Why Vaping won't ever convert the masses (of smokers)

[HauntedMyst]

vaping, sadly, is a steep learning curve for the non-initiated, and whereas I expect most of you to disagree with me

Well I can't say I read your whole post but I do disagree with that. I got to the above and that combined with the short attention span of the TV/Internet generation, I drifted off. vaping is now easy. Walk into any vaping store. Buy a regulated mod. Buy an atty with replaceable coils to go with it and boom, Bob's your uncle. Now the only thing left is finding your juice and maybe adjusting the airflow and power with a simple up down switch. It's a concept so simple we've used it on virtually every light for the last 100+ years. For those that wish to make it complicated, they can, but you certainly don't have to.

 

[sawlight]

Likening building coils/changing wicks to major auto repair is a bit silly.

Last night, half drunk, I built a decent pair of Clapton coils with a q-tip, (wound the wire around the shaft), and a Swiss army knife. They ain't perfect, (0.31 ohm, 7 wraps), but they're working just fine in my Twisted Messes v2 RDA, and they're the first pair I've ever built. I used an organic cotton pad for the wicking, but the q-tip could've provided that as well.

This ain't rocket surgery.

I wasn't even comparing it to minor auto repair! The guy I was referring to stabbed himself in the hand last time he used a screw driver! I mean NO mechanical inclination at ALL!!!

 

[rico942]

I enjoy reading about APVs in the same way I like staying informed about advances in automotive technology, performance cars and even NASCAR ...

But I drive a Nissan Versa, and vape an Ovale Elips ...

I wouldn't have these things if someone hadn't pushed the envelope ...

 

[7sixtwo]

I wasn't even comparing it to minor auto repair! The guy I was referring to stabbed himself in the hand last time he used a screw driver! I mean NO mechanical inclination at ALL!!!

I meant to address devilzrox, the OP, not you.

 

[NOVA jon]

I think your points are a little weak. If you want to do something badly enough, you will make the change. Will things go wrong if you don't know what your are doing with these devices? The possibility is certainly there.

If I decided I wanted to skydive, I would take a little time and find out what I was getting into and ask as many questions as I could until I was confident with the answers I received!

As many have said already, you can make this as simple or complicated as you want. You just have to hope that if and when you want to make the next step, you do your homework and make it something you are comfortable with. Baby steps, that's what worked for me, but I took a whole lot of them really really fast but at the same time knew that if I didn't know I was doing, I could always learn from asking questions and read about things!

I'll probably catch a little crap for this but, I'm responsible for me and the people around me when I vape. I don't expect anyone to do the work for me but will try to help when asked about making the switch!!

 

[7sixtwo]

Well I can't say I read your whole post but I do disagree with that. I got to the above and that combined with the short attention span of the TV/Internet generation, I drifted off. Vaping is now easy. Walk into any vaping store. Buy a regulated mod. Buy an atty with replaceable coils to go with it and boom, Bob's your uncle. Now the only thing left is finding your juice and maybe adjusting the airflow and power with a simple up down switch. It's a concept so simple we've used it on virtually every light since for the last 100+ years. For those that wish to make it complicated, they can, but you certainly don't have to.

Exactly. Just a few years ago, you had to build your own coils for sub-ohm vaping, and most regulated APV's wouldn't fire that low, so you had to go with a mech mod. Clearomizers and itty bitty OEM coils, (for the primitive regulated APV's), were available, but the flavor and vapor production were unimpressive.

Now, you can buy one of several starter kits for ~$25-$40, pour in some juice, and sub-ohm ya &%$# off, (as Sam would say ). Vaping today is only as complicated as one chooses to make it.

 

[VHRB2014]

Ohh, My head hurts now, I think I`ll go build a coil or two and have a good vape.

 

[devilzrox]

I enjoyed reading your replies. You raise some good points, and I did exaggerate a tad

Having said that, I still believe that at any level of vaping, be it the plug and play right up to fully customized mods, there is always more work and knowledge involved than the user anticipates there will be. As giving up smoking is so important, I am disappointed that some people, people who lack patience for example, won't stick with it.

And to the person who said no-one had ever died using an ecig, well technically not whilst using it, but an ecig explosion that caused a chain reaction DID in fact kill someone. While the media may tend to sensationalize such stories, it isn't to say they don't happen. And there are a lot of them, as the list I'm about to post a link to, attests.

