Post your vaping story, e-liquid and hardware prefs to help others.

[j333_76484]

Hey Jeff here from Southern MD. Have only been seriously vaping for about a month. Was a Cigar smoker for about 20 years. Got hooked when my youngest son was born and never stopped. 4-6 cigars a day and did inhale. Saw some of the folks I worked with doing this vaping this and never really thought much about it as I kinda liked smoking cigars and never really thought about quitting. But, I kinda got tired of stepping outside in the cold and rain to smoke. Then I got into playing a couple of games on the Xbox with friends and it pretty much sucked waiting for a break to go out and smoke a cigar. So I stopped by my local vape shop just looking for something I could use in the house. They suggested a Smok M80+ with an Arctic Tank so I got that and a few bottles of some tobacco flavored juice.

I used these every once in a while, not regularly or even daily just a few times a week. Then one day I woke up and figured out I was out of cigars so I loaded up a tank and took the rig to work with me. Vaped all day and then ended up forgetting to pick up cigars on the way home. So used it again that evening. Went 2-3 days like this, kept meaning to pick up cigars but kept forgetting. Then will sitting out front vaping I kinda had the epiphany " Hey DUMMY, you have done gone and accidentally quit smoking!!" LOL so the next day I went back to the vape shop and picked up the X Cube II with a TFV4 tank on top.

But I am still using the M80+/Artic while mobile and the X Cube II/TFV4 at home and have been happy with them. Even bought 2 extra TFV4s one to use while cleaning and then a standby just in case.

For juice a buddy suggested I check out That1Vape. And what I did is order a 12.5 Ml bottle of every flavor they have. As I am new into this I was not sure what flavors I would like so kinda figured screwit, get em all.

I don't drip as I dont see myself needing to with the TFV4. That thing is good enough for me.

 

[KDM]

Congratulations on quiting! Yes the standing out in the cold part of smoking I don't miss at all, and I'm way farther south than you.

 

[j333_76484]

Congratulations on quiting! Yes the standing out in the cold part of smoking I don't miss at all, and I'm way farther south than you.

That and because I smoked cigars, I was in the habit of just smoking a few puffs and coming back in and leaving the rest of the cigar outside till next time. I can't tell you how many cigars I have thrown away because I had left them outside and they got rained on.

 

[CanadaEjuice]

Thanks for this informative post. Anytime I see valid info that is without all the propoganda I have to give props.

 

[justinbellford]

I started vaping about 4 years ago with those disposable ecigs. I was a pack a day+ smoker. I tried everything else to quit several times, but nothing else took. My very first refillable kit was the Kanger Evod Kit. Then I progressed onto the Aspire Premium Kit, which was awesome! I stuck with that for quite a while before recently upgrading to the Joyetech Evic VTC Mini Kit. I couldn't be happier with this.

Anyone looking for a way to quit cigarettes, trust me, this is by far the best way to do it!!!

 

[ven]

Hey there, glad it's worked out for you so well, it's worked for me almost 4yrs now iirc .:thumbsup:

 

[bykfixer]

Bump.....

My stars! Things have changed in 2-1/4 years.

Part 1:
A few years back I tried the plactic cig-a-like looking thing and it worked pretty good at keeping me high all day. Like with Chantix, I noticed I didn't want cigarettes but at that time I wasn't trying to quit.... just cut back some. I had tried it as a novelty. Fuma was the brand. $10 and 5 refills was like $14. A cartridge would last 3 or 4 days. Then for whatever reason I had a rash of popping cartridges. Phooey on that.

I really never gave vape another thought for years. My brother and brother-in-law were using pens at one point. They looked similar to todays modular setup with a long tapered straw looking top. My brother in law is a basic type fellow who lives a pretty basic life. He was not interested in a complicated vape system and like me, eventually saw it as a novelty. My brother the gadget geek began getting into the vape thing as a hobby and to cut back on cigarettes.

