NORD Update & Why it's now my Backup

[James W.]

I did the "Newbies take on NORD" the other week.

Now it's been about 3 weeks with the unit.

Just not what I was looking for in a vaping experience.

I found a place that custom makes juice to order in 5ml bottles, Got different VG/PG, NIC Level, some NIC Salt as well. 7 different flavors in all. Not sure if I'm allowed to name the company here, but I think they have great product, price, shipping etc.

Also got 3 more Pods (each comes with .6 & 1.4) and an additional 5 pack of 1.4 coils.

No matter what combination I used, everything tasted "muddled", "hot", almost "burnt". The 1.4 was the better of the two for me. The .6 is way to "hot" and seems to overcook everything.

It spits and pops a lot, as well as allowing small amount of juice into mouthpiece every so often, which ends up in my mouth when inhaling.

I "primed" coils extensively. The juice is fresh. The coils are new. Unit is fully charged.

Just not having a good experience.

SO.....

A buddy gives me a couple of E Go Pen Style 510 Batteries. I guess maybe called EVOD (?) as well...

I go buy 2 clearomizers. (1) Kanger T3S and (1) Generic Disposable.

OMG... PERFECTION..!

This is what I was expecting/hoping vaping would be like.

Easy to draw, good throat hit, good amount of smoke. Holds a lot, no leaks.

Best of all, I CAN TASTE EVERY FLAVOR. When it says "Watermelon, Peach, Cantaloupe" I believe it, because I taste them all. I had "Espresso Shot" that was almost unbearable with the NORD, now it is one of my favs with this rig.

It's not sexy, hip or cool looking by any stretch of the imagination. 4 inch long pen with a 2 inch tank, but I'm 63 and don't really care... hehehe. I'm all about a "Nicotine Delivery System", PERIOD. This works great for me so far.

I think the issues with NORD is that none of the coils have any wick (correct me if I'm wrong). 1.4 is mesh, the .6 is ceramic. The clearomizers have a visible wick. Not so much on the Kanger, but you can see it. The generic disposable has 2 long ones visible in the tank. My feeling is this somehow allows the juice and coil to vaporize better (differently)

The amazing news, in the past 5 days, I haven't smoked 1 cigarette since I cobbled this thing together.

Sometimes OLD SCHOOL is still the best. I will hang on to the NORD, as a backup.

 

[United States]

Pens were popular for good reason. All the new gadgets and gizmos look cool, sure. And for young fresh lungs they make some great clouds.

But the old school approach is still relevant. Ceramic is becoming popular but good ole cotton is also still very relevant.

Enjoy.

 

[HigherStateD]

The 0.6 is a mesh, with cotton wick. The 0.8 is the same. There are 2 different 1.4 Nord coils, one ceramic, the other cotton wick and wire.

Sounds like you were doing a very light draw on the 0.6ohm. if there isn't enough air being drawn by the coil, it will burn the juice, as you experienced. That coil won't perform well for someone like you who obviously prefers the restricted draw of a mouth-to-lung (MTL) device. I'm glad you've found something that works well for you.

 

[Falconeer]

I've read the thread with great interest - glad you found something that is really working for you!

I do from time to time take the notion to use my old style Vivi Novas with their long trailing silica wicks and stilll enjoy them too.

 

[HigherStateD]

I have pods that use 1.8ohm coils on silica wick. Boulder rock. Cheep little thing, but built simply, and tough. Puts out nice flavor with 50/50. Actually the reason I picked it up was availability. I had some clearomizers and a stick battery lying around, but wanted something for the enevitable breaking of my last coil the night before a vape mail showing up, and all I could her was a stinkies... The local shop uses them for sampling juices, so I got to try the pod before buying it too. My fiancee can only use something in that power rangers, as anything more Agri ates her athsma. The point I am trying to make, is that plenty of people still enjoy the low power, tight draw, cigarette style plume of exhale. So much so, The BMW of vape companies, YiHi, slapped a pod device together, and charge through the nose for it.
Again, glad you found something that works well for you. Who cares what it looks like, it looks better than a burning paper tube filled with leaves.

