2 Years Ago Today (monday, 3/23)......

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!!  

Hey guys, I'm sure this topic pops up quite often round these parts but since everyone's a little different I thought I'd make my own thread

I, myself, have been vaping for 2 years now and I absolutely love it. I'm 26 and I smoked for about 7 years at around 15 cigarettes a day, and then spent about a year and a half transitioning exclusively to vaping. I'm now happy to say I've been smoke free for nearly 6 months thanks to my vape

My aunt has been a smoker for much much longer than I was, around 25 years I believe, and she goes through more than a pack a day (possibly 2). I'm going to visit her in a couple days and I plan on bringing all my old vape hardware for her to check out, and we're gonna hit a b&m as well. Since this forum has done a great deal to help me in so many aspects of vaping, I was hoping you could help me to help her by answering some questions, giving some of your opinions, etc. In framing your answers, it might be important to know that as of now she's pretty lukewarm to the idea. She doesn't reject and is willing to try it, but she's skeptical it'll work for her.

First: from someone who's done this with a serious heavy smoker before preferably, what's the best way to go about this in your opinion? What worked for you? The last thing I would wanna do is overwhelm or do something that turned her off to the possibility of vaping.

Second: what is the comparison of cigarettes to ejuice. Everyone who doesn't know much about vaping seems to want to know: how much ejuice equals one cigarette/one pack/etc. At this point I don't care much, and I never really did, I found something that works for me and that's what matters. But I'm sure she'll want to know. So lets say, for this questions purposes, around how many cigarettes would a 15ml, 6mg bottle of juice equate to?

Third: do you think it's worth investing in a set up more advanced than a basic ego twist/cartomizer initially with the thought that something higher quality might have a better chance to work long term for her? I'm thinking something like an istick/atlantis set up might be a good way to go since they're so popular and replacement atomizers will be easy to pick up online or in a store.

Fourth: I live in southern California, but my aunt is in Leander, Texas, which is around an hour drive from Austin. Can anyone suggest a quality b&m that we can go check out? I've been to enough b&ms myself to know if it's a quality shop or not, and I'd feel much better about her chance to succeed with vaping if I found a nice shop with great customer service to leave her with. we'll likely go into Austin while I'm there and it'd be fun to check out some shops there so feel free to suggest Austin shops (in sure there's a lot) but that would be a mission for her on a regular basis. Something in Leander that she can frequent would be best.

I know this is horribly long so thank you to anyone who reads it all and replies to help me out with any part of this. I love my aunt very much and I know her want to quit is there. She just needs to find something that'll work and I really hope it can be vaping. Thank you again.  

VAPING TESTIMONIAL
I smoked for over 50 years and it got to the point where I could barely breathe. I knew I had to quit but I also knew I had no will power to do so. Then 6 years ago I tried vaping and it literally saved my life. I still got my nicotine fix and could finally breathe easier and I was not inhaling all those harmful chemicals. I know taking anything into your lungs is harmful but vaping really is the lesser of two evils. And speaking of evils look at these statistics:
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year
68,557 people died in 2018 of an opioid overdose
in 2017, 39,773 people in the US lost their lives at the point of a gun
In 2016, 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes
30,000 deaths were the result of domestic abuse world wide in 2018.
There are 2,200 alcohol poisoning deaths in the US each year.
so in the last year 631,027 died of unnatural causes, extrapolated over six years that is 3,786,162 deaths
1978 to 1995 a total of 37 Americans were killed by falling vending machines
There have been six confirmed deaths connected to vaping across the US
of these two were from lithium batteries exploding and not the vaping itself
and two were from people experimenting by adding dangerous chemicals to their e-cigarettes.
So in reality only two people died due to vaping.
and you pick vaping as a just cause. Really? where are your values and priorities?
more people die each year from choking or acts of stupidity than vaping.
Of all these causes you could get behind why are you picking the least dangerous and offensive one? I think it's time people learned to pick their battles.
so, 480,000 deaths by cigarettes and why doesn't the government care? Here's why, because for every smoker that dies a new smoker starts. And tobacco is such a cash cow the government doesn't want it to disappear. In Canada the average taxes on a carton of cigarettes is 65%, in the US the taxes are around 45%. That's a lot of free cash. But, if people switch to vaping there are no taxes associated with it. There are no health concerns, it is purely greed.
Here is the thing about statistics: you can make up anything you want or manipulate the facts to get your point of view across. Why? Because they can't be verified. So all the government does is use scare tactics and people are gullible enough to believe it. They have no scientific proof to back up their claims, it is all BS.
Vaping is a much safer alternative to smoking, so why don't they shut down the tobacco industry? MONEY!! MONEY!! MONEY!!
I will defend vaping over cigarettes forever.  

