Vaping does not work for me

[brandon555]

Not sure why those Proteges didn't work out for you. With mine I can get clouds of vapor almost as big as a high voltage PV... Of course I have to take a 6 or 7 second drag, but once the atty gets going its off to races. Especially with a standard 2.2 ohm Joye 510 atty.

 

[ECV's]

Maybe a third of the time you are really hitting the fail-safe, and that's why you aren't getting a 'hit'. There are fail safes built into most e-cigs. It keeps people from getting an over dose of nicotine, should they just vape every single breath they take! : )
It's usually about a 15 second break that it makes you take, if you've vaped too much in a one minute period or so.

 

[Belhade]

I believe I know exactly the problem, and it happened to me a lot early on too. The most likely scenario is that your atomizer is flooded. First try blowing it out into a paper towel. If you get a TON of juice out of it you can be sure that was the problem. If nothing comes out try hooking it up (without a cartridge) and pressing the button. Look in the top to see if it's taking a very long time to heat up. If its heating up almost immediately and there's no vapor coming out then it's too dry.

This I think is the problem here, and what we should concentrate on first. I think if we can get your current equipment to work properly you can get used to vaping, understand it better and then move on to more high-end equipment.

Take one of your atomizers and blow it out. Blow it till juice stops coming out. Hook it back up to the battery and, without cart, try to vape. It'll get a bit hot on your lips but you should be able to get a drag off it. Then, put one drop on the atty (then wait about 30 seconds) and try again. You should definitely get a good hit off that.

Now take one of your carts. I use the 510s so that's what I know what to work with. Look inside. Is it still wet with juice? If so blot some out with a paper towel. The filling should be damp but not pooling. Putting in a drop at a time, get it this way and then try again.

You should be able to vape for 15-30 minutes, depending on how much you use it, without refilling. It shouldn't be all that messy - that's why I'm sure you're flooding it. I did a *lot* when I first started - just takes a bit off idling to figure it out.

None of this is going to be as easy as just lighting a cigarette and puffing away. There will always be some element of tinkering with it. It will take some work but it's definitely worth it.

 

[Makaia]

Dont mess around with the small stuff RedKnight. Get a 6v mod with cartos and use that. I tried to stop smoking using a 510 and an 801 and it didnt work but I just bought a GGTS and havent had an analog since. The GGTS got to me in 2 days!!. If you have the patience I would wait another 10-15 days when the GGTS AFS comes out and you may only have to refill liquid once a day and the batteries last for the full day for me.

There are alot of 6v mods out there that sounds like it would be good for you so look into HV mods or LR atties that fit the batteries that you have now.

 

[WetStick]

Hey Redknight,

I'm going to make a recommedation that some other may have also made on this thread. I didn't read all the replies.

If your like me, and rather pay the money to have something that I'm not making adjustments all the time. I recommend that you look at the Golden Greek (GG) line. Yes, it looks like a Star Wars Light Saber; but, the things that I like about the GG are things that you said that you are looking for.

Pros
1. With the Auto Fill System, I only have to deal with the liquids, maybe once a week. It holds about 6ml.

2. The Telescope GGTS model is designed to give you (almost) unlimited battery/voltage levels. It has a mechanical switch, so no button shorting or breaking issue.

3. At 6 volts, using a 7v Atty (i7), I get a perfect hit every time. My son is amazed that I can actually make the living room "smokey", with all the vapor that I get.

4. There are lots of "how to" videos and support.

Cons
1. downside for some people, is the cost. But, it sounded like that wasn't an issue for you.

2. It take a couple times setting up the AFS before learning all the do's and don'ts. I've gotten to the point that it takes me about 10 mins to refill. (I totally clean my AFS on a fill-up).

3. It's big. It's not what I take into a store. But, at home and in the car, it's fine.

Note: Sent from iPhone App; Please excuse any errors.

 

[sooprvylyn]

Dude,
Try Vapor4Life's Vapor King. This is the best cartomizer PV out there(that I've found). The batteries last a LONG time and if you have 2 then you can always have one charged. You can get a kit with 2 batteries, 5 carts, 2 chargers and a case for less than $70 if you hit the sales they have periodically The carts have the atomizer built in so you dont have to worry about how long it lasts as you get a new one with every cart. They come preloaded and they DO last about 1 pack worth of analogs. If you feel like going through the hassle they CAN be refilled about 5 times each.

These things are the most hassle-free devices I've seen. Most people like the manual batteries here(the ones with the button) but I use an automatic and its great.

Please dont give up on e-cigs yet, you are talking about your health.

I see that a number of people have taglines that say they've been vaping for X long and saved Y dollars.

