Squonking, changing batteries, and carto questions of a noob! :)

[kblush]

Rhapsodies Fire - Congratulations on not smoking cancer sticks for two New Years! Wow!!! I hope to be able to say that too! For years I've smoked one pack a day of cigarettes but over the last two months I've been smoking two packs a day because things in my life changed and I find myself smoking a lot more. That's why it's so important that I stumbled upon ecigs, not only is 2 packs a day bad for my health, I also can't afford to keep that up monetarily! The reason I bring that up is because I wanted to tell you about the nicotine level I plan on vaping on. I bought all my ejuices at 6mg. The reason is because I figured roughly that if I vape about 3 packs a day worth, I'll still be under my one pack a day 24mg. (I fully understand that comparing cigarettes to vaping is not an exact science by far.) I really don't want to vape more nicotine than i was smoking. I really hope that this will work and I won't feel unfulfilled all the time. If I do I may have to go up to 12mg and vape less. Thanks for listening!! ***Anyone feel free to chime in here!

 

[Rhapsodies Fire]

Thanks, Kim! If I can do it...anyone can!
6mg may be too low for you to start out with. Many of us started too low, had to raise it...then cut back as our bodies' needs decreased over time. I started at 12mg and it didn't handle my cravings at all....but the silly mini stick ecig batteries I was using couldn't keep up with my needs either. By the time I started using a REO mini (5 months later) I was vaping 24mg....and a month after that, I wasn't smoking anymore. A few months after that I was able to cut down to 18mg (I was getting a burning peppery sensation in my mouth that clued me in that I was vaping too much nicotine.). After a while at 18mg, I started getting that burning sensation again and dropped to 12mg which is what I'm vaping now. Might not be a bad idea to buy some higher level nicotine just in case you think you need more. That's the great thing about vaping, you can regulate your intake so much better.
*edit...I forgot to mention I was a solid pack per day smoker.

 

[kblush]

Rhapsodies Fire - That's wonderful that you have been able to slowly lower your nicotine level, and that's awesome that your body gave you signals when you were vaping too much nicotine, and especially that you listened to it! I think that it's some wise advice that I should buy some ejuices with a higher nic level in case the 6mg doesn't work out at all. I sure hope it works because I bought enough 6mg ejuice to last me a month! lol

 

[DZ]

I agree with Rhapsodies Fire, I think 6 will be to low for you and it wont curb your cravings. I started at 24mg but most of my mixes right now are 12 and 18 but I still have a 24 to "curb" the cravings. Like I told you in the other thread I am not completely off them yet but am making huge strides.

I see you said vape 3 packs worth a day, it depends on who you ask but some will say 1 pack is equal to 3ml of juice others will say 5 and some say 1. I say you should snag a high mg juice to help with the strong desires but go ahead a vape away on the 6mg.

I am just now really getting into the true vaping for me before I was under a ml a day now I am probly around 3ml a day and am very satisfied with it. The factors for me was I ordered a ego-t and well to tell the truth the tank for those things suck, so I got cartos from CCV and havent looked back.

 

[DZ]

Just to clarify I bought an ego clone and my bat output is 3.7 where ego's are 3.3 so I was lucky there. So right now I use a 3.7v with the 1.7 smoktec cartos. I know its a different thread but the 3.7 with the 1.7 is as good as my pt that I made, well with the 1.7 anyway.

 

[kblush]

xxDznutzxx - Hi! After reading Rhapsodies Fire's post I was going to buy some 12mg ejuices but you made a good point that maybe I can go with the 6mg ejuices and just have some stronger 24mg ejuices available for strong cravings! I want to be able to "vape away on the 6mg" because I'm ok all day but when I go online at night I seem to chain smoke! I put enough money aside to be able to buy enough cigarettes to smoke 1 pack a day this month as I get adjusted to figuring out what I need for vaping to work for me so that's good! I think it's awesome that your ego clone batt output was better than the ego! You lucked out!

 

[DZ]

I think its a good idea at least one bottle of the high mg stuff, I hit mine maybe 5-6 times a day.

If you have the capabilities to vape whenever you want to it will defiantly help you curb your cravings. The biggest mistake I made when I first started was only vaping when I would have smoked and not having that satisfied feeling, now I try to vape whenever. My thought is if I can stay ahead of the cravings I will have less of them and so far so good. The really only hard one for me to shake is the first one of the day, it does not taste bad and seems to bring my nic levels back to a "stable" level and then vape the rest of the day if I can.

I read somewhere recently that each cigarette has 30-40mg of nicotine in it but most burns off leaving you with 1 to 1.5mg a cig. that you inhale. I don't know if there is truth to that or not but something to think about unless someone else can clarify that it is not that high. With that said, if it is true how can one determine how much we are actually getting? Remember I am not saying its true just something I read.

