Quick Newbie Guide from a New Noobie
Hi All, First post here. I really love this forum. It has changed my life!
I started smoking at the age of 16 and have been doing so for about 30 years. In the last several years I stopped fully inhaling cause the cigs (aka analogs) were making feel sick. I just stopped once I got a little throat hit but the smoking still affected me.
My wife had bought an e-cig for her mom at a cigarette store ($65). I tried it and thought what a piece of crap. But the idea was intriguing, so I googled e-cigs and found this forum. Wow….until the dizzying array of options made me crazy…
I got my starter kit on Oct. 28th. Based on the most common recommendations (or so I thought), I bought the Joye510. A good enough ecig but really wasn’t the right one for me, only because the battery life is VERY short. So if I may offer what I believe to be a quick start for noobs, to get them going with the least amount of confusion, I will offer my humble guide (veterans, please step in and correct me/beat me where needed):
What you need (generally):
· Starter kit – I would seriously consider going with the Joye Ego e-cig (I got standard ego and not mega one). The battery is 650 mah (milli amp hours). The Joye 510 (the one I first got) is 180 mah. It’s more the size of a 100mm analog. I found the Joye 510 would last me about 50-60 puffs (maybe less) and then I’d have to swap batteries. That’s about the only reason for the ego (mostly). Make sure whatever kit you buy has 2 batteries!
· E-cig elements – How an e-cig works is very easy to understand and info is all over the place, with descriptions way better than what you’re about to read. (google The Wonderful World of Vaping: An Illustrated Guide to E-cigs). It’s either gonna be a 2 pc or a 3pc unit. You basically have a battery (the larger half or third of an e-cig). Then you have either an atomizer (aka atty) with a cartridge (completes a 3pc setup) or you have a cartomizer attached to battery and this would make a 2pc setup. The last element is the e-liquid/juice (aka PG and its variant VG – vegetable based).
· Cartridge (aka cart) – With most starter kits, the carts come pre-filled. You can remove filler, wash & paper towel dry and re-use. A cartridge needs juice. There’s a filler in the tip that gets 3-10 drops of liquid and this get atomized (turns into vapor). I found that a cartridge needs to be topped off a lot. Like every 10 puffs or so…YMMV. There are a lot of mods for filling but none of them really satisfy me for the long haul. The cartridge generally will give a more intense hit than a cartomizer but I find that the taste/hit varies quite a bit as the juice quickly depletes. It can also be a little messy if you’re not careful. Also, forget about being on the road with this method. If you were a light vaper however and took 2-3 hits an hour you may prefer the cart. A lot of vapers do carts at home when they have a better opportunity of refilling them. Also look up dripping and dipping for carts.
· Cartomizer (carto) – the cartomizer is basically a cartridge and atomizer in one. They’re usually not included in a starter kit. They come pre-filled/disposable or they come refillable. I bought some BOGE refillable carts and I absolutely love them. I can put 30-40 (even more if you google carto mods) drops of e-juice and vape for hours on end. To refill, add 10 drops at a time along the inner sidewalls of cartos and then snap it in a downward motion like you would on a mercury thermometer. This drives the juice downward. Keep adding 10 at a time, rinse repeat. I usually stop at 30 drops. More than that and it tastes a little too “wet” for me. They’re much cleaner to fill & tend to get a lot less juice in the mouth, their a LITTLE less intense but way more consistent as to hit/vapor, there a little warmer esp when you’re vaping like a madman. What I do after I fill them is use a drip-tip (google it) on the end instead of the supplied cap. This allows the vapor to cool a little before it hits the mouth (for when you’re heavy vaping)
**EDIT 11/9/10 I tried out LR Boge 1.8 ohm LR (low resistance) Cartos.....really big improvement, better TH. Battery life seems fine. Would highly recommend this approach**
· E-juice - Juice is the stuff you need! PG is the most common. The price can vary widely. There’s juice form China and juice made in the U.S.A. (so most claim). The juice from China is prob 90% of what’s out there in e-stores. Most e-stores have smaller sample sizes that you can try (highly recommended). The most common flavor is tobacco (I wasn’t a menthol smoker). I’m very happy with the standard Tobacco & its variants but I’ve got lots of e-juice coming in next week from multiple sources and I’ll add an e-liquid review later to this post (hopefully). From what I understand – Dekang in China is the major player. Supposedly – they have satisfied the “FDA”s in Germany, Korea and a few other places but not our FDA (who suck big time). I tend to believe Dekang is good and I haven’t died yet. You can order directly from Anycig.com and get Dekang direct. This would be especially good cause you can get 10 assorted bottles of 10ml for $35. I also found that MadVapes is really a bargain and prob the way to go IMHO for the 50ml bottles.
So back to my goal. I want to help NOOBS get started and simply the process. In the 8-10 days that I’ve been vaping, I’ve gone for almost 2 packs a day to less than 3 a day for the week. In the last 2 days, I’ve only had one a day. I still get the urge occasionally but I vape and it VERY quickly goes away plus, You know what? Real cigs taste like .....!!! They really do! They’re so bitter and nasty now that I’ve switched. I LOVE, LOVE e-cigs.
