Older Folks and Vaping Front Porch - Part 2

[DavidOck]

OK, folks. My frustration has abated. Give me some advice here on this Orchid.

I got it today, and got a bunch D) of cellucotton yesterday. After many false starts, I decided to run it as single-coil to begin with. With eight wraps of 32 ga. on an unknown ga. knitting-needle, it is stable at 1.7Ω Not much vapor, but lots of nice taste. Remember that in the past I have wrapped my clearo coils on 3 mm silica using a quilter's pin to hold it stable.

1. What do you estimate as the size of my knitting-needle? Which I intend on using as a standard.

2. What ga. kanthal should I order, and given my standard knitting-needle, how many wraps on each for a double coil at 2.0 Ω?

Lay the knitting needle across a ruler - metric, preferably. That should be close enough for size.

With lots of taste bu little vapor, you might consider reducing the air flow some, and see if that helps. Don't have an Orchid, but since it's made for dual coils, you might also put a piece of tape over the air intakes that go to the "empty" side. (Although depending on how it's actually machined, that might not make any difference at all to the air flow.)

For Kanthal on the Orchid / kayfun types, I like 30, as it heats up a bit quicker than 28. But 28 is a bit thicker and stands up to repeated wicking a bit longer. 32 seems small for that kind of topper, although I do use it for rebuilding Kanger types, as it's easier to hit my target resistance and still fit But real easy to bend it out of shape when re-wicking.

 

[PapaSloth]

For Kanthal on the Orchid / Kayfun types, I like 30, as it heats up a bit quicker than 28. But 28 is a bit thicker and stands up to repeated wicking a bit longer. 32 seems small for that kind of topper, although I do use it for rebuilding Kanger types, as it's easier to hit my target resistance and still fit But real easy to bend it out of shape when re-wicking.

The problem is, to hit 2 Ohms on a dual coil build, you need 4 Ohms for each coil. With a 0.9mm diameter, that's 45 wraps of 28ga kanthal. Yow! :-o

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Question:
I am debating on whether to continue with my end-of-the month discussion on budgeting. I think the "I have more money available for spending on vapestuff than you" competition has died down. Especially with Baditude's situation. Or is it still necessary for new people?

New people should at least be aware and be aware they are going to spend more money up front than they did smoking to get off to a decent start. Only fair to balance thrifty talk when there is so much babble about new gadgets and shinyitus. From my own experience it was frustrating how much I was spending at first yet was astounded I'd actually quit smoking. $2.69+ a day in cartos and $19.99 for 30ml of juice plus priority made was a bit expensive--but I quit smoking. Then I found ECF a got a more balanced view of vaping, found new vendors and quit frankly, a more stress free life. Someone posted recently that they had spent two thousand dollars in two months, were fed up and quitting. They didn't quit but they are likely not the only person that has fallen into the money trap looking for the unattainable perfect vape.

Please allow me to introduce you to what my new character rides around on in WoW.
View attachment 376884

In other news I delivered the vape setup + 3 bottles of DIY to my Vvert last night and gave her a rundown of how to use it Hopefully all will go well.

Cool. Is that a FastTech tortoise? (This dunce only plays Angry Birds, paranoid of getting sucked into the gaming world.)

 

[PapaSloth]

New people should at least be aware and be aware they are going to spend more money up front than they did smoking to get off to a decent start.

Sounds familiar. When I walked in to Elements Vape Shop, I was planning on spending up to $100 or so, which I considered a lot of money, to try it out. I ended up walking out after spending $45 on stuff that was good, but that I could have picked up for < $20 online. Since then, I've spent just over $500, which is about 5 times what I originally intended to spend. So, it does add up. But, as I say in my sig, I'll catch up some day if I stop buying new toys!

 

[3mg Meniere]

I laid it on a ruler with metric markings, and it is a bit less than 2 mm. Tutu's link has 0 as being the smallest size, at 2mm. However, if the backward calculation ends up with the right Ω, that may take into account leg length.