 

[stols001]

If it works for you, that's great. You may even at some point find yourself looking at newer mods and tanks that are also great. For now, just keep enjoying what you have.

I'm never gonna be a pod person I don't think.

Anna

 

[QcVaper]

the .6 0hm coil are mesh, i've personally used them for weeks now (even in their new trinity alpha pods which use nord coils) never had any burning "hotness" or anything, unfortunately i do agree the flavor is not THE best (i'm an rda guy anyway so no comparisons here) but considering the size of it i think it's fair.

Though one thing to always keep in mind is that no product is made for everyone, nor will everyone like the same products. If you like the egos then that's great for ya !

NB: mostly used 65vg nic salts in my nord coils (wether in the nord pods or trinity)

 

[James W.]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm glad I stuck with it and found something that works.

Yeah, smoking for 50 years (started when I was 13.. yikes !!! ) has probably diminished some lung capacity.

I find a long drag of 5 - 7 seconds on this to be really easy. Tried a cig this morning, wow, talk about "tight, restrictive" draw,,, could only do a couple of puffs and had to put it out.

Besides new TV's I can't think of another consumer product with so many variables to consider. Each of the variables contribute greatly to the user experience and makes it tough to find the best for each person.

You could spend a long time and a lot of money on all the devices, juices, coils etc. But I think the learning curve is necessary (at least for me) but made easier by forums like ECF for sure.

 

[HigherStateD]

That feeling that the cigarette was too tight and needing to put it out are a good thing. As you distance yourself from smoking, you'll find you want a nicotine delivery device that is less and less a smoking simulator.

 

[James W.]

That feeling that the cigarette was too tight and needing to put it out are a good thing. As you distance yourself from smoking, you'll find you want a nicotine delivery device that is less and less a smoking simulator.

You are so right..

Strange, even though I am satisfying the nicotine my body wants, my mind says "you need a cigarette". That familiar "feel" between my fingers and "ritual" of lighting up are strong.

3 drags on an analog this morning and it tasted "dirty" and very unpleasant.

I don't see myself ever returning to almost 2 packs a day at this point.

Progress.

 

[HigherStateD]

There are several reasons for this. First is the other chemicals in cigarette smoke that you are no longer getting. Not just the tar and Ash, but the alkaloids other than nicotine. A fairly significant population here use whole tobacco alkaloids or WTAs from naturally extracted tobacco, or NET. Second, as you've noticed, is the ritual. Holding something in your hand, a-la holding that cig while not smoking, followed by the urge to burn something, the ritual. The urges pass, I promise. Even for someone like me who was smoking since he was 10.

 

[Red Beard]

I’ve been vaping the Nord for about 2 months now. The thing I love about it is that it’s keeping me off cigarettes. I also like the small profile. The thing I like least about it is that the coils lose flavor very quickly. I know there are wicks in the coils, somewhere, right? However, they must be microscopic because they don’t hold up very well at all. No matter, though, I’ll be getting my new mod this week and like you, I will use the Nord as a backup. I smoked non filter Camel’s for 25 years, then Bugler roll-ups for 24 years. It’s a great feeling not to be a slave to that addiction anymore. TG4V.

 

[Toronnah]

Started with cig-alikes. Good for an hour.

Then moved to eGo with the Joyetech tank in the ego-C kit. Then Stardust tanks on the eGo battery. Still sucky.

Moving on to iStick 20 and 30 with a Nautilus mini tank. Then Kanger 50w sub box with Kanger tank.

Finally the Joyetech AIO. Finally decent cloud, throat hit, decent capacity, no leaks, easy to change coil.

Still not enough. So I move to sub homing. Love it. Everything I need to stay off cigs. But big and bulky.

