Vaping on tight budget
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The best tip I can give you from personal experience on cost is to learn a lot of the information for yourself so that you can't be intimidated. There are always sales people that like to take advantage of inexperience and I'm sure some other members have just ran into the fact that some stores like to charge more than others.
I had a guy at a B&M store flat out tell me that since my device only goes up to 11 watts that it was essentially a piece of junk. My device fits me perfectly though and he kinda assured that I might take my vaping business elsewhere in the future.
As long as your coils work for you and you're happy, that's all that matters. If you ever want to get into the rebuildable, there are tons of people to help on this forum and you can always go to a store and have someone make one for you (most of them offer this service). My husband did this once so he could see how it's done and he's planning to make them from here on out. But he is an electrical engineer . . . . so I think he has an unfair advantage. Even if he couldn't make one for me though, it would be nothing to go in store and let them do it.
Good luck to you. Vaping has become one of the best things in my life.
If your device (and I am guessing from the 11 watt limit it is am MVP 2.0 or Shine) works for you that is what matters. I have devices able to go up to 30 watts, and I never take them anywhere near that, the highest I have taken anything is 15 watts on one of my rda's.
The one part of our vaping setup which I would NOT skimp on is authentic brand name batteries.
Batteries are the most important part of our setups, and also potentially the most dangerous. Saving a dollar or two on re-wrapped used batteries that were harvested from discarded computers and disguised to look like new AW or Sony batteries is not a bargain. We put these things up to our faces and hold them in our hands. Not the time or place for a venting battery or a mod to explode. Have peace of mind by buying from reputable trusted vendors who can verify they buy their stock directly from the manufacturer: RTD Vapor, Illumination Supply, Lighthound, or Orbtronics.
Many disreputable Chinese vendors are making a quick buck on recycling used batteries by re-wrapping/disguising them. So never buy unfamiliar brand or generic batteries. Don't buy batteries with "fire" in their name. Buy from the reputable vendors.
Batteries are the most important part of our setups, and also potentially the most dangerous. Saving a dollar or two on re-wrapped used batteries that were harvested from discarded computers and disguised to look like new AW or Sony batteries is not a bargain. We put these things up to our faces and hold them in our hands. Not the time or place for a venting battery or a mod to explode. Have peace of mind by buying from reputable trusted vendors who can verify they buy their stock directly from the manufacturer: RTD Vapor, Illumination Supply, Lighthound, or Orbtronics.
Many disreputable Chinese vendors are making a quick buck on recycling used batteries by re-wrapping/disguising them. So never buy unfamiliar brand or generic batteries. Don't buy batteries with "fire" in their name. Buy from the reputable vendors.
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Sometimes start up costs can be a little heavy, but it evens out after a bit. Then you start saving a lot.
As Baditude said, never skimp on batteries. RTD vapor is one site that sells authentic batteries and chargers. That's pretty much all they specialize in.
Local shops will always charge more for gear, but good prices are always abailable online. Local shop opinions are often one sided too.
Equipment is more affordable than before too. Just do the research and ask questions about upgrades first. Liquids are the most expensive part in my opinion. DIY can be done for a small fraction. I vape unflavored nicotine at $30 for 500ml premix online(velvet cloud vapors), not DIY but cheap and doesn't smell. That's my preference though.
As Baditude said, never skimp on batteries. RTD vapor is one site that sells authentic batteries and chargers. That's pretty much all they specialize in.
Local shops will always charge more for gear, but good prices are always abailable online. Local shop opinions are often one sided too.
Equipment is more affordable than before too. Just do the research and ask questions about upgrades first. Liquids are the most expensive part in my opinion. DIY can be done for a small fraction. I vape unflavored nicotine at $30 for 500ml premix online(velvet cloud vapors), not DIY but cheap and doesn't smell. That's my preference though.
if you learn to build your own coils safely and mix your own juice well, it becomes even cheaper.
I have an app that tracks things like cigs not smoked, money not spent on cigarettes, money spent on vaping, and the difference between the two.
It's been a little over a year since I stopped smoking and started vaping and the tally thus far is...
Not spent on cigs - 2492.00
Spent on vaping - 592.00
Balance - 1900.00
It's really up to you how much or how little you want to spend on your new hobby
I have an app that tracks things like cigs not smoked, money not spent on cigarettes, money spent on vaping, and the difference between the two.
It's been a little over a year since I stopped smoking and started vaping and the tally thus far is...
