The Journey....

So today I would like to thank the following people who not only started me on this journey, but who have supported me through what I feel was 1 of the best things that could have happened to me:
1. Gary Greener - You gave me my 1st set up for free an egoCtwist battery & Kanger Pro tank
2. Dylan Hill - You have been in my corner from Day 1- through up grades & bringing me to the BEST B&M to get juices & knowledge & for Building me Coils bc to be honest I'm just to lazy to build them lol
3. Maja Flava Vape Den 44 East Scott Street Riverside NJ - You guys have been AMAZING!!! Between all the time you've spent with me explaining vaping, mods, juices, coils, coil building, support, & Even more I can't Thank You Enough!! The vape community & people I've now become friends with from your store is incredible & with out you I wouldn't have been able to stay off the cigarettes.
4. ECF Forum - Thanks for having this forum!! The support, knowledge, & experience of the forum is so much more then I could have imagined.
THANK YOU ECF FORUM COMMUNITY TO EACH & EVERYONE OF YOU GUYS ON HERE HAS HELPED AS WELL!!

HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS OFF THOSE BUTTS & CLOUD CHASING DREAMS!!

THANK YOU ALL!!  

I bought the MVP 2.0 Starter kit from Mt. Baker. I like the tank it comes with, but I feel like using a drip fits me better. I started with a eGo like everyone else and recently moved to this Box mod when I saw it for so cheap on baker.

I want a drip setup because I don't vape all the time, but when I do, I like to control how much I vape so I don't binge on juice.

Any setups for "Drip"

Prefer to keep it nice and cheap, as a college student, money is a big problem.  

Hi all,

I've spent most of the last year getting involved with local advocacy and legislative groups/issues in various ways; I'd like to ramp up my involvement a little bit in 2015 by assisting my fellow analog users with the transition to vaping. I've donated a few iSticks and Nautilus Mini tanks to some friends; and would like to step up this effort in a bit more economical/affordable way. While directing them to our local B&M has worked for some, a lot have "not had time" or are hesitant to spend the time to learn/jump in to it at the local B&M (I'm guessing on most of this.) I don't want to force anything on them; this is the group of friends who always want to try my setup and love it, are very interesting in quitting analogs, but just haven't made the effort to dive in.

I'd like "prime" them a little more to help them with a successful transition by handing them a nice starter device. I don't want to do this by introducing them to poor quality gas station/big tobacco products that will have them back on analogs in no time. I'm looking for a very affordable, simple "starter" setup with everything they need to get them started.

Anyone else with similar experiences and a good device idea for this? I'd like to start with six devices; will spend up to $200 for this initial trial run and see how it goes. I'm wondering if there are some online vendors who may have deals on bulk purchase "starter" packs that will be good for those who know absolutely nothing about vaping and get them more interested in it... any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks all!  

I just wanted to here peoples amazing vape journey. Like how and why you started vaping and what you are vaping on now, how long you have been off the death sticks. And what are you vaping on now.

Little about my vape journey I've been vaping for about 7 months. I started on a itaste 20w with a protank 3, I told my self I was only going to use it till I got off cigs and I was never going to use rda's well now I am using a sigelei 150w with a troll rda haha, and just pre order my first temp control mod evic vt. I've loved every minute of it it's one of the best things that I've got into. Now let's here your story!  

"Cheap is small and not to steep, but best of all, cheap is cheap...
I'm on a low budget!
I'm on a low budget!
I'm not cheap, you'll understand;
I'm just a cut-price person in low-budget land"
--Ray Davies, "Low Budget"--

A few months ago, I got back into vaping after a two year absence. I figured that I wouldn't really need to buy much more gear than what I already had from 2014-2017.

Well, a lot that old gear still works and I use much of it frequently. I was using it, doing just fine, when I decided to get a new high power mod to replace the ailing eVic-VT, whose built-in battery is dying a slow and agonizing death. Can't run subohm coils on a Provari.

So I decided to buy a mod...

I'm good at finding closeouts, liquidations, etc. It's one of the ways I keep costs low for my guitar business. Much of which comes from China. With vaping, we have a whole industry located almost entirely in China. Most of the major manufacturers seem to introduce new gear and discontinue "old" gear on an almost weekly basis.

"Who still wants that old piece of junk mod we were making last month with a measly 95 watt output. Now, for just $5 more, you can have the new totally badass mod that looks almost the same as the old one, but in new colors and...get this...105 watt output!"

