When Your Girlfriend Leaves For Work With You"re #1 Setup

It all started as I was bored one day and decided to drop by the local vape shop and see what they had for sell. Silly me I bought a "pod mod" to see what all the fuss with the devices was about.

Enter the mod on the far left. A "pod mod". I don't recall what it cost me but it was small and light and not very expensive and the sales person claimed "it won't leak" so I figured - what the heck, I'll get it and make up some 'salts' juice and try it out.

While it was fairly easy to fill and the sales person was right, it did not leak. It did suffer from a number of 'issues'. Namely dismal output, battery life and juice capacity. Did I mention that the "flap" to get at the microUSB connection for charging was challenging? While I tried to make use of it while I enjoyed my morning coffee after a few weeks of ether running out of juice or battery at just the wrong time I started looking else where. However now that I had 30ml of 50mg juice mixed up I though I'd 'upgrade' my "salts dispenser".

Move to the setup in the middle, a Nautilus mini clone (with aftermarket RBA) and a iStick40. While the RBA is downright painful to build on I left the 1.4 ohm Kanthal build on it and filled the 2ml tank with the 50mg juice. The iStick40 is said to have a 2700mah battery (and optional TC with NI coils). The iSticks have their USB ports on the bottom. So with the tank filled up and the iStick charged up I again went about my business. This setup was a vast improvement over the 'pod mod'. Better (but not great, after all it is a Nautilus mini) output, longer battery life and more juice. It felt good to be able to grab some gear out of my stash and put it to use. The setup did have its downsides, namely the filling of the tank. Tanks of this era are filled by unscrewing the bottom+coil/atomizer out of it and squeezing juice directly into the upside down tank and then screwing it back together. While I had a dozen or more of this style of tank in use in my early vaping days, I've grown accustomed to easy top fill tanks so started thinking that I could do better so back to the stash I looked.

Enter the setup on the right. While the mod itself is fairly new (Dicodes 21700) the tank is a eLeaf "Lemo2" (only slightly newer vintage then the Nautilus). This setup gives me 3.2ml of tank, even higher output, top fill ease, longer battery life and TC of the coil. The three drawbacks of this setup are that its MUCH larger and heavier than the pod mod that I started out with and the only way to get new energy into the mod is swap batteries. Last and importantly (for those that like to use coil wrecking flavors) is that the only way to service the coil is complete disassembly of the entire tank to gain access to the coil. (not much of a worry when vaping pure unflavored juice).

This is the setup I've been using while enjoying my morning cup of coffee though. Just all part of a evolution.  

just for fun I tossed this together. (anyone remember these?)



KF clone with 6 wraps of 30AWG Kanthal A1 @ 1.7 ohms @ 12W with 18mg 100% VG juice and one 18650 battery.

Expectation is that I should be able to get more than a few hours out of the setup before ether the tank or battery run dry.

g.  

I just picked up the Arctic tank. I was wondering if the istick 50w would be a good choice for a mod, or do you guys recommend something else?

Right now I have the aspire CF sub for the battery. Its just after noon and the battery is already dead.  

Hey guys, I just need your opinion. I been dripping with my Plum Veil and Smok-e mod and i just find it inconvenient to drip while at work. So i wanted to use a tank with my mechanical mod. I went to a shop and they sold me a Herakles tank that came with a .6 oHm and .2 oHm coil and a MXJO battery. They recommend me to use the .2 ohm coil for better result. Will that be safe to run .2 ohm with this battery?

Battery specs : 3.7V 2500mah 35A.  

So I have been vaping for a few months now. I started with the ego type battery starter kit bought from a brick and mortar ( you all know the deal, littile carrying case, 650mah battery, junk clearomizer, and bottle of funky juice). I knew after a week I would not stop smoking with that alone. I then went and bought the Vision Spinner 2 and a Protank mini 3. I was feeling quite happy with this setup and went from a pack a day down to 4-6 analogs. I was even feeling better health wise. I soon discovered the vast world of vaping and "needed" the iStick mod. I bought that and threw the Protank mini 3 on it and life was good. I had no problems with my iStick and it was a huge step up from what I was using prior. It "satified" my need of "smoking". Everything was going well untill one day I busted the glass on the tank. I was not gonna let that get me down though. My vaping buddy gave me a some sort of knockoff topper that used the aspire coils ( I beleive it was a Nautilus mini clone of some sort, branded with the local shops name ). Still it fed my habit well. Now let me say I live in a small town and there is 2 brick and mortar shops. I usally would buy my coils from them and a bottle of liquid every now and then but.....I bought my iStick online. Fast forward a couple months now and I live with 2 roommates (one is a total jerk, and the other is a party machine. We all are in our mid 30's). Well recently I get off work and come home to a "party" on a tuesday night (like usual). Now remember I live in a small town and everyone vaping is using the ego type with plastic clearomizer. The brick and mortar shops here selll those and $100 RDA (which only a few friends I know have). Well this particular night my iStick was the talk of the kitchen table. Everyone wanted to try it and push the buttons. "Who can hit it at the higest watt?" type conversations. The night is ending and Im getting ready to go to my room. I set the iStick on its "charger" (just a handmade cutout box I made for it) sitting on the kitchen counter. 8 hours later I hit the BREW button on the coffee maker and reach for the iStick. IT IS FREAKING GONE!!!!!!!!! Now here is the deal. Noone there the night before knew anything about using it or finding the "sweet spot". The thing is that the knock off tank I was using is a 510 thread and I was using the included adapter to ease the wear and tear on the threads. So I am left with a Vision 2 spinner and a tank that just does not fit it. I AM SO ANGRY! I bring it up to my roommate and she is like "no one stole it, you misplaced it". If anyone of you guys and gals are like me, you know where your setup is at all times. So that leaves me with a MARK 3 disposable for now.
Sooooooooo does anyone have a lead on a good deal right now online? I see threre is a 30 watt now available. So if anyone know of a great deal please PM me or reply. I have limited funds right now but do not want to go back to Parliment analogs. Thanks for looking and letting me vent.  

