What I've Learned in a Month of vaping OR
Random Thoughts From A Noob
I wanted to write some of my experiences down while still fresh. Who knows?
Something might just help others.
--Those "free trials" aren't free. Yes, it's low cost to try out the product,
but they sign you up for their other products (automatically) and you have to
tell them to stop.
--Finding the right e-liquid for you can be hard. The trick in the beginning is
to find something you can live with for awhile and get a 30 or 60ml bottle to
hold you over while you try different flavors to find that "daily vape" flavor
you really like. My initial mistake with SI (Smokeless Image) was that I only got the sample pack and didn't order extra cartomizers or eliquid. After 5 days I was out of
cartomizers and had to buy regular cigs to tide me over until I could order
more.
--Someone else's recommendation regarding flavors is usually pretty useless to
you. Descriptions like "sweet" or "minty" can be helpful, but overall, our
tastes are different. Having said that, if you don't have any experience with
different flavors, you might want to try other people's suggestions since you
won't have much else to go on. It's all hit or miss. Some people get lucky and
find their perfect flavor right away. Try not to hate them too much.
--The sheer amount of eliquid flavors can be daunting. I suggest trying
different tobacco flavors first. For one thing, it cuts down on the choices at
the beginning. For another, I think it's better to find something that tastes
close to a regular cigarette to help you wean your way off easier. Your results
may vary.
--Sample packs of flavors should always be purchased with a Starter Kit. If you
don't know what flavors you like, it's best to have small samples of different
types so you can see what you might like.
--Always get at least two batteries with your initial purchase. One automatic
and one manual (to see which kind you prefer). If you only have one, what are
you gonna do while it is charging? Probably have a regular cig.
--Your tastebuds will probably change the farther away you get from your last
cigarette. It will affect how your food tastes, but it can also change how your
favorite e-liquid tastes.
--I smoked at home only in my garage for the last few years. Once I started
vaping, I rarely had an urge to smoke, but quite often I had the urge to go into
my garage. (This would not count as a "senior moment" unless I actually walked
into the garage and wondered why.) Smoking cigarettes probably isn't the only
habit you'll want to break.
--Remember when you first looked into vaping and tried to figure out what is
what? Confusing, wasn't it? Not only were you trying to learn a brand new
nomenclature, you were trying to figure out all the different hardware setups.
"What should I buy?" is the biggest question for noobs, but the hardest to find
the answer to. Choice is a good thing, but not so much when you're first trying
to understand everything. It can be overwhelming. There's tons of information,
but very little guidance.
--It was good that I finally found a vendor (Smokeless Image) that only sold one
style of e-cigarette. The important thing was to get started vaping and get off
regular cigarettes. If I find that I want some funky mod set-up later, that's
fine, but I needed to get started first.
--Cartomizers vs Atomizers. I found good explanations of each when I was
researching, but none of the information told me what I should get. If you're
just starting, I recommend Cartomizers. Cartomizer setups are two-piece
(cartomizer and battery) while atomizer setups are three-piece (atomizer,
battery, cartridge). Keep it as simple as possible to start with. You can
check out the atomizer setups later.
--Find vendors that have good customer service when getting started. Cheap is
great, but if the company is unreliable and won't (or can't) help you, what good
is lower pricing? After you've been vaping for awhile and have yourself
'settled', then you can try out some of those cheaper places. Not saying that
cheaper places are bad, or that more expensive ones are good. I'm saying that
when you start out, you want to feel comfortable giving your money to the
vendor. Check out the ECF forums to see what others recommend and why. Lots of
positive remarks about a company are a good indicator. One or two positives (or
negatives) aren't very useful.
For example: After some not-so-great experiences, I was looking
one last time for a company/brand/setup to buy. My head was already full of new
knowlege and terms (Analog, mod, cartomizer, atomizer, WTH????). I went through
ECF posts and I kept seeing Volts recommended for first time users. I saw a few
of these before I decided to look at the Smokeless Image (makers of the Volt)
website. I was happy to find only one type of setup. I also saw that SI had a
forum on ECF, so I ghosted around awhile and checked out the 'residents'. Nice
group, happy with the product. That sold me, so I bought a Starter Kit and
haven't looked back. I expand on this point later.