Sometimes life shows you things that matter but you don't know it at first. Example: cloud chasers. A town I work involves sitting at red lights a lot. Back in spring of this year I kept noticing massive clouds coming from cars waiting for the light to turn green. My first thought was "holy crap I could never get close to that kinda drag from a cigarette, even in my youth". Then at bus stops I'd see all these bearded fellows drawing from a device that looks similar to pair of decks of playing cards stacked and a big ole glass bowl at the top. They'd blow out giant clouds when exhaling.

The city I'm working in it's not unusual to see two dudes puffing on a joint while walking down the sidewalk. So I figured it was just those crazy kids smoking pot butter or Nyquil or something.....

One day at work I see the safety man with one of those setups blowing out a massive cloud. As I walked past I thought I smelled Skittles candy. Knowing this is a responsible fellow who wouldn't be smoking dope at work I asked my brother what those crazy contraptions are....

Well, life played out not long after that. After being out in hot weather since my little league baseball days I began getting over heated in June. It aint even hot yet in June. Turned out to be a combination of things including heat sensitivity to my bp med and thyroid med. Go see a doctor who hooks me up with a better combination of pharmecuticals to withstand heat better. Of course he said "scrub the smokes unless you want to keep coming back here". Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever. But then he mentioned my bp med is likely due to plaque build up from tobacco smoke over the decades and if I stopped smoking that would quite likely get better.
I'm intrigued.

I stopped by a tobacco store and bought a pod device called a Cue. Very cig-a-like little box that smokes like a vape. But man that thing was harsh at first... just like a Fuma. Bing!!! Idea. :thumbsup:
Mrs. Fixer wanted one. But she has a PG allergy... really. Yup she's one of the 0.001% who actually has the allergy. Next door to the Cue store was a vape shop. We walk in there and hear Grateful Dead tunes and see hippies galore. They showed her a Penguin pod. I bought one too. Much smoother than a Cue and refillable. Bing, bing!, another idea. Flavors. We both walked out with juice that tastes like smoking flowers.

Man, that wore out quick. I needed tobacco taste. I read, read, read and found a California company that extracts tobacco flavor from leaves without nasty chemicals to do it. It tastes just like my favorite brand too. Black Note specializes in tobacco flavors. Being a huge fan of Honda Preludes and hailing from Virginia USA I had to try their Prelude (Va tobacco) flavor. For about a week my Penguin was loaded with Prelude and I rarely smoked the real thing. Oh, but the flavor idea kept creeping into my mind.

In the city I work in there's a pothead shop for every McDonalds. Some double as vape shops. One in particular is near the bridge project I work at. So I rolled up in there and did some flavor sampling. At that point I had no idea what I'd even like so that was a great way to figure out what I didn't want. Don't want flowers, don't want menthol and definitely don't want fake tobacco laced with pancake syrup or shortcake to mask the psuedo tobacco.

 

[bykfixer]

Part 2:

One evening I texted my gadget geek brother that I'm vaping. Him being kinda lonely in his hobby, he had put his stuff away and resumed smoking. That night he tossed his remaining cigarettes in the trash and charged up some 18650's. Next day he was vaping again.

He tried to teach me the virtues of modular stuff, building coils, tank types and flavor types in text after text.... complete with pictures. Being happy with a Penguin pod I just replied "ok" a lot. But then he showed up at my house with his toys. He was smoking something that smelled like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cocoa puffs. "Try this" he says..... man I coughed for like 10 minutes. He had it cooking at some 50+ watts and airflow on max. Within a few minutes he'd filled my dining room with steam. I was like "please stop".....

Obviously direct lung was not my thing, nor was big ole clouds of exhale. I had learned to sneak a puff at the office. 'Mouth to lung' I came to learn later was my choice. Yet at all those head shops it's all about humongous clouds. So they'd look at me head all cocked when I'd say "I just want a tastey drag".....