Greetings,

maybe I was bored. Maybe to much doom and gloom on all the bans of new gear and the shipping of it. I started to think - why not have some fun with some of the stuff I already have?



Cases in point - the two rigs in the picture above. I believe that all the hardware (mods and tanks) are over 5 years old. The setup on the left has a bit of a story about it.

Sitting on my desk is a few old tube mods that I wonder what it would be like to use again. I found a old (I think KFv3) tank laying around, built a very low mass 2ohm coil in it, filled it up and went and tried it out on my old 15W tube mods. Sadly not a one of them liked the KFv3 and would register the 2ohm coil. So what to do? I had a old Evic that surely could be put into power mode. While I was not to surprised that it all works (I've actually refilled the tank a few times and replaced the battery once) the vape is more restrictive than I tend to like and be it the build (or the 10W power mode) I don't really like the flavor of the unflavored juice with this. Another negative is that while it is top fill, there is no juice flow control so the atomizer get flooded each time the tank is refilled. While I could (and have) used it in a pinch, I can get 1-2 tank fills on a single 3000mah battery.

The setup on the right represents some historical firsts for me. Years ago when I first got into rebuilding a Lemo2 was one of three tanks I bought when I started. It was also my first top fill tank. Sitting under it is my first ever Dicodes mod (a #6). This mod is setup in TC mode with 380F temperature setting and 23W.

Be it the better tank or the use of TC mode, the setup on the right provides a good vape. The 26650 has enough mah to easily allow me to vape the tank dry (takes me most of the day) and since years ago I got Dicodes very over priced charger, I just drop the mod in the charger at the end of the day and its ready for more vaping in a few hours.

So, anyone else putting to use or having some fun with +5 year old vaping gear? How do you like it?


g.  

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.  

As my 1 year old battery supply started to die I bought 4 LG HG2s for replacement. I thought I had a dud when one of them ran out of gas 2/3 of the way through a 5.5ml tank twice. Then it would not charge completely. I was about ready to pitch it but gave it one last try after it finally took a complete charge. To my surprise it lasted the whole tank with about 1/8 of a bar left. Is this common or a fluke?  

okay so don't laugh but this is really an amazing vaping experience/setup for me! I have two batteries and a dual 18650 charger, so I never have to charge onboard nor do I find myself with no power since I always have at least one charging. I love the simplicity of the cloupor mini 30w. Between the magnetic battery door, simplistic screen/button setup, and the overall minuscule appearance of it, I think she's beautiful! The arctic tank however, I've had a could problems, but not too bad (Yes, I did allow my atomizer head to soak for a full 24 hours in juice.) Before I get into that tanks problems though, I'd like to also include that I've been getting into dripping aswell. I bought a plume veil clone a while ago for around 30$, and i was dumb enough to think that there was no need for a VV mod over $15... therefore I bought an X6 battery (cringe, I know..) and long story short I had a terrible experience. the wire that came with the rda was iffy, and it also came with silica wick; which I hate. I ended up building some kinda ****ed up maelstrom of a build. I used the cotton ends of ear cleaners, the questionable wire that came with the atty, and I ran it all at a mind melting 4.4v. Best part of it is that I had no way to check how many ohms I was pushin out. Anyways, I digress. First problem with the Arctic sub ohm tank was the "Check atomizer" deal on my cloupor. The problem was that the connector pin for the mini 30w isn't spring loaded, so I had to whip out the mini screw driver and adjust it. Once that was fixed, the atty was working perfectly!! Except, I was getting a little burnt taste. That's when I've learned that with this tank you have to start at a low wattage and work up to 30 when you're starting vaping for that session. The airflow is good, but I hate airflow; so it's even more splendid that the lowest airflow setting is barely any air at all. Really. It feels like sucking through a brick, and I like it. A ton of flavor, I vape eucalyptus mint flavored juice right now, and I'm loving it. I can't even express to you guys how much I'm loving this thing! Thanks for the advice in telling me to get it!  

I recently found a Tugboat Tuglyfe 200W box mod i'd bought (around 2017) but never used.

I tried to charge it up but it wont hold any charge.

Is there someway this could be done without taking it apart. I've had a look at the escribe software and cant find much help. Is there another method to kick start the battery?

Thanks
SK