So in closing Noobs, if you want to get started consider this:
· Joye Ego standard with 2 batteries etc.
· 5 pack 510 Refillable cartomizers – preferably Boge
· 1 drip tip – I prefer plastic over metal
· 30ml bottle of basic tobacco or menthol. I go through 3-5ml a day so be prepared to order more quickly lest you go back to cigs until the next shipment arrives (which I did for 2 days)!
· several samples of 5ml juice
Order your kit, juice etc; Make sure your batteries are fully/properly charged, Load that cartomizer and you’re on your way!
Led Zaper
Random thoughts;
· The FDA may/probably will stop sale of e-juice, so if you’re gonna be a vaper, stock up on the juice…hate to sound paranoid but you’ll have to pry the e-cig outta my cold dead hands.
· A Pass-through (PT) is a direct power supply that you connect attys or cartos to and bypass batteries. It connects by USB to your computer or with a plug-in power supply, any outlet. Make sure for a plug-in that the power supply supplies enough amps – I THINK it’s 2 amps but check with your e-cig store to verify. I do find that a PT supplies more voltage and therefore, stronger hits again YMMV.
See update on PT below:
· With cartos the throat hit (TH) is a little less intense (the PT makes up for it though). I do find that the when I first vape in the morning that it seems pretty intense and sometimes makes me cough. I think that the PG somehow coats the throat and subsequent vapes grow less intense, not sure. So maybe you have to vape less with cartos, more like an analog – like one to two e-cigs an hour.
· There are low resistance (LR) attys and cartos, which basically double the heat or watts that an e-cig puts out. I ordered some and will see how much more intense they are.
· When a carto starts to taste less flavorful or a little weird, it’s time to add juice, lest you start burning the filler – not a good idea.
· I feel a lot better on e-cigs. More relaxed, more energy. I do feel the slightest barely noticeable congestion in the morning but I’m vaping pretty heavy. Again off analogs for only 8-10 days so I’ll see what happens.
· I still roll down the windows when I vape in my car. Silly right?
· I feel like a smoker in public still. It feels weird to vape as if people think it’s a real analog.
It's so hard for noobies to figure this out (including me).
I think this forum unknowingly gives the impression that Joye 510's are the way to go and I think, while they work, the battery life and the inability to use LR cartos etc... is an unpleasant surprise.
A lot of new Vapers seems to be life long smokers and they need that TH to quit the cancer sticks...at least I did
Hi All, First post here. I really love this forum. It has changed my life!
I started smoking at the age of 16 and have been doing so for about 30 years. In the last several years I stopped fully inhaling cause the cigs (aka analogs) were making feel sick. I just stopped once I got a little throat hit but the smoking still affected me.
My wife had bought an e-cig for her mom at a cigarette store ($65). I tried it and thought what a piece of crap. But the idea was intriguing, so I googled e-cigs and found this forum. Wow….until the dizzying array of options made me crazy…
I got my starter kit on Oct. 28th. Based on the most common recommendations (or so I thought), I bought the Joye510. A good enough ecig but really wasn’t the right one for me, only because the battery life is VERY short. So if I may offer what I believe to be a quick start for noobs, to get them going with the least amount of confusion, I will offer my humble guide (veterans, please step in and correct me/beat me where needed):
What you need (generally):
· Starter kit – I would seriously consider going with the Joye Ego e-cig (I got standard ego and not mega one). The battery is 650 mah (milli amp hours). The Joye 510 (the one I first got) is 180 mah. It’s more the size of a 100mm analog. I found the Joye 510 would last me about 50-60 puffs (maybe less) and then I’d have to swap batteries. That’s about the only reason for the ego (mostly). Make sure whatever kit you buy has 2 batteries!
· E-cig elements – How an e-cig works is very easy to understand and info is all over the place, with descriptions way better than what you’re about to read. (google The Wonderful World of Vaping: An Illustrated Guide to E-cigs). It’s either gonna be a 2 pc or a 3pc unit. You basically have a battery (the larger half or third of an e-cig). Then you have either an atomizer (aka atty) with a cartridge (completes a 3pc setup) or you have a cartomizer attached to battery and this would make a 2pc setup. The last element is the e-liquid/juice (aka PG and its variant VG – vegetable based).
· Cartridge (aka cart) – With most starter kits, the carts come pre-filled. You can remove filler, wash & paper towel dry and re-use. A cartridge needs juice. There’s a filler in the tip that gets 3-10 drops of liquid and this get atomized (turns into vapor). I found that a cartridge needs to be topped off a lot. Like every 10 puffs or so…YMMV. There are a lot of mods for filling but none of them really satisfy me for the long haul. The cartridge generally will give a more intense hit than a cartomizer but I find that the taste/hit varies quite a bit as the juice quickly depletes. It can also be a little messy if you’re not careful. Also, forget about being on the road with this method. If you were a light vaper however and took 2-3 hits an hour you may prefer the cart. A lot of vapers do carts at home when they have a better opportunity of refilling them. Also look up dripping and dipping for carts.