I've spent almost 500 USD on vaping, and vaped a few days in total. That's maybe $200 a day. This is versus regular cigs, about $30/carton, 1 carton/week, call it $4/day.

Here's my experience:

1) Intrigued by the concept of ecigs, I spent $108 at Eastmall.Net on a 510 starter kit plus some eliq in late August 2009. But was shocked to find that you had to re-drop maybe every half an hour, batteries only lasted a few hours, eliq could make a mess, and half the time I couldn't even tell if I was getting a draw, or was something shorting out? In short, it was a ton of work. Ok, back to the drawing board... after some abortive attempts at ecigs and keeping plenty of cigs on hand, I consulted this board here (a fine one! clearly lots of sincere people), and tried again.

2) On Sept. 4 2009 I ordered 2 Proteges and a USB Passthrough from Puresmoker ($220). Smoking regular cigs til they showed up. I figured that now I'd have both some powerful batteries and a direct connect, and at least didn't have to worry about that side of the hassle. And of course hoped the other side of the equation (the whole eliq side) might be better. But the Proteges didn't show up until early October. And when they did, I still couldn't tell if it was actually "on" when I pressed the button (sometimes there was a strong hit, sometimes not, no apparent rhyme or reason), and eliq kept making a mess (shouldn't I saturate it if there's no hit?). Getting disenchanted. Smoking regular cigs until ecigs become smooth and easy. I have money, but I don't have patience.

I also watched Spikey's Intro To Vaping. While I greatly applaud her and all the great folks here, my problems persisted.

3) Early Oct 2009, ordered some more atomizers and carts from MyVaporStore. You can read into this, my dismay that mankind can't make a cart, much less an atomizer, that doesn't last for years. $24.

4) Late Oct 2009, ordered more 801 kits, atomizers, starter kits and another USB passthrough (PureSmoker's was as inflexible as spark-plug wires - does USB really use 1000V?), more eliq, total $138.

Still the same old hassle... one third the time it clearly hits; one third the time, can't tell; one third the time, it clearly doesn't... never know why it's not hitting; always a mess.

Tried the pyramid tea bag thing... didn't make much difference except I wasted some Lipton's tea. Although I admit I only tried it exactly once, even though I followed the YouTube video to a T. As it were.

So that's when I quit eCigs. November 2009. $200/day is not my idea of a savings. That may be an exaggeration, but surely it was over $50/day.

I also lent my initial start kit to a fellow smoker, once I got the Proteges. He had the same reaction. "Thanks but no thanks." This was when I was all for it (~Oct 2009) and reading and spending time trying to figure out why it wasn't working for me. We haven't talked about it since he handed them back.

I want a vaping solution that always has a solid hit. I want it to only need liquid about once a week, and for power to be no hassle when I'm home. I don't care if it's an elaborate expensive hookah. All this stuff about atomizers wearing out and having your cart stuffing touching it exactly right means, count me totally out.

I am posting this now because it's far enough behind me that it's no longer painful. I'm just wondering if I'm missing something. Thank you for listening to my rant,

RK7
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[quakereject]

Consistency is indeed everything.

As far as liquid refills once a week, well. Closest I could gather you could get to that would be The Precious – U - The Precious with the max ml AFS. It attempts to solve the problem of atomizer overheat by ensuring that there is constantly liquid on the coil. I believe 15ml capacity is in the works.


However, there's no substitute for being able to vape the way you want and when you want. If you can't find what you want, then it may not work. The point is, they're an alternative to cigarettes, and can help you break free of the other chemicals besides nicotine. Either way, it's give vaping a solid devoted attempt, or quit smoking. It won't magically make you not want to smoke at first, that's for sure, especially if you're a heavy smoker like me. I had to cut down then finally go off entirely before I could be free of analogs.

Since then I've purchased a Chuck, some 510 cartomizers, and 2 sets of 3v Rc123 batteries and it's all I've needed. I get solid, consistent hits and so much flavor my head wants to explode sometimes.

Vaping and PV's will continue to evolve as long as we have entrepreneurs who are willing to find a way to build that better mousetrap to borrow a phrase. Who knows what kind of crazy things we'll have available in 2011 and 2012.

After that it won't matter anyways!

 

[sooprvylyn]

And it is our responsibility to help drive the need for a "better mousetrap"

 

[Israfil]

Quake, if you wanna know what kinda crazy things we're gonna have, check this out!
"the Pulse" Mod - Vapor Talk E Cig Forum

There's your next level/better mousetrap gentlemen. If we could bottle that man...world hunger gone, cancer and aids cured, a car in every pot and a chicken in every garage!

 

[Kookie]

And it is our responsibility to help drive the need for a "better mousetrap"

You mean an electronic mousetrap, not an analog mousetrap right?

