Riva finally arrived..

[Stifle]

After lots of research here on ECF and more than a few emails and phone calls bugging Abe and Ty at Liberty Flights, I was able to stop by their location (right up the street from me) and pick up my Riva510 kit with lots of fixings.

My experience with Liberty Flights was extraordinary and I highly recommend them. I was able to meet Ty personally and he was nothing but great through our entire correspondence. He even waived my shipping charges without being asked since I was able to pick it up in person.

But, now to the fun stuff..


I have been on a short overnight trip since I picked everything up..so I really haven't had a chance to lay everything out and I've been kind of going on the fly. From my days worth of experience I learned a few things, and also learned that a few things I thought I knew..I am still very shaky on.

Most importantly, I was smoking a PAD+ of Marlboro Ultra Lights and since I've picked up my Riva I haven't touched an analog and really haven't had much of a desire to. I truly enjoy the experience of vaping so much more that I am positive that I have or will soon be rid of analogs and all the trauma they brought into my day to day life. Replacing it with something I enjoy is a great feeling and I'm very happy I found this community to help get me there.

I've tried a few different flavors and also rotated between carts, cartos and dripping. Currently for simplicities sake I prefer dripping...but that is likely partially user error, and I'll get into that at the end when I ask my questions. The ability to vape in the car, bedroom, while playing cards and right before kissing my girlfriend is amazing!

I like the tastes, but I'm having some problems actually tasting some of them, I'm assuming because of my years of analog usage. The vapor is far more impressive than what I experienced with the 7-11 e-cig, and really gives you the feel of smoking. I am amazingly impressed by the Riva510 as it seems to have no problems that I can see and really gives me a lot of smoke and a very nice throat hit with the right juice mixtures.

Now on to the preliminary questions I have now that I have had my hands on the device for a day or so...

1. I am having problems filling my carotmizers and carts on some occasions. It seems that the poly is not absorbing the juice and it seems to sit on top without actually filling the cart/ cartomizer. This has happened when trying to pull the back off of my cartos and filling them internally (mimicking the Dr. Vapor method of pouring it in like a beer and rotating the carto) as well as trying to use a standard cart filling method. I have tried the condom fill on the carto and it works better, but I believe I was going too fast at first and losing a lot of juice on the sides of the carto.

Is my e-juice too thick or is there something I am missing here? They were all blank carts and cartos and I seem to not get the full experience with either because I just can't seem to get the juice in.
***I have 100% pg/vg juices, I seem to have the problems with both types and when trying to put in a couple of different flavors into the same cart/carto.****


2. I've heard a lot about "steeping" my juices to improve flavor. I've noticed that some of my juices have a very faint flavor (noticeably stronger when dripping). I'm assuming that this is a result of me not properly filling my carts/cartos but is there some time frame I should expect for the juices to hit their full flavor?


That's about it for the moment. I am very much enjoying my vaping experience and now that I have some of the tools on hand. I am really looking forward to delving into the information here and finding ways to best fine tune it to my own preferences.

Thank you to everyone that has helped me up to this point and in the future!

 

[JudgeVape]

If I understand it correctly, LF sells either 100% VG juice or 100% PG juice. Which kind did you buy?

 

[Scottitude]

Congrats on kicking (so far) the cancer sticks! My first vape was all it took and I really don't think I'll ever go back; can't stand the smell or even the thought of smoking now.

YMMV but I've found that my cartos fill, wick, and vape better when I make some room around the edges. I'll take a straightened paper clip, push it downward between the inner-wall of the carto and the filler, and then sort of move the batting away from the wall by tipping the paper clip inward. Some may argue that it's compressing the filler and it is, but in my experience it's a quicker, more effective fill.

Most juices do taste better after steeping a while but many taste great right out of the mailbox.

Your taste-buds will adjust eventually and if you can saturate your cartos without flooding them, you should get a stronger flavor.

Rock on with your Riva!

 

[Stifle]

YMMV but I've found that my cartos fill, wick, and vape better when I make some room around the edges. I'll take a straightened paper clip, push it downward between the inner-wall of the carto and the filler, and then sort of move the batting away from the wall by tipping the paper clip inward. Some may argue that it's compressing the filler and it is, but in my experience it's a quicker, more effective fill.

I was thinking of setting up a straw mod to make this work..would that at some level give me the same kind of effect?

If I understand it correctly, LF sells either 100% VG juice or 100% PG juice. Which kind did you buy?

I bought 30ml of VG and about 15ml of PG. I've tried both individually and also mixed into the same cart/carto and seem to have the same results regardless. The VG is a little thicker and shows more of the problems I was having with fills, but honestly the 100% PG is doing the same thing.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Congrats and I juist knew you would be one of the ones who could pretty much kick it out of the gate. The cartos take some time and patience on the first fill. I pull off the cap and drip about 4 or 5 drops on the wadding. Let it sit for about a minute then repeat. You should be able to get about 25 drop in that bad boy when it is brand new. Sometimes blowing through it helps the wicking. Place mouth over open end and place paper towel at threaded end and blow lightly. Enjoy and you will soon be a carto filling pro. For the carts (which I do not use anymore) I found for the first fill that pulling the polyfill out and dropping about 6 drops in the chamber then reinserting the fill helped to get it good and wet. After that it will readily accept more juice. Best of luck!!!!!!!

 

[Stifle]

As always Liv2Ski, your answers are a huge help.

I had a lot of confidence I would be done with analogs rather quickly and it seems that will be the case. I'd really like to get a good flavor that saturates my taste buds and makes me want more and more, but..all things in good time and I know I can find that down the road.

I'm about to take my PV out for its first walk with my dog and I'll be back to do some testing and cleaning here and I'll let you know what I am able to put together here with your advice.

 

[Scottitude]

I was thinking of setting up a straw mod to make this work..would that at some level give me the same kind of effect?

Never tried the straw mod (I'm too lazy) but from what I've read, the results should be similar. There's also a "zero filler mod" for basic cartridges (not cartos) that sounds pretty cool. If you're interested, search "ZFM" to find the thread or check out ZF 510 Carts - ZFM Vapors for ready-made "kits".