Tips and tricks for a Newbie plz?

[I3lackCat777]

Hello pretty new to the whole vapor scene but seems like it could be for me. I've bought a blu starter kit to start out with which I found out after some online research probably not the best experience I could be getting. I also bought some juice from johnsons creek and got it a few days ago. Only thing is I'm pretty sure i'm refilling these things right but it doesn't seem to "bring them back to life" like I was expecting. I figured it would make'em close to how they were when I first started the carto. So far just got to try on the Blu carts, the 5 variety it came with and the 5 pack of regular tobacco flavor I bought.

If any tips or tricks to a new person thats really wanting to get off analogs and go with vapor, but just doesn't seems to be getting that good hit yet, please hit me up.

Thanks

 

[lokivapor]

Try an ego kit in my eyes way batter thin that kit make sure you have enough juice and cartos or attys so you don't run out

Sent from my HUAWEI-M920 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Harplayr]

Probably the easiest and most foolproof method of refilling a cartomizer is the "condom method". This video is one of the best on how to do it...



BTW: I also started with Blu. While there are better systems out there, I was able to quit analogs using them. Unless you are really unhappy with them, I suggest you keep on using them. They DO work.

If on the other hand you want to go with a different system, please tell us something about your comfort level regarding things like budget, do you want to stay with a cigarette form factor, automatic vs manual batteries among other things so we can help you out rather than just shouting out our favorite device.

Also you can only refill cartomizers so many times (varries on juice you use) before the coils and filler get gunked up and don't work as well as when new. Have you tried fresh blank cartomizers?

What Johnson Creek juice are you using, maybe a different juice would work better for you.

 

[minkaz]

Relatively new to this as well. i went with a 30 dollar riva 510 kit. Seems to be working great for me. I did add some vision clearomizers to the kit. I second the notion to have enough juice on hand to not run out, lest you be cursing the mailman for not showing up earlier than usual...

 

[Mustang73064]

If you can find one close to home visit a Vapor Store in your area. Nothing beats hands on while someone is doing show and tell.

 

[I3lackCat777]

Yea i've seen that video actually but can't really apply that method since they are the blu cartos. The juice itself is the Johnsons Creek Red Oak Silverthorn. It seems to taste pretty good but only seems to last a few puffs.

I actually tried boling a few of the flavor cartos I didnt like as much and tried refilling them today doesnt seem to be working to well though. And btw I've been poping the top off of the cart and droping drops along the sides untill they look wet on top to refill these.

and budget isn't the most in the world right now, but wouldn't be apposed to looking into a better not to expensive system if its a tried and true improvement over the blu lol.

harplayr you said you used the blu at first and quit analogs with it, what were some of you averages as far as battery life and how long the carts lasted?

 

[ek9max]

Make sure to get a good kit. A crappy kit that dry hits and tastes bad will make you want your smokes again.

 

[I3lackCat777]

Yea I know what ya mean, but i really like the blu kit when i first start on a new cart. Got a new 5 pack today gonna really try and soon as the taste starts to go sour gonna swap and top em off and see if that works a bit better.

 

[Doogmar]

harplayr you said you used the blu at first and quit analogs with it, what were some of you averages as far as battery life and how long the carts lasted?

I'm not harplayr, but I started with a Blu system about a month ago. I smoked almost a pk a day of Camels. Blu's helped me quit smoking, but I quickly changed systems. My main issue on it was battery life. It seemed like a was getting a few hours out of the batteries, and then sometimes one would die, and the one in the PCC (charging pack) wasn't charged yet (I think one of my batteries was bad.) The amount of switching drove me crazy, and I didn't like the auto batteries....it seemed like I had to draw hard to get a hit.

When I got the system, I was under the impression that one carto equaled a pack and a half or something like that, which after researching is not really true. When I started I kinda made 1 carto last me a full day, but then I noticed I was going through 1 1/2 a day. About a week and a half later I switched systems. I never refilled the Blu cartos, but I imagine refilling them would be tougher than others since it doesn't have a big condom to use to refill them from the bottom. If I was going to I would probably put drops in from the top, but you just have to be more patient. It probably needs like 30 drops or so to fill an empty carto, and if you are dripping it in you will probably have to wait for the filler to soak it up and get to the bottom.