--This is personal preference only...I went to quite a few vendor websites to
look at prospective e-cigs. A whole lot of those sites looked like they were
put together by 12 year olds. Not very professional and they had a mismash of
different components, setups, eliquids, etc. It just hurt to look at some of
them. The site for Smokeless Image was simple, yet professional looking. That
was part of why I decided to purchase there. I say this is just a personal
preference because the vendor site I went to first, looked very professional
too, but they werent' someone I wanted to buy from.
--If you're brand new to e-cigs, find a reputable company first, then decide
what Starter Kit to buy. That sounds backwards, but I believe it isn't. When
you're new to this, odds are you won't know what you're doing. I sure didn't.
A reputable company will help you if you have questions, either by phone or a
very good FAQ page or even in an ECF forum if the vendor is represented there.
Tip: When starting to look at vendors, a good sign is if they are represented
in the ECF forum. Not all of them are, and while the list of ECF vendors is
long, it's not nearly as long as what you'd get trying to find a vendor through
Google.
--Finding a vendor can be a long and winding road. My example of how I wound up
with SI:
My wife forwarded to me a postive article on e-cigs. That email contained a
link to a (nameless) company. I tried their product. Happy with the product,
but not happy with the pricing or the availability of customer service, I went
shopping.
From there, I found youtube vids (very entertaining, some of them).
The Youtube vids mentioned ECF.
On ECF I went into research mode until my head ached.
While that was going on, I tried a different company that I kinda liked, but
wasn't completely satisfied with. After that second company (and about $100
spent), I decide to try one more company and that was it.
On ECF, I was finding posts talking about
recommendations for new users. A few mentioned the Volt and SI. Reliable,
great customer service. Sounded good so far. Went to the website, liked the
look (and that they were only selling one type of unit). Not quite convinced, I
found that SI had a presence on ECF so I started snooping around. The people
were nice, but more importantly, they were very happy with the product and raved
about the customer service. So, I purchased a starter kit.
--Smoking and vaping are not exactly the same procedure. There's an ECF article
on how to vape "correctly". It's a good starting point, but you'll need to
experiment a bit. For example. Part of the preferred method is to exhale the
vapor through your nose. It irritates my nose, so I don't normally do that.
Check out the article (I think it's in the ECF FAQ section).
--Where smoking and vaping are the same is in that they are both just means to
get nicotine into your system. The difference is that with vaping you are only
putting nicotine into your body and not the smoke and tar or hundreds of
chemicals from lighting up a regular cig.
--The smoke from cigarettes is more efficient in getting nicotine into your
system than the vapor from e-cigs, according to what I've read. Don't be
surprised if you vape more often than you smoked in order to introduce the same
amount of nicotine into your body. I was initially alarmed at how much I vaped
at first. I was afraid that I was sucking in too much nicotine. Now knowing
about this, it's not so worrying.
--Finding that as my tastebuds get back to "normal", I can taste VG liquids
better. At first, I could hardly taste them at all.
--Initial cash layout can be between $75 and $100 to get you started and going
for awhile. That's for a starter kit, extra batteries, some eliquids and other
doo-dads.
And that's if you happen to find the right vendor the first time.
For some of us, that's no big deal. For others, that's a lot. You have to
balance that against how much you pay for regular cigs.
--My first e-cig vendor was a bust, but the unit they sent me still has value.
I bought some extra cartomizers for it and I lend it out to friends and
acquaintances that would like to try out e-cigs but don't know much about them.
If they think they'd be interested in trying e-cigs, I send them to my "good"
vendor (SI).
If you have a unit that you don't particularly like, loan it out to others. Who
knows, you might be saving someone's life. You'll at least save them from
spending lots of money all over the place.
Got any random thoughts or noob experiences of your own? Share them here.