Not spent on cigs - 2492.00
Spent on vaping - 592.00
Balance - 1900.00
It's really up to you how much or how little you want to spend on your new hobby
my ratio is very similar to yours k702. and im very satisfied with my choice.
I went looking for a simple drip tip at a local vape shop. the cheapest they had was $10. Heck I got a 650 ma ego style batt and an EVOD tank for that, on the net and 2 drip tips for $.90 each.
btw I was buying my smokes for $34/carton here in KY.
btw I was buying my smokes for $34/carton here in KY.
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Cigs in the US are darn cheap, the cheapest cigs in Canada are $6/pack for first nations brands and $10/pack for the named brands, so you're looking at $60-$100 a carton.
I remember there was a time when I was young it was $4 a carton ...those were the days !
vaping on a tight budget:
1: DIY.
eliquid can be expensive.
I buy 24mg eliquid and dilute it about 10:1 with a base I mix- the base is glycerine + 5-to-10% bottled water.
That's easy.
If you can go full blown do-it-yourself where you buy the flavouring and nicotine yourself and mix it you can get much cheaper, but it is work/experimentation.
2: coils.
If using clearomizers like the evod, aspire tanks etc, replacement coils are a recurrent cost.
One easy way to cut down on that cost is to dryburn your coils and - later - rewick with cotton when the silica wick falls apart; this will dramatically extend the working life of the coil.
Rewicking dual coils is not as easy.
If you get into recoiling those coil heads, you might as well get a proper rebuildable tank which has more space to work with.
The kanger subtank+ and subtank mini are a major improvement in this regard because it comes with a proper rebuildable head, as well as a replaceable head.
The Joyetech deltaII also comes setup with a rebuildable option.
1: DIY.
eliquid can be expensive.
I buy 24mg eliquid and dilute it about 10:1 with a base I mix- the base is glycerine + 5-to-10% bottled water.
That's easy.
If you can go full blown do-it-yourself where you buy the flavouring and nicotine yourself and mix it you can get much cheaper, but it is work/experimentation.
2: coils.
If using clearomizers like the evod, aspire tanks etc, replacement coils are a recurrent cost.
One easy way to cut down on that cost is to dryburn your coils and - later - rewick with cotton when the silica wick falls apart; this will dramatically extend the working life of the coil.
Rewicking dual coils is not as easy.
If you get into recoiling those coil heads, you might as well get a proper rebuildable tank which has more space to work with.
The kanger subtank+ and subtank mini are a major improvement in this regard because it comes with a proper rebuildable head, as well as a replaceable head.
The Joyetech deltaII also comes setup with a rebuildable option.
The only thing I've found B&M good for is juice tasting. Testing new juices from web stores can get really expensive fast. When some new juice comes out, I hit a few of our local B&Ms, just to check them out. If the juice is good enough, I'll get a 15ml bottle for the help they gave me. And then if it's really good, I'll start buying it from web stores that generally have larger variety of nic and PG/VG levels and sometimes lower prices.
Yeah that is a major advantage people starting now have. When a lot of us started while there where B&M's around it was mainly in major cities, so we had no choice than to order on line, and when some of the older vapers (vaping time not age) started there weren't any B&M's for them to buy from cities or not.
After watching 2 videos on youtube: 1 on how to make your own ejuice with links to suppliers, and another one on how much ejuice will cost me on the long run, I decided to order my own supplies to make my own ejuice. 15ml will now cost me only 95 cents. Yay!
I learned to rebuild my EVOD heads (click my blog counter for an entry on rebuilding those bad boys.) From there, I started building on kayfun (clones). I've *FINALLY* got those beasties figured out (8 months after I started playing with them) and I have a couple of RDAs and a Kanger Subtank Mini that I'm now playing with.
If you want to get into rebuilding, read up on Ohm's Law and check out Baditude's blogs. Also, get an ohmmeter or a DMM to test your coils. You don't have to build sub-ohm coils - most of what I build is 1.2-1.8 ohms for my everyday use. Only when I'm really playing do I build subohm (but never below 0.5-0.6 ohms)
LOTS of resources here in the forums as well as YouTube videos.
Motordude - you can absolutely vape without spending tons of $$$$. Do you like your setup? If yes, then it's the right one for you (and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!) I have spent some coin on updating my equipment, but this is also a hobby for me. I build coils and make my own juice (which after some initial investment is now less expensive than buying from B&M or online.)
This is all what you want to make of it. Are you just interested in quitting smoking? Do you like to tinker and test and play with stuff? Make this what *YOU* want.
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