· Cartomizer (carto) – the cartomizer is basically a cartridge and atomizer in one. They’re usually not included in a starter kit. They come pre-filled/disposable or they come refillable. I bought some BOGE refillable carts and I absolutely love them. I can put 30-40 (even more if you google carto mods) drops of e-juice and vape for hours on end. To refill, add 10 drops at a time along the inner sidewalls of cartos and then snap it in a downward motion like you would on a mercury thermometer. This drives the juice downward. Keep adding 10 at a time, rinse repeat. I usually stop at 30 drops. More than that and it tastes a little too “wet” for me. They’re much cleaner to fill & tend to get a lot less juice in the mouth, their a LITTLE less intense but way more consistent as to hit/vapor, there a little warmer esp when you’re vaping like a madman. What I do after I fill them is use a drip-tip (google it) on the end instead of the supplied cap. This allows the vapor to cool a little before it hits the mouth (for when you’re heavy vaping)
**EDIT 11/9/10 I tried out LR Boge 1.8 ohm LR (low resistance) Cartos.....really big improvement, better TH. Battery life seems fine. Would highly recommend this approach**
· E-juice - Juice is the stuff you need! PG is the most common. The price can vary widely. There’s juice form China and juice made in the U.S.A. (so most claim). The juice from China is prob 90% of what’s out there in e-stores. Most e-stores have smaller sample sizes that you can try (highly recommended). The most common flavor is tobacco (I wasn’t a menthol smoker). I’m very happy with the standard Tobacco & its variants but I’ve got lots of e-juice coming in next week from multiple sources and I’ll add an e-liquid review later to this post (hopefully). From what I understand – Dekang in China is the major player. Supposedly – they have satisfied the “FDA”s in Germany, Korea and a few other places but not our FDA (who suck big time). I tend to believe Dekang is good and I haven’t died yet. You can order directly from Anycig.com and get Dekang direct. This would be especially good cause you can get 10 assorted bottles of 10ml for $35. I also found that MadVapes is really a bargain and prob the way to go IMHO for the 50ml bottles.
So back to my goal. I want to help NOOBS get started and simply the process. In the 8-10 days that I’ve been vaping, I’ve gone for almost 2 packs a day to less than 3 a day for the week. In the last 2 days, I’ve only had one a day. I still get the urge occasionally but I vape and it VERY quickly goes away plus, You know what? Real cigs taste like .....!!! They really do! They’re so bitter and nasty now that I’ve switched. I LOVE, LOVE e-cigs.
So in closing Noobs, if you want to get started consider this:
· Joye Ego standard with 2 batteries etc.
· 5 pack 510 Refillable cartomizers – preferably Boge
· 1 drip tip – I prefer plastic over metal
· 30ml bottle of basic tobacco or menthol. I go through 3-5ml a day so be prepared to order more quickly lest you go back to cigs until the next shipment arrives (which I did for 2 days)!
· several samples of 5ml juice
Order your kit, juice etc; Make sure your batteries are fully/properly charged, Load that cartomizer and you’re on your way!
Led Zaper
Random thoughts;
· The FDA may/probably will stop sale of e-juice, so if you’re gonna be a vaper, stock up on the juice…hate to sound paranoid but you’ll have to pry the e-cig outta my cold dead hands.
· A Pass-through (PT) is a direct power supply that you connect attys or cartos to and bypass batteries. It connects by USB to your computer or with a plug-in power supply, any outlet. Make sure for a plug-in that the power supply supplies enough amps – I THINK it’s 2 amps but check with your e-cig store to verify. I do find that a PT supplies more voltage and therefore, stronger hits again YMMV.
See update on PT below:
· With cartos the throat hit (TH) is a little less intense (the PT makes up for it though). I do find that the when I first vape in the morning that it seems pretty intense and sometimes makes me cough. I think that the PG somehow coats the throat and subsequent vapes grow less intense, not sure. So maybe you have to vape less with cartos, more like an analog – like one to two e-cigs an hour.
· There are low resistance (LR) attys and cartos, which basically double the heat or watts that an e-cig puts out. I ordered some and will see how much more intense they are.
· When a carto starts to taste less flavorful or a little weird, it’s time to add juice, lest you start burning the filler – not a good idea.
· I feel a lot better on e-cigs. More relaxed, more energy. I do feel the slightest barely noticeable congestion in the morning but I’m vaping pretty heavy. Again off analogs for only 8-10 days so I’ll see what happens.
· I still roll down the windows when I vape in my car. Silly right?
· I feel like a smoker in public still. It feels weird to vape as if people think it’s a real analog.
It's so hard for noobies to figure this out (including me).
I think this forum unknowingly gives the impression that Joye 510's are the way to go and I think, while they work, the battery life and the inability to use LR cartos etc... is an unpleasant surprise.
A lot of new Vapers seems to be life long smokers and they need that TH to quit the cancer sticks...at least I did
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