Random Thoughts From A Noob
I wanted to write some of my experiences down while still fresh. Who knows?
Something might just help others.
--Those "free trials" aren't free. Yes, it's low cost to try out the product,
but they sign you up for their other products (automatically) and you have to
tell them to stop.
--Finding the right e-liquid for you can be hard. The trick in the beginning is
to find something you can live with for awhile and get a 30 or 60ml bottle to
hold you over while you try different flavors to find that "daily vape" flavor
you really like. My initial mistake with SI (Smokeless Image) was that I only got the sample pack and didn't order extra cartomizers or eliquid. After 5 days I was out of
cartomizers and had to buy regular cigs to tide me over until I could order
more.
--Someone else's recommendation regarding flavors is usually pretty useless to
you. Descriptions like "sweet" or "minty" can be helpful, but overall, our
tastes are different. Having said that, if you don't have any experience with
different flavors, you might want to try other people's suggestions since you
won't have much else to go on. It's all hit or miss. Some people get lucky and
find their perfect flavor right away. Try not to hate them too much.
--The sheer amount of eliquid flavors can be daunting. I suggest trying
different tobacco flavors first. For one thing, it cuts down on the choices at
the beginning. For another, I think it's better to find something that tastes
close to a regular cigarette to help you wean your way off easier. Your results
may vary.
--Sample packs of flavors should always be purchased with a Starter Kit. If you
don't know what flavors you like, it's best to have small samples of different
types so you can see what you might like.
--Always get at least two batteries with your initial purchase. One automatic
and one manual (to see which kind you prefer). If you only have one, what are
you gonna do while it is charging? Probably have a regular cig.
--Your tastebuds will probably change the farther away you get from your last
cigarette. It will affect how your food tastes, but it can also change how your
favorite e-liquid tastes.
--I smoked at home only in my garage for the last few years. Once I started
vaping, I rarely had an urge to smoke, but quite often I had the urge to go into
my garage. (This would not count as a "senior moment" unless I actually walked
into the garage and wondered why.) Smoking cigarettes probably isn't the only
habit you'll want to break.
--Remember when you first looked into vaping and tried to figure out what is
what? Confusing, wasn't it? Not only were you trying to learn a brand new
nomenclature, you were trying to figure out all the different hardware setups.
"What should I buy?" is the biggest question for noobs, but the hardest to find
the answer to. Choice is a good thing, but not so much when you're first trying
to understand everything. It can be overwhelming. There's tons of information,
but very little guidance.
--It was good that I finally found a vendor (Smokeless Image) that only sold one
style of e-cigarette. The important thing was to get started vaping and get off
regular cigarettes. If I find that I want some funky mod set-up later, that's
fine, but I needed to get started first.
--Cartomizers vs Atomizers. I found good explanations of each when I was
researching, but none of the information told me what I should get. If you're
just starting, I recommend Cartomizers. Cartomizer setups are two-piece
(cartomizer and battery) while atomizer setups are three-piece (atomizer,
battery, cartridge). Keep it as simple as possible to start with. You can
check out the atomizer setups later.
--Find vendors that have good customer service when getting started. Cheap is
great, but if the company is unreliable and won't (or can't) help you, what good
is lower pricing? After you've been vaping for awhile and have yourself
'settled', then you can try out some of those cheaper places. Not saying that
cheaper places are bad, or that more expensive ones are good. I'm saying that
when you start out, you want to feel comfortable giving your money to the
vendor. Check out the ECF forums to see what others recommend and why. Lots of
positive remarks about a company are a good indicator. One or two positives (or
negatives) aren't very useful.
For example: After some not-so-great experiences, I was looking
one last time for a company/brand/setup to buy. My head was already full of new
knowlege and terms (Analog, mod, cartomizer, atomizer, WTH????). I went through
ECF posts and I kept seeing Volts recommended for first time users. I saw a few
of these before I decided to look at the Smokeless Image (makers of the Volt)
website. I was happy to find only one type of setup. I also saw that SI had a
forum on ECF, so I ghosted around awhile and checked out the 'residents'. Nice
group, happy with the product. That sold me, so I bought a Starter Kit and
haven't looked back. I expand on this point later.
