Yet another newbie with a story and a question!

[ZeldaKitty]

Hello to all!

I've been checking out posts all over the ECF for a couple weeks now - what an amazing group of people you all are

I've been a "social" smoker off and on for many years, but it never seemed to be a problem for me to go weeks without a cigarette. Over the past couple of years, that changed. Stress or whatever - I don't know, but I became a very committed smoker - ugh! To make matters worse, I was a healthcare provider who smoked (boo, hiss, shame on me) and had a father who was dying of complications related to heart disease and lung cancer. If that can't make you quit, you know you are in trouble!

After my darling father died, I was watching a show on TV that showed a character using an e-cigarette. I'd heard of them, but had never seriously considered it - now I did. Patches and gum had not worked for me because it wasn't just about the nicotine - it was that physical "hand to mouth" habit that I needed a substitute for - no wonder smokers tend to gain weight while trying to quit! The e-cigarette seemed too good to be true.

After doing some research (but not having yet found ECF), I ordered a Blu. Yes, I know Blu is not very popular here on ECF, but I refuse to be a hater! I am forever grateful to Blu because the day I received my starter kit (March 25th) was the last day I ever smoked a regular cigarette - YAY! Now that I've discovered vaping I will never smoke regular cigarettes ever again!

After finding ECF and the wealth of information it contained, I joined the V4L family and bought a KR808 starter kit and an spare XL battery from them. Love it! Especially my PINK Diamond Series battery with the little crystal thing on the end - I'm a very "girly girl"! The battery life is much better than the Blu, which I now keep just for vaping in my car. There's only one minor issue that I wanted to get some feedback from y'all on:

Along with my V4L starter kit, I ordered several of their sample packs of carts in several flavors so I could try a bunch of new stuff. After hearing so many good things about V4L, I was a little dissapointed in the flavors - some of them were just plain awful (like 555 and Wowboy, which so many people seem to like so much!) but ALL of the carts have a strange, plasticky undertaste to them. I know from reading here that you can get a dodgy cart now and then, but all of them had that strange chemical taste - so I'm wondering if it's just me? Even the coffee flavors, which I expected to love, tasted strange. Before you ask - yes, I removed the little plastic buttplug thing from the carts before I used them!

I tried blowing out some of the extra juice onto a tissue (props to Mary Kay for sharing this trick!). I also just tried "vaping through" the bad taste, thinking it was just so different from the Blu cartomizers that maybe it would just take a little getting used to - no luck. I'm ordering some different flavors to try thinking maybe that's the problem. But I'd like to hear feedback from anyone who's had a similar experience. I know taste is a highly subjective thing - did you need to "shop around" a lot to find carts that had the flavor you were looking for?

Could it be that the WOW carts I ordered were PG, and I've been vaping with Blu, which is glycerin based? (don't know if Blu is actually VG based - the website just says "glycerin"). Maybe I should stick with VG type stuff?

Any advice would be appreciated. You guys rock!

 

[Levitas]

Well - having really little experience with using pre-filled carts and I never tried any V4L flavors before, I can at least contribute by saying: I don't think pg/vg really has anything to do with flavor. As you probably already know, the more pg the more throat hit and flavor and the more vg the smoother it is and more copious vapor production.

That doesn't mean that vg juices lack flavor, it just means the more pg juices have flavors that BAM! you in the face, if that makes any sense.

Were I you, I'd shop around a little bit and try some different vendors (can be a costly process, but ultimately a rewarding one) some juice vendors I would personally recommend

Backwoods Brew - some of the best quality juices, period. They're consistant, and great for all day vaping. (this is a company that sold two hundred units of juice in under 17 minutes!) Don is an artist. Backwoods Brew Here's the site and here's a link to the BWB crew forum ( I think you need a few more posts before you can post there?) but the people there are GREAT! and very helpful!!! here's the link anyways http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...801-unofficial-bwb-fanboy-fangirl-thread.html

Alien Visions - another fantastic company! They use mostly vg type juices, Boba's Bounty is my personal favorite (and many other's I'm sure!) from them. Definitely a must try and they have sample packs! Site link Alien Visions E-Juice

VapeRite - another wonderful company! Reputated for their delicious organic line of juices. My personal fav. the VR4, which is their rendition of a RY4 (caramel creamy) site link Vaperite

There are many many more!!!

Also, if chocolate is your thing (definitely mine!) check out BomBay vaping BombayVaping They have great chocolate and dessert flavors and their pricing is SUPER competative.

 

[san]

i would stick to vg

 

[Iusedtoanalog]

I also find carts and cartomizers a bit "plasticky". If you have the ability to get a drip tip for an atomizer I recommend it. I drip at home but at work i use carts strictly for convenience. I have found that juices always taste/perform better without the filler material. Just make sure you check into the right way to drip with your device. I dont have an 808 so my two cents has to stop here. Good luck. Happy Vaping.

 

[VapingRulz]

I'm not wild about the pre-filled cartomizers either. They all seem to have that plastic taste to some degree. However, when you refill them with e-juice, that yucky taste is gone. I particularly love the Wow Coffee e-juice from V4L.

 

[CBB]

100% PG does have a funny taste and it burns a bit, but getting a mix of 80%pg to 20%VG takes care of that. Most people prefer a blend somewhere between 80/20 and 50/50 and a lot of people prefer 100%VG. Cartos do take a while to break in but not very long do never let them go dry, as long as they don't go dry you can refill them and used them several times.

If you refill them with a similar flavor to what came in them you will have no problems at all. If you want to drastically change flavors you may want to clean them first, there are several threads and videos on cleaning cartos.

If you find a juice you like that doesn't come in a prefill you can buy blank cartos as well, but the first filling can be tricky, once they have been filled once refilling is much simpler.

 

[ZeldaKitty]

Great suggestions from all! I was thinking about going the juice route (great how-to videos here!) and was wondering if I should reuse these carts. Gonna give it a try with juice from V4L as well as some of the companies Levitas suggested.

Thank you!