 

[sooprvylyn]

Heck, lets shoot for a mechanical mousetrap, then we wont have to recharge it anymore.

 

[Mister]

RedKnight, I agree with those who suggest that you try Vapor4Life's VaporKings.

It seems that your top priorities are 1) a minimum of fiddling, and 2) consistently strong "hits".

Although people have suggested a number of 3 piece (battery, atomizer, cartridge) variants on this thread, what constitutes a hassle to use varies a lot between people. I think that any 3 piece e-cig will require some fiddling with juice, fiddling with the cartridge filler, and maintenance such as occasional cleaning to accomplish the second goal above, and that this will be more hassle than works for you. A cartomizer (2 piece) approach is your best bet for minimal hassle.

Even with a cartomizer approach your ideals can't be reached. You are smoking a bit over a pack a day. You'll probably need to charge two batteries per day to replace that with vaping, and will probably use about 2 cartomizers per day. If you treat the cartomizers as disposeable (throw them away when finished, no refilling) then you'll have a minimum of hassle (screw/unscrew two batteries per day into charger, screw off/on a cartomizer twice per day.) Your cost will be about $4/day in cartomizers, so overall cost will be a tad higher than smoking because you also need to buy the batteries and chargers. (wow cigarettes are cheap where you live compared to most places!) But not much higher. If you find it working out for you and want to save money later on you could consider refilling a bunch of carts once per week to reduce cost.

Theoretically if you are at a computer a lot of the time you can reduce your battery recharging hassle by using a pass through. But I see in your first note that the heavy gauge wire used in some pass throughs is a nuisance to you. It is to me also, and the Vapor4Life passthrough has this issue. So you might just stick with the batteries.

Vapor4Life's cartomizers aren't perfectly consistent in producing lots of vapor. But they are very close, and are much more consistent that the best job I ever did in getting 801s tuned with careful PTB fillings. You might want to learn to use the manual batteries. I find that if I hit the button about a second before taking a drag I get better and more consistent vapor.

If you don't mind the extra length (I don't, it feels fine to me) then go for the extra long batteries to reduce the frequency of charge cycles a bit.

Of the Vapor4Life tobacco flavors I've tried, they've all been at least similar to the similarly named cigarette. Long ago I liked Dunhills and I'm finding that Vapor4Life's Dunhall tastes similar and I really like it. So I suggest going for a flavor which you'd expect to be one you'll like based on its name, that's probably your best bet for starters. Perhaps also order a "tobacco sampler".

I suggest starting at 24mg strength. As a smoker of a bit over a pack a day, 36mg might be too strong. You can always adjust up or down later but 24mg seems a reasonable first guess.

Good luck, I hope you end up happily vaping after all!

 

[quakereject]

Heck, lets shoot for a mechanical mousetrap, then we wont have to recharge it anymore.

Throw a little hand crank generator arm on the side and wind it a few times, boom, heated coil. The Model T they could call it!

 

[DonDaBoomVape]

Boy! Have you been getting a lot of conflicting advice and opinions! It's the nature of the beast (i.e., the vaping industry in its infancy) I'm afraid.

If only you had started with my WWV Illustrated Guide. Seriously, I do think that guide presents an overview of all that was available and (Parts 4 and 5) made recommendations based on an individual's priorities. [More recently, I would recommend my comparative review of three different models appropriate for a new vaper.]

To eliminate both dripping and hassles with carts, there currently are two directions to go:

1. Cartomizers, e.g., the Kr8 model or the new 510 cartos.
2. Juice Pumps, e.g., WetBox, MrPuffer, Reo, Carlos JuiceBox, or GG's AFS attachment to mods.

That review I mentioned lists many Kr8 suppliers ... and 510 suppliers (many of whom carry 510 cartomizers). ViZi's comprehensive guide to mods (especially the Box Mods section) includes the juice pumps.

 

[chrisl317]

Thanks, everyone. Really I don't think that power is an issue - if you have a USB passthrough (or whatever kind of direct connect), how can power possibly be an issue?

A third of the time I clearly got a hit, a third of the time I clearly got nothing, a third of the time, I couldn't tell if I did. Somewhere in there was a power issue, but in theory that should be easily solved (but wasn't after spending $500); I suspect the issue is, where and how the eliq touches on the atomizer.

Let's take power off the table; we're only talking about home use, using a wire to a USB or whatever.

What product does not have to be touched once for at least a day? In terms of refilling with eLiq, etc.

A week is what I want.

Sincerely asking,

Mike

Self-feeding box mod is about it, but, seriously, these aren't smokes. Seems like you learned a lesson through your wallet. I've been vaping for almost a year and never came close to spending $500 to start out. I bought a Blu, 2 weeks later a 510. Three months after that I bought a Bartleby and haven't needed to buy anything else, except, of course for refill juice.

