Vaped in Late 2011 - Starting Again - So I'm Back...I Guess? - And I have questions!

[stupidgroupie]

Hi. Some of you may remember me. Some of you may not.

Anyway for a while I vaped a Joye 510, until stress and moving back home (where cigarettes were much cheaper!) got me started back on cancer sticks.

I'd been rolling on that way for a while, until my car died. I inherited my sister's car, vowed not to smoke in it, and picked up a Kanger E-vod 2 starter kit last weekend.

First of all - the fact that I was able to walk into a freaking STORE to buy a vape was totally new to me. I was used to crawling this forum for reviews, tips and tricks. It's crazy how much the community has blossomed!

I'm still smoking cigarettes, my brain waffling around about giving quitting a serious try. I haven't made it there yet...we'll see.

To be honest, I am overwhelmed. There are so many choices, so many vendors, so many things that weren't things when I started. I also am wondering about the shelf life of juice. Some of mine have become...let's say...pretty well steeped. I don't think there is anything in there that would be worse than the cigarettes I am consuming on the regular, but I should probably check anyway.

I've also had labels rub off - either partly or all the way (I have some BWB casablanca. The strength is a mystery!), and juices from origins unknown. It was a trip to pull out that kit again.

So I may look like a veteran but I am a novice all over again. I guess I'm wondering - in your opinion - what are the best and biggest changes to the vaping community? And are there any new, hot juice vendors I should know about? For someone that is re-entering this world almost 3 years later, what should I know?

 

[Darthvong]

I'm in the same boat. Vaped in 2012 and stopped early last year. Just got back into and there is so much new things out now.

I used to use an Ego Twist with TC cartomizer mini tanks and Vivi Novas. Now I bought a Vamo V5 using in Wattage mode (which is new to me) and BC Kanger TS3's and Aspire BDC Pyrex tanks.

Seems like micro coiling and sub ohming is new trend now. I haven't got into rebuildables yet so I haven't read up on it.

As for juice I keep hearing about Suicide Bunny and Space Jam.

 

[DingerCPA]

I started on cig-a-likes in 2010. meh. Broke them back out in 2011. meh. Tried one more time in February of this year, but instead of using the prefilled flavor cartridges (that plugged into an atty) I got blank cartridges with built-in atty so I could put my own flavors in. Getting better. However, those tiny batteries weren't quite cutting it for me, and it was blechy refilling the cartos all the time. Jumped to a fixed-voltage starter kit (from the same place I'd gotten the original cig-a-likes and juice). Getting MUCH better - only had to fill the tank a couple times a day, but I was getting a lot of leaking and gurgling. FINALLY started figuring that part out and was getting decent vapes. THEN, I found ECF (and a local B&M). A Vision Spinner 1300, 2 iTaste VV3s and MVP2s, and a bunch of tanks and juices later, I'm 2-1/2 months smoke free and lovin' every minute of it! I'm just learning to rebuild coils/heads. Haven't ventured fully into RBA or mech mods, but I'm super-happy right now.

Welcome Back!

 

[Baditude]

There are better juice delivery devices now than 3 years ago.

Clearomizers are popular for new vapers because they are easy to fill and replace the coil head every couple of weeks, but they can mute flavors, develop dry/burnt hits, or leak/flood/gurgle due to their simplistic design. Let's call them finicky and inconsistant.

Cartotanks are a big improvement over clearomizers. Better flavor and more consistant. A little more involved in the initial setup (filling the carotmizer), but refilling a cartotank is as easy as refilling a clearomizer.

Rebuildables are the new rage. This requires a little more work still, but the rewards are better flavor, more vapor production. This entails building your own coils from wire and making wicks from silica string or cotton tufts; not really that difficult or involved, but it does take longer to set up than the previous two delivery devices.

It all depends upon what convenience you demand and how much effort you are willing to put forth for a great vaping experience.

Proper Terminology - A Guide to Juice Delivery Attachments

People have moved away from cigalikes to egos to mods. More features, more power, more options.

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

 

[GaryInTexas]

This will be like using a 1990 computer and then getting a 2014 model. You just can't compare it. Your ability to quit smoking now will be significantly higher now with the new and improved hardware and juices. I would suggest spending a little time down in the VV/VW forum on here and also in the clearo, tanks section so when you upgrade equipment you are getting good usable items.
I think I would toss the old juice. Something that old will likely be nasty and not helpful to you to quit smoking.

 

[Blackboar]

Welcome Back!! It took me 3 tries with ecigs before I fully quit analogs and vaped full time. Started (and failed) with Blu cigalikes, moved to (and failed) with a Vmod XL, and finally succeeded with a Vivi Nova and now rebuildables.

