance of my ecig habit. For starters, despite reading about battery safety, ohm laws, etc I am still a little scared every time I charge or fire up my Kanger subox mini. If something goes wrong, I could lose a chunk of my face. Second, the coil/atty issue is driving me insane. I put a new coil in, flavor is nice and there is plenty of vapor for about 2 days (and I vape with a 1.2 ohm coil at 21w), then it's all downhill from there. Flavor starts tasting weird, vapor production decreases and it's almost unusable within a week. Next, eliquid. This is a real hit/miss topic for me. I spent a ton of money on Halo liquid and only 2 flavors are vapable, and that's after steeping for a month. Everything else tastes like soapy perfume. There's also the nic mg issue. I've tried vaping 18mg but it never scratches the itch so I vape 24mg exclusively, which means I'm probably taking in more nicotine now than when I was smoking analogs. Seems like every week I have to buy something new to sustain this habit and I honestly don't feel any safer.

All of a sudden analogs don't seem that bad. . I haven't gone back to them yet but man I have just about had it with ecigs.

You can't win lol. Might as well just quit smoking/vaping altogether!

 

[IMFire3605]

:/, 24mg at 20watts, cringes...haven't been that high in nic in over 24months myself. Halo is generally pretty good on their flavors, pretty thin so you shouldn't be running into wicking issues due to thickness, excessive sweeteners, but you are tearing up your wicking at such a high output because of liquid colorings, certain flavors like Trifecta with its hazelnut, vanilla, and caramel flavorings will clog up coils. Your coil life span sounds about right at the wattage level you are using, heat is the biggest killer of wicking next to thickness of liquid, sweetness, colorings, and flavorings. If you can't handle flavorings you do have the option of using unflavored in a 50pg/50vg to 30pg/70vg (last will be sweeter due to the extra VG), being clear and only 3 components, PG, VG, and Nicotine health wise it is the safest and being clear of other impurities will make coils last longer, I run unflavored and can go 3 weeks to a month before needing to change my wicking though I am in the 6 to 12watts range on my tanks with unflavored, its a bit sweet with a peppery tone (from the nicotine) and is like smoking a Marlboro or Camel Light in taste comparison; Nude Nicotine and Mt. Baker Vapor both offer unflavored solutions in your preferred PG/VG and nicotine ratios. Also cheaper solution you can DIY for a lot cheaper as well, to get you to a 50/50 24mg you would need 120ml of 48mg 100%VG solution then a 120ml of 0mg PG would equal a 240ml 24mg 50/50 supply for close to $30USD, so you do have options.

Also going into your hardware safety fears, with a 20 or 30amp name brand battery like a Samsung 25R, LG HE4 (both 20amps) to Sony VTC4 or LG HB6 (both 30amps) with your mod your chances of incidents are decreased to about 95% or higher no incidents happening, just make sure you have a good external charger for your batteries, Nitecore i2 or D2, Efest LUC 2bay, or Xtar 2bay these name brand chargers really charge batteries properly and intelligently to keep them running the safest and longest.

I hope your vape journey smooths out and becomes enjoyable, hopefully I've given you some things to think about

 

[wwwmarty]

I did not like the 1.2 coils, they burned up way too fast for my subox mini. I prefer higher VG juice and it does well enough in the 0.5 OCC coils, sometimes I add a bit of water to thin a thick juice...

I also think you'll get a better nic response from the 0.5, and they may last you longer than the 1.2, Mine still only last about a week, but that's 40-50ml vaped usually.

 

[Rossum]

For starters, despite reading about battery safety, ohm laws, etc I am still a little scared every time I charge or fire up my Kanger Subox mini. If something goes wrong, I could lose a chunk of my face.

Do you feel that way about your cellphone too? The battery in it is just as "dangerous".

Second, the coil/atty issue is driving me insane. I put a new coil in, flavor is nice and there is plenty of vapor for about 2 days (and I vape with a 1.2 ohm coil at 21w), then it's all downhill from there. Flavor starts tasting weird, vapor production decreases and it's almost unusable within a week.

