Why are we (vapers) so cheap?

[ohai]

lol!!! I agree 100%. Actually maybe more than 100% since I agree double about the itchy finger on the mouse part, just as the clock ticks a few minutes at the end of an eBay auction... sigh... I think it is a disease. but quite a very NICE disease hehe .

Oh, it's awesome when I win, but you should see me when I don't. Actually, you shouldn't see me then. No one should. It's not pretty.

 

[lilith79]

I was doing the RYO thing. It cost me about $12 for a carton. Price does matter, I am on a tight budget and can't afford to buy crap. So be it. It's better than smoking for sure.

 

[spaceballsrules]

I get that, trust me, I do. I'm certainly not rolling in disposable income- just ask my poor deprived children, who regard our family's dismal lack of smartphones as some sort of child abuse. Most of my income is residuals that trickle in from past work that I've done and freelance illustration, for which I usually get paid by the job. Some months are tighter than others, but it's always tight, so I budget accordingly.

Part of the reason it was so important to me to quit this time is because my 14 y/o had started stealing my cigs. I had to get those things out of my house asap. Since I always bought cigs by the carton, and not the pack, I was already budgeting for that regular expenditure, so spending a few more dollars for that first starter kit than I would've spent on the carton anyway didn't seem like a splurge to me at all, esp when I knew it would be saving me so much in the long run.

I've already sent my first kit along to help someone new decide it's crap in a month or two, and my mom will be getting one of my Leas as soon as my new itaste arrives, after which we'll be paying her mediocre starter kit forward onto one of my brothers. I'm not sure why I want to keep one of the most irritating people I know around forever, but I do.

You don't necessarily have to like them, but you darn sure can't help but love them.

 

[ohai]

Great flic! Jack always gets the best lines, too. "You make me want to be a better man." Classic!

Gotta love Jack. He is one of a kind irresistible. There will never be anyone to compare to him.

Great post! It has the same flow as a good rom-com. I laughed in the beginning, but by the end, I was sobbing.

lol, thankyou! I think you may have a flair for the dramatic, yourself!

I couldn't agree more that LIFE is worth more than $$$$. The two cannot even be measured in the same terms.

Amen to that.

 

[WCSR]

I get that, trust me, I do. I'm certainly not rolling in disposable income- just ask my poor deprived children, who regard our family's dismal lack of smartphones as some sort of child abuse. Most of my income is residuals that trickle in from past work that I've done and freelance illustration, for which I usually get paid by the job. Some months are tighter than others, but it's always tight, so I budget accordingly.

Part of the reason it was so important to me to quit this time is because my 14 y/o had started stealing my cigs. I had to get those things out of my house asap. Since I always bought cigs by the carton, and not the pack, I was already budgeting for that regular expenditure, so spending a few more dollars for that first starter kit than I would've spent on the carton anyway didn't seem like a splurge to me at all, esp when I knew it would be saving me so much in the long run.

I've already sent my first kit along to help someone new decide it's crap in a month or two, and my mom will be getting one of my Leas as soon as my new itaste arrives, after which we'll be paying her mediocre starter kit forward onto one of my brothers. I'm not sure why I want to keep one of the most irritating people I know around forever, but I do.

I remember stealing a pack of my mom's cigarettes from a carton when I was 14, thinking she wouldn't notice.

Shhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiit...

I didn't realize, until I smoked, that smokers usually keep a count on packs in a carton. I did, at least... I usually finished off a pack before going to bed, and I never wanted to wake up without any. Apparently my mom kept count too, because she busted me one night after noticing she was missing a pack. The punishment did deter me for the next 5 years though...until I met a hot girl that smoked. Sorry mom...your motherly love just couldn't compete with that.


Hopefully your kids stay away from them forever. I think the fact that the smoking culture has changed from being cool to becoming uncool will certainly help.

 

[juicejunky]

At some point as a vaper, you have to let go what you paid to smoke and just look for value in the vaping products you buy.

The blu's, v2cigs, greensmokes, etc. are making obscene profits playing off a smokers cost for 100-1100% highly taxed cigarettes. The components of the mini E-cigs are not that expensive to manufacture and as volume grows they will be even cheaper to make.

Hand made mods have smaller volumes, more labor, and more risk so should cost more. Atomizers and blank cartomizers seem particularly overpriced to me for what they are made out of.


DIY ejuicers know their cost basis and are a good example of how you can vape for a whole lot less.

