It has been a little over a year sense I started vaping. I thought I would share my experience over time as others have done in the past. I will try to be as organized as possible. I am just going to write it with little editing.
My motivation for using e-cigs was to quit smoking. Part of this was for better heath, and the other financial reasons. I was a student at the time and had lost my job and did not plan on getting another one. On August 9th of 2009 I purchase a 510 PCC package after sometime of lurking on these boards. I did not buy any additional juice as I was not sure if I would like it or not. I was very excited when the package arrived. Opened everything up and started vaping.
My initial impressions were that it was OK. It had a decent throat hit, and the vapor production was nice. The one thing was it did not subside my cravings for cigarettes. I then decided to give 24mg and 32mg a try. I ended up settling in at 24mg as 32mg was just too much, and I tended to vape alot. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself here. After going through a few Chinese and local distibuters for juice I finally found a supplier I was happy with in terms of quality and price. So at this point I was set in terms of juice and a kit. At this point I was still smoking about 1/2 pack a day, down from about a pack a day. More on that later. First the hardware.
Hardware
Problem 1. The 510 can be a finicky ..... when you are first starting out. Most of the problems stemmed from a lack of consistency for which I quickly found out was due to the cart. And my dry carts always led to the fun and pleasurable burnt taste that many of complained about. So for the next few months I went through every cart mod imaginable. I bought a bag full of pipe screens. I purchased tea. I went to the craft store for non toxic puddy cement stuff. Played with silicon. On and on. In the end I just dumped them all and started dripping all the time. Everywhere. I still drip to this day. I also killed maybe a dozen atomizers during this process trying to figure out if it was the atty or the cart. Pulled the feed fibers out. You get the point. In any case I just wanted no fuss vaping. Dripping was the best answer at the time. (carts were too expensive)
Problem 2. Batteries for the 510 suck. I absolutely hated the PCC and constant cycling of the batteries. Not much else I can say about this.
I finally got feed up with the batteries and bought a silver bullet. It is a beast for sure. It was perfect for at home. All day and then some. It was also OK for car. I did on more then one occasion get mean looks from people. Most likely thinking I was using drugs. I assumed this anyway. I also build a laser pointer mod. This work alright, but the batteries did not last as long as I had hoped. This could have been due to builder error. It's possible there was a voltage leak due to shoddy work.
This was all good for a while. I was still smoking at school as I did not feel comfortable using the silver bullet, and using the laser was kinda suspicious. It was home made and the last thing I wanted was any issues from campus security.
Along came the ego. To wrap up this section I purchased a kit from Janty and never looked back. I finally retired my first two batteries yesterday. I purchased the kit in Jan of 2010. That is more battery life then I expected. However, I was going through about 4 cycles a day. The output was also not at strong as new batteries.
The Juice.
For a long time I purchased my juice from a supplier. Then I got the notion in my mind that I could reduce my costs by making it myself. I was right about reducing my costs, but the decision was uninformed on how good the juice would be. For my first foray into mixing my own I purchased 125ml of 60mg. liquid and a box of loranne. Gross is all I can say. I hated it. Next I bought some tobacco flarviing agents. Watery crap. I thought I was at a loss, and I missed the flavors I was used to. I had come to love 555, Malboro and RY4. I never liked the fruity flavors. I like all the tobacco flavors. In the end I just went with no nic flavors and mix my own concentration. This still saves me a little bit as I purchase my nic and flavoring in bulk. Surprisingly it still saves me over what even the discount suppliers sell juice for. This is where I am at today. Concentrate nic solution mixed with commercial flavoring.
The process.