Hi all I've been away from you amazing people for a while because sadly I had to break my streak of non-smokery, of reasons that I don't want to explain to keep this thread shorter, but would gladly if you asked me on the comments.
2 days ago I bought 200ml of 12mg 80/20 n-base in two 100ml bottles, and 30 ml of ready to vape 50/50 12mg juice flavoured with; Kentucky bourbon, coconut, roasted almond, vanilla and brown sugar (tastes like heaven). well, yeah I smoked heavily for nearly one and a half year and just returned to vaping 2 days ago and no desire for cigarettes at all since! (I have a problem though)

I even have this pack that I am not throwing away that I could smoke easily, but you know the trick I am away and I am for good. I wanted that nic rush asap and others just don't cut it, that's why I chose to vaporize 12mg, but will dilute one bottle of the n-base to 8 or 6mgs. The other reason being that vapes and selling any vape products are all banned here, (IT SUCKS!) so I want and need to get everything as cheap as possible(.... is expensive).

I am using a vaporesso revenger X that I chose thanks to you amazing people <3 with the stock NRG tank's GT 4 coil, not coils , Which I had to rebuild myself again. Trust me, there are no hot spots or anything, just like the original is what it turned out to be, so I know that the coil is not the problem. I know that 100% it is not because I vaped 0 mg to get used to it while I was waiting for the shipment and it tasted amazing and I had no negative effects at all. I added 9ml of mixology prime flavouring to one of my 100ml n-bases(caramel, vanilla, dried nuts and a slight touch of tobacco) and while I was waiting for it to steep, I wanted to taste it and yeah it tasted decent as well.

The problem with everything (or me) is that my lungs ache when I wake up, (happened rarely if I smoked too many cigarettes that night) I get too much of a throat hit, but the most concerning for me is that I get shortness of breath almost like my alveoli shrunk and it's like; I breathe, and my lungs fill up with air like 1 second later, I can not get the satisfaction of a deep breath, and the effects last for like 3 to 7 minutes. As I said, I smoked heavily for 1.5 years before that and this is what concerns me. Sorry for the novel-long thread but I'm just kind of in panic you know? Hopefully, you understand me. I am vaping non-flavoured n-base as of now and it is gentler on me but is still the same.

What could this be? Any help and suggestions are appreciated. Thank you so, so much for reading this. Lovey'all  

This past week marks 5 years since I smoked a cigarette. It honestly doesn't seem that long, it seems like yesterday I was huddled out in the cold at work with the smokers. I had been a smoker for 28 years.

Unlike many I see posting here, I cannot say vaping helped me quit. I quit cold turkey, and never tried an ecig until about a year after I quit smoking. At that point I was still doing well as a non-smoker, I didn't physically crave smoking, but I missed the 28 year habit of lighting up, having something to fiddle with, and just the relaxing feeling of the inhale/exhale. I had been eating a lot more to make up for the void, and having been underweight all my life I started packing on pounds (too many!). I sorely needed a non-food substitute for the comfort I was missing, but wasn't about to go back to smoking.

I tried a junky convenience store ecig after that first year, and thought "if this was what they were like than forget it". I continued on not smoking, but still missing the habit. About two years after that I began seeing the new advanced products coming out, and did a lot of research. I bought my first starter kit in 2013, and slowly advanced up to bigger and better gear.

People ask why would start vaping after I had already kicked the cigarette habit, and I say, "Why not?". Other than nicotine I'm not getting any of the negative things I got with cigarettes. And in my opinion, there's really nothing wrong with a little nicotine. Nicotine is not what was killing me, it was the smoke that was delivering the nicotine that was killing me.

So I'm 5 years smoke free, I no longer hack in the mornings, my chest never hurts and my clothes, car and hair don't stink anymore.
I have no intentions on giving up vaping, as it has no negative impact on my life, and i enjoy it, so why stop?

I have since gotten my son, my step-son, and his wife to all trade vaping for smoking, so bonus points for saving all their lives too!  

I'm going through a ton of stress at my job and recently began vaping ALOT more than I normally would, in two days I went through a 30mL bottle (not sure if that's a lot for some of you, but for me it is!)

about five days ago I woke up and my throat was EXTREMELY sore, extreme strep throat sore. For several days I could hardly talk and had excessive coughing spurts every 15-30 minutes. It's finally calmed down, last night I smoked a few cigarettes and had no discomfort in my throat, but I picked up my vape and tried to take a hit and the pain cannot be described. Today the same thing, I had a cigarette and was fine but when I go to hit my vape it's just unreal how bad the pain is in the back of my throat.

