The Wild West Days of E-cigarettes

[shaun]

admittedly i am a relatively new to e-cigs. i quit smoking 3 months ago and i absolutely love them... when they work!

currently though, it seems as that we are in the "wild west days" of E-cigs. there's lots of user confusion, widely varying product quality, lack of universal standards and scams.

the learning curve for e-cigs knowledge is far from sharp. it's mired in a dozen different battery/atomizer/cartridge models each of which have several names for the same device! for instance an E9 is also called an 808D-2 meanwhile there is no appreciable difference in performance between an E8 and an E9, well except for the fact that one is 1 mm greater in diameter and has a different thread pitch between its sub-components.

i'm not complaining, just making an observation that the messy state of things is common in all new industries. in the future, if e-cigs gain more popuarity and are not banned, i see the standardization of device parameters and a more cohesive lexicon that is easily understood by all users.

 

[skinny]

AGREE It is the wild west, and I love it!
It will get standardized, It will get FDA (whatever they plan on), and It will be main stream. I give it 2 years before it's common place.

 

[Automaton]

This is definitely the guinea pig stage, and we're the guinea pigs (although I prefer to think of us as pioneers ).

Maybe I was lucky - I did my research before buying, got my e-cig, and have had a lot of luck with it performing consistently, plus or minus a couple of bad cartos.

But I could have just as easily gotten the same model kit from the same supplier that just didn't work right. Even the best of suppliers have that happen on a fairly regular basis, just because there is so little production standard.

And that gives us the responsibility of being really vocal about what's working and what isn't. There's a new cartomizer model for the Kr8 coming out soon that apparently uses no filler. Because what's the number one problem with cartos? Burnt filler.

It's not available in the US yet, but will be soon, and do I plan to try it? Heck yeah. We just gotta keep trying stuff and letting the industry know how it's working. I think it will only be another year or two before e-cigs are consistent enough to become truly mainstream.

The 2-piece system was a big leap forward for getting people into it. The 3-pieces do a lot of things well, and lots of people like them, but they're not necessarily beginner-friendly, and the constant maintenance keeps a lot of people away. My first encounter with an e-cig was a super-mini 3-piece, and while I thought it was really cool, I have to say the temperamental performance and upkeep required made me decide to save my money for a while.

It's a year later, and now I have a 2-piece and I'm happy. What's more, I've discovered that I'm actually interested in trying out dripping. I'm doing DIY and thinking about mods, and I'm glad to be part of a community like this.

As new frontiers go, this particular Wild West is a pretty awesome one to be involved with right now.

 

[Israfil]

Honestly, I think we're getting towards the end of the "wild west" phase. As for the learning curve for them, it becomes a rather quick thing once you figure out what they are really made of.