By chance I forgot all my vape stuff at home so I bought a big tobacco pod (the Vype). WOW small units have come a long way so next trip to the vape store I bought a Caliburn and a Nord. The Nord died after a month so I bought 2 more Caliburns an an Orion Q.

I'm not alone. Many long term vapers have gone through a lot of equipment to find what's right for them.

This won't be your final equipment purchase.

 

[HigherStateD]

Not only that, as you get further from analog, your preferences will change. What worked at first won't six months in.

 

[ArminF]

Smok Nord disappointed me a bit as well. Especially the coils. OK, reasonable point are my custard liquids. But after a day or latest on the second the flavour mutes out itself the more draws i take. 0.8 and 1.4 MTL. 0.6 is far too open and the ceramic has the same airflow body as the 0.6. And i really hate those silicone plugs. Just not the way i do expect vaping in the year 2019.
Plus that it does leak. Not much but you always have this film/surface on the pod/device which drives me mad..
And my second has a damaged button. Firing does stick and the device continues firing...

My master device is the caliburn and i do really appreciate the mod every day. Auto draw, top filling feature and excellent flavour for a pod. Plus the coils does stand longer with my killer liquids.

 

[Those.eyes1999]

My first nord i dropped one too many times. Then i researched for a week or two And ended up buying another nord. I was happy with it until i got tired of going thru coils so fast. I got a yocan trio it is great for the dabs but not my liking on vaping. I got a wocket and its okay i got a voopoo finic 20 i dont like it at all. And then a novo 2 and i like that one the best. But i really liked my rolo badge before the nord. So i ordered another one of them

 

[Racehorse]

I vape full time on a NORD.

I had gotten off cigs in 2012, then eventually got off vaping (w/out returning to cigs) and then decided to vape a little again this year. I use a NORD or a Sourin Air. I guess I'm not that picky, I haven't really had any problems other than stuff that is not really a "big deal" to me. The Sourin Air seems to consume pods / coils more. I vape clear menthols from Halo, so my coils in the NORD last 1-2.5 weeks. Using full time.

Keep in mind, back in 2012 vaping was pretty "fiddly", so I guess stuff that might bother some people is a non issue for ME. The technology, even in a simple pod system, is so much more advanced then when I quit smoking on a simple non variable voltage stick battery.

If you look at my classified ratings, you can see I've own/sold probably 150 "things" ....... so I've done the whole gamut of vaping including w/the more expensive things. Not everything but a whole lot.

 

[Vapemesilly]

I started my vape journey a few years ago with a pen vape setup. I moved on from it quite some time ago but my wife still vapes on a pen vape. She refuses to upgrade to anything else.

In my search for a great pod system to use now and then I too, have been disappointed in most of the products I've tried. Now and then I start to think that maybe I need to buy a pen vape like my old one for those times when I want a little something different and forget about the pods.

Trouble is, those pen vapes are disappearing. It won't be long before you can't find them anymore.

 

[HigherStateD]

I started my vape journey a few years ago with a pen vape setup. I moved on from it quite some time ago but my wife still vapes on a pen vape. She refuses to upgrade to anything else.

In my search for a great pod system to use now and then I too, have been disappointed in most of the products I've tried. Now and then I start to think that maybe I need to buy a pen vape like my old one for those times when I want a little something different and forget about the pods.

Trouble is, those pen vapes are disappearing. It won't be long before you can't find them anymore.

Not true. The pen style is quite popular with the crowd. I don't see CE4 clearos going anywhere any time soon. Last one I had lasted a week and a half of chain vaping. It was all I had at the time. That was January this year.

 

[Vapemesilly]

I'm talking the old ego style pen units. Look at any web site. Most are gone and what's left are few. Was talking to a local vape shop owner last week looking for a spare for the missus. He told me he still has a demand for them but cannot find them anywhere. They are no longer being made. They will dry up soon.