Things I Wish I'd been told when I first started vaping... again.

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So, I know there is a Wiki on here, and plenty of places to go for a history lesson, but a big topic of conversation had been "Knock-offs" and these are things I thought I knew that have been clarified for me.

510: This is what I started on in 2009. It was from Joyetech and I used the manual button batteries. This was the first thing I tried to return to when I decided it was time to vape again. I kept getting "Knock-offs." Which to me, at the time, was any Non-Joytech. Finally I went to Joyetechs website to find out more about their batteries. I found out about the EGO, and the set up for the tank style EGO-C System. I had that as my first starter kit, and as my original experience with vaping was that the whole setup needed constant maintanence, leaked all over, and was a pain if you didnt constantly tweak things, I wasn't unhappy.

Then I found out one of the batteries I picked up later, while being an ego, wasn't Joyetech. I thought I was robbed! I thought I needed revenge, I thought i'd give it a try. Not a bad battery. I don't know who first made the EGO, but Ego style batteries are made by a lot of quality companies. I like Smok, they are less expensive, have shown more durability, less threading problems, etc... So, is it a knock off if it's EGO by SMOK, NO. A Knock off, to me, Is a company trying to tell you their batteries are Joyetech, Smok, Vision, when they come in a package marked Made in Mexico(they should come from China). Ego's have a serial number I believe, and you can look up wether the battery you purchased was a real Joyetech. Some have not been, and the supplier has been unable to supply the name of the company that made it. That is a bad thing. I try to send those back before problems start. If your company is selling good products, you shouldn't be lying about the manufacturer.

Another, is it a rip off or not is the CE4 and CE5 Atomizers. Again, lots of companies make them. I was told Vision is the original designer. I have found I prefer the Innokin iClear 16. I have seen these in many varying qualities, from obviously bad, to very good and less expensive.

Another thing I had wished I was told more about was Battery strength VS ohms. A lot of people will tell you Low Res is great, and it can be. If you don't buy a Smok 4.2V battery. if you do, and you attach a 1.8ohm'd EVOD you will probably regret it. There are charts all over this forum for where your voltage should be with certain Ohm's, and then you get the double coils thrown in and it all goes to shenanigans.

Rule 1 for any habit or hobby, read up on the jargon. It will seem complicated at first, but it is only as hard as you make it. This forum can hook you up with good suppliers. Those suppliers can get you a battery, atomizer (Clearomizer, cartomizer, anything that makes the vapor), Charger, and case. Start simple. Then move up. If you are shopping local, go to a vape shop, not a smoke shop. If the person selling you a set doean't vape, not the best person to buy from. It's like asking a Vegan waiter what the steak is like.

Most Cigarette looking systems are weak and more complicated than you want to start on, or require a lot more pieces and maintanence. Making your new habit more expensive than your old. Read through here, Go watch some youtubes, see what vaping 101 really is. I settled on an EGO-C, and if I hadn't known there was more to vaping I would have stopped there. Because I followed my own rules, but still didn't remember to ask if the person selling it to me knew anything about the Ego-C setup or If they had used it. I went in acting confident so I wouldn't get treated like a newbie, and I ended up with a system that has some flaws in it that you need to know how to work around to get a good experience out of it.

Now, it's been a few months. I know what I like, I know some things I don't like. I have a mod, I have multiple flavors and strengths. I'm over the newbie feeling, and I still ask the sales clerks a lot of questions. Especially in a big city like Salt Lake, where there are 2 majorly popular places to by from (1 which is also a big online supplier and listed here) and a lot of mom and pop shopd poping up. One mom and pop shop sold only Ego style batteries, with no voltage or MAH listed, and they all had Jems and stickers. $30 bottles of 10mls Juice and the worst looking CE5 Clearomizers and Vivi Novas I'd ever seen. It will be sad to see the people who discover quickly that Cost and quality do not always go hand in hand.

one last tid bit. When you get soething you like, especially is a clearomizer with disposable heads, get refills then. Vivi Novas, like the CE5s, are made by a lot of companies. I had one in a starter kit, and was going to get refills from the store, but they only sold them in packs of 5 and I just wanted 3 in varied OHMs, so I bought Vivi Nova heads somehwere else and they don't fit. Because one was by smok, the other... who knows, the store went out of business in under a week.
 
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SupplyDaddy

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Good post! With the exception of specifically names items (eVic, Provari, EA and the like) I don't worry about knock offs myself. While I would like to think that if I buy a Vivi Nova, that it Is a Vivi Nova, I'm not going to sweat it, that is, as long as the replaceable parts fit.
If that works, it works for me.
When I want the actual item, I buy the actual item. When I want something that works for me, I get what I get!
 

mjrhartley

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It can be a complicated and confusing road to tread...
Luckily for me, I had a co-worker who had done all of the heavy lifting for me. I simply picked his brain for about three weeks, and then bought his set-up. So I started on a Vamo, which I love, with Kanger T3's... I have since been made a ProTank convert. My research was done simply by bothering that guy for three weeks!
 

candik

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I knew someone who worked in a vegetable canning factory. Using the same batch of peas, at the beginning of a run, they would load brand X labels, fill those cans and then they would switch to brand y labels, fill those cans and so on and so on. Same peas, different labels. My point being that even though the product was the same, the brand label wasn't. I'm gonna venture out and say chances are, it's no different in other areas of products. Especially in areas that are growth market competitive like the e-cig is showing itself to be.

