Here's my recommendation for new users:
1.)
Try a disposable ecig ($10), they sell them at Pilot truck stops or online.
If you like it, then skip the $100 mall starter kits and anything that looks like your 'real' cigarettes. They don't work very well and will only frustrate you.
STAY AWAY FROM FREE TRIALS AND PREFILLED CARTRIDGES. I can't stress this enough! Do the math on pennies worth of juice and cartidge, and you'll find that the $20 you spent on a 5 pack of prefills is 99% pure profit for your ripoff supplier!
2.)
Get a 510 USB Passthru, most break in a week or two, including some of the fancy metal ones. The model from Vaprlife works great, and i haven't been able to break mine in months of heavy use driving trucks and puffing 16+ hours every day:
THE VP-PT (USB PASS THRU)
3.) Try some juice samplers, but
the best and cheapest juice you can make yourself. Buy a 500ml container of 50-60mg strength for under $100 at somewhere like
50MG/ML Nic Liquid
and mix it down with your own VG (WalMart) and flavor it with whatever you like. My favorite is Camel SNUS packets, 1 for every 30mg of juice. This will save you $3000 over commercial liquids, and last from 5-8 months depending on your useage.
If you're trying to quit smoking, you'll find the commercial liquids under 30mg strength to be unsatisfying. Mix your own liquid at 30-36mg strength using a juice mix calculator and a graduated cylinder (google), this seems to be the strength that matches your analogs. After a few weeks and after quitting cigarettes, gradually 'water down' your mixes until you find a strength you can live with.
4.) skip atomizers and cartridges, they fail, are pricey and all the mods fail because you still end up refilling them every 10 minutes. Instead,
use atomized cartridges (510 Cartomizers) with integrated filler and atomizer. They hold about 20 drops and cost about $8-12 for a 5 pack. Each one lasts great about 2-3 days, and die in about a week. I discard or give them away after day 4. I usually buy 10 5 packs at a time (that's one carton) for around $100 and it'll last from 3-6 months. Use a blunt-tipped syringe to top off your carto with the juice you made.
5.) When you're away from USB power, use a dependable battery or mod. The mini batts are fine and very discreet, but don't perform well and die after a week or two. The tornadoes or E-Go work okay, but I've had 4 failures out of 4 due to overheating and switch failure. Instead,
use a well-built 5v mod ecig like the GLV (510), which I like even better than my USB PT. Order one here ($135)
Electronic Cigarettes and E-Liquid - Great Lakes Vapor The GLV is the ONLY thing I can recommend to my friends that doesn't break.
You can either do this, or waste months and thousands of dollars like I did on a pile of junk that doesn't work. It'll cost you a few hundred, but you WILL be satisfied and it will save you thousands over analogs. There's alot of rebranded crap out there that looks flashy and has plenty of exaggerated claims. I'm tired of people coming to me with their starter kits that look like a pack of cigarettes that don't work!! Once they see my setup, they tell me, "I wish I had known there was a better way"...
Well, here you go.
Either waste $200 on stuff you'll give up on, or spend $4-500 for stuff that'll keep you happy like I am now!
After the inital investment of about $450 for the VP-PT, GLV, cartos, juice and juice flavorings, your weekly costs will be nothing until about month 4, for cartos and more juice. This breaks down to around $5-6 a week. Much less than the $150 a week for 2 cartons of Camel Crush I was going through!
I'm hoping this post will stop at least one person from buying another starter kit then giving up and going back to smoking after a few days and that junk going where it belongs, in a junk drawer.