So for low power me, there was all kinds of cool stuff. I don't care about TC, 'cause I vape too cool for it to work. Just give me variable wattage or even VV. Last month's model is OK.

So I'm finding all sorts of cool stuff, and started seeing a lot of good stuff for under $50. A lot of good stuff under $35. Some really cool stuff for under $25...so of course I can buy that mod. Doesn't cost half as much as that carton of cigarettes that I didn't buy this week.

So here's a cool starter kit (mod with tank) for under $25. About half of the list price that nobody paid in the first place:


The Sigelei Sobra is a cool looking, long lasting, 200W monster. I love the Moonshot tank it came with. I added the heat sink all by myself. But it has a fatal flaw for tootle-puffing me. Minimum output is 10W! I frequently vape at 7W, so this setup just won't work for me all of the time.

So I really needed to get another mod, this time a high ouput device with a minimum output of no more than 5W...

I can't deny it--I quickly developed a bad case of low budget shinyitis. Not too hard to click on "Buy" when it's so cheap--such a good deal--and what's another $25, anyway? If it's less than $15, I swear, sometimes the "Add To Cart" button clicks itself.

Here's a bunch of low budget gear that looks cool, works well, and none of it cost more than $35. I also bought all of it in the last 3 months:
Low budget shinyitis is a common affliction. Some folks collect different pod systems in all of the available colors. Some folks just can't resist a good $20 RTA. Some people start collecting mech clones...
HCigar "Turtle Ship" clone with a custom built Subtank. Good quality, really. The only thing that gives it away as a clone is the engraving, which was left rough. Of course, I sanded and polished it, and now it's much smoother.

So low budget shinyitis is real, it's dangerous (to your wallet), and is perhaps a far more widespread affliction than previously thought. Now somebody please show off your low budget (under $50) shinies, so I know I'm not alone!  

Greetings, while looking through my photo archive I found images that help show my beginning steps in vaping. I need to point out that during the work day I use losenges that I get from Costco so only smoked in the mornings before work and the afternoons after work.

Here's the first one taken July 6th 2015:


In March/April of 2015 the other half started complaining about my cigarette smoke. She had a eye issue that she found was sensitive to the smoke when returning from visiting her daughter. (she would get used to it but would complain when he first got back)

Looking to solve the problem possibly with Vaping, I picked up a Blue kit and some extra cartridges from (of all places Costco). It was not all that expensive and the batteries (or cartridges) did not last very long or put out much vapor. They did have a "coffee" flavor I did like. I continued smoking.

Next time she left for a few days with her daughter I dropped by a local vape shop and for ~$75-100 (I forget) they set me up with a iTaste CLK!, Aspire K1 (and Maxi) and 15ml of 18mg Strawberry juice. While it took 3 days to get used to the charging/refilling/exc of the setup I quit smoking with this setup. The 1.5ml tank and mere 800mah battery were the main limitations as well as "glassomizers" really did not put out much vapor.

With in a few days I'd upgrade the tank to a Nautilus mini and shortly afterwards I'd get Full sized Nautilus tanks and the Blue tube mod shown in the center. While this mod was a good match to the Nautilus tank, I grew tired of swapping 18350's so bought the other two tube mods to the right. One could take ether 2x18350's stacked or a 18650 and the Vamo v10 on the right could take a stacked set of 18350's.

By July of that year I had given up on "drop in coil" tanks (the store bought juice I was using was killing them in as little as a few days) and had decided to take the plunge into RTA's and into temperature controlled vaping.


At the time the two leaders in TC vaping was DNA and Yihi. I bought a SXMini ($200) and three different popular (at the time) tanks: Atlantis, SubtankMini and Lemo2. Two of the three could be used with factory coils or a RBA head, the Lemo2 had the unique feature of top fill. (I still use a Lemo2 today!)

Back in those days if you wanted to TC, you were going to do it with Ni200 wire. I decided I liked the 28AWG. A few weeks later I had added two more mods:


By this point in my vaping journey I was developing a few habits: I was 'marrying' a flavor with a tank, a tank with a mod and all battery charging was being done via USB port. I just cycled complete setups on two USB charge cords I had. Others liked complaining about the SXMini's battery door but I had no issue with it as I'd only used it once.

Sometime that summer (or was it fall?) I got tired of paying the outlandish juice prices and decided to make my own. Granted for YEARS I simply made 7mg or 18mg unflavored 100% VG juice but the cost savings allowed me to get dozens of different tanks and mods to play with and try out.