Coil life depends tremendously on how much and what kind of flavorings and sweeteners are in your juice. But even if you have to replace your coil twice a week, is that really a big deal? How often did you have to open a new pack of smokes?

Next, eliquid. This is a real hit/miss topic for me.

I think it is for pretty much everyone at the beginning. Have you tried vaping unflavored liquid? Lots of people think it tastes a whole lot like a cigarette, especially at relatively high nic levels, and it will make your coils last practically forever. Oh, and it costs almost nothing (like $10 for 120 ml).

You can't win lol. Might as well just quit smoking/vaping altogether!

If quitting altogether is an option for you, by all means go for it.

I know that's not an option for me. If all vape stuff magically disappeared from the planet tonight, I'm pretty sure I'd be buying a carton of smokes before noon tomorrow despite the fact that their side effects had become close to insufferable when I switched to vaping almost two years ago. After 36 years of smoking, the learning curve associated with vaping was worth it to me.

 

[Gahh]

I quit analogs for health reasons, but I'm starting to get quite fed up with the risks, costs and maintenance of my ecig habit. For starters, despite reading about battery safety, ohm laws, etc I am still a little scared every time I charge or fire up my Kanger Subox mini. If something goes wrong, I could lose a chunk of my face. Second, the coil/atty issue is driving me insane. I put a new coil in, flavor is nice and there is plenty of vapor for about 2 days (and I vape with a 1.2 ohm coil at 21w), then it's all downhill from there. Flavor starts tasting weird, vapor production decreases and it's almost unusable within a week. Next, eliquid. This is a real hit/miss topic for me. I spent a ton of money on Halo liquid and only 2 flavors are vapable, and that's after steeping for a month. Everything else tastes like soapy perfume. There's also the nic mg issue. I've tried vaping 18mg but it never scratches the itch so I vape 24mg exclusively, which means I'm probably taking in more nicotine now than when I was smoking analogs. Seems like every week I have to buy something new to sustain this habit and I honestly don't feel any safer.

All of a sudden analogs don't seem that bad. . I haven't gone back to them yet but man I have just about had it with ecigs.

You can't win lol. Might as well just quit smoking/vaping altogether!

The last part of your last sentence is correct!!!

 

[Grimwald]

I with you...I absolutely hate to buy coils. I always keep some around, but I much prefer to build my own. That's one of the good things about the subtank with the pre-made coils and the rba head.

Back when I started, liquid was my biggest headache. This was way before all of this subohm stuff, but I had a really hard time finding a flavor I could use. Also, as my senses repaired, my tastes kept changing. I went thru 50+ samples from a dozen or more vendors. I finally decided that I didn't like any flavor, so ended up with unflavored.

I also found that some liquids would gunk a coil in a single tank full, while other lighter liquids would not. With unflavored, I get 50-60 mil before I even have to consider looking at my coil and wick...and I often use 120 mil before I change anything.

 

[Bunnykiller]

welcome to the world of vaping... too much too choose from is the issue...
find a tank that you can rebuild the coils in, look into a regulated mod, check out Heathers Heavenly Vapes for juice

why? rebuilding your own coils saves quite a bit of money compared to buying premade coils, a good regulated mod has safety features built in to keep your face intact, and HHV juice is awesome stuff

ohh and 1 more thing... so far no one has gotten cancer from vaping

 

[gofishtx]

I love my Subox Mini and it is a fairly safe vape if you are using a good battery like a Samsung 25R. When these batteries get sketchy is when the wrappers start peeling off or when you are carrying a battery loose in your pocket with your car keys or loose change. As long as your battery is in good condition and properly charged and stored, you should not have any worries. As for the coils, I prefer using the .5 ohm OCC Coils and they typically last me 2-3 weeks of heavy use, I always had problems with the 1.2 ohm and you are vaping that one pretty high, it would probably last longer between 15 and 18 watts. I used to buy Halo Juices and they are coil cloggers as is any juice that uses Koolada. Look around your area for a Vape Shop that has a tasting bar and go in and try a few flavors until you find what you like. My favorite tobacco flavor was always honey flue cured from liquid express. They are a bit pricey though, as is Halo. Go to the e-liquid forum on this site and see what everyone else is liking in tobacco flavors. I do DIY now and I don't care for the tobacco flavors any more. There are so many good tasting dessert and fruity flavors to choose from.