As for the juice, nowadays, the skies the limit. There are thousands of juice vendors out there. For me, personally, I love Mount Baker Vapor. It's some of the least expensive juices around and have tons of flavors. They ship to me (continental US) within 3 days and include a sample for me to try. Other juice vendors that are fairly inexpensive, that I've used, are the juices from Vape Dojo. They're actually kinda local for me, so I just go to the brick and mortar store. But their juices are quite delicious. There are also a lot of more expensive gourmet juice vendors out there. Try them if and when you feel like it.

I would toss the old juice. While I don't know the shelf life of juices, when I tried to vape a 2 year old bottle of Aloha Apple, that I had from one of my failed ecig experiences, it did not taste right. I quickly flushed out the tank and threw the rest out.

The Kanger EVOD is a nice way to start. If you enjoy tinkering, you might also consider picking up a rebuildables atomizer to play with. It's actually what really got me to quit since I enjoyed tinkering so much. But even if you don't want to go the route of rebuilding, at the very least, pick up a couple extra EVOD tanks. Switching flavors on a whim is another thing that kept me interested and analog free.

 

[e-pipeman]

For a reasonably priced device have a look at the MVP V2. Did you ever drip with a 510 atomiser and an ego cone? To my mind that's still a great way to go, but you might also like Rebuildable Dripping Atomisers (RDAs). Try the Octopus or Igo-L - both are inexpensive and easy to set up. Welcome home!

 

[novamatt]

Juice has gotten better since you left, and we've learned a little more about flavorings and safety - most vendors don't use anything with diacetyl in it anymore (or they put a warning on it), which is in many "custard notes" type flavors, as there are questions about its safety. I'm not sure on shelf life, but I have some from a couple of years ago that doesn't taste very good anymore. Additionally, nicotine degrades over time. So if I were you, I'd probably start fresh on the juice front and toss the really old stuff.

For equipment, I posted this in response to a similar question. I hope it helps. And welcome back!

I know what you mean. I'm 3 weeks into my 3rd round with e-cigs in the last 5 years, and I feel like the technology has finally gotten where I need it to be to drop the analogs completely - I haven't smoked a cigarette since my battery finished charging the first day. In prior attempts with a joye 510 and an ego-t, I didn't do nearly as well and went back to analogs quickly.

Here are my 3 recommendations:

1) A reliable variable voltage or variable wattage device. I use an Evic, but the MVP 2, Vamo, Zmax, and many others are highly recommended around here. If you want to go all out, spend $200 on a Provari (I'll be getting one at the end of the month). If not, you can get a good VV/VW device for as little as 35 or 40 bucks.

2) Good tank(s). Most people around here use bottom coil clearomizers of some sort - I have and like the Aspire Nautilus, Kanger Aerotank, and Kanger Protank 3 (and mini Protaknk 3), in that order. You have to replace the attys every few days to 2 weeks, and replacements come in 5-packs for $10-15.

The other way to go with your tank is a rebuildable like a Kayfun (or clone). With these, you make the coil yourself. The advantages are better flavor & vapor, the ability to tune your vape to your preferences, and low cost - you can get a several years' worth of coil building supplies for under $10. The downside is that it's not plug and play like the clearomizers. But the learning curve is short... By the second day, I could build and install a new coil in 5 minutes, and it only needs to be done every few weeks. I LOVE my EHPro Kayfun Lite + clone.

3) Good juice. My favorite at the moment is Betelgeuse from Nicoticket.com (but all of his juices are amazing). Ahlusion is often highly recommended here (and I have my first order from them on the way), as is Five Pawns (at $27 for 30 ml, it's a bit pricey for me).

Set your variable wattage device to 8 watts or variable voltage to 2 volts higher than your atomizer's resistance (i.e. a 1.8 ohm atty runs well at 3.8 volts), fill your Nautilus or Kayfun with solid juice, and you'll wish these things had existed 5 years ago.

P.S. I too remember blue aquarium foam and pyramid tea bags. I wonder if these new vapors appreciate the current tech quite the same way as we do.

 

[stupidgroupie]

This will be like using a 1990 computer and then getting a 2014 model. You just can't compare it. Your ability to quit smoking now will be significantly higher now with the new and improved hardware and juices. I would suggest spending a little time down in the VV/VW forum on here and also in the clearo, tanks section so when you upgrade equipment you are getting good usable items.
I think I would toss the old juice. Something that old will likely be nasty and not helpful to you to quit smoking.

VV/VW? Which forum is that? I need to relearn my acronyms.

Well the liberty flights cherry cigar I have from early 2012 is still pretty good, getting nice vapor, taste, throat hit and all that. I have a new RY4-type and a cherry tobacco from Vape Dojo (the B&M - that means brick and mortar, right? - store where I got my kit) - but compared to my older flavors I'm not that impressed. I just picked out a black tea from who knows where in my collection and it's been equitable to the Vape Dojo stuff. It says it expires about 24 months from date of purchase, and I think this was one I got in early 2012...