By April 2016 I took this image:


TC vaping had evolved from from Ni200 wire to Ti to NiFe48 and SS. Early TC mods only supported Ni200 (and some Ti) and newer ones supported SS. Mods I've bought had to have a user programmable TCR value. I've been exclusively using NiFe48 for years.

Finally by about 2019 I decided to get into vaping flavors. Knowing that RDA's or Squankers give the best flavor, I outfitted myself (Bullcity flavors) with a bunch of squankers and now have the option of vaping flavors. (many of my squankers are in my profile image)

NOTE: only one mod in the images I've shown is dead and no longer able to be in service.

These days I have mods scattered all over the house but in/for 5 main areas: morning coffee, home office, watching tv, night stand and to take with me in the car/truck.

Thats my story and journey - happy vaping!


g.  

So, I recently came across this cheap vape mod in aliexpress and thought i'd give it a try to see if i would enjoy vaping,and later on upgrade to a better one.
This mod is a 2200mah,3.0ml tank ,Wattages are 40-80-100w and i can only cycle through them. The coils that it comes with are 0.5ohm,does that mean i will only be able to vape at 40watts?
I plan on ordering 0.2 ohm for the same device of course,but for the time being will i need to only vape at 40w?
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This is the device  

Journey of a Tainted Vape Cartridge: From China's Labs to Your Lungs

I thought this was an eye-opening read, especially the part dealing with the Bao'An District of Shenzhen, China and a region near LA's Skid Row known as the Toy District. Also a nice breakdown on the THC distillates like Honey Cut, etc.

As you know, we legal nicotine vapers are really paying the price for the sins of others and the whole "kids and flavors" thing is just icing on a camel dung cake.

cheers  

Don't really know why im sharing this, guess im just wondering if anyone else has had this experience or not. The other day I was at the local B&M and a minivan pulls into the parking lot, im friends with the shop owner so I hangout with him regularly and noticed the minivan as soon as it pulls up, the guy sits there for about 10 minutes just sitting there and writing things down, our conversation goes "Are you expecting a delivery or something?" "no why" "This dudes been sitting here for about 10 minutes just writing away" "Maybe its my first audit or something" the dude finally gets out of the van and comes in "How long have you guys been operating here?" Jon the owner says "about 7 months now, what can i help you with?" "My name is Chris with the National Tobacco (i forget exactly what he said) and I cover everywhere from statesville to asheville, im from asheville but was across the street getting some food and seen your shop, i'd never noticed it before." We live about 2 hours from asheville, I dont actually think he just stumbled upon the shop but who knows. Then he says "We're trying to get into the electronic cigarette market and have started making a brand called V2, ever heard of them?" I said, "I've seen them in gas stations a couple times, but other then that I've had no experience with them" He then says "what about the zig zag kits? Ever tried them?" "never tried one, but i've seen them once or twice" "Well that was one of our lines, the v2 is our next level model to kind of keep up with the new stuff thats coming out, I have a box of them out in my van that i can bring in to give you an idea" the dude then walks out to his van, we just kind of wait on him until he gets back then he returns with this big v2 display box "We're selling these retail for 450.00 but we can sell you three for 150 each, thats around 900 dollars of profit if you buy today" Jon says" Well i've never heard of the brand so i'd have to look into it more first" "Alright thats fine but..." then he gave this super long sales pitch about how it will be better then anything else on the market and ahead of its time with the magnetic tanks and blah blah blah, then Jon went behind the counter and pulled out this huge box and says "This takes three batteries and goes up to 240 watts, starter kits are great and all, but they will never really be ahead of the times unless you can build a sub ohm starter kit and thats not cheap" the sales rep dude then says "Alright, well im just going to leave my card, just give me a call if you decide you need any of our products" And he left, I guess the best thing that comes out of this is i can ask, has anyone ever dealt with any v2 products? How are they with reliability, battery life ect. I'd like to get back to Jon with some reviews, maybe they could be better then the regular egos and this is a good deal for the local shop.  

I've been using disposable clearomizers since I started vaping, with an 808 kit, and that's been working fine for me, but I came across a super cheap deal recently for a Kanger Evod starter kit, so I bought one. I paid about $14, so it was a no brainer.

The tanks have these disposable coils, but the tanks seem like that they can be re-used forever, as long as they don't crack or fall on the ground and break, is that correct?

I saw that they sell a glass tank for it also, so I think that I'm going to pick one of those up, and I'll be able to vape on any juice that I please, without the fear of the tank cracking, and I'm assuming that that tank will last for a very long time.

So far I'm pretty happy with the Kanger Evod, and I like the vape from it.