 

[Ryedan]

I quit analogs for health reasons, but I'm starting to get quite fed up with the risks, costs and maintenance of my ecig habit. For starters, despite reading about battery safety, ohm laws, etc I am still a little scared every time I charge or fire up my Kanger Subox mini. If something goes wrong, I could lose a chunk of my face.

I won't say that you're perfectly safe with a Kanger Subox mini, but as long as you bought batteries for it from a reputable supplier IMO you have more of a chance of being mugged in a good neighborhood in front of a police station than the battery exploding. Battery problems mostly happen in mechanical mods that experience a short, or with eGo style batteries that are charged with the wrong charger, or when people use dangerous batteries.

Second, the coil/atty issue is driving me insane. I put a new coil in, flavor is nice and there is plenty of vapor for about 2 days (and I vape with a 1.2 ohm coil at 21w), then it's all downhill from there. Flavor starts tasting weird, vapor production decreases and it's almost unusable within a week.

How much did smoking cost you for 2 days? How much does a coil cost? If you would like to save more money you can use juices that are not as 'gunky' or switch to rebuildable attys. For $20 you can buy enough wire and cotton to last you for a few years. Seriously.

Next, eliquid. This is a real hit/miss topic for me. I spent a ton of money on Halo liquid and only 2 flavors are vapable, and that's after steeping for a month. Everything else tastes like soapy perfume.

When I started vaping my first juice purchase was five 10 ml bottles of different flavors. Out of those I really liked one, two were vapeable but not great and I tossed two. The next order was two 30 ml bottles of the one I liked and another four 10 ml of new flavors. After doing this a few times I had a bunch that I liked, knew what I didn't like and I didn't lose much money in the quest.

Now I make my own juices which costs me around $0.05 per ml which is $1.50 for 30 ml. I also use rebuildable atomizers so my vape expense for juice, wick and wire is about $0.50 a day.

There's also the nic mg issue. I've tried vaping 18mg but it never scratches the itch so I vape 24mg exclusively, which means I'm probably taking in more nicotine now than when I was smoking analogs. Seems like every week I have to buy something new to sustain this habit and I honestly don't feel any safer.

I smoked for 37 years and switched to vaping 3 1/2 years ago. For the first few months whenever I had a craving for a smoke I would vape through it. I was using 18 mg juices. I sometimes vaped so much that my stomach felt ill and I had heart palpitations from too much nic. In month three I started slowly lowering my nic levels and was at zero nic after nine months. The hardest part of that was losing the TH, but I got used to it and it worked out well for me.

Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor like caffeine. If you do not have circulation or hart issues there is very little to worry about and if you are worried about it you can slowly reduce it as you lose the cigarette addiction. Nicotine does not cause cancer. Cigarette smoke does.

All of a sudden analogs don't seem that bad. . I haven't gone back to them yet but man I have just about had it with ecigs.

You can't win lol. Might as well just quit smoking/vaping altogether!

Vaping isn't for everyone. Smoking is way easier. Buy a pack, open it, pull out a smoke and light it. They always work as long as they are dry and you have a way to light it.

OTOH, the risks are very well known. My father died from complications of COPD from smoking. His last five years he needed oxygen constantly and still couldn't walk more than 100 feet without sitting down until he could catch his breath. There is not much quality of life when you live like that.

If you can quit both smoking and vaping, go for it! If you can't you might be able to get rid of the cigarette addiction with vaping and then wean yourself off vaping. Unlike when I smoked it is very easy for me to not vape for a day and I never get vape fits. Quitting the vape habit would be much, much easier for me than switching to vaping was.

Whatever you do, do what you need to to quit smoking for good any way you can. I'm really happy that I did.