At first vaping did nothing to curb my addiction to cigs. I still smoked the same amount. It was not until I found a flavor I liked at the right strength that I started to quit. At first I went down to about 1/2 pack. A month later I was at about 1/4 pack. I plateaued at this point. I could not seem to cut out those 5 cigs a day. Morning a few during the day and one at before bed. At this time I was also still attending college. It was not until during finals during early December of 09 that it started to 'happen'. I was studying hard as I should, and then looked up at the time. I noticed that I went through the day without smoking. That day I only had 2 cigs. After this I floated between 2 and 3 per day while not at college. Just to get the whole college thing out of the way. I smoked while on campus until my last day. Around January I was in the solid 2 a day mode. One in the morning, and one before bed. Then I just decided to quit the morning cig and vape. Not a problem. Next I quit the evening cig. This was around the end of feburary. The end of march I graduated. From this point on I have only smoked when I drink. Every time I drink (3 times a month tops) I buy a pack of cigarettes. The next morning I quit. Not a problem at all.
The milligrams.
I settled into 24 for the longest time. Then once I started mixed I dropped to 18. From there I went to 10 pretty quickly. I am still at 10. I have on occasion dropped this to 4 with no problems. However, I do feel like I need the 10. I think at this point it is more psychological then anything. I can probably mix 0 and be just fine. For me it is more about the throat hit. I could vape 32 and get poor throat hit and still not be satisfied. Throat hit is king with me. I crave, I hit, no craving.
Frequency.
I currently vape about 2 to 3 mil a day. Some times less, but never more. My current plan is to drop my mg's down to 5 in a day or two. Then a couple of months drop that to 2 (I don't know how I am going to mix that little amount). If all goes well this time next year I will not be vaping regularly at all. Maybe I will replace the cigs with a vape on beer night.
Health.
Same as what you would think. Smell (in two ways) better, taste better and breath better. Not much else I can say. Generally just feel better.
Brief advice
If you have not quit smoking yet don't worry. If you want a smoke have one. Don't stress yourself out over this. Just take it slow. You have smoked this long. What's the rush. An extra 6 months is not going to matter in the scope of your life (assuming your are not 90 and have lung problems).
Bye
Well that's about it. I don't travel these boards that often anymore. I will keep it in the back of my mind to do an update in about a year. Good luck and good heath.
My motivation for using e-cigs was to quit smoking. Part of this was for better heath, and the other financial reasons. I was a student at the time and had lost my job and did not plan on getting another one. On August 9th of 2009 I purchase a 510 PCC package after sometime of lurking on these boards. I did not buy any additional juice as I was not sure if I would like it or not. I was very excited when the package arrived. Opened everything up and started vaping.
My initial impressions were that it was OK. It had a decent throat hit, and the vapor production was nice. The one thing was it did not subside my cravings for cigarettes. I then decided to give 24mg and 32mg a try. I ended up settling in at 24mg as 32mg was just too much, and I tended to vape alot. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself here. After going through a few Chinese and local distibuters for juice I finally found a supplier I was happy with in terms of quality and price. So at this point I was set in terms of juice and a kit. At this point I was still smoking about 1/2 pack a day, down from about a pack a day. More on that later. First the hardware.
Hardware
Problem 1. The 510 can be a finicky ..... when you are first starting out. Most of the problems stemmed from a lack of consistency for which I quickly found out was due to the cart. And my dry carts always led to the fun and pleasurable burnt taste that many of complained about. So for the next few months I went through every cart mod imaginable. I bought a bag full of pipe screens. I purchased tea. I went to the craft store for non toxic puddy cement stuff. Played with silicon. On and on. In the end I just dumped them all and started dripping all the time. Everywhere. I still drip to this day. I also killed maybe a dozen atomizers during this process trying to figure out if it was the atty or the cart. Pulled the feed fibers out. You get the point. In any case I just wanted no fuss vaping. Dripping was the best answer at the time. (carts were too expensive)
Problem 2. Batteries for the 510 suck. I absolutely hated the PCC and constant cycling of the batteries. Not much else I can say about this.