The next one I got was a V2 system, with manual batteries, and a passthrough (I love the passthrough.) Instead of buying prefilled cartos, I am using ejuice to fill blank ones (I have 7 different flavors, and getting more ) While I love this system, I want to move on to something better since I love vaping now. I was going to get the new Lavatube, but since they are recalibrating them with no definite release date, I just sucked it up and bought a Provari, which comes in tomorrow. Oh and since I started refilling my own cartos I notice I vape more, and go through 2-3 cartos a day.

 

[tidegirl]

When you boiled the cartos, how long did you let them dry before you refilled them? It takes cartos a really long time to dry out, probably about a day.

 

[cosmopaladin]

Whatever kit or parts or supplier you go with I would suggest 510 threads/size/standard. That is because that is the most common size for extra parts, mods and that kind of thing. That way you can buy new cartages, cartomizer/clearomizers or tanks from just about any online store as they all have lots of 510 size things and it will fit on your battery and vise versa. At some point you might want to get, a passthough, bigger batteries maybe get a big dual coil cartomizer tank or something. doing everything 510 makes it easier and the blu stuff you have is all 510. The other big standard is 910 and there are only a couple other thread conections thread sized used actually. Personally I like the 510 thread and it is the easiest to get parts for and I would suggest sticking to it.

Also mixing your own juice is easy and fun. Also have fun trying differnt amounts of PG and VG in juice. VG has more of a taste (sweet) and produces noticeably more vapor. It is less effecient in transfering nicotine. PG does not mute flavor as much and some people have allegic reactions (most peoples issue are dehydration as both absorbe water and withdrawl from analogs). Here is some more information on them http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/177551-pg-vg-peg.html. Throat hit is the amount of nicotine you feel btw as this post does not describe the nictoine (or anything else) amount caried in base liquid.

Also I like medium (2.5-3.5) to small (1.5-2.5ml) tanks and clearomizers (which are tanks) over normal cartomizers and cartrages. Besides the size and convenience I don't like polyfill, it is the least studies part of e-cigs and most concerning to me. Likly not an issue as only small amounts of it burn and fire hazard reports I have read say polyester burning is not harmful unless exposed to a lot in a short time. Still it bothers me and flame ......ent polyester (used in some e-cig though I don't think to many) is a bit more harmful, but I have no idea how much.

 

[Harplayr]

Yea i've seen that video actually but can't really apply that method since they are the blu cartos. The juice itself is the Johnsons Creek Red Oak Silverthorn. It seems to taste pretty good but only seems to last a few puffs.

I actually tried boling a few of the flavor cartos I didnt like as much and tried refilling them today doesnt seem to be working to well though. And btw I've been poping the top off of the cart and droping drops along the sides untill they look wet on top to refill these.

and budget isn't the most in the world right now, but wouldn't be apposed to looking into a better not to expensive system if its a tried and true improvement over the blu lol.

harplayr you said you used the blu at first and quit analogs with it, what were some of you averages as far as battery life and how long the carts lasted?

The condom method works just fine with Blu carotmizers. There's nothing really different about their cartomizers than others like Boge. I generally got about a week or so out of the cartomizers. When the draw got tight or flavor muted I'd toss them. If you go with another brand of cartomizer like Boge, get the standard resistance ones and not the low resistance. Small batteries can't handle the higher current draw a low resistance cartomizer requires.

As far as battery life goes, I use their Premium 100 system which has a larger battery capicity than the standard Blu you get a Walgreens. It also has a better charging case. The Standard batteries are rated at 80mah, and the Premium 100's are rated at 220mah. I was getting about 3-4 hours out of the battery. blu Cigs Battery Specifications | blu Cigs E Cigarettes. The rule of thumb around here is that 100mah equals about an houre of vape time, but that varies on your vaping style.

As far as Johnson Creek Juices go, I personally liked the Tenessee Cured (24mg strength) and found that the Origional had more flavor than the Red Oak. You may want to try some other flavors and even some other juice makers. There's some really great stuff out there! There's plenty of threads that offer suggestions so I'm not going to hijack this one with flavor recommendations.

