Two Weeks of Experience: The Novel

[galyna]

I wanted to thank Garnoch for being so thorough here. I'm completely new to this so the info was REALLY helpful. I knew exactly what to expect with my Sidesho.

Some of the information might have been obvious to experienced people, but wasn't obvious to me. For instance, I instinctively tried to get the inner cart out with a pair of tweezers. *shrug* Didn't occur until I re-read to use a paper clip on the other side and push it out!

I ordered the blue foam bits from strictlyejuice at the same time I ordered my Sidesho so I'd have that available for the cart mod. Maybe Tony might want to offer that in future, since it seems so many Sidesho users consider it almost mandatory? I also made sure I got the hybrid kit so I could try out the different battery styles, and knew that the atty would take a while to break in and so made allowances for that.

Thanks so much for the time to put this together! I was able to get a wonderful system going in a fraction of the time thanks to you!

 

[Garnoch]

Nor was it obvious to me so I'm glad it helped. Soon I think I may update this with what I've learned after three months. You're really welcome. Good luck!

 

[DC2]

Nor was it obvious to me so I'm glad it helped. Soon I think I may update this with what I've learned after three months. You're really welcome. Good luck!

I'd love to read it.

 

[jjrose]

Thanks for the review! I just ordered mine.

 

[VaporingQueen]

That was a great read Garnoch! I too have a sidesho and had a simular experience, glad you could put it into words. BTW Tony does offer the blue foam now, ordered mine yesturday.

 

[mini_art]

Very interesting read, and pretty accurate for most new vapors I think.
I thought I might chime in with a tip about juice changing flavor.
Shake the heck out of that bottle before you fill. It is such a little thing, it is so easy to
forget to do it. It does make a differance.
Also, your taste buds will do some pretty strange things at first. If you ever choose to not smoke cigs at all it will still take a month perhaps more for your taste buds to recover and settle down.
Not to much to do about it except wait it out, then realize how good food tastes too
LOL

 

[wltec]

Lol - that was very well written and a joy to read, Garnoch. i have to agree with another poster, don't let the size of the post discourage you folks from reading it. I easily substitued my wife for yours.
Though now i'm alittle worried since i only ordered 1 vap to try out and i might not see it again, until i order another one for her.8-o
thanks for chuckle.

 

[woolfe99]

Yeah was a good read. I cracked up at the confusion over terminology on the board because it was exactly what I encountered. "Cartomizer" really threw me for a loop. Too bad this post wasn't on page 1 a month ago when I first got into this as it would have saved me a lot of confusion, forum search queries, and googling.

Anyway, I started with a blucig which I am still vaping but have an Ego on order that should be arriving on Friday.

- wolf

 

[rebarooski]

Like others i wish i had read this post before i ordered a blu. It has since been returned and i received my sidesho yesterday. Major improvement with vapor and TH. Will try the mods now for hopefully even better results. MV has been a pleasure to deal with in every aspect.

JJ

 

[Garnoch]

So glad people still found this helpful. I haven't visited this thread in a long time. I'm 9 months in now and still going strong. I'm still contemplating another update with what I know now - but I feel I'm still learning. I've kept it fairly simple and haven't started building my own though haha.

 

[Garnoch]

I'm bumping this because I've hit the one year point. I've recently responded to a couple emails from a friend who is about to move off analogs. My thought was that I could post my replies in case it helped anyone else. Anyone is free to add to this thread or even send me a PM with questions. I had a lot of help from here when I started out and even though I spend most of my time in the Modern Vapor forum here, I pop over here occasionally as well and do what I can all around to give back. So here come come updates from me that I'll separate in the attempt to not create another novel. All I hope is that it helps someone.

 

[mlinky]

So, if you started today, what would you recommend to a new vaper?

 

[Garnoch]

First I should once again say something that I initially stated. I don't mean this as an ad for a company but I should probably state what I'm using. I've tried several things but have stuck with my main hardware provider, ModernVapor. Tony over there is known for his customer service and fast shipping and has attempted to tweak hardware designs to improve his products. All of which I admire and I feel loyal to people who care about their company and will respond to people. So I started with his Sidesho which is almost the size of an analog. I still use it in fact for dripping. Even though its small, Its output is insane. I don't like to drip most of the time though so I moved onto his 902 which is a little more like a 510, but is known for not running quite as hot and has less leakage. This means not as much burnt taste, a little more flavor and just as much vapor. I loved the 902 but when he released the 902SS which is low resistance, I was in heaven. Just a tad more throat hit and vapor, nice. I then moved onto his LUX. Its very EGO like in size but still uses the 902 attys. Oh hey, this is all interchangeable with 510 parts as well. Because of the popularity of the 510, he had made some design changes a while back to ensure compatibility. So I moved on to the LUX because I wanted to stick with MV but wanted a battery that would last much longer. The LUX lasts about 6 times longer than a Sidesho or 902 battery. Because of lots of requests, he decided to have 902 cartomizers designed. I didn't want to go the cartomizer route, but decided to at least try them out. Glad I did. Follow the link to see why in my cartomizer novel (rather than me retyping my thoughts here). So I mainly use a LUX with 902 cartomizers, which also dripping occasionally on 902 or Sidesho attys. I'm very happy.