 

[smoklessatlast]

At the start it's the fear of spending too much on the 'wrong' thing. Clever marketing is what got me started - a cigalike starter kit from Skycig including a portable charging unit for around £12. That's less than the cost of 40 cigarettes here in the UK so no great loss. After that it got harder to choose where to go. My breakthrough moment came when I realised that unless I decided to invest in a really expensive PV then everything was disposable anyway, it's only a case of how long something lasts rather than a bad decision I'm stuck with forever. I was one heavy smoker and I've spent about £250 on vaping in the last three months. That's less than I spent on cigarettes in one.

I'd guess long term vaping will appear more and more expensive as I lose track of the ever rising price of cigarettes. It's a cross I'm happy enough to bear.

 

[brummyjon]

Well, I'm down on the deal at the moment, financially speaking. I just did a spreadsheet of all the £20 here and £15 there that I spent on juices and stuff. I still have a list of things I want to buy (quite a short list at the moment!) but I can't justify the next step just yet, until my cigarettes/e-cig 'account' is in credit.

On the plus side, I feel great, and I can't wait to receive my eGo Twist in the post (should be here today!!)

As for watching the pennies, that can't be a bad thing. It just seems crazy in hindsight that so many of us spent so much money (especially at UK prices!) on cigarettes that gave us so little back.

 

[smoklessatlast]

I too have a spreadsheet, thought I was the only one Ruined the profit margin by going out last week and buying myself a new bike ................. because I can and more to the point because I can now use it without getting out of breath. I still look 10 years older than I really am thanks to years of smoking but I feel 20 years younger thanks to giving up.

 

[blondeambition3]

Vapers are 'cheap' because who likes spending anymore than you have to on consumable goods? LOL

Addiction keeps us buying the 'expensive' Cigarettes .... Fear and lack of financial resources keeps us from 'investing' in the 'safer' alternative eCigs. It isn't fun when you order a ton of eCig Products that don't deliver on the promises.... and I'm STILL looking for that PERFECT consistent eCig experience!

When I first started vaping I spent well over $3,000.00 in about six month's time..... mostly trying 'everything' available... only to be severely disappointed by the fact that eCig products require consistent manufacturing for quality and it's hard to find. After you experience a 'burnt' 510 atomizer that you just took out of it's pack, properly primed & vaped about a day it's hard to trust the 'next' one you pop on.... lol. I finally discovered the GO-GO and while the consistency with the Cartomizers is good, they're not perfect either... but I can live with it and now I spend about $50 a month (including juices) to vape.

 

[Pappy]

LOL!!!! Too funny! Where is Pappy who started this thread? Gone shopping ? Guess he will be in for one huge surprise at how much fun we are all having at his party hehe...

Oh, I'm here. Enjoying reading all the responses. I always like to see the twists and turns a thread takes in it's life cycle.

 

[smoklessatlast]

Reading what vapers have spent I can only conclude they're not cheap - far from it. They're spendaholics. When someone starts smoking they don't have open packs of cigarettes in the house as part of the search for the 'perfect smoke'. They don't send for 5 or 6 (or more) packs to try out different flavours. They don't collect lighters and discuss which one works best (only related hardware I could think of). If someone gets caught in a rainstorm and the cigarettes in their pocket get soaked they buy more and carry on - roughly equating to the cost of a decent clearomizer at UK prices.

I have 4 batteries, an Ego twist, two from an Ego tank starter kit, a 650mah backup which was being sold off at sale price. I have 4 Vision Ego clearomizers and two flavours of juice. I did admittedly buy quite a few 5ml trial flavours at the start and once I'd found a couple I liked that's what I ordered in larger quantities. I don't need anything more. I could spend more. Maybe I'm just lucky that I've found fantastic suppliers and never wait more than 48 hours from online order to delivery so I don't feel the need to build up a stockpile. Maybe I'm missing out by not trying everything but I didn't feel a great need to try every brand of cigarettes so I'm happy with finding something I like to vape well enough and sticking with it. It probably isn't perfect but how would I know when I've found perfection?

 

[spaceballsrules]

At some point as a vaper, you have to let go what you paid to smoke and just look for value in the vaping products you buy.

The blu's, v2cigs, greensmokes, etc. are making obscene profits playing off a smokers cost for 100-1100% highly taxed cigarettes. The components of the mini E-cigs are not that expensive to manufacture and as volume grows they will be even cheaper to make.

Hand made mods have smaller volumes, more labor, and more risk so should cost more. Atomizers and blank cartomizers seem particularly overpriced to me for what they are made out of.


DIY ejuicers know their cost basis and are a good example of how you can vape for a whole lot less.

If attys and cartos are overpriced, then what about drip tips? Seriously, what's up with drip tips costing $2-3.50 for the dinky little plastic ones? Dream tips for $8!?!? What?

The only drip tips that are appropriately priced are the custom hand-blown drip tips. I can understand paying those prices.

