Request for expert advice

[Patriot]

Good afternoon. I'm glad to have found this forum, and wish I had found it before my initial purchase. I've done some reading on here, and hope this serves well as an introductory post. I apologize in advance for any errors in abbreviations or terminology that should be standard for this community. Please bear with another newcomer.

Analogue Smoking history:

1. I quit smoking analogue cigarettes 5 or so years ago. And stuck to cigars and pipes until a couple of months ago. (side note: I have asthma)

2. I like the varied flavor offerings that comes with smoking a pipe, but didn’t care for the nicotine delivery of puffing them. I ended up smoking pipes in a very strange way. I used to love to take a long pull all the way into my lungs and get a huge hit, and breathe it out through my nose. I know I’m a little eccentric right? One good drag and I was done with my nic fix and walking away AND I got the great flavors. (however…back to the asthma!!)

3. I refuse to give up the nice cigar on RARE occasion even now, but was definitely willing to give up my pipe for the flavor offerings of an e-cig combined with the health benefits, which I’m already noticing (dramatic improvement in my case) in my 3rd month of my 19th or so round of “quitting”. By the way, giving up analogue this time around is not a problem..I’ll never go back. I’m pretty happy about that.

4. I like full robust flavors and a lot of nicotine. Bite is optional. My favorite cigar is a monster by Flor de Dominicana called the Double Ligero.

Digital:

1. My e-cig setup is this slick looking Vapor-Nine thing. It’s a KR-808 two piece arrangement. It’s flat black with a blue led. I like the slick look but could give a hoot about its likeliness to a cigarette as all of you can probably already have guessed.

2. Pros: Slick looking, blue LED. Recharging is convenient because I’m always sitting right by a USB port somewhere.

3. Cons: End cap thing over the LED is textured and rounded like a “cherry”…takes away from that slick eccentric look IMO. Nicotine delivery, due to volume of vapor is terrible from what I’m reading on this forum. Since I have no desire to give up the actual nicotine this thing has me babysitting my e-cig like a pacifier or something.

4. I’ve been using 24mg juice and cartomizers from the same company (V-9). I’ve made all of the basic mistakes of newcomers you’ve read about or have made yourselves. I’ve torched cartomizers because I didn’t know how to pull. I’ve tried doing it with only one tiny battery. I started with a way too low concentration of juice because I didn’t understand what I was getting. I’ve even tried to stick it out, not knowing that this could get better.

As you have already surmised I’m ready for a superior configuration of hardware from what I have right now. I work full time, and go to college full time, on top of having a great family to take care of. I’m not home much. I need something convenient, but I’m not concerned with having a tiny setup because I always carry a backpack, and I haven’t really seen anything that I couldn’t carry in a pocket anyway. I would like something that looks slick, but nothing like a cigarette. I would like something that can really produce a great cloud of vapor so that I can really indulge in varying flavors and higher levels of nicotine in a shorter period of time than what I’m dealing with now. If it costs above average for a personal vaporizer, that’s fine as long as I’m dealing with something of lasting quality because the long run cost is more important than the short run. I don’t want to underestimate the beginner’s standard, the eGo, but I can’t really help but do that very thing at this point. I’ll go ahead and say it…I think it’s OK for this beginner to either skip the eGo step, or get talked out of skipping it for some reason that I do not yet understand. Thanks for any advice you can give.

I’m ready to concentrate on finding great juice because I want to have the hardware nailed. Please help me find a great setup close to the preferences noted above.

 

[Balthezar]

Welcome to ECF. I prob won't be much help, because I just got an eGo, and I love it. I use smoktek dual coil cartos, and get great vapor and TH, but it sounds like you want more, so I'll defer you to those who know more about the big guns . Good luck, and again, welcome

Balth

 

[carpedebass]

Have you looked at the e cigars and e pipes? They might be just what the proverbial doctor ordered for you.

