Started with Blu, waiting for my Volt.

[WhatSheSaid]

I picked up a Blu starter kit at Walgreens the other day and I would say it has been a fantastic intro, but definitely not something I'm going to stick with. Pros- taste, vapor amount. Cons- battery life, poor build. My number one pet peeve is that some of the carts "whistle" when I'm dragging. So the Blu is going back to Walgreens and I'm happily awaiting my volt. I am curious about Volt's flavors, though. They don't review as highly as Blu (Johnson Creek, I've read). My favorite Blu flavors are cherry, vanilla and regular. I don't care as much for coffee and menthol (hate menthol analogs), but I'd love to find a good coffee flavor. Am I better off getting blanks and ordering (expensive) JC juices? Any other juice recs? It's still cheaper than analogs! Anyway, I've been lurking here since I got my Blu and just wanted to introduce myself.

I've never been a very dedicated smoker (anywhere from 2-10 cigs a day, mostly morning, after meals), but I do depend on those few smokes a day. I just got a state employee job and tobacco is prohibited on state property, so I figured this would help me with my after lunch smoke and I wouldn't return from lunch all stinky like smoke. The reason I decided on the cig-sized pieces was because of portability. If I end up thoroughly getting into the vaping thing, I'll probably upgrade my batteries to the x2s. Anyhoo, I've combed over the forum and it's an amazing resource. Always open to recs, especially for flavors!

 

[Harplayr]

I think you'll be very happy with your Volt. It out performs the Blu Premium 100's so it will certainly be much better than the lower end Blu sold at Walgreens.
Try some of their sample packs and see if you like their flavors.
If you don't, go over to Johnson Creek. They make the juice for Blu and you may find something similar to those Blu flavors you like. From there the juice options are endless! There are hundreds of juice makers and thousands of flavors. Read reviews and try samples of what seem interesting.

 

[panhandleguy]

You should enjoy the Volt. the V2's are probably around the corner for you and are a great upgrade.
If I had to do it over again I would have went straight to them.
I really enjoy their ry4. Have heard the vanilla is good, and am waiting on the cappucino now.

 

[Scootawho]

Volt has some of the best 555 blends around, I've been told (haven't tried others, but have a carto filled with it right now, and it's spectacular). RY4's another good one. Their grape flavors are very highly recommended (I've only tried new grape and loved it, tasted like kool-aid, but I've heard classic grape is good too). Their coffee flavor seems to be hit or miss on whether or not someone likes it. Their cherry is a bit underwhelming; imagine cherry flavored cough medicine. Doesn't taste bad, just doesn't taste like cherry.

Other than those, the only recommendation I can give is dependent on what you smoked before switching over to ecigs. Their Freedom flavor tastes similar to American Spirit blacks, their Cowboy flavor tastes like Marlboro virginia blends and their Desert Joe flavor reminds me of Camels (though I was never enough of a Camel smoker to point to anything specific as being what it reminds me of).

Volt has a great selection, grab one or two of their sample packs (I'd recommend the "Sweet" and "Smooth" samplers), try 'em out for yourself.

 

[sailorman]

The Volt is the best hardware you can get in a mini-cig size. Their juice gets mixed reviews.
They use a Kanger horizontal coil 808 cartomizer and you can get blank one at SI or a lot of other sites.
In terms of the e-cig itself, there is no "upgrade", including V2 or V4L or any other brand.

You can upgrade the juice, but you don't select an e-cig for the juice. You select an e-cig for how it vaporizes what you put in it's cartridge.

Many people like JC juices. They are good, and that's about the only thing a Blu has going for it. But JC is not even close to the best juice available. Get some blank cartomizers and try some of the other juice makers. That's the way to make the most of your Volt, or any other mini-cig. The Volt makes it easy and if it doesn't taste great in the Volt, it won't taste great in any other mini-cig type of e-cig.

 

[sailorman]

You should enjoy the Volt. the V2's are probably around the corner for you and are a great upgrade.
If I had to do it over again I would have went straight to them.
I really enjoy their ry4. Have heard the vanilla is good, and am waiting on the cappucino now.

I hope you meant the X2, as in the Volt's X2 battery, and not the V2, which is a brand of e-cig, similar but inferior to the Volt.

 

[DedTV]

Same path I took. The Blu wasn't good enough to get me off cigs but it was good enough for me to learn that vaping could work to get me off cigs and I know from long experience that if I can find something decent at Walgreens, I can find something better online. So that's what I did. Found some Youtube reviews and decided on a Bloog. Went to their site, found they were out of stock on everything, sent an email asking when they'd be back in stock, got an utterly unhelpful email back almost a week later saying "we'll put it on the website when we get more" so I looked for an alternative and found SI. Couldn't be happier.

I am curious about Volt's flavors, though.

SI readily admits they're a hardware vendor, not a juice vendor. They carry a few high quality Chinese juices that have been popular with their customers but have no problem with people going elsewhere for juices.
The first non-SI juice vendor I tried was actually recommended to me by one of the SI's customer service reps (and he was spot on. I was looking for an Orange flavor, he told me to go to Pink Spot, and I'm on my 3rd 120ml bottle of their Orange ).

There's tons of high quality juice vendors out there. I don't like coffee (or cherry, vanilla or tobacco flavors) so I can't recommend anything but there's lots of reviews in the Juice forums here and on Youtube. Search through them, order a few sample bottles and you'll likely find something you love.

 

[WhatSheSaid]

Thank you all for the awesome advice! I can tell I'm going to love it here.

 

[Harplayr]

Thank you all for the awesome advice! I can tell I'm going to love it here.

I'm sure you will like it here. The people are fantastic!
We've all been exactly where you are, and most of us were helped along by good honest advice from the people in this forum.
I can't think of a better place to learn about vaping than right here.

 

[grego66]

I stopped smoking analogs as soon as my Volt arrived on the 7th May. I had searched a lot of of reviews when I decided to go the E.Cig route and the Volt was always recommended, as it turns out they were very fair reviews. I can't compare it to anything else because I haven't tried anything else but I am more than happy with it, I have only felt the need for an anolog once on around the third day but that urge soon went away after I started tooting on the Volt.

I have since from SI ordered two sets of blanks, two more 78mm batteries, another usb charger and a bottle of their Classic Grape and Chocolate. I could quite easily have stayed on their chocolate as my everyday smoke but wanted to explore other juices.

As for the other juices I have so far tried juices from Alien Visions and Virgin Vapor, all 100% VG. I get great taste from all the juices that I have tried. I am currently using Bees Knees from Alien Visions a free sample 10% PG 90% VG and the throat hit is perfect for me it also has a subtle honey taste.

I think you will love the Volt. There is a bit of a learning curve about when to re-fill or change the carto and also determining what needs to be done to get the good 'hit' back as in does the battery need changing/charging or do I need to re-fill but once you work that out it can be as convenient as an analog.

I would recommend the Volt I believe you made a good choice.