 

[mlinky]

Thats great! I have been using my eGo with the Boge 2ohm cartos, and I'm happy with the combination (similar set-up to yours?)

 

[Garnoch]

Mlinky, there are a lot of great vendors out there and a lot of people will give you great advice. Most of them will be correct in their findings as well, so do what I did and find a company that gets great reviews on their customer service. The friend I mentioned place his order with modern vapor on Friday and on Monday he said he should receive it the next day. THEN he checked his mail and already had it. What I say is just MY opinion, but you can't go wrong with ModernVapor.com. If I wasn't hung up on it looking like an analog, I wish I had done what I use now. A LUX with a 902 cartomizer. Honestly, a cartomizer would have made my life so much easier. I'm glad I still use attys sometimes too though. Its a must and you'll see why in one of the emails to my friend.

 

[Garnoch]

Very very similar so I'm glad your happy. Its hard at first and if you're already happy, assuming you started in Nov 2010, then you did great.

 

[Garnoch]

Here's an email from a friend......

1. One of those articles talked about cleaning the atty…what needs to be cleaned?
2. When u asked “Are you using a cartomizer or an atomizer and cart?” Let me see if I figured this out.. cartomizer is the prefilled atty’s (one-piece and disposable?) and the atomizer and the cart is the atty that came with the kit and one of your own juice filled carts (reusable). Thought I would try.
3. When u told me to saturate the blank cartridge..won’t it drip out all over .
4. When I take the little round cap at the end with the hole in it….There appears to be no hole that the smoke can come through on the plastic…Is it suppose to be that way? Or do I have to put a hole in it?
5. I did figure out by some of the articles that the pre-filled carts have to be punctured through the aluminum foil…correct?
6. In one of the above mentioned articles it mentioned priming the atty…Is this necessary on the Lux? And if so, what needs to be done.

 

[Garnoch]

Here was my reply......

First I'll try to explain the difference between attys vs cartos so these answers make sense.
-An atomizer (atty) is known as a two-piece (or a three-piece ecig (PV Personal Vaporizer) counting the battery). There is the actual atomizer with the heating element that vaporizes or atomizes the juice and then there is the cartridge (inner cart or just cart) that contains the juice. That cart fits into the end cap (outer cart) which is usually a round-tip or flat-tip. Most people do a mod on the carts because they dont transfer the juice to the atty all that efficiently. I found that the easiest mod that made a big difference was to pull out the foam on all my carts and replace it with blue marine foam. I'd then use it for at least a month or two before replacing the atty and the foam, keeping the cart and tip. My initial fill would be 20 drops and my refills would be about 15 drops. These can be bought as pre-filled or blanks (fill your own).
-A cartomizer (carto) is a one-piece (or two-piece PV with battery). Its a combo atomizer and cartridge all in one. Instead of there being a cart, the filler material is wrapped around the heating element. These are shorter without an end cap, but they are a lot easier to refill, more comfortable on the mouth and look better on a LUX if you take an end cap from an atty and put it on the carto. I buy blank cartos now mostly and I use a paperclip to take the white end off and the inner o-ring. No mod is needed because the filler material is great and transfers juice to the heating element beautifully. I then fill them up initially with 25 drops of juice, 5 at a time, and then leave the o-ring and white end off. I then put a round-tip end cap on it which is very easy to pop off to refill juice. My refill is close to 20 drops. These don't last as long before you feel they aren't taking as much juice or its becomes a little harder to take a drag. I use several at a time, but on average I give each about a week or so, say 10 days. This makes them cheaper than using an atty. Also easier to refill and a much more consistent drag. These also can be bought as pre-filled or blanks (fill your own).
-Prefilled cartos come with no aluminum to be punctured and come with rubber "condoms" on both ends. These are good if you like the flavor and can still be refilled.
-Prefilled carts for your atty come with aluminum foil you must puncture. They suck and hopefully the only ones you have are the ones that came with the kit. These do not come with "condom" ends. After use, throw the cart away, but keep the atty and round-tip end cap.