 

[HawkeyeFLA]

I get that, trust me, I do. I'm certainly not rolling in disposable income- just ask my poor deprived children, who regard our family's dismal lack of smartphones as some sort of child abuse. Most of my income is residuals that trickle in from past work that I've done and freelance illustration, for which I usually get paid by the job. Some months are tighter than others, but it's always tight, so I budget accordingly.

Part of the reason it was so important to me to quit this time is because my 14 y/o had started stealing my cigs. I had to get those things out of my house asap. Since I always bought cigs by the carton, and not the pack, I was already budgeting for that regular expenditure, so spending a few more dollars for that first starter kit than I would've spent on the carton anyway didn't seem like a splurge to me at all, esp when I knew it would be saving me so much in the long run.

I've already sent my first kit along to help someone new decide it's crap in a month or two, and my mom will be getting one of my Leas as soon as my new itaste arrives, after which we'll be paying her mediocre starter kit forward onto one of my brothers. I'm not sure why I want to keep one of the most irritating people I know around forever, but I do.

I have a feeling where I work, PIF is going to end up being quite the big thing, since so many of my cowokers can't make that initial cost step. Once I have a couple more batteries, so I don't feel nervous loaning PIFing out some of my original kit, we'll get the ball rolling at work.

And since I do have DIY juice plans, no one will ever be able to claim they can't afford juice, or ran out.

 

[ohai]

I have a feeling where I work, PIF is going to end up being quite the big thing, since so many of my cowokers can't make that initial cost step. Once I have a couple more batteries, so I don't feel nervous loaning PIFing out some of my original kit, we'll get the ball rolling at work.

And since I do have DIY juice plans, no one will ever be able to claim they can't afford juice, or ran out.

I think that sounds awesome, and I applaud you for it, but just be forewarned- it's not going to take for everyone. You'll do everything you can to make it easy for them to get set up, you'll buy/make them juice, you'll suggest ECF for research, you'll pull it up on their computer for them, you'll be as supportive as you can possibly be and they'll give up and go back to analogs anyway, because it just isn't their time for it psychologically. One of my brothers has already given up on vaping, and it really disappointed me, but I can't deny that I get it- you can't quit smoking when someone else wants you to- you have to do it when you want to.

It's frustrating when you've discovered this magical new thing that works so well for you and you can't save the world with it, but people still need their own time to come to it. Maybe in some cases, saying they just can't afford it right now is their way of saying "I'm still not ready."

I've already told my oldest son (23 y/o) that when he's ready, I'll buy him the baddest ... PV I can find- he already has a cheapo kit he bought on his own and tried disposables, likes trying my new ejuices, etc, but he keeps telling me he won't use it. He knows he won't, and he doesn't want me wasting the money. So I'm waiting. But if he ever decides to get serious, the first Provari I buy may just be for him. If it could turn my son into an ex-smoker, spending that money would be the greatest buy of my life.

 

[Strigoi]

Still can't believe people can still afford to live in Cali. In 2001, I spent $1600 a month on a one bedroom apartment (not even a real nice one) in Santa Barbara. It's a nice area....but not THAT nice.

I'm only spending a little over 1/4 of that on rent currently and my roommate (who owns the house) almost never asks for money for bills. It works out great.

Most of the places I've lived have run me $1000+ a month after utilities. That's ranging from living in nice houses to a small, ....ty apartment.

 

[mostapha]

Funny story after seeing this thread. I hit my break-even point pretty early with my Mistic (a close DSE901 clone). Probably about to go back into the red, but whatever.

I used to smoke a bit over a pack/day of Lucky Strikes……at $63/carton I was spending right about $100/month…probably a bit more when you consider that I only bought cartons at one particular gas station and if I ran out elsewhere, they were $7.55 or higher for a pack.

Been vaping more seriously since May 18th. 41 days of Luckies would have been at least $250, and I've spent about $150 on starter kits, batteries, generic 901 cartos & attys, and juice…including 50ml that's on its way that should last for a while…and 15 packs of cigarettes (instead of 41…not perfect but still progress) at a total of $113, or probably a bit less because I had a couple packs left when I started vaping. Just looking at that number makes me want to throw out the half-pack I still have. They taste terrible now anyway, and it's not like I'm actually happy with the (locally bought, overpriced, gross) juice I got yesterday to make sure I didn't run out before USPS decided to show up (seriously…$12 for 5ml that tastes like medicine……buying locally is stupid unless you're lucky).

I'm waiting to upgrade from my bootleg 901s until the amount of money I've saved will easily pay for my upcoming Twist + Tanks setup. If better juice keeps me off them 'till mid-August, I'll easily feel justified. I might go ahead and do it just because they look so damn hot that I might splurge as early as next week and just be in the red for a bit. As long as I can pay my bills and keep my cat fed…college exists…you can live off ramen and hot dogs.