Can all of you HONESTLY say all of these incidents were due to carelessness on the user's part, and not due to faulty equipment? Faulty equipment that any one of us could be using right now? If that's the case then when we go for one more hit of vanilla-cherry on our trusty old ego, we have no idea it's suddenly morphed into a Beretta, and is about to effectively end the life we have known all of our life, be it by permanent disfigurement, disability or even death? This is my point about safety standards.

And if the people ARE to blame because of their own negligence, isn't the price they have paid too steep even for that? I've bought stuff from e-cig stores and the part-time staff there with their egos on lanyards round their next don't even stress the simple fact that, "yeah, you know those fifty gazillion usb wall plugs you got lying around the house for old phones you had. Yeah, don't use any of them for this. Srsly dude". My god, it should be painted on the walls, booming from every speaker. It should at least be as carefully and seriously reminded to the consumer as much as real cigarettes' cancer warnings on their packets are. People OFTEN DO use the wrong charger for their phones, but phones are made to higher quality standards, and I doubt you'll find a list as comprehensive as this regarding them.

Tinkering is all well and good, but after reading this list, the difference between being 'absolutely certain' you know what you're doing, and 'being confident and doing what you're more or less certain is correct' could make the difference between a more satisfying hit and waking up without a face in the morning. Couple that with the fact that hardware quality issues aren't working in tandem with your fortune, and it's a risky game to play.

Anyway, here's the list.
E-Cigarette Explosions: Comprehensive List - eCig One

 

[7sixtwo]

I enjoyed reading your replies. You raise some good points, and I did exaggerate a tad

Having said that, I still believe that at any level of vaping, be it the plug and play right up to fully customized mods, there is always more work and knowledge involved than the user anticipates there will be. As giving up smoking is so important, I am disappointed that some people, people who lack patience for example, won't stick with it.

And to the person who said no-one had ever died using an ecig, well technically not whilst using it, but an ecig explosion that caused a chain reaction DID in fact kill someone. While the media may tend to sensationalize such stories, it isn't to say they don't happen. And there are a lot of them, as the list I'm about to post a link to, attests.

Can all of you HONESTLY say all of these incidents were due to carelessness on the user's part, and not due to faulty equipment? Faulty equipment that any one of us could be using right now? If that's the case then when we go for one more hit of vanilla-cherry on our trusty old ego, we have no idea it's suddenly morphed into a Beretta, and is about to effectively end the life we have known all of our life, be it by permanent disfigurement, disability or even death? This is my point about safety standards.

And if the people ARE to blame because of their own negligence, isn't the price they have paid too steep even for that? I've bought stuff from e-cig stores and the part-time staff there with their egos on lanyards round their next don't even stress the simple fact that, "yeah, you know those fifty gazillion usb wall plugs you got lying around the house for old phones you had. Yeah, don't use any of them for this. Srsly dude". My god, it should be painted on the walls, booming from every speaker. It should at least be as carefully and seriously reminded to the consumer as much as real cigarettes' cancer warnings on their packets are. People OFTEN DO use the wrong charger for their phones, but phones are made to higher quality standards, and I doubt you'll find a list as comprehensive as this regarding them.

Tinkering is all well and good, but after reading this list, the difference between being 'absolutely certain' you know what you're doing, and 'being confident and doing what you're more or less certain is correct' could make the difference between a more satisfying hit and waking up without a face in the morning. Couple that with the fact that hardware quality issues aren't working in tandem with your fortune, and it's a risky game to play.

Anyway, here's the list.
E-Cigarette Explosions: Comprehensive List - eCig One

More exaggeration. The only way anyone gets injured vaping is when they misuse the equipment.

If someone lacks the patience to learn basic battery safety, then they're not serious about quitting smoking. It's that simple.

ETA: using different USB charging cables for any APV more advanced than an Ego battery or cigalike does not cause them to turn into "Berettas" or bombs. I do it all the time. Also, APV's use the same type of batteries as cell phones, (lithium ion), and they're manufactured to the same high quality standards.. i.e. totally safe, unless misused, like every other battery ever made.

 

[devilzrox]

More exaggeration. The only way anyone gets injured vaping is when they misuse the equipment.

If someone lacks the patience to learn basic battery safety, then they're not serious about quitting smoking. It's that simple.