I might order 28. Using a piece of kanthal as a needle-threader does work.

I am running it as a single coil, but the twisted 32 might work. How would that work out with dual coils, doubling 32 ga? Again, the target is 2Ω.

Yes, I blocked off one air flow and it is better. I tried the other, but it made the draw near impossible.

I am having problems with my connection today. Maybe I ought to spend more time with real work? LOL

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Sounds familiar. When I walked in to Elements Vape Shop, I was planning on spending up to $100 or so, which I considered a lot of money, to try it out. I ended up walking out after spending $45 on stuff that was good, but that I could have picked up for < $20 online. Since then, I've spent just over $500, which is about 5 times what I originally intended to spend. So, it does add up. But, as I say in my sig, I'll catch up some day if I stop buying new toys!

You have a a bit of the hobby thing going too though which, I assume, is making you happy. It's the poor people that wander onto ECF that have been thoroughly ripped off by their local B&M that I feel bad for. On the ones that come looking for a better beginner setup and are told to go get some expensive mod. I did fine with the ego style for a year of no cigarettes. It's just sad that some folks that can't afford it get sucked into the gotta have bigger and better.

Looked up the shop. LOL, I'm glad I didn't walk into a place like this was shot at when I was looking into vaping. Hanging out at Elements PDX Vape Shop - YouTube Looks like the place you were talking of is pretty nice. Elements Beaverton Vape Shop - YouTube

 

[amoret]

Amazon.com: 2 Oz Plastic Cylinder Bottles with Flip Top Pour Spout, Pack of 12: Kitchen & Dining

Those are also known as 'turret caps'.

I have a set of four 4 ouncers (120 ml) near my 'puter for my quick mix DIYing:

PG
VG
60mg nic
15mg PG/VG/nic mix.

One thing about ECF, the porches in particular, for better or worse, you are never alone. I feel terrible for you, that was a sucky week. TGIF.

I remember the picture of the bottle you posted. Spent a unreasonable amount of time looking for it on that site. Do you have a link please? There are also an interesting assortment of bottles here Empty Bottles - One Stop DIY Shop Store that might tide you over.

Here's hoping next week is much better.

Thanks, everyone. I did order the bottles at Amazon. These are what I'm really looking for, though. Easy to use, one handed even, and with nothing for old fumble fingers here to drop on my bad hand days.



I did find one other source for them, direct from China, and I only would have needed to order 6,000 of them.

On the vaping budget issues I'm usually pretty modest. Now I do admit that I probably don't need five VV v3s, though it sure makes it easier to have three charged and in use at once. And the total for all five is less than a lot of folks spend on one PV. I've also got two MVPs, but they only work for me on good hand days. In kind of a reverse of what most people do, though, I generally take an MVP with me when I'm out and about, since I don't need to worry about keeping it charged.

I was getting a bit of shinyitis about the Eleaf iStick, but I rarely go over a whomping six watts, and there is some disagreement discussion about how well it handles low wattage. If it turns out that it really does work well for us wattage wimps I'll probably have to try one, since it is supposed to hold a charge as long as the MVP does but without the weight and stiff button problems.

Other than that, I need to get some more nicotine, pg and vg for my DIY, and that's about it. I've already got about three times as many flavorings as I'm likely to need in the foreseeable future, but I started kind of skimpy on the nic, pg and vg since I wasn't sure how well I was going to like my own creations. I've been missing out on most of the nicotine sales, because being an involuntary klutz I am not sure that I want to go for 100 mg yet.

 

[PapaSloth]

You have a a bit of the hobby thing going too though which, I assume, is making you happy. It's the poor people that wander onto ECF that have been thoroughly ripped off by their local B&M that I feel bad for. On the ones that come looking for a better beginner setup and are told to go get some expensive mod. I did fine with the ego style for a year of no cigarettes. It's just sad that some folks that can't afford it get sucked into the gotta have bigger and better.

Yep, definitely a hobby, and it makes me happy instead of sad. So, worth the money, and I can afford it. Well, I can afford good clones bought online and DIY juice making supplies If I bought originals at Elements, I'd have to sell the house!

