Started vaping today; a few questions

[Joe in Miami]

Greetings,

Been a smoker for over 20 years, Marlboro Mediums, 1 pack a day. I went with Smoking Everywhere (cause I can get supplies at a local mall), w/ high tobacco and medium menthol carts.

At first, the liquid dripped out and into my mouth which kind of numbed my throat, tongue and my stomach is feeling weird. Is the cartridge supposed to be really wet at first? Is it normal to taste the liquid on a fresh cartridge?

Then I tried the menthol, and the first drag caused me to cough. Is it normal to cough when vaping?

If I smoked 20 cigs a day, how long should a cart last me?

What is the equivalent of the different strength levels?
Is 24 mg like a Malboro red and low 8mg like a Parliament?

If I smoke mediums, am I okay starting with the high 16mg. strength?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scottbee]

My wife bought a SE Gold and had similar problems. She would get liquid leaking out of the mouthpiece, and then she would get inconsistent "hits", sometimes too harsh, other times too weak.

I'd like to say that we solved all of those problems on the SE, but we never really tried. I got a 510, she got a 901, and we moved on. Sorry....

 

[Arizona Dad]

I'll second that recommendation of the 510. No problems with it at all. Just be sure to clean or blow out the atty when new or you'll get a burnt taste. This will go away in about two days, but it's better to blow out the primer when new. I too, smoked about a pack of Marlboro Medium 100s a day. I've started with 16mg or 18mg and find it satisfies me. I haven't had an analog in over a month.

 

[DC2]

At first, the liquid dripped out and into my mouth which kind of numbed my throat, tongue and my stomach is feeling weird. Is the cartridge supposed to be really wet at first? Is it normal to taste the liquid on a fresh cartridge?

That will happen if your batteries are not activating properly through your entire drag.
If you intend to stick with automatic batteries you should practice in front of a mirror.

You want to get the battery going, and keep it going as long as you are inhaling.

After awhile there is a good chance you'll just decide to get a manual battery.
But if you stick with it, you can probably get the automatic batteries working for you.

Then I tried the menthol, and the first drag caused me to cough. Is it normal to cough when vaping?

Any liquid that gives you a bigger throat hit than you want will probably make you cough.

If I smoked 20 cigs a day, how long should a cart last me?

I would estimate a cartridge to be about 5 cigarettes, give or take.
Your mileage will vary.

You definitely need to be refilling cartridges yourself unless you...
1) Want to keep paying for new prefilled cartridges
2) Don't mind being stuck with the flavor choices offered
3) Don't mind being stuck with the nicotine strengths offered

What is the equivalent of the different strength levels?
Is 24 mg like a Malboro red and low 8mg like a Parliament?

It isn't quite that simple unfortunately.
In your case, however, I might suggest somewhere between 18mg and 24mg to start.

Your mileage will vary.

 

[Dredbull]

Depending on my juice and inhale IT makes me cough up a bloody storm.

 

[Joe in Miami]

I appreciate all the feedback. After a couple of days, I have the following to share:

This transition is going to harder than I expected. The experience is less of a pleasure for me and more of a means to get a quick fix of nicotine. The e-cig is more like a thin pipe, to me. I have to be careful how much I pull, otherwise I begin to cough. Menthol, although it tastes good, makes me cough...tobacco has been better.

I ordered blank carts and different juices to try and find the right flavor.

 

[Snarkyone]

There is a learning curve with each model. The 510 is best with slow long draws. There are so many post in here with tips and tricks on how to get the best performance your best bet is to just read and do a little bit of research, the answers are all here. You are only going to get out of it as much as you put in. These are not EXACT replacements for tobacco cigarettes and you have to learn how to use them and once you do that your enjoyment should increase.

 

[RobNJ74]

I appreciate all the feedback. After a couple of days, I have the following to share:

This transition is going to harder than I expected. The experience is less of a pleasure for me and more of a means to get a quick fix of nicotine. The e-cig is more like a thin pipe, to me. I have to be careful how much I pull, otherwise I begin to cough. Menthol, although it tastes good, makes me cough...tobacco has been better.

I ordered blank carts and different juices to try and find the right flavor.

If I may make a suggestion. I see you use to smoke marlboro mediums (and has been my experience that marlboro's have a fairly strong taste), I would like to suggest you try benson and hedges from litecigusa.net it is by far the closest thing to marlboro in terms of e-liquid I have tasted. Even the "marlboro flavor" doesn't as close as his benson and hedges does IMO.

Rob

 

[vapn]

I got tired of getting juice in my mouth too. I started dripping and haven't looked back. Just take the filler out of the cart and drop two to three drops on the atty and puff away. You will notice a slight change in taste and that is the time to drip some more or take a break.