I've also come to learn that I'm far from alone in the mouth to lung vaper world. Woohoo! Once I could speak "vape" to the hippies and tobacco store owners it was easy to find gear I like. I still puff on the Penguin during the day at work. Drop it off a bridge or into a manhole I'm out $20. And I have a spare in my truck. Plus with a 50/50 blend of Prelude I can sneak a small puff on elevators, in theatres etc. But now that I've learned of some MTL equipment sources I'm stocked with some nice little modular devices for enjoying.... flavor.

Now with my way of puffing on these things I've found that often times there is unspent juice in the airflow system. At first it was an excersize in timing the fire button and inhaling without choking, yet getting a satisfactory drag. Then there was a need in taking a drag while getting a more efficient 'burn' of liquid.
Finesse. Whoda thunk it?
After 30+ years of smoking it's easy to do that right. But this new vape thing is about 4 weeks for me.

My brother has been a huge help. And Ven has schooled me in the DIY stuff should the day arrive I'm done buying pre-made hardware and liquids. I suppose I'll eventually find a rebuildable mouth to lung tank with a leak free setup. But for now I'm digging on Innokins Zenith tank with a Kanthal coil kit and a Nautilis X tank with stainless mesh coil kits. The gadget geek in me has begun reading the what's what in terms of metals for coil wraps. And I'm settled on varieties of grape flavors with a smidge of other flavors like strawberry or apples mixed in. Custom blends.

 

[bykfixer]

Part 3:

I started out with 3% nicotine. Point being is getting off cigarettes, then nicotine. The first two weeks I'd smoke, vape, vape, smoke.... I stayed cross eyed all day. But then I decided to reduce the cigarettes and the vape.

I'd gotten where a tastey vape had my mind thinking "time for a cigarette" and that won't good. One year I stopped smoking by eating mint lifesavers or tic tacs. Then one day I smoked while eating a lifesaver. Dratz. So I tried nicotine lozenges. They too caused me to crave cigarettes more. Double Dratz!

My brother celebrated a month without cigarettes yesterday. Today he doubled his nicotine in his favorite vape flavors. Apparently the urge to smoke was getting the best of him and he says he's done smoking.

I'm not done smoking, but am done chain smoking. For me it's a nicotine reduction thing. Meanwhile now that I've found a satisfying vape method with a few devices the cigarette urge has been replaced with a few puffs from a Penguin. For me, it is not just a smoking thing, but a lifestyle thing. And after 4 decades a lifestyle change takes patience, practice and persistance.

Yesterday at my work I spoke with a fellow who works on a neighboring project. He's a smoker too. He told me that when heart attack 1 hit he cut out fatty foods. Heart attack 2, alcohol. Heart attack 3 doc says "quit smoking". Like my dad his response was "quality over quantity".....
I considered that response for about a 15th of a second and said "I'll see that that gets carved onto your tombstone" and walked away whistling the Frank Sinatra song "my way" lol.

 

[ven]

Great read as always mr fixer, i typed out a long reply on another thread and my laptop decided to :duh2:................... Now a few years that would have made me get a cig. Which was part of the point i was trying to make about work and having bad days(other thread). Now it was my sausage fingers,not the laptops fault lol, but i changed my mind set to not letting the laptop(or sausage fingers) win by making me go for a cig. Same with work, bad day, or stubbing your toe. It seems a smoke fixes life problems, no matter what they are when a smoker. That bit of bad news, stress, argument, heck anything . We go for a smoke and for some reason, we feel better mentally, as if its washed the problem away(of course it never does). So that bad day that made me go for that extra smoke, was winning even more now, it was making me smoke more or make giving up even harder.

No question(some may say different) but actually giving up smoking will be potentially one of the most challenging things to do . Only an X smoker will relate, as the saying goes, giving up smoking is easy, i have done it 1000's of times!

No rush, your going in the right direction for sure, one day or one week at a time. One day it will be it, you will have or draw on your last smoke.............yuk why this when i can have my mango, strawberry yogart kiwi banoffee pie flavour instead. That boss, that worker isnt making me go through all this hard work again!