ETA: using different USB charging cables for APV's does not cause them to turn into "Berettas" or bombs. I do it all the time. Also, APV's use the same type of batteries as cell phones, (lithium ion), and they're manufactured to the same high quality standards.. i.e. totally safe, unless misused, like every other battery ever made.

Well I don't think I was exaggerating there, as I was posing the question to you. If you read my post more carefully you'll see that.

I asked whether you all felt that these incidents were down to what you claim to be 'basic' battery safety? No faulty batteries, then? Or mods? Just incompetent users, who have failed to demonstrate battery safety? Every....single....one?

I remain, for the most part, unconvinced...

[EDIT] For example, does 'basic' battery safety now include, as common knowledge to the masses, not to buy Efest batteries?? Just sayin'.

 

[Vaslovik]

More exaggeration. The only way anyone gets injured vaping is when they misuse the equipment.

If someone lacks the patience to learn basic battery safety, then they're not serious about quitting smoking. It's that simple.

Agreed. I've long suspected the explosions happen to those cloud chasing on the cheap and not doing their homework on battery safety. If you are gonna go there learn what you are doing first.

 

[7sixtwo]

Well I don't think I was exaggerating there, as I was posing the question to you. If you read my post more carefully you'll see that.

I asked whether you all felt that these incidents were down to what you claim to be 'basic' battery safety? No faulty batteries, then? Or mods? Just incompetent users, who have failed to demonstrate battery safety? Every....single....one?

I remain, for the most part, unconvinced...

I've yet to see a single incident involving personal injury that wasn't directly caused by unsafe practices on the part of the user. Batteries don't randomly vent or enter thermal runaway.

 

[Falconeer]

I really enjoyed reading your tongue in cheek post.

There is of course a simple solution to most of the problems you mention - you go into a good vape shop (and they do exist; certainly in Scotland and Spain anyway) and you buy two Nautilus Minis, two iStick 30ws, some spare coils for the Nautilus and some strongly flavoured e liquid of at least 16 strength.

You charge the thing up after having read the well written instructions, fill the Nautilus after having read the equally well written instructions - then you vape away while putting the second outfit on charge.

About a week later when the thing starts to taste burnt/evil you change the coil.

You really never need to get beyond this unless you want to!

Thanks again for an interesting read!

 

[NewbVaper94]

There's one question you have to ask yourself, is it harder to swap and wick a coil, recharge a battery or air seal your atty to prevent leaks or is it harder to walk up a flight of staira at 55 with smokers lungs?

If choice one seems easier than do your homework. If one is not interested in homework cause it aint what the cool kids do, then quit cold turkey.

Vaping is big news now and growing bigger, ive seen people grandma's vape, if they can do it, we all can!

 

[devilzrox]

One point I'd neglected to mention, regarding the list (oh and if there's anyone wanting to read it, as posting it seemed to lose the URL, just google the exact phrase) and that is that the most common 'cause' for every one of these events, as attested by the compiler of the list and, I'm guessing, every one of yourselves, is that the user (dumb as they must have been) failed to use the correct charger with the device.

This seemed a bit vague to me, so let me elaborate...

If it's an ego, then it will have one end with a screwthread, and the other a regular usb plug.
For box mods, in general, it will be a regular usb to micro usb cable.

Okay then, so that leave the direct to wall component....

"The users weren't using the charger supplied with the device"

Riiiight. So who'd like to tell me first which device comes with a wall plug? Some may, but I know for a fact Kanger Evods don't. I know for a fact that Cool Fire IVs don't. I know for a fact Subox Mini's don't..

So what, then, is the correct wall plug for these devices. Because it's kinda important I know, seeing as in your opinion, EVERY ONE OF THESE EXPLOSIONS WAS CAUSED BY SOMEONE JUST GETTING THIS ONE DETAIL WRONG. Answers appreciated! Don't waste time though, don't want to be on a ventilator by the time I'm reading them.

Also are we to assume that a regular USB to mini-USB is cool to use with a box mod? Or are the bundled cables special voltage resistant iggimajig? Should we be researching USB specifications, getting an electrician out to see if our home voltage is 'spiking'? Any other considerations regular smokers should deem as common knowledge? On top of their complete and total affinity with batteries, ofc.

 

[crxess]

For myself as well as some 30 of my continuing converts - the KISS method of Vaping ended decades of Smoking.
Yes, I now enjoy the hobby aspect. Many of my converts have either upgraded for satisfaction or are now hobbyist.

Carry this out exponentially and Ops opinions are off.