 

[Mudflap]

Kim, you can fill your Reo's bottle with your 6mg juice and when a strong craving hits and you need to vape your higher nic juice, just drip a few drops into the reservoir and it will be pulled up into your atty when you draw on it. Keep dripping into the reservoir till you're satisfied and then you can go back to your 6 mg juice from the bottle.

You'll do fine.

 

[kblush]

xxDznutzxx - I'm so glad that you said that if I can vape whenever I want then it will help with my cravings because I have the capabilities to vape whenever I want and I'm grateful for that! I know what you mean about planning in the beginning just to vape when you would have smoked and not having a satisfied feeling. My plan is to keep a low nic level so I can vape more than I would be smoking. I thought this would work for me because I smoke a lot more than just for nicotine I think, I also just pick up a cigarette up and want to smoke out of habit and to have something to do with my hands I guess. About what you heard about cigarettes having a lot more nicotine than you inhale, I just read something like that myself. I don't remember the numbers but it said that the nicotine level they give to cigarettes is how much you inhale, not how much they actually contain in them. Interesting!

 

[kblush]

Mudflap - I love your New Year avatar! Thank you so much for the encouragement! Your idea sounds great but I will be using cartos. What can I do? *scratches head*

 

[Mudflap]

Mudflap - I love your New Year avatar! Thank you so much for the encouragement! Your idea sounds great but I will be using cartos. What can I do? *scratches head*

Prefill a carto with high nic juice and figure out a way to label it so you can easily identify it. When you need it, swap cartos and vape away without squonking. You can top off that carto from the drip tip end after ever 10 hits or so. Just add 4 to 6 drops to the filler and not the center air hole.

 

[kblush]

Mudflap - Wow! That's perfect! I knew you would come up with something! Thank you!!! I also appreciate the detailed instructions because I'm still learning what is what and which way is up! lol

 

[DZ]

Prefill a carto with high nic juice and figure out a way to label it so you can easily identify it. When you need it, swap cartos and vape away without squonking. You can top off that carto from the drip tip end after ever 10 hits or so. Just add 4 to 6 drops to the filler and not the center air hole.

Good point I use just a dab of my wife's nail polish on mine to remember what flavors I have ie yellow = banana green = menthol and so on. Cheap easy and almost everyone has nail polish in their house.

 

[kblush]

xxDznutzxx - That's a great idea! I like yellow for banana & green for menthol, etc!

 

[Mudflap]

You could buy a colored drip tip that is different than what you normally use and just keep that one on your high nic carto. Whatever works.

 

[kblush]

Mudflap - That's awesome!!! You guys have such great ideas! Thank you!

 

[washvap]

No problem. Everyone has their own method but, I would think that going with the connector side down would be best. Since that's the part of the carto that the juice has the longest time reaching. Plus, you can drip from the top too.

Using the plastic cap is why this method is called, "the condom method". The cap is used to hold the juice so that you can slowing dunk the carto downward. Creating pressure that will shoot the juice up, throughout the carto and filling it. And yes, you remove it from the plastic cap, wipe it down to clean off the access juice and let it rest for a while. Afterwards, you can put it on the mod.

The method I personally use would be the drip method that I mentioned in my previous post. I just never liked how messy the condom method can get. Also, I feel like it's a waste of juice.

washvap - Thank you so much for that additional info! I plan on using cartos so I watched the video on filling a carto using the condom method. What was fascinating was how he put the carto battery connector side down! I've only seen it done the other way around! Which method do you use? I couldn't see really well in the video, but when he was filling the carto battery connector side down, had he already taken off that little plastic cap with the hole in it that is on the end of the carto? I don't understand what that cap is for since it looks like you just take it off. It is to be removed before you put on your drip tip right? I'm confused!

Rhapsodies Fire - What a pretty user name and avatar! Hi Lisa! I'm Kim! It's nice to meet you too! There are so many nice people on here that I really feel welcomed into the community! I really appreciate you for telling me to expect a learning curve and not to get discouraged in the beginning! If I have any problems I will certainly come to you all for help!!! Thank you and Happy New Year!

 

[kblush]

washvap - I never thought about the wasted ejuice part! Good point! I'm still going to try the condom method first since it seems easiest to me!

 

[mlinky]

Kim, don't be scared of nicotine. The one vaping thing in which you are already an expert is self-regulating nicotine. As a smoker, you do it all the time. I was a pack a day Kool smoker. I started conservatively at 18 mg, but I wasn't able to ditch the cigs until I moved up to 24 mg.

One thing about vaping, you can use it to replace cigarettes, but if what you really want is a cigarette, you can smoke it. It may take a little time to find the combo that works for you, but every cigarette NOT smoked is a win.

I was a 40 year PAD smoker. I didn't really want to quit and I'm still amazed that I have quit for over a year.

BTW, I'm Margie

 

[canoeist]

I used to fill cartos with 20 drops before using them. You can start with an empty one and squonk some juice in, I have switched to this method. It works much better. I usually squonk a few times before I fire it.