After hearing so many good things about Smokeless Image Volt, I gave them a try and did find their system clearly superior to Blu, so I gave my Blu to a friend who is still using it to quit. The Smokeless Image Volt is 330mah (longer life), Sealed so a few drips won't destroy the battery and regulated at 3.6v for a stronger more consistant vape. I feel it's the best cigarett form factor system out there. Smokeless Image | Only The Best Electronic Cigarette | Smokeless Image Electronic Cigarettes - The Future is in your hands

While I still use my Volt as I like the feel of a cigarette like PV, I also have larger batteries like a Twist and Spinner. These provide a great vape, but are more clunky and less like a cigarette. It's a personal choice on whether you go larger or more complex or not, but you can still get a great vape with a quality cig look-a-like.

 

[I3lackCat777]

Thanks for all the replies guys some good information to look into. How do you do the condom method with a blu carto? Mine don't come with the rubber tip to dip them down into, just that very small rubber tip that covers the threads.

Also I've been looking into the V2 system and think that is my next buy. What is the pass-through you were talking about?

 

[Doogmar]

Yeah the Blu's don't come with a condom like the other cartos. If you want to refill one I would suggest take the top part out with tweezers, or your fingernail, and then drip fill from the top (some of the Blu cartos also have a silcon ring under the cap, take that out too.) Tip the carto over a bit and drip down the sides, rotating it as you go...ideally you don't want it down the middle. You'll have to wait a bit for the juice to make its way down to the bottom (you should be able to get at least 20-30 drops in it). If you get it down the middle hole, you can blow it out when you are done (into a paper towel.) There are youtube videos out there, I saw them when I started, I just don't remember who or where. I guess you could put drops into the little condom they give you on the Blus, but it might take a few times to get it full.

In terms of the V2 I enjoyed it for what it was, but realize that its a bit different in that it has kr808 threads (most things tend to have 501 or ego threads.) There are plenty of 808 cartos out there, but your Blu cartos wont be compatible, and if you upgrade in the future you'll probably end up with 510 or ego threads. You can buy adapters to use the 808 on a 510 or the other way around (I am using a 510-808 adapter to use my 808's on my Provari.) A lot of people here also suggest Smoov or V4Life (if you need a cigarette style) but looking them up, they also have 808 threads I believe. If you don't have to have a cig style one, I would suggest one of the Ego's everyone tells new people to try.

This is the V2 pass through USB E Cigarette | Notebook Cig | V2 Cigs . While at home this is mostly what I used as you just plug it into a usb port and you can keep vaping without wearing down your batteries, and get no voltage lost as a result of batteries going low. If you go this route you can get a starter kit bundle that will have 2 batteries, passthrough, and a PCC (charge kit for on the go.) Also make sure you get manual batteries, they give a better hit. Btw the Smoov and V4life have kits with all this stuff too. If you have juice, you'll probably want some blank cartos too.

Btw if you want to upgrade from a cig style here's a good review of the Ego twist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-Ol8qWPic&feature=g-all-c

 

[I3lackCat777]

cool thanks for the info

 

[michliu]

I started with Blu as well and used the standard kit for 6 months before moving up to an Ego battery. I thought the Blu was great for what it was, but when the batteries started to die and I was only getting 15 minutes of vape time, it was time to upgrade. If you are ready to move on from the Blus, the Ego batteries have the same thread and you can still use your leftover Blu cartridges on them. I never tried using other cartomizers on the Blu, but I imagine standard resistance ones will work, and you can refill them, and finally take advantage of the condom method others have mentioned. I tried a couple of times to refill the Blu cartridges, but had the same experience you did, they just didn't seem to last long, the new flavors didn't come through, and it was a major messy pain.

It all comes down to where you are in your ecig journey. If you are ready to move to a bigger battery like the Egos, a whole new world opens up with dripping atomizers, tanks, and even better batteries. In the few months since using Blu, I've used the Ego, the Ego Twist, and now a Lavatube. And I switch between a Vivi Nova tank and a Phoenix rebuildable atomizer. You can't beat the Vivi Nova tank for simplicity and vape time between refills, and the mini version is still small and inconspicuous.

If you still want to stick with the Blu batteries, at least try some different cartomizers. The polyfill in the Blus seem to be too thick, so it takes forever for them to soak up new juice and they hold onto the flavor of what was in it before. I have found the wide range of juices to be half the fun. The VG-based juices of the Blu have a really muted flavor, compared to everything I have tried since. More PG in your juices will result in better flavor, better throat hit, and will saturate your cartomizers a lot better. Anyway, just my experience. Ask away with questions and read, read, read. This site has been a godsend for me.