I've been reading a lot of the success stories lately and thought creating a thread with some of the things that worked for people into a set of basic guidelines in one place would be a good idea. The Info zone is great but the amount of "what do I need" type posts here tells me that far more people fail to look there than do.
Personally I had to do a lot of experimenting before I found a way thats working for me and searching through thousands of posts for tips gets very time consuming. Luckily for me I have a great B&M locally that really helped me out but not everyone has that available to them and unfortunately a lot of smoke shops just want to sell the most expensive set up they can pawn of on a new vaper and provide no advice at all. So here's some of what I have come up with so far and keep in mind that I'm gearing this toward new vapers making the transition from smoking and leaving the "advanced vaping hobby" side out of it.
Choosing a battery set up.
FIrst is look at how much you smoke and that will give you a base to pick your battery set up. The more you smoke the more batts or the bigger batt capacity you will need. IF your having to wait for batts to charge your more likely to pick up an analog while waiting. 1/2 pad smokers can often get away with a single 650 mah batt and have that last all day where a 2pad smoker will drain that batt in a couple hours. ALways have a back up batt for those times you forget to charge or the batt runs out faster (like high stress days). Pick a set up that will be comfortable to use and carry and easy to set up (for some the "cigalikes" will work well). If you don't like how it looks, feels or if you have to fiddle with it a lot your less likely to use it. So a basic guideline for all day vapeability would look like this...
1/2 pad-1pad = a couple of 650-1000 mah batts
1pad-2pad = a couple of 1000-1500 mah batts
2.5 pad and up(chain smokers) = a couple of 1500-2600 batts (regulated 18350/650 mod would be better for new vapers for safer, less hassle vaping)
The Juice
This is the area where most new vapers seem to fail the easiest. Two things are important when choosing a juice to start out with. First is flavor and second is nicotine content. The idea here is to come as close as you can to the hit you get from an analog to help with the cravings and a flavor that makes you want to go back for the vape rather than the cig. Having a good B&M where you can try different flavors really helps here. Also having a few different flavors to rotate between can help, especially during times when your tastebuds are recovering and the vape just tastes flat, dry and flavorless(vapers tongue). Vapers tongue can be helped by having two totally different flavors such as a tobacco and a cherry. Coffee grounds have been used to clear the sense of smell for a host of different things from perfume makers to wine tasting and I found a good strong coffee flavor helped me through bouts of vapers tongue.
Nicotine level is a bit more difficult to choose since nicotine absorption is less from vaping than from analogs and also dependent on what type of cig you smoked. Here's what I've come up with based on personal stories and not on juice makers guides.
Filter cigs
up to 1 pad lights/ultra lights = 6-12 mg/ml (.6-.12%)
2-3pad lights/ultralights = 12-18 mg/ml (.12-.18%)
up to 1 pad full flavors = 12-18 mg/ml
2-3 pad full flavors = 18-24 mg/ml
Unfiltered/"rollies"
up to 1 pad = 18-24 mg/ml
2-3 pad = 24-36 mg/ml
The Topper
There's really no "wrong" way to start here but for a new vaper I think ease of use, reliability and ease of upkeep should be top priority. ANy of the starter grade cartomizers or clearomizers will work out well.
Other Tips
DOn't throw out your analogs right away and rely soley on vaping. There is a learning curve when you start out and some differences from smoking that take some getting used to. Unless you get a cigalike unit the technique is totally different and closer to cigar/pipe smoking than cig smoking. How you transition is just as important as the transition itself and that is different for everyone so there may still be times when only that cig will do. IF all you can do is replace ONE of your daily analogs with vaping for a while then that is still a small success in the right direction.
Don't jump head long into high dollar mods. A good cheap starter kit such as the joyetech e-roll (cig alike) or Kanger EVOD will do just fine until you decide if vaping will work for you and where you want to go with it.
Always ask if you don't know or understand something.