Whether a product is a knock off or not, doesn't matter to me if it works the way I need it to. In my mind, it doesn't matter if it carries a name or comes with a pedigree or not. It just has to have the same working bits and performance. Sometimes after market or knock off products do and sometimes they don't. And sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised when the so called "fake" product works better. I do most of my shopping from overseas and thus far I've been fortunate in that I've gotten exactly what I thought I was getting.
 

Uncle Willie

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I knew someone who worked in a vegetable canning factory. Using the same batch of peas, at the beginning of a run, they would load brand X labels, fill those cans and then they would switch to brand y labels, fill those cans and so on and so on. Same peas, different labels. My point being that even though the product was the same, the brand label wasn't. I'm gonna venture out and say chances are, it's no different in other areas of products. Especially in areas that are growth market competitive like the e-cig is showing itself to be.

Not quite the same .. a knock off would be a stolen design .. rarely of the same quality as the original and manufactured the cheapest way possible ..

I always make it a point to email a vendor on any product that may be questionable .. especially if the price is too good to be true .. and although China may manufacture most of the e-cig goods, I prefer to buy from a company located within the USA .. even if it costs more ..
 

BigLebowski

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Salt Lake is not really a big city, I lived there for 3 years and loved it because it was the appeal of a big city with medium feel. Have you tried Salt Lake Vapors, I've been wondering if they are any good (vendor/e-juice). I hear their advertising on the radio all the time but don't feel like driving an hour to be disappointed. Glad you are back on the e-cig, it's been almost a month for me and I don't regret it one bit. Healthier and have a new, albeit expensive, hobby.
 

Baditude

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Not quite the same .. a knock off would be a stolen design .. rarely of the same quality as the original and manufactured the cheapest way possible ..

I always make it a point to email a vendor on any product that may be questionable .. especially if the price is too good to be true .. and although China may manufacture most of the e-cig goods, I prefer to buy from a company located within the USA .. even if it costs more ..
I agree with this.

China manufactures nearly all of our ecig supplies. A select few of these companies are innovators of design and put in the tough work of making new products. The other companies steal these designs and manufacture them using cheaper parts and materials with little or no quality control. Patents and copyrights do not exist in China, at least they are not enforced if they do. The result is many of the knockoffs either don't work out of the box or don't last long.

This has been the business practice/philosophy of China for years. Their standards are not the same as the rest of the world, in particular the US. The Chinese prefer to make an inexpensive product in order to sell more numbers. They seem to give little thought to longer warranties or after-market service. "If your devices break or stop working, just buy some more, their cheap."

The US and the rest of the world manufacturers make higher quality products, utilize more conscientious workers, and offer better service after the sale. They care about their company reputation and are often willing to go the extra mile for the customer. You will not see this with China products. You will pay a higher price for better products and service, though. But you usually get value for what you pay for.

I am willing to pay a higher price for quality and durability so I often buy USA products when given the opportunity.

This is my opinion, and others may choose to disagree with me.
 
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candik

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Not quite the same .. a knock off would be a stolen design .. rarely of the same quality as the original and manufactured the cheapest way possible ..

I always make it a point to email a vendor on any product that may be questionable .. especially if the price is too good to be true .. and although China may manufacture most of the e-cig goods, I prefer to buy from a company located within the USA .. even if it costs more ..

You are right, a knock off is just that a knock off. But sometimes, (and I suppose I should have been a little clearer on this), an after market isn't necessarily a knock off, it's the same product without the same label. Usually the quality is there and sometimes it's not. I've been lucky in that the products I've bought (yes they had brand names attached to them), have turned out to at least perform the way they're supposed to. I think it doesn't matter whether you buy it here or there or wherever. You still have to have a modicum of trust in the vendor that what they represent to you is what it is supposed to be.
 

Uncle Willie

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You are right, a knock off is just that a knock off. But sometimes, (and I suppose I should have been a little clearer on this), an after market isn't necessarily a knock off, it's the same product without the same label. Usually the quality is there and sometimes it's not. I've been lucky in that the products I've bought (yes they had brand names attached to them), have turned out to at least perform the way they're supposed to. I think it doesn't matter whether you buy it here or there or wherever. You still have to have a modicum of trust in the vendor that what they represent to you is what it is supposed to be.

I buy from USA Vendors in order to support USA business .. it has nothing to do with trust ..
 
Very Important ( Leoleoleo, who said they wished someone had told them to look at their tanks before taking them off.) and I am a horrible person for forgetting that. Should have been top of the list. I have an SVD, and with the ring on I am often removing my Carto tank or Ismoka BBC and getting covered in fluid. All that poor E-juice going to waste... It's worth crying over spilled e-juice.
 
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