I know some people can have a bad reaction to the PG but I've been vaping for three + years and never had this type of problem. Has anyone else had this experience? Should i let my throat heal a little more before vaping? I just don't understand how a cigarette can be fine and the pain from the vape be so much.  

I want to thank ECF for making it fun, Joe for making it his life`s mission, and all the great down to earth people that make ECF the best place for a vapor outside of FT, :?)

Just for fun, here`s my first post on ECF:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just saying High, LOL.

Been vaping for almost 4 months now. Was smoking for about 35 years with the last ten of them smoking some strong .... cigars (Pepin, Padron, Rocky P, you know). I was never able to look at vaping as a legitimate alternative until I tried to quite the last time. I had "quite" many times in the past, but after I got into my thirties success never lasted more then a few days. Than this last time I quit (Im 48 now), I quit cold turkey for 7 days. Thought the world was going to end but "I was quitting smokes!", ha, ha. Had all those self doubts the hardcore smoker goes through. Was really fighting the lack of sanity and then somehow I got me a ecig (My wife`s ecig (that she hardly used!!) I actually snuck it, ha, ha.
And Hot damn, if that thing did`nt work. Cravings were gone, Sanity felt so much better. It tasted like the waft of a dog turd, but I did`nt like smoking either 35 years ago either, its an acquired taste you know. Quickly found out that if you are`nt committed, and if you are`nt capable of problem solving, smoking will look so much easier. But I`m not one that gives up very easily, so I figured out what was wrong (Kanger quality control pretty much sucks, LOL), tried some more juices, got a bigger tank, tried some more juices.

Its been 4 months of real fun. This is FUN! I control the Nic intake, not the smoke. I can vape a little, I can Vape ALLOT! I really like 36MG but my stomach is very attuned to being able to tell me when to put it down. Me and My better half have been able to stay stinky free for just about 4 months and since that first week, I have`nt really even thought about a smoke. I mean I`ll say it again, THIS IS FUN!! I CAN APPLY CONTROL to the mix of getting my fix. I like Nic and this is the absolutely perfect delivery system for a control freak like me, LOL.

Now I have a Vamo, a KFL, a Panzer with a hypertank. Oh, I got a brass thingy with a brass Stilare on top chucking .4 ohms. A Kcig (Kamry bomb I call it). Getting rid of the plastic clearomisers as they are just too finicky and a pita at this stage. As soon as I can I`m getting a Fooger cause I know that is going to be the ONE. But hey, my first months was spent on a twister and a PT2, so I know it will work if you really, really want to quit.

And if this government gets too high and mighty and regulates that crap out of my Nic, then I`m going to get a box of decent cigars, and a couple gallons of PG, and they can stick their regulation right up the kyster!! This government needs a enema, and I hope they get it this November. Those misguided idiots that try to stuff "Not a smoking cessation program" down the mouth of the general public really piss me off, I mean I get hot and see red when these self righteous know it all`s start spewing their self righteous know NOTHING crap!

Have I said enough? LOL.

My handle means Vapehappy Randall B. Cause that`s the first thing I think of when I think about vaping, its makes me Vapehappy. But of course it makes lots of folks Vapehappy and so we`re all vapehappy and I`ll have to settle for that amalgamation of a handle, but its all good.

Glad to be here.
Randall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its a new addiction, :?)  

How Long Will I Live? - Life Expectancy Calculator


According to the calculator (above) white non-smoking American male have life expectancy of 77 years.

1 PAD smoker – 72 years. It means average white American pays for smoking a pack a day with 5 years of his life expectancy (2 PAD = 9 years).

Vaping by far is not as damaging as smoking. The problem is we do not know how big is that “by far”.

So, my question:

How much of your life expectancy can you sacrifice for vaping?

If tomorrow it will become known for sure that vaping reduce life expectancy by 1 year, will you continue vaping?

If it will be 3 months, what then?  

I AM ASKING FOR ADVICE

This will be long..

Preface:
First off I've been vaping close to 10 years, before 20 years on cigs, back when a 510 was a battery not just a thread type. Back when we had PCC's and cartos. I've had 810's 510's egos, mechs, provari's, tanks, carts, drippers....Ive been wrapping my coils for close to 8 years. I am just stating this so veterans here can understand I've been around the block.