Although everyone is different, i found it easier with my vape in hand all the time. As i vaped when ever i wanted, the crave for a smoke was never as strong. Because i was getting my nic through the vape, my hands were content with something to do, it worked. Now Rach is kind of similar to you, but she leaves her vape on the side and forgets about it. Next min she is nipping out back for a smoke. When i remind her and pass her vape, say sat watching TV. Then the crave or want for a smoke is virtually none existent as the craving is far less. Kind of hard to explain .

Stay with it, your doing awesome anyway, no pressure, as you say, you can stop when ever you want. Also helps not to tell lots of people, that way you dont feel pressured which can have the opposite effect. By now you will have a pretty good idea what works and what does not. At some point a bad day will come and you reach for the vape, get through it and you will know you can and will get through a testing time/s without a cig.

With you on your journey, i can see a steampunk mod on the horizon for mr fixer Check some images out, tell me they are not for you! Some awesome crazy designs out there...............

 

[bykfixer]

Holy cow man! Sure am glad I did away with one click settings and changed my passwords so ridiculous that I have to look them up now.... otherwise I'd be waiting on a Tesla.

Hey Ven, I hear on the sausage finger thing and the rrrrrrr that goes with it. I'm using my phone to do this and typos are pretty regular. Using lousy cell phone signals and new Chrome not playing nice with postimg has resulted lags, stalls and flatout posting the wrong photos. Rrrrrrrrrrr.

Worst, was I realized after all that I was posting in the wrong thread. Ugh.

Cut/pasted to the right one.

 

[ven]

:laughing: #vapebro#sausagefingers#jointheclub

 

[bykfixer]

Mrs. Fixers new gadget:

KangorTech SubVod with a tastey twangy apple with a sweet tangerine after taste.

I liked that it will close air tight. She likes that it can be opened for lots of airflow.

 

[bykfixer]

Hey Ven,

Check out this beast!!

Six coils!!! Talk about ml's per second.....

 

[ven]

Haha, thats just crazy...................maybe smoking is better for you! j/k

Some crazy stuff, me.................i am a nice steady 25lm of incand, yet run time of an LED. Just keeps vaping nicely without too much crazy clouds and heat.

For fun and only cheap, drippers are OK for that kind of stuff. Not sure what ohms those coils are each, but that is going to be a very low ohm build...............as good as shorting the batteries(i say batteries as no single cell mod would fire it!).

SMOK do some crazy made coils, i have tried them and they are works of art(octuple coil). Only down side, anythign much less than 80w wont even do anything! . When using the right W, its gets hot in a vape! And as you have mentioned, 1/2 your tank as well. Like putting 4x v8's in a mustang..................sure going to get one hell of a ride...................once lol

 

[bykfixer]

While lurking at the CPF of vaping a fellow was talking about a 12 coil setup.
Somebody call the fire department on that guy.

I hear Scotty shouting "she's gonna blow" when seeing that sort of stuff.
Perhaps a 2 cell 26650 mod is required for an hour of vape time?

 

[ven]

Quite possible, there are quad 18650 mods out there right now. But too bulky and weighty for me, dual cell seems a good happy medium for me(or the 26650 geekvape) which is on the cards.

 

[bykfixer]

Good gosh!!
If they keep that up, in addition to the other vape hatred some will say those mega-mod devices "cause global warming".

 

[bykfixer]

 

[bykfixer]

Added a Yihi SX Mini SL.

Heirloom quality with a super computer. I may pass this down to the kids. Maybe they'll know how to use the temp curves and bluetooth. (Strike the bluetooth part. This one doesn't have a clock or bluetooth)
(Shown with Nautilis X tank full of a concoction of fiji apple, strawberry, watermelon, white grape, lemon and sweet grape.

A local vape chain celebrated their 100th store by selling these babies at 25% off.