--This is personal preference only...I went to quite a few vendor websites to
look at prospective e-cigs. A whole lot of those sites looked like they were
put together by 12 year olds. Not very professional and they had a mismash of
different components, setups, eliquids, etc. It just hurt to look at some of
them. The site for Smokeless Image was simple, yet professional looking. That
was part of why I decided to purchase there. I say this is just a personal
preference because the vendor site I went to first, looked very professional
too, but they werent' someone I wanted to buy from.
--If you're brand new to e-cigs, find a reputable company first, then decide
what Starter Kit to buy. That sounds backwards, but I believe it isn't. When
you're new to this, odds are you won't know what you're doing. I sure didn't.
A reputable company will help you if you have questions, either by phone or a
very good FAQ page or even in an ECF forum if the vendor is represented there.
Tip: When starting to look at vendors, a good sign is if they are represented
in the ECF forum. Not all of them are, and while the list of ECF vendors is
long, it's not nearly as long as what you'd get trying to find a vendor through
Google.
--Finding a vendor can be a long and winding road. My example of how I wound up
with SI:
My wife forwarded to me a postive article on e-cigs. That email contained a
link to a (nameless) company. I tried their product. Happy with the product,
but not happy with the pricing or the availability of customer service, I went
shopping.
From there, I found youtube vids (very entertaining, some of them).
The Youtube vids mentioned ECF.
On ECF I went into research mode until my head ached.
While that was going on, I tried a different company that I kinda liked, but
wasn't completely satisfied with. After that second company (and about $100
spent), I decide to try one more company and that was it.
On ECF, I was finding posts talking about
recommendations for new users. A few mentioned the Volt and SI. Reliable,
great customer service. Sounded good so far. Went to the website, liked the
look (and that they were only selling one type of unit). Not quite convinced, I
found that SI had a presence on ECF so I started snooping around. The people
were nice, but more importantly, they were very happy with the product and raved
about the customer service. So, I purchased a starter kit.
--Smoking and vaping are not exactly the same procedure. There's an ECF article
on how to vape "correctly". It's a good starting point, but you'll need to
experiment a bit. For example. Part of the preferred method is to exhale the
vapor through your nose. It irritates my nose, so I don't normally do that.
Check out the article (I think it's in the ECF FAQ section).
--Where smoking and vaping are the same is in that they are both just means to
get nicotine into your system. The difference is that with vaping you are only
putting nicotine into your body and not the smoke and tar or hundreds of
chemicals from lighting up a regular cig.
--The smoke from cigarettes is more efficient in getting nicotine into your
system than the vapor from e-cigs, according to what I've read. Don't be
surprised if you vape more often than you smoked in order to introduce the same
amount of nicotine into your body. I was initially alarmed at how much I vaped
at first. I was afraid that I was sucking in too much nicotine. Now knowing
about this, it's not so worrying.
--Finding that as my tastebuds get back to "normal", I can taste VG liquids
better. At first, I could hardly taste them at all.
--Initial cash layout can be between $75 and $100 to get you started and going
for awhile. That's for a starter kit, extra batteries, some eliquids and other
doo-dads.
And that's if you happen to find the right vendor the first time.
For some of us, that's no big deal. For others, that's a lot. You have to
balance that against how much you pay for regular cigs.
--My first e-cig vendor was a bust, but the unit they sent me still has value.
I bought some extra cartomizers for it and I lend it out to friends and
acquaintances that would like to try out e-cigs but don't know much about them.
If they think they'd be interested in trying e-cigs, I send them to my "good"
vendor (SI).
If you have a unit that you don't particularly like, loan it out to others. Who
knows, you might be saving someone's life. You'll at least save them from
spending lots of money all over the place.
Got any random thoughts or noob experiences of your own? Share them here.