 

[Jerry B]

Yes they do in fact make e pipes and cigars LOL I think a eGo style fat bat would still work for you or if you really want something stylish and no ciggy looking, check out some of the box mods.

 

[dormouse]

Try the cartomizers from Bloogplanet or SmokelessImage - they are nice bottom coil KR808D-1 cartos and the stuffing is a bit looser than Vapor4Life ones - I find they give a bigger drag more easily. And their center post is notched (I think Vapor Nine's are not) so these may get more air too.

Re batteries - IMO manuals batteries are needed to get the best drag/hit out of a KR8. Try a Vapor4Life manual - they have a custom 10-13 second safety cutoff - more than enough time for a nice 2 second early press so nice vapor is waiting when you start your drag and drag as long as you want - I doubt you will ever reach the cutoff. Downside - you will use juice faster with those bottom coils and longer drags. But you should get a nice drag. KR808D-1 is the strongest slim ecig - 3.7v.

And re juice - I find 20% or less VG gives me the best drag and wicking in slim ecig cartos. I used to use 70PG/30VG but when I was alternating two vanillas in my carto I noticed every time I put the 70/30 in I felt the drag degrade so now I use 10-20% VG. I also avoid all juices that drop flavoring sediment. Too bad because I had some faves but that sediment gunks up attys and clogs cartos and I prefer to use clear juices and get 7 days use out of a carto.

-----

Re better hardware. You already have 3.7v so avoid anything lower (like EGo) if you plan to use an adapter to vape the KR8 cartos and want the same heat out of them. For big battery 3.7v I use 510 devices (most stuff available is for 510). I put on a 510 to 808 adapter to vape my KR8 cartos on them, but mostly I vape 510 stuff on them.

I use a Riva 510 kit from Liberty-Flights.com only - we know all of their kits are new stock made by the Riva manufacturer that has the 3.7v ones. I have 2 $20 box mods from ECF Buying & Selling Modders section (use one protected 14500). I have a 3.7v plastic bottom feeder from Old Goat (same forum). I have a 3-stage (clone) Ego battery from Gotvapes. Nothing fancy. There are a lot fancier more expensive ways to get 3.7v. I am cheap and I like things that are relatively small. Besides providing much longer charge, these all give you the option of getting more heat by using low resistance attys and cartos (which also use the charge up faster)

Then there are variable voltage things that would also let you crank up the heat on whatever you are using.

 

[Goldenkobold]

I agree with dormouse you should try a different cartomizer on your device, this will give you a better idea of what you want in the end.

G6 Cartomizers - G6 E-Cig

The above cartomizer will go on what you have but burn hotter, producing more vapor out of the same unit (and drain your battery faster). If that doesn't do it then you may need to move up to a 3.7v mod with even hotter elements like an dual coil cartomizer, if THAT doesn't do it you may need higher voltage all together. The problem is we can't know what your "sweet spot" is based off of one kr808 battery with its 3ohm cartomizer, we just know you need something higher than that.

You could jump straight up to a provari

which would let you dial in what you like straight away, especially if you like the looks of it.

However if you can enjoy a 3.7v device you really have a lot more options in design and aesthetics.

 

[dormouse]

I think the Halocigs G6 cartos are probably the same as the Bloogplanet and SmokelessImage cartos. They are all the same model of KR8 batteries, all bottom coil cartos.

And like I said - manual long-cutoff batteries for the best drags and suitable juices that flow fast enough to give a big drag but with some VG to give more vapor.

 

[Patriot]

OK, I'm definately on board upgrading the carto while I'm shopping for a cannon. 3 recommendations so far:

Halo
BloogPlanet
Smokeless Image (This one says to never fill on an automatic battery..I'm assuming that means while it's attached? If that's the case I already knew that fortunately.)

BloogPlanet is a dollar more. I'm assuming similar results from all 3 so I'm going to order a couple of 5 packs from one of them and just report their performance.