I think it's worth it to get stuff you're happy with. I mean…a lot of the reason I smoked Lucky Strikes was because of how they felt in my hand and how that (gorgeous, raymond lowey-designed) package looked.

I definitley don't get that from what I have, and it's still working. Call it shallow, but I think that's amazing.

Assuming the DCTank cartos or vivi nova attys don't burn out too fast and I don't start vaping 5ml/day, by December, I'll have saved enough money to not feel guilty about a Provari or whatever I decide I want (Empires are gorgeous if I can find one…and look a lot like the updated streamlining style that Lowey helped promote).

In some ways, I'm jealous of my girlfriend. She basically quit smoking by just quitting (except when she drinks). But, on the other hand, there's this whole world out there of interesting design, relaxing/energizing vapor, the ability to do something inside while watching TV or working on my computer (I'm an electronic musician and coder…lots of time with my computer) while indulging the snob in me that appreciates good design.

It's totally worth the money……more so if, like me, you used to buy expensive cigarettes anyway.

Also…hand blown drip tips?! Link?

 

[HawkeyeFLA]

My first kit was an 808D-1 and a 15ml bottle of fluid. Local guy that runs a webstore sold it all to me for 40 bux. So I easily broke even within a week. That 15ml only lasted a week, so bought some more. Broke even on that pretty quickly also. Started hating the 808 autos, so bought an eGo kit ... technically on the hardware I've long since broken even on that. Then I saw the Twists, and now own 3 of them. And juices ... I have at least a 2 or 3 week supply on hand now (I have a local store, so I don't feel the need to order quite in bulk right now). I just looked at my .sig this evening, I'm now less than $100 in the red. Everything I have now should easily last me until break even ... unless ... eGo Twist batteries in red and green. So tempted to get them to be able to color coordinate. But I think I will take a deep breath and wait. We shall see what happens tho when they pop up as available on my vendor's site.

 

[teamscon]

It continues to amaze me how cheap people are about buying PV's, cartos, tanks, juice, etc. I understand that, when starting out, people are confused and don't want to buy the "wrong" kit. (I was the same way.) But some people seem to suffer from paralysis by analysis and research for weeks or even months to avoid "wasting" money on the "wrong" kit. Meanwhile, how much are they spending on cigarettes?

So many people seem to be obsessed with getting the absolute cheapest price, and will go buy overpriced cigarettes (at $6 a pack or whatever) while they wait for an internet order, just to avoid paying an extra few bucks to source juice or accessories locally.

I don't get it. Most of us wasted thousands of $$ on cigarettes in our lifetimes. (I don't even want to think how much my cigarette bill was.) Why do we fret and worry so much about plunking down $50 for a starter KGO or EGO kit just because it MIGHT not be the PV we ultimately take to our grave?

I dont want to because I quit smoking to save money .. Not for my health
BTW - We have to be cheap to keep prices down. They would charge 60.00 for a vivi nova if we would pay.

 

[mostapha]

They would charge 60.00 for a vivi nova if we would pay.

That's true.

Forgive me if I'm just an ill-informed n00b, but it seems like this world is a lot like everything else. There will always be overpriced stuff. There will always be levels of stuff. And there will always be a point of diminishing returns.

Apart from price gouging based on consumer ignorance (smoking everywhere, for example, IMHO) a $100 kit is probably going to be a lot better than a $20 kit. 5 times better? Maybe…depends how you quantify things. In this world, Is a $300 kit going to be three times better than a $100 kit? No. Not based on the numbers I'm seeing. Better, yes, but not 3 times better. Is it going to be 15 times better than the $20 kit? No. No way.

Prices just do not scale linearly. In any world. And there will always be the people who will pay $300,000 for an Astin Martin that requires more maintenance and posts slower lap times than a $125,000 GTR, might lose to a $50,000 ricer, and doesn't do anything qualitatively different from a $30,000 sport sedan. Why? Because it's an Astin. Likewise, there will always be people who think that anyone in an Astin is an idiot because they're paying a huge premium for a badge.

That's just the way things are. It's all happened before, and it will all happen again. Over and over again. In every world that has levels of products for different budgets and needs.

If they charged $60 for a vivi nova and there were people who'd pay it, something else would crop up for $15 that was 90% of the way there and easily good enough for 95% of people. And it would start a religious war between the people who are convinced the difference is night and day and the people who either can't tell a difference or don't think it's worth the money……just like everything else I've ever done (musical/audio equipment, computers, cars, clothes, art, photography, etc.).