Really I want to find/re-find good juice vapors, try something REALLY quality. For me the juice is the most exciting part.

 

[stupidgroupie]

THE AQUARIUM FOAM! You have no idea how happy I was to not have to mess with the foam and the tweezers. With my old Joye 510 towards the end it would get the sponge taste. No bueno.

 

[e-pipeman]

THE AQUARIUM FOAM! You have no idea how happy I was to not have to mess with the foam and the tweezers. With my old Joye 510 towards the end it would get the sponge taste. No bueno.

Nasty indeed. And then there were the teabag people (no, not that). Anyway, LR 510s and a drip tip are still a good way to go. Have a look at this thread:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...s-dying-breed.html?highlight=mr+mann+dripping

 

[stupidgroupie]

Welcome Back!! It took me 3 tries with ecigs before I fully quit analogs and vaped full time. Started (and failed) with Blu cigalikes, moved to (and failed) with a Vmod XL, and finally succeeded with a Vivi Nova and now rebuildables.

As for the juice, nowadays, the skies the limit. There are thousands of juice vendors out there. For me, personally, I love Mount Baker Vapor. It's some of the least expensive juices around and have tons of flavors. They ship to me (continental US) within 3 days and include a sample for me to try. Other juice vendors that are fairly inexpensive, that I've used, are the juices from Vape Dojo. They're actually kinda local for me, so I just go to the brick and mortar store. But their juices are quite delicious. There are also a lot of more expensive gourmet juice vendors out there. Try them if and when you feel like it.

I would toss the old juice. While I don't know the shelf life of juices, when I tried to vape a 2 year old bottle of Aloha Apple, that I had from one of my failed ecig experiences, it did not taste right. I quickly flushed out the tank and threw the rest out.

The Kanger EVOD is a nice way to start. If you enjoy tinkering, you might also consider picking up a rebuildables atomizer to play with. It's actually what really got me to quit since I enjoyed tinkering so much. But even if you don't want to go the route of rebuilding, at the very least, pick up a couple extra EVOD tanks. Switching flavors on a whim is another thing that kept me interested and analog free.

Vape Dojo in Ellicott City is where I went to get my starter kit, but as I said before, I was eh on their flavors. When I vaped the first time around I used a lot of BWB, so I was a little bit snobby with my juice. I also had a lot of vixen vapors...as I recall their hazel tobacco was pretty yum.

It's crazy how many vape stores there are in the 410. Hi, fellow Marylander.

 

[twgbonehead]

I too went down much the same path. Tried them in 2011, but my expensive cigalike batteries kept dying, and the vape was extremely inconsistent.

Got back into the game about 8 months ago, and what a difference! I use the MVP (2 of them) and have a lot of inexpensive heads from fasttech (they have a lot of bottom-coil clearo's that are great, and get even better if you re-coil/re-wick them!).

I also have some juice left over from 2011 that I still find to be good; better in fact than they were in 2011 (most likely because of the better equipment).

There are so many juice choices out there, but if I could recommend just one, it would be Deadly Sin from Good Life Vapors. I vape a lot of different juices from different vendors, but that one seems to be the most well-liked by people I've tried to get interested in vaping.

Good luck! I hope the second time's the charm!

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

The Kanger Evod is a big improvement to the cigalikes I think. Evod's are easy to maintain, the coils are cheap to replace, and if you are so inclined, they can even be rebuilt. The main issue I have with Evod's are that they are plastic. Some juice can react to plastic over time, mainly citrus and cinnamon. I prefer to recommend glass tanks like the Mini Protank II, Evod II and the Aspire ET-S. The Evod II and the Aspire ET-S are dual coil tanks, which results in better vapor production, however the coils are more expensive to replace and they go through more juice per vape. They'll also drain your batteries faster, and may require a variable volt battery.

As Baditude said, cartotanks provide better taste, and in my opinion, take up less maintenance time once you initially set them up. The cartos can take some time to prime, but you may have some experience in that from your previous foray into vaping? The cartos should have some holes punched into the sides, and once they are inserted into the tank, the tank continuously feeds them juice. They last for a surprising amount of time this way. Longer then coils in a clearo. You'll only have to top of the tank when it gets low for a while, and the cartos die a slow death. You'll have plenty of warning as to when the carto needs to be replaced. A well fitting tank is key, so that it doesn't slide off the carto, and I recommend IBTanked because of this. They're glass with metal end caps, so you needn't worry about what juice you're putting into them. They're a nice, tight, fit, and for a couple extra dollars you can select a paint job.