Looked up the shop. LOL, I'm glad I didn't walk into a place like this was shot at when I was looking into vaping. Hanging out at Elements PDX Vape Shop - YouTube Looks like the place you were talking of is pretty nice. Elements Beaverton Vape Shop - YouTube

Yes, the Elements Beaverton shop is the one I got started at, and I've been back a few times for small incidentals. I would never make a major purchase there though, because they have nice stuff but it's WAY too expensive. They're mostly young kids (in fact, some of the employees there are students where I teach), and are all into cloud chasing. When you walk in there, the fog is so thick it's like you're in an old Jack the Ripper movie, but they're generally OK guys.

I've visited most of the shops in the area just to check them out, but I'm happiest finding and buying exactly what I want online. It's funny that so many vapers are old farts like us, but most of the vape shops seem to cater to a different clientele. Maybe that's just Portland.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Amoret, 6,000? You'd be prepared for vapergeddon.

Yep, definitely a hobby, and it makes me happy instead of sad. So, worth the money, and I can afford it. Well, I can afford good clones bought online and DIY juice making supplies If I bought originals at Elements, I'd have to sell the house!

Yes, the Elements Beaverton shop is the one I got started at, and I've been back a few times for small incidentals. I would never make a major purchase there though, because they have nice stuff but it's WAY too expensive. They're mostly young kids (in fact, some of the employees there are students where I teach), and are all into cloud chasing. When you walk in there, the fog is so thick it's like you're in an old Jack the Ripper movie, but they're generally OK guys.

I've visited most of the shops in the area just to check them out, but I'm happiest finding and buying exactly what I want online. It's funny that so many vapers are old farts like us, but most of the vape shops seem to cater to a different clientele. Maybe that's just Portland.

I've only been to one and it was obvious they were catering to a younger crowd. Not just in Portland. Guess the older folks can wait a week, if that, for their stuff to arrive to be more frugal.

 

[Harley]

Been away for a few days, Howdy everyone... Life is just busy !! Headed to Fl. Tomorrow to...

 

[bigbells]

It's funny that so many vapers are old farts like us, but most of the vape shops seem to cater to a different clientele. Maybe that's just Portland.

When I made my first and only visit (so far) to a vape shop last week, I was at least 20 years older than any of the 9 or 10 people (counting the employees) that I saw. I'm 63.

I've had the "smoked a cigarette" dream about half a dozen times. During one of these dreams, my health insurer wanted to raise my rates to the "smoker" rates. In others, I forgave myself within the dream for going off the wagon.

MFS is impressing me these days. Free domestic shipping with NO MINIMUM until midnight on Sunday with "Freeship" coupon code, and the 100mg/ml nic juice is still $45/liter. I saw that they're also selling 2.5 liters of pure liquid nicotine (at least 997mg/ml) for $625. Too dangerous for me. They ought to reconsider the nomenclature they use for it, though. They call it "freebase" nicotine and that word doesn't have positive connotations.
https://www.myfreedomsmokes.com/

 

[Iffy]

Life is like a box of chocolates.... or something purchased from Fasttech.... you never know what you're going to get.

I've only been to one and it was obvious they were catering to a younger crowd.. Not just in Portland. Guess the older folks can wait a week, if that, for their stuff to arrive to be more frugal.

 

[Janet H]

Yep, definitely a hobby, and it makes me happy instead of sad. So, worth the money, and I can afford it. Well, I can afford good clones bought online and DIY juice making supplies If I bought originals at Elements, I'd have to sell the house!

Yes, the Elements Beaverton shop is the one I got started at, and I've been back a few times for small incidentals. I would never make a major purchase there though, because they have nice stuff but it's WAY too expensive. They're mostly young kids (in fact, some of the employees there are students where I teach), and are all into cloud chasing. When you walk in there, the fog is so thick it's like you're in an old Jack the Ripper movie, but they're generally OK guys.