Like others said, there is a definite learning curve to the e-cig but once mastered you will be glad you did. This has been the one thing that actually works to stop smoking.

 

[LameBMX]

I went through a pack of analogs over my first week of transitioning to vaping. It was mostly during the morning. Then the pack was stale and then the pack was empty and I was just like F-it and did not buy any more. Since then I noticed I would vape like a mad man in the morning. In lieu of this, I start my morning off with a drop of unflavored 36mg/ml. That sure seems to bring the nic level back up and I am not vaping like its going out of style. Though I must recommend not vaping the 36mg/ml all day as you will probably OD, I did.

Now a days I am at a tossup. I vape a lot less of the 24mg/ml juice, but 18mg/ml is plenty satisfying. I swap up flavors like crazy, I am really fond of non-tobacco flavors. Redbull is my over all favorite, Peach, Grape, Rum.

Do yourself a favor after you get weened off the analogs, and pick up a 10ml bottle of some different flavors here and there. Back in the day you basically had tobacco or menthol flavors. During the conversion process they help you get familiar with e-cigs. After you are fine with e-cigs, why smoke the same crap you just quit?

Personally I dont know if its from moving away from tobacco flavors, but I can no longer handle the taste of a cigarette. And I hate to say it, but I dont even like being in the same room with someone smoking. Though when I have a couple alcoholic beverages in me, I still try and smoke an analog. My record has been 2 hits.

Lastly to cover what some others have said, I started with a J118B and it like blew up somehow. Since then I have been smoking on a 510. Sure you have to wait on parts, but as you look through these forums, you will notice there are certain e-cigs that are successful. Don't sweat the parts, everything at the mall is too expensive anyways. Just make sure you got a spare atty and battery sitting around and you will survive shipping time. The J118B was not too bad hit wise, it was an automatic. But I ride BMX obviously and it would be activated by me pedaling around and tried to burn my thigh.

 

[sonnetjie]

I too have ditched the cartridges and am now dripping. It works, although it is a pain dripping all the time, but at least I get a decent hit and no liquid in my mouth. Hang in there!

 

[nycityjeff]

Okay...my first purchase was Blu. Hated them. Went through about 5 carts a day easy and was never satisfied. Tried purchasing some Johnson Creek Smoke Juice and refilling the carts. Still got lousy vapor and sent the Blu back for a full refund.

Then I started perusing the forums, like this one and reading, reading, reading.

Then I found awesomevapor.com and Arno. What a great guy. Ordered a DSE 901 from him. Now that was where things turned around for me. The DSE 901 is great. I went ahead and ordered some supplies to back up the starter kit. Three more atomizers, a manual battery, a USB pass-through, a USB charger and some more JC Smoke juice. I also got, not a car charger, but a car lighter to USB coverter. That works with the USB pass-through in the car, and ALSO with the USB charger, so i can either charge or vape in the car without running down batteries.

Also I ordered blank cartridges from Johnson Creek. They are the flat kind rather than the whistle-top and I think they are made much better.

I actually got sort of tired of the JC smoke juice, so now I ordered e-juice from awesomevapor, two bottles of tobacco and two of marlboro.

I have found that a great way to clean atomizers is to blow them out and let them dry batt side up overnight o a paper towel. The when they are dry I pour some vodka through them, plugging both ends with my thumb and forefinger and give them a good shake,let the vodka spill out and do this about 3 times. Then I blow them out a nd let them dry for a bit. The vodka dries fast. When they are dry I pop a fresh cartridge on, filled with juice, drop two drops on the atty bridge, attach to a fresh battery and start vaping. It takes some time for the atty to get juicy agai, but after about 5 or 6 good puffs they start vaping again like mad, and tasty as all hell.

I keep my cart stuffing fluffed and very juicy, toppig off every 10-15 puffs or so depending on how much I am vaping.

I also find that leaving them to "marinate" and let the wick get juiced for 10-15 minutes or so and they get really tasty and full of vapor.

I have had the same 4 attys for over a month now...all vaping strong. I have not had an "analog" since I got my 901 and don't want one. Keep in mind that I smoked a pack of non-filters a day.


Oh and a few more things.

When I am vaping and I put my e-cig down, I rest it in an ashtray cart side up so the juice runs down towards the atty, and not the other way.

I also keep two e-cigs assembled at a time, so I can vape almost constantly without getting the attys too hot. I charge the extra batts while using the other two, so I always have a fresh battery

One more thing I do is a fill my drop bottles about 75% to 85% with e-juice and fill the rest with VG. That produces a TON more vapor. For that reason I decided to switch from 24mg juice to 36mg juice, so when I add the VG it will be closer to 24. This way I will get a good nicotine kick, plenty of flavor and plenty of vapor .

That's my story...a happy vaper at last. The hell with cancer-sticks. I smoked over 20 years...and now I'm done!