As for the battery itself, you'll find a nice improvement with the ego style batteries you got with the Evod kit. If you feel you need some extra "oomph" though, look into a variable voltage battery like the Vision Spinner, the Ego Twist, or the iTaste VVv3. They're all around the same size as your Evod batteries. The iTaste VVv3 is the one I recommend above them all in this size category. It has some additional functions, like variable watts and ohm checking and it's only a couple dollars more then the others at $25 at 101vape.com. With all the advanced functions, it'll teach you more about what is out there currently. My husband also prefered these for the variable watts function. It's kind of like a set it and forget it mode. You'll find that when you change the coils on your tanks, that vapor production is affected by the varying resistances (ohms) of the coils. The higher the ohms, the lower the vapor production. A variable volt option will allow you to adjust for that. A variable watt option means that you set your preference once, and the device will adjust itself depending on the ohms.

The big brother to the iTaste VVv3 is the MVP 2. It's a box mod with phenominal battery life at 2600 mAhs. It'll last for days between charges, and if needed, it can act as an external power source and charge your cell phone. Other then that, it does everything the iTaste VVv3 does. You can find them at 101vape.com for around $40.

As for your old juice, I wouldn't use it. They typically expire at around the one year mark.

 

[GaryInTexas]

VV/VW? Which forum is that? I need to relearn my acronyms.

Sorry bout that :vw/vv = variable wattage/variable voltage Variable Voltage APV Discussion

Here's a section on clearomizers Clearomizers

Your going to see so many juices available now that you will be dizzy from reading reviews, some good, some not.

 

[e-pipeman]

As for your old juice, I wouldn't use it. They typically expire at around the one year mark.

Interesting. I found some old juice from 2008 that I vaped the other day. It tasted great - but now I have a third nostril.

I actually did a huge clearout of "unusable" stuff the other day (measured in bin-bags - DSE 103 cartridges, anyone?) and I think that much stuff will last longer. Can't talk about "classy" juices - they might degrade more quickly. But some 3-yr-old home made tastes fine.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

Interesting. I found some old juice from 2008 that I vaped the other day. It tasted great - but now I have a third nostril.

I actually did a huge clearout of "unusable" stuff the other day (measured in bin-bags - DSE 103 cartridges, anyone?) and I think that much stuff will last longer. Can't talk about "classy" juices - they might degrade more quickly. But some 3-yr-old home made tastes fine.

Hmm... Didn't know. I just knew that nicotine base needed to be frozen to prevent degredation, and that most of my bottles have a one year expiration date. I assumed it was due to the nicotine degrading.

 

[e-pipeman]

Hmm... Didn't know. I just knew that nicotine base needed to be frozen to prevent degredation, and that most of my bottles have a one year expiration date. I assumed it was due to the nicotine degrading.

You may well be right. But I am old and have to die of something.

I think keeping nicbase in a cool cupboard (Next, Ikea) is good enough. Freezing is for the bans imho. BTW - don't freeze in glass unless you leave an airgap.

 

[novamatt]

Vape Dojo in Ellicott City is where I went to get my starter kit, but as I said before, I was eh on their flavors. When I vaped the first time around I used a lot of BWB, so I was a little bit snobby with my juice. I also had a lot of vixen vapors...as I recall their hazel tobacco was pretty yum.

It's crazy how many vape stores there are in the 410. Hi, fellow Marylander.

You're not too far from me down here in NoVa, either.

As far as the high-end juice goes, I've tried and liked Nicoticket (nicoticket.com), Space Jam, Suicide Bunny (those two are only available through retailers, but some of them sell it online as well), Five Pawns (fivepawns.com), and Kumo (they're local to NoVa, and I think you can only get them in B&Ms here). A lot of people also really seem to like Ahlusion (ahlusion.us), but their stuff really didn't do it for me. And there are a TON of other "gourmet" brands out there I haven't tried yet.

Right now I'm vaping Nicoticket's Betelgeuse (raspberry, mango, pineapple, & strawberry), and the two tanks sitting next to me have Five Pawns' Queenside (blood orange and cream) and Kumo's Lin (boston crème donut).

 

[Baditude]

There's a ton of juice vendors now. Many of the better ones are using custom-mixing when you place the order online. You can choose the pg/vg ratio, nicotine strength, add flavor bumps or menthol, etc. I've been gravitating towards those vendors who offer all-natural, all-organic flavoring agents as they seem to taste better. (Dripeez, Virgin Vapor, VapeRite)

Many online vendors offer flavor sample packs. You can therefore try a variety of their flavors at a reduced cost and not waste money on larger size bottles which you may not care for (and not use again). The best way to try flavors is at a local B&M which has a juice tasting bar - try it before you buy it. They'll provide an ego battery and a sanitary tip to apply to the clearomizers at the bar. My local B&M has over 140 flavors from several different manufacturers.