I've visited most of the shops in the area just to check them out, but I'm happiest finding and buying exactly what I want online. It's funny that so many vapers are old farts like us, but most of the vape shops seem to cater to a different clientele. Maybe that's just Portland.

It's not just Portland. Our local vape shop has had a few vape fests and I was shocked that only 1 other couple was our age. Everyone else was much younger and most were cloud chasers. Very interesting. We're lucky that we learned so much from ecf and buy most of what we need online. Never did get caught in the bazillion dollar traps that some have. Our local vape shop is owned by great people though so we're lucky and we do spend a little in there from time to time.

 

[Iffy]

Headed to Fl.

Where 'bouts? How fer is dat from 'Yonder Way'?

 

[Myrany]

OK, folks. My frustration has abated. Give me some advice here on this Orchid.

I got it today, and got a bunch D) of cellucotton yesterday. After many false starts, I decided to run it as single-coil to begin with. With eight wraps of 32 ga. on an unknown ga. knitting-needle, it is stable at 1.7Ω Not much vapor, but lots of nice taste. Remember that in the past I have wrapped my clearo coils on 3 mm silica using a quilter's pin to hold it stable.

1. What do you estimate as the size of my knitting-needle? Which I intend on using as a standard.

2. What ga. kanthal should I order, and given my standard knitting-needle, how many wraps on each for a double coil at 2.0 Ω?

Well if the needle is marked as to what size it is you could google a knitting converter for American needles to English since the english numbering for needles is the metric diameter.

 

[DavidOck]

The problem is, to hit 2 Ohms on a dual coil build, you need 4 Ohms for each coil. With a 0.9mm diameter, that's 45 wraps of 28ga kanthal. Yow! :-o

Running them in parallel, yep, 2 coils of 4 Ω each. But it's only 23 turns on each one

With 30, Vaper's Toolbox spits out a 15/14 at 2 mm dia., with 1/2 inch legs. Still a handful.

32 it gives an 8/7 wrap.

 

[3mg Meniere]

Nope, amoret, it is not marked. It is from a broken set of four for knitting in the round.

Papa! I tried the macro, but it was too big for the deck. I went with eleven wraps on the "standard" needle, and hit 1.7, after a few shorts and suchlike. It is working! Thanks!

I can't use the steampunk calculator because my connection is so weird tonight.

 

[Myrany]

Cool. Is that a FastTech tortoise? (This dunce only plays Angry Birds, paranoid of getting sucked into the gaming world.)

Naw it is a Pandaren ride. That character is a Panda

Got a call from my VVert tonight.

She woke up at 2 AM grabbed her vape and to quote her "She was sucking on it for all she had and getting nothing." She was SO frustrated. Then I said "Sweetie you have to push the button WHILE you are drawing on it." Lightbulb went on and she is one happy camper. Unfortunately I did a bit of an oops. When she came over a little bit ago I answered the door with my Provari in hand. Um yeah we already had to have the lets get vaping working for you before we invest big talk.

 

[DavidOck]

I laid it on a ruler with metric markings, and it is a bit less than 2 mm. Tutu's link has 0 as being the smallest size, at 2mm. However, if the backward calculation ends up with the right Ω, that may take into account leg length.

I might order 28. Using a piece of kanthal as a needle-threader does work.

I am running it as a single coil, but the twisted 32 might work. How would that work out with dual coils, doubling 32 ga? Again, the target is 2Ω.

Yes, I blocked off one air flow and it is better. I tried the other, but it made the draw near impossible.

I am having problems with my connection today. Maybe I ought to spend more time with real work? LOL

Yep, leg length is part of the total value of the coil.

Since you have the 32, why not just put on 2 identical 4 Ω coils, and use it as it was designed? It might perform better. And use more juice

 

[3mg Meniere]

Yep I have two coils at eleven wraps each on my "standard" needle, and she is pumping out the vapor like a steam-engine. Now at 1.5Ω.

One very frustrating night.

Whoever was hogging the bandwidth must have stopped for the night.