Sticking to vapornine juice 24mg watermelon...since I have some. Should have a new one before I hit that second 5-box, though.

Thanks for the help so far peeps. That provari looks interesting.

 

[7less7]

I cannot wait till I get my mine. However, been vaping for a lil over a month, (37 days but whos counting) I have been told it is pretty rad how I am jumping to a provari so quick. I had an ego for two weeks, then got a silverbullet with lots of low res attys and cartos and I got 6v batts as well. Tanks, drip tips, this .... is awesomely addicting!

 

[Patriot]

I cannot wait till I get my mine. However, been vaping for a lil over a month, (37 days but whos counting) I have been told it is pretty rad how I am jumping to a provari so quick. I had an ego for two weeks, then got a silverbullet with lots of low res attys and cartos and I got 6v batts as well. Tanks, drip tips, this .... is awesomely addicting!

I'm probably not far behind you.

 

[Patriot]

Should have the new cartos in a couple of days. In the mean time I didn't realize how bad my vapor nine was performing until I cleaned the cartos that I had. Apparently I had already made the ones I had tired before I ever really learned to pull properly. Still not the plumes of vapor that I see on some of the you tube videos, but a dramatic improvement nonetheless.

I've been shopping around and reading and I think I'm learning some stuff.

I like tube mods, because I like the idea of just switching out a battery on something with a warranty. They also don't take away from a slick look. I don't like box mods mainly because I just don't like the way they look. Also, manual operation will be necessary, as well as a 510 connection, which is something I wish I new before my starter purchase.

Here is what I don't understand. I sort of get how a lower resistance on an atomizer will drain a battery faster, and produce more vapor. However, I don't get how to pull more than 3.7 volts out of a 3.7 volt battery. Is that Privari the only thing that does that? I'm not assuming that 3.7 volts isn't more than sufficient either, as it seems to be quite sufficient for most other people. So what about that pro vape 1 from the same company that makes the provari? I mean it is half the price, with a lifetime warranty and it appears to take batteries that would be appropriate. It looks pretty slick too. Too bad I can't get it in that black chrome. Does anyone have experience with the ProVape 1?

I also don't understand the benefit of varying the voltage except that you may want to play with all kinds of atomizers. I mean of you are a hobbyist with the whole vaping thing the Provari looks like the mecca. If not, and you don't mind using the same group of atomizers, with a resistance that maximizes your vapor on a particular battery setup, then something else that is 3.7 voltz would suffice? Maybe a drip tip for trying different flavors when I'm stationary at my desk at work? Cartridges when I'm not stationary...off to college and such?

Still trying to fill in some blanks.

 

[swedishfish]

I can't answer any of your questions (clueless), except maybe this one

I also don't understand the benefit of varying the voltage except that you may want to play with all kinds of atomizers

For me, I've found that some juice is better at higher voltage or with a LR carto.

I have some lighter flavors, fruit flavors and the flavor seems muted to me at HV or with LR cartos. My regular, all day vape (nhalers nuport PG) is even better if possible with LR cartos or HV.

 

[keyzygirl]

Vapor4Life has a few new USA Juices in Cigar/Pipe type flavors.You should check them out.

 

[Patriot]

I'm actually enjoying vaping for what it is. I like the watermelon flavor that I have now for instance, but from the reading I've done, I have not really tried a high end juice yet.

I just cleared the Provari with my wife yesterday, but I have to wait until after Christmas. Ugh!! I feel like I won't be skipping too many steps if I get it because, it will do what I want regardless. I like the features of reading the resistance of the atomizers, and the voltage on the battery.

I've continued reading a lot more now, but I have to make my Vapor Nine last for a while. I should have my lower resistance cartos tomorrow. And I'll be ordering some juice pretty soon. I'm going to try some of the big standards. Boba's, and something chocolatey, maybe a coffee. Part of why I'm not getting a good cloud is probably the juice. I understand there is a pretty large variance there as well, not just with the setup perameters.