 

[Thyestean]

Edit: I just remembered how much trouble it was trying to figure out what's the best whatever. The current challenge, auto juice box or cartomizer. To my right sits $500 of stuff rusting away.

I'm going to skip over all the rest because it has all been addressed in previous responses.

As far as the stated challenge there it really isn't a challenge at all. You have the $500 in equipment there so put it back to use by spending $10 - $20 picking up a package of cartomizers and an adapter if necessary and try the cartomizers as the first of the two options. If that doesn't work for you then move on from there.

 

[bassnut]

If I can add...

I've thought about this a lot over the intervening months.

I can buy a $2 quart size jar of glass cleaner, which appears to have a perfectly fine non-thermal atomizer.

Why isn't there such a thing for nicotine delivery devices?

Asthmatic inhalers devices are in theory incredibly cheap. Could be combined with some cheap gas tubes. Such tubes could be refilled with air from your home with a pump. And you snap an eliq cart into the inhaler.

Isn't there such a device for ecigs? With asthma medicine inhalers, there are no thermal atomizers that die in a week, and need every-so-careful refilling of liquid just-right for them to use.

I don't understand why ecigs are such damned PITAs. Surely some engineer has realized heat is stupid and fickle, subject to all manner of micro-environment and crud build-up; a simple air blast is the way to go... why perfect a wrong approach?

Eh. Anyway.

Again, thanks for listening to me rant.

Something that will last a week without being fiddled with, would be cool. I'll look into the idea of an automatic juice feeding box. Or maybe a cartomizer.

But here's another problem with ecigs. Folks throw out terms and it's as if, every street corner has "an automatic juice feeder box" or a "cartomizer". But when you look into it, you find that all kinds of vendors have all kinds of variants. Then after much study you find everybody's selling variations on a few things. Then you find none of them are exactly what you want, except the really cool site, which has a long back order.

Some people regard ecigs as entirely healthy. It's true they entirely remove the "public smoke annoyance factor", which can be huge these days for some (but not everyone). I personally think it's true they remove the elevated risk of lung cancer. But it can't be true that they remove the risk of elevated heart disease, because... well, it's nicotine.

RK
​

Hi, RedNight.
I've had to edit this a couple of times but forgive me for repeating other people's info. It sounds like you've been flooding your attys.
If you have battery power but no vapor. Unscrew your atty and blow it out from the atty end into a paper towel then try again. It sounds to me like you have plenty of equipment already. Just needs a little tweaking....and a LR atty.....or cartomizers, I suppose but I'm not a big fan of those but others swear by them.

The truth about nicotine is, while being highly addictive there isn't much else bad about it. The smoke in cigarettes is what's the killer. There's over 4000 chemicals identified so far in cigarette smoke. Around 60 of them are known carcinogens. These all get taken out of the equation with ecigs. Aside from what I mentioned, nicotine is a pretty benign chemical that can be compared to caffeine.
I don't know of any studies on just plain nicotine and heart disease. Anybody?
I'll check it out.

What's in your e-liquid? Propylene-glycol or vegetable glycerin (or both), nicotine (or not) and some flavoring.
PG and VG have been tested and are well known to be easily metabolized in the body without significant side effects outside of allergies.
I'm more inclined to question what's in the flavoring.

If you get too wired on caffeine cut down. It's the same with nicotine. It's use is for adults not children.
Nicotine is being tested and used in therapeutic (not smoking related) drugs now. I invite you to do a little on-line research as well as here at ECF. I learn something new every day here.

There is a newer ecig developed by some guys at Stanford that use a chemical reaction involving butane. It works. No heat. I'll pass.
I do admire your creative input. Keep it up. I'm always looking for a better ecig.

 

[alchigal500]

I feel your pain. I bought the 510 and just couldn't stand the battery charging, the constant changing of cart mods to figure something out so that liquid didnt come in my mouth. After a month, I quit the ecig spending about 400 on just the bare minimum of supplies. A few months later, I switched to the Kr808 from Vapor4life. I couldn't be happier. Once my butthole stopped bleeding from the raping i took on initial costs, I started to see the savings. Cartomizers have their problems too, but for me they were much easier to fill and maintain. The batteries last longer (go XL!) but the button has a few problems if not maintained very well. Now, I spend about 75 dollars a month on equipment (used to spend 300 on cigarettes!) I honestly wish someone would have told me that beginners should never start on the 510! IMHO.

 

[Belhade]

510s are the only things I've ever used and I love em. There was a learning curve and I did flood juice all over everything for the first month or so but since then it's all been working like a charm.