I also have seen and continue to see many defensive and disgruntled responses to people here that post anything other than vaping is great, long live vape. I expect this thread to be treated kindly and respected as I will will also respect your opinions. I've been here along time, I know who are solid contributors and some who are ..... If you search my post history you will find a thread from 5 years ago where I questioned my new relationship with a woman who wanted to start vaping. She had been nic free for 4 years when we started dating and wanted to take up vaping. I was considering ending our early relationship over it. I know in retrospect that it was the wrong approach but seemingly NOONE could understand my point of view. Well now she hates vaping more than anything in her life, cries sometimes because she "cant" quit, hates her dryer skin, despises the "effort" involved (although minimal). All I was saying is that she would REGRET this decision and I was met with extreme backlash, and I was right. I knew it then, its true now. The one thing she regrets the most in the past 10 years is picking up vaping. This thread is closed but some of it will come into play. Please be respectful in your responses and opinions. As I stated up top, I am asking for advice from long term members.

So to the matter at hand. I have been, for the 2 years coughing, wheezing at night (pretty bad, wife can hear it) and just generally not comfortable in vaping.Throat irritation, shortness of breath etc...I exclusively sqounk moved everything to profile rda's with mesh coil. I changed to DL inhale about 5 years ago from a hybrid MTL and started with tight MTL (we had no choice back in the day). I also experience chest pains from time to time. My nic is 3mg, been stuck there for years ever since I went DL.

The wheezing and daily coughing and congestion are not directly related to the mesh as traditional kanthal, SS, TI, whatever would cause it too. I would think its more related to DL inhale and the influx of vapor. I tried to go back to a hybrid MTL setup but just found it hard to become satisfied. I'm thinking of quitting for good, which I've thought of many times before but failed in my attempts. So I'm looking for opinions or options from experienced members who have maybe been in the same boat? I've also noticed that alot of juices have changed, or its just me? What was once smooth is now irritable unless I turn it down to say 20 watts. I've read a few of my brands changed their recipes, cut costs and I blamed it on that. I'm having trouble finding any juices I truly like anymore and never got into DIY. I always felt I should but I feel I dont have the time or patience required to dial in recipes. I'm pretty busy most days and weekends. So I suppose there are a few options...

1. Quit. Honestly I would love to. Save money, no more remembering to bring gear etc. My wife would love it as she states she cant quit until I do, the temptation is too much for her. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that but I am seriously considering the option.

2. DIY juice? Could this be whats been causing this the last few years? 3mg maybe too strong but then I dont feel satisfied and sometimes dont even with 3mg?

3. Back to MTL 6mg? Not sure if this would make it harder to quit. Less vapor but more concentrate, still think 3mg with DL would be more overall nic consumption.

4. Combination of 3&4? But I need a combo that would satisfy.

Not sure about any of this anymore, the FDA is going to shut this down eventually (I really think they will) and we could all be left with only 3 choices. Quit, blackmarket or purchase what THEY manufacture. But for now I am simply not enjoying vaping anymore and it has been like cigs the past few years. I dont want to do it because it makes me wheeze cough and irritated but I'm clearly addicted. Give me your experiences/ideas on what may help me and what are YOUR plans for the future?  

Background: I started vaping years ago when the technology was relatively immature and rapidly changing. I was an avid participant in this forum at the time. I used 808s and 510s with all sorts of atomizers, cartomizers, clearomizers, and tanks (and most of them were awful by today's standards). Some of you who have also been around for a while may remember cutting up air conditioner filters...

But when I found the Eleaf iStick Pico and paired it with an Aspire Nautilus tank (1.8 Ohm coils) I was done. I have used that same rig for years and have been very satisfied. I even quit coming to this forum because I thought there was nothing left for me to learn.

But I know the technology has continued to advance and I am now wondering if I am missing out on the next great leap in vaping. I have come back to this forum (a little surprised my account was still active) seeking updated knowledge.

To be clear, I am not interested in creating giant thick clouds of vapor. In fact I generally prefer to keep my vaping clouds as thin and inconspicuous as possible when I am anywhere outside of my own home (which sadly is not too much these days). It is throat hit and flavor that I am after (so I try to find low VG juices, for example).

So I am hoping that some kind forum members will help me quickly get back up to speed on the state of the art for vaping. Maybe point me to some good resources that will explain the more recent advances. I tend to think of sub-ohm mods as being only for those giant clouds, but maybe I am full of it. But I have been told that rebuildable atomizers offer better flavor, so that interests me. I don't even know what I don't know at this point. Please help me learn.

Thank you in advance for your help.