I finally got feed up with the batteries and bought a silver bullet. It is a beast for sure. It was perfect for at home. All day and then some. It was also OK for car. I did on more then one occasion get mean looks from people. Most likely thinking I was using drugs. I assumed this anyway. I also build a laser pointer mod. This work alright, but the batteries did not last as long as I had hoped. This could have been due to builder error. It's possible there was a voltage leak due to shoddy work.
This was all good for a while. I was still smoking at school as I did not feel comfortable using the silver bullet, and using the laser was kinda suspicious. It was home made and the last thing I wanted was any issues from campus security.
Along came the ego. To wrap up this section I purchased a kit from Janty and never looked back. I finally retired my first two batteries yesterday. I purchased the kit in Jan of 2010. That is more battery life then I expected. However, I was going through about 4 cycles a day. The output was also not at strong as new batteries.
The Juice.
For a long time I purchased my juice from a supplier. Then I got the notion in my mind that I could reduce my costs by making it myself. I was right about reducing my costs, but the decision was uninformed on how good the juice would be. For my first foray into mixing my own I purchased 125ml of 60mg. liquid and a box of loranne. Gross is all I can say. I hated it. Next I bought some tobacco flarviing agents. Watery crap. I thought I was at a loss, and I missed the flavors I was used to. I had come to love 555, Malboro and RY4. I never liked the fruity flavors. I like all the tobacco flavors. In the end I just went with no nic flavors and mix my own concentration. This still saves me a little bit as I purchase my nic and flavoring in bulk. Surprisingly it still saves me over what even the discount suppliers sell juice for. This is where I am at today. Concentrate nic solution mixed with commercial flavoring.
The process.
At first vaping did nothing to curb my addiction to cigs. I still smoked the same amount. It was not until I found a flavor I liked at the right strength that I started to quit. At first I went down to about 1/2 pack. A month later I was at about 1/4 pack. I plateaued at this point. I could not seem to cut out those 5 cigs a day. Morning a few during the day and one at before bed. At this time I was also still attending college. It was not until during finals during early December of 09 that it started to 'happen'. I was studying hard as I should, and then looked up at the time. I noticed that I went through the day without smoking. That day I only had 2 cigs. After this I floated between 2 and 3 per day while not at college. Just to get the whole college thing out of the way. I smoked while on campus until my last day. Around January I was in the solid 2 a day mode. One in the morning, and one before bed. Then I just decided to quit the morning cig and vape. Not a problem. Next I quit the evening cig. This was around the end of feburary. The end of march I graduated. From this point on I have only smoked when I drink. Every time I drink (3 times a month tops) I buy a pack of cigarettes. The next morning I quit. Not a problem at all.
The milligrams.
I settled into 24 for the longest time. Then once I started mixed I dropped to 18. From there I went to 10 pretty quickly. I am still at 10. I have on occasion dropped this to 4 with no problems. However, I do feel like I need the 10. I think at this point it is more psychological then anything. I can probably mix 0 and be just fine. For me it is more about the throat hit. I could vape 32 and get poor throat hit and still not be satisfied. Throat hit is king with me. I crave, I hit, no craving.
Frequency.
I currently vape about 2 to 3 mil a day. Some times less, but never more. My current plan is to drop my mg's down to 5 in a day or two. Then a couple of months drop that to 2 (I don't know how I am going to mix that little amount). If all goes well this time next year I will not be vaping regularly at all. Maybe I will replace the cigs with a vape on beer night.
Health.
Same as what you would think. Smell (in two ways) better, taste better and breath better. Not much else I can say. Generally just feel better.
Brief advice
If you have not quit smoking yet don't worry. If you want a smoke have one. Don't stress yourself out over this. Just take it slow. You have smoked this long. What's the rush. An extra 6 months is not going to matter in the scope of your life (assuming your are not 90 and have lung problems).
Bye
Well that's about it. I don't travel these boards that often anymore. I will keep it in the back of my mind to do an update in about a year. Good luck and good heath.
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