Hey Lotsoffish and welcome to ECF!!!! Congratulations on your vaping success! Hang in there, it can be hard at times but I hae been off tobacco since Feb 16th 2012 and have never felt better after smoking for 26 years!
I will help you as much as I can, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!!! Send me a private message for my email address
Here is the progression I went through to get to where I am now, and I will mention the steps that ended up making quitting tobacco harder, made me want to go outside and have a smoke, so you can hopefully avoid the same pitfalls
1. I put down cigarettes and picked up a BluCigs Starter Kit. Within a week, I was back at walgreens to pick up some more cartomizers. At the beginning, Tobacco and Cherry flavors worked best for me, as they seemed the stronger and honestly, the tobacco worked best because I could feel like I was smoking with a similar flavor as my cigarettes and it wasn't "candy tasting" like the java and vanilla flavors seemed to me at the time. I didn't use as much of the tobacco flavor, so at $15 for 5 it was a better value to get 1 5 pack a week than 2 or 3 vanilla packs a week. Considering it takes about $10 in gas for me to get to Walgreens for more cartomizer packs, I started ordering them online at
Electronic Cigarette | E Cigarette | blu Cigs
2. I got sick of constantly ordering new cartomizers and decided to try refilling the ones I already had. I ordered some Johnson Creek Smoke Juice and used it to refill my cartomizers according to some video tutorials I found on YouTube. This was a mistake. First off, the cartomizers they use don't take refills very well, and I ended up refilling one cartomizer at least 4 or 5 times a day. Considering you should only refill one cartomizer a max of 5 times, I still used just as many cartomizers in the long run but had the hassle of refilling with e-liquid with a 3 year old running around my legs, having to be super careful not to spill any on my son or let him get his hands on it which is a TASK. Also, even though Johnson Creek Smoke Juice is what BluCigs uses in their cartomizers, that doesn't necessarily mean it is the best out there. It is yummy, granted... but it is watered down and has some sort of sugar or sugar substitute added that gunks up electronics, giving them a premature death and costing a small fortune in the long run. There are TONS of e-liquid suppliers out there, and my suggestion is to make sure you get USA made juice from USA sourced materials... the China made or sourced materials are likely to have stuff in it that you really don't want to vape, if you are going to be vaping that junk, might as well smoke a cigarette cause it is about as good for you. If you are technical-minded and a quick learner, study up on how to make your own juice. Learn the strengths and flavors, the PG and VG ratios and what everything means, how it all works and if you are a quick learner and good with your hands, you can give a try at mixing your own juice. Don't go off the deep end and order 100mg strength base nicotine liquid if you do, make it easy so you can do it right without hurting yourself and get 36mg or 48mg nicotine juice, mix it with your dilution base and add your flavors... but this comes later in my progression. Remember, I said refilling my Blu cartomizers was a mistake, and it was also a mistake to use Johnson Creek Smoke Juice to do it with. You will need to find a juice supplier, just stay away from JC if you value your e-cigarette hardware.
3. I decided to go another route entirely and got a pack of clearomizers:
510 Ultimate CE2 Clearomizer XL I went through those clearomizers like they were nothing! Turns out my Johnson Creek Smoke Juice was burning out my atomizers and cracking the plastic. Two Blu batteries were ruined from juice leaking down inside them and all five lasted me under a week. I did, however, decide that I liked using no filler in my device. I found that I could taste the polyfill in the cartomizers and I liked the wick system better. I would suggest that you give a wick system a try, and try out a tank like this one:
SMOKTech 510 Dual Coil Tank Combo which has a polyfilled cartridge but the tank helps to keep it constantly filled, so you don't have to always refill your cart. I will eventually be using the insides of a wick system cartomizer (
510 CE2 Cartomizer XL ) inside a Phiniac tank (
Phiniac Rugged Pyrex Tanks ) once I can afford it
You will notice my links go to MyVaporStore. I love those guys, and they sell USA made e-juice if you want to give it a try. They ship fast and have awesome support, so if you purchase anything from them, you are choosing a great store. There are lots of great stores out there, and I have shopped at several but MVS carries the products that I am linking for you
4. Blu Batteries will only go just so far... you will end up upgrading your batteries sooner or later. Might as well go ahead and do your research and learn all you can about the choices out there. I decided to stick with a 510 device so I could continue using my other hardware that I have acquired over the last few months without having to use an adapter. the 510 thread refers to the screw threads at the top of the battery that the cartomizer screws into. Blu uses 510 threads which is very common, but there are also other sizes. Pay attention to the threading references in anything you order to make sure that everything will fit together. An eGo type battery kit may serve you well. I would suggest the eGo-C system if you go that route, as it uses a small tank to hold juice, gives you an awesome flavor and vapor and is still small and feels closer to a cigarette than some of the other options out there:
JOYE eGo-C Starter Kits & Accessories | Joyetech eGo-C E-Cigarettes If you are VERY technically-minded and completely understand rechargable batteries, you could go for an APV which is the route I chose. There are lots of options out there for an APV, we could discuss this later on if you are interested in trying it out. Make sure you have experience with rechargable batteries!!!! My husband and I have been RC Hobbiests for a while now (Remote Control vehicles, like large remote control trucks, helicopters and airplanes) so I feel comfortable going to an APV:
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Once you find the juice you like, the cartomizer, clearomizer, tank or other device you adore to use with your battery, and the battery to use, you will be a happy camper! Don't hesitate to send me a private message for email or to exchange phone info, I will be happy to help you in any way that I can!