I am amazed at the supposed intro post by new members. What ever happened to get to know your audience

Oh...............OP......Welcome to EFC

 

[sawlight]

I meant to address devilzrox, the OP, not you.

My bad!

In response to the problems with batteries, yes, most times it is negligence on the users end. Not that long ago, the majority of problems was people charging their Ego batteries with the wrong charger. No one to blame for mis-matching equipment but the user.
With the day of micro USB chargers at hand, that isn't such an issue.
But we still have a problem with cheap people. Being cheap doesn't pay off in this field. Buy a good charger, once. Buy a cheap charger, burn your house down, blow up some batteries, lots of things can happen. Buy a good charger and it will tell you when the batteries are shot and will tell you, not continue to charge, when some idiot puts the wrong batteries on it. (As I have personally done by accident, but my charger saved my ....!)
But as others have said, buy a mod with a built in battery, use a micro USB charger, as they are all standard spec now, a tank with an easy to change coil and be happy. It's easy now days! Heaven forbid we have to go back to the "old days" of vaping and actually have to put some thought into it. Hope you can buy the cartomizers you like (because there was so much demand, they couldn't keep up with it.) or fiddle with Genny style atomizers!

 

[NOVA jon]

Might be me, but why would you go into anything with zero knowledge? The only reason I can think of is the "cool" factor. I wouldn't have picked up smoking if I knew now what I knew then and certainly wouldn't vape if I wasn't trying to stop smoking.

I think the gist of your post is uninformed people thinking about switching won't because they are too lazy??? Could be, but then again, I didn't get trophies for just showing up either! I'm older and know better than to think I will be rewarded for zero effort!!

 

[bwh79]

If it's an ego, then it will have one end with a screwthread, and the other a regular usb plug.
For box mods, in general, it will be a regular usb to micro usb cable.

Okay then, so that leave the direct to wall component....

"The users weren't using the charger supplied with the device"

Riiiight. So who'd like to tell me first which device comes with a wall plug? Some may, but I know for a fact Kanger Evods don't. I know for a fact that Cool Fire IVs don't. I know for a fact Subox Mini's don't..

So what, then, is the correct wall plug for these devices.

The correct wall plug for these devices is one that supplies at least as much amperage as the device is asking for. For eGos and cigalikes, this may be as low as 500mA, but many of the larger box mods want a full 1A. It should be written somewhere on the device, the eGo charger, or in the instructions. Some of them will fast-charge at 2A if it's available, but this is not particularly good for your batteries anyway. Supplying "too much" amperage is not an issue -- the device will draw only what it needs. The problem arises when the device tries to pull more amps than the wall plug can dish out. That's when things get hot, and that's when things go boom.

Also, with an eGo or cigalike you must only ever use the charger (with the screwthread) that was supplied with the device, as some of them have reversed polarity and that will make a battery angry right quick if you try to charge it with the wrong one. BLU, for example, uses a regular 510 thread but with a center-negative instead of center-positive connection. Put a BLU battery on a standard (center-positive) eGo charger or vice-versa, and you're in for a fireworks show.

 

[7sixtwo]

The correct wall plug for these devices is one that supplies at least as much amperage as the device is asking for. For eGos and cigalikes, this may be as low as 500mA, but many of the larger box mods want a full 1A. It should be written somewhere on the device, the eGo charger, or in the instructions. Some of them will fast-charge at 2A if it's available, but this is not particularly good for your batteries anyway. Supplying "too much" amperage is not an issue -- the device will draw only what it needs. The problem arises when the device tries to pull more amps than the wall plug can dish out. That's when things get hot, and that's when things go boom.

Also, with an eGo or cigalike you must only ever use the charger (with the screwthread) that was supplied with the device, as some of them have reversed polarity and that will make a battery angry right quick if you try to charge it with the wrong one. BLU, for example, uses a regular 510 thread but with a center-negative instead of center-positive connection. Put a BLU battery on a standard (center-positive) eGo charger or vice-versa, and you're in for a fireworks show.

Thanks for providing the details on this "issue".

Personally, I don't know why anyone would go with an Ego or cigalike product in today's market, with devices like the Endura T-18 available as a full kit for ~$30. Cigalikes, in particular, are probably the least satisfying and cost efficient way to vape. Those crappy, closed cartridges are pricey as hell for what you actually get. I know, I started with Greensmoke products, but good starter kits didn't exist back then.