1. What happens is after time, juice residue can build up on the heating element. It can also clog the tiny holes you see on the thread. See those holes suck in air from between the atty and battery, which then goes though the atty, around the side of the cart, out the hole in the cap and into your mouth. Some people take their atty off their cart every night and put it on a paper towel upside down to drain it. We did that for quite a while. Honestly saw no difference. Some people insist they want their atty to last 6 months and try to clean it out once in a while because when an atty gets clogged, it is harder to draw air through it and take a drag. I tried many ways of cleaning and Michele and I gave up and decided we were saving so much money that it was okay to get a new atty or box of cartos every month. I mean we're talking $10 a month. I still keep my old ones in fact because they still work, just with a harder draw. Up to you if you want to attempt the cleaning methods when you get to that point.

2. You're almost right but have a few things wrong. See my explanation above and ask me another question if needed or connect with video and I'll show you.

3. See above for about how many drops I use but when I say saturate, I take it about 5 drops at a time and when the filler material looks like it won't suck up any more then just stop. Once in a while if you over fill or for some other reason, you can get leakage in your mouth. Spit it out and rinse your mouth with water. You'll get used to it but it doesn't happen often.

4. You do not make any holes. There is no hole at the end of the inner cart because the air goes down around the sides of it that are flat, then out the hole at the end of the cap (outer cart).

5. Pre-filled carts that you put into an atty do have foil covering them. It sucks and will get in the way. Its easiest to push it on the atty to puncture the foil. This is suppose to be enough but its not. Take the cart back off and remove the foil with tweezers, or just wash your hands after. They say you don't want too much direct contact with nicotine. I've never had a problem though.

6. Priming. And atomizer when new has a fluid on it to keep it moist. Most people don't like the taste of that fluid so the put the mouth on one end of the atty and blow it out into a paper towel. But you don't want a dry burnt tasting atty. So even though it will suck up juice form the cart, you may want to prime it first by dropping 3 or 4 drops of juice directly down into the atty. The metal piece you can see in there is the "wick" which sucks up the juice and delivers it to the heating element inside it. If you vape your cart dry and taste a burnt taste then also prime it if you want before refilling.

 

[mlinky]

Very very similar so I'm glad your happy. Its hard at first and if you're already happy, assuming you started in Nov 2010, then you did great.

Yep, once I got my nic content right, it seemed easier than it should have. I'm going to a REO now, because I want to have something that I don't have to fool with more than once a day, but I am very fond of the pv that got me off cigs.

One year is fabulous!!

 

[Garnoch]

Another email I sent him today about flavors......

Its funny how cigarette smokers might have their brand but can smoke really anything, yet to find a flavored juice they like can be not only hard but very subjective. A lot of people start by trying to find that tobacco taste and are turned off when they can't quite find it. If they stick with it, they then discover fruit, juice, dessert and drink flavors and see what they've been missing. Then a lot of those after time realize they just want something in between, something maybe closer to tobacco but not quite, something not so drastic, something that they can just vape all day. No matter what, its still nice to try new vendors and flavors though. Unfortunately this also mean spending money on some juice that you'll never use again. Which brings me to using new untested juice.

If you fill a cart with new juice and put it on an atty and don't like it, you can always blow the atty out with your mouth into a paper towel, pull the filler out and rinse it with water and out it back in. Its a pain but doable. If you fill a cartomizer, you're kind of screwed because you can't easily wash it out and can't really pull the filler out without probably ruining the cartomizer. So what's the best way to test new flavors?

If you've been reading the forums, you may have heard of dripping. Some people do this to test flavor and some people literally never use a cart on their atty or a cartomizer. They drip. They drip sometimes 3, 4, 5 or 6 drops of juice directly on the wick, the bridge of the atomizer and vape, usually putting either the outer cart (without the inner cart) on the atty or buying a drip tip for the end of their atty. A drip tip looking similar to an outer bart but with a wide opening at the mouth end - and usually more contoured for you lips. The wide opening allows you to drip onto the wick without even taking the tip off. Even if you don't like doing this all the time, it is a great way to test flavors.

I spent most of my time with atomizers, resisting the urge to even try an cartomizer. I've changed. I've found blank cartomizers not only last long enough to be cost effective, but are easier to refill, less messy and most importantly - an extremely consistent vape from first drag to last. I never have to worry about filler mods or gurgling attys that are getting too much or too little juice. But I always keep atomizers on hand for dripping new flavors.

Side note: Some people, my wife included (almost), vape like they smoke - meaning every once in a while they take out their PV, take 10 to 15 drags and put it away. Most though, like me, just constantly take drags off it all day. One of the reasons for this is that these things do not transfer nicotine to your system as efficiently as a cigarette (know on the forum as an analog) does. If you feel you're not getting what you need, either don't treat it like a cigarette (using it more often if not constantly) or up your nic dosage on your next juice order.