This is by no means intended to be a definitive guide but hopefully bringing more user tips for success together will help more people. I know there is a lot I have not posted so feel free to add your own tips.
Personally I had to do a lot of experimenting before I found a way thats working for me and searching through thousands of posts for tips gets very time consuming. Luckily for me I have a great B&M locally that really helped me out but not everyone has that available to them and unfortunately a lot of smoke shops just want to sell the most expensive set up they can pawn of on a new vaper and provide no advice at all. So here's some of what I have come up with so far and keep in mind that I'm gearing this toward new vapers making the transition from smoking and leaving the "advanced vaping hobby" side out of it.
Choosing a battery set up.
FIrst is look at how much you smoke and that will give you a base to pick your battery set up. The more you smoke the more batts or the bigger batt capacity you will need. IF your having to wait for batts to charge your more likely to pick up an analog while waiting. 1/2 pad smokers can often get away with a single 650 mah batt and have that last all day where a 2pad smoker will drain that batt in a couple hours. ALways have a back up batt for those times you forget to charge or the batt runs out faster (like high stress days). Pick a set up that will be comfortable to use and carry and easy to set up (for some the "cigalikes" will work well). If you don't like how it looks, feels or if you have to fiddle with it a lot your less likely to use it. So a basic guideline for all day vapeability would look like this...
1/2 pad-1pad = a couple of 650-1000 mah batts
1pad-2pad = a couple of 1000-1500 mah batts
2.5 pad and up(chain smokers) = a couple of 1500-2600 batts (regulated 18350/650 mod would be better for new vapers for safer, less hassle vaping)
The Juice
This is the area where most new vapers seem to fail the easiest. Two things are important when choosing a juice to start out with. First is flavor and second is nicotine content. The idea here is to come as close as you can to the hit you get from an analog to help with the cravings and a flavor that makes you want to go back for the vape rather than the cig. Having a good B&M where you can try different flavors really helps here. Also having a few different flavors to rotate between can help, especially during times when your tastebuds are recovering and the vape just tastes flat, dry and flavorless(vapers tongue). Vapers tongue can be helped by having two totally different flavors such as a tobacco and a cherry. Coffee grounds have been used to clear the sense of smell for a host of different things from perfume makers to wine tasting and I found a good strong coffee flavor helped me through bouts of vapers tongue.
Nicotine level is a bit more difficult to choose since nicotine absorption is less from vaping than from analogs and also dependent on what type of cig you smoked. Here's what I've come up with based on personal stories and not on juice makers guides.
Filter cigs
up to 1 pad lights/ultra lights = 6-12 mg/ml (.6-.12%)
2-3pad lights/ultralights = 12-18 mg/ml (.12-.18%)
up to 1 pad full flavors = 12-18 mg/ml
2-3 pad full flavors = 18-24 mg/ml
Unfiltered/"rollies"
up to 1 pad = 18-24 mg/ml
2-3 pad = 24-36 mg/ml
The Topper
There's really no "wrong" way to start here but for a new vaper I think ease of use, reliability and ease of upkeep should be top priority. ANy of the starter grade cartomizers or clearomizers will work out well.
Other Tips
DOn't throw out your analogs right away and rely soley on vaping. There is a learning curve when you start out and some differences from smoking that take some getting used to. Unless you get a cigalike unit the technique is totally different and closer to cigar/pipe smoking than cig smoking. How you transition is just as important as the transition itself and that is different for everyone so there may still be times when only that cig will do. IF all you can do is replace ONE of your daily analogs with vaping for a while then that is still a small success in the right direction.
Don't jump head long into high dollar mods. A good cheap starter kit such as the joyetech e-roll (cig alike) or Kanger EVOD will do just fine until you decide if vaping will work for you and where you want to go with it.
Always ask if you don't know or understand something.
This is by no means intended to be a definitive guide but hopefully bringing more user tips for success together will help more people. I know there is a lot I have not posted so feel free to add your own tips.
