The Demise Of The Analog, A Progress Report.

So I'm a 19 year old guy, started smoking when I was 14 and finally quit cigarettes 3 months ago. My parents like that I quit smoking but they think vaping some sort of gateway drug that will make me want to, and I quote, "smoke {OTHER STUFF}". What I don't understand is that both of my parents both smoke a pack a day. I even tried to convince them to switch to vaping but they said they don't want to smoke that "{OTHER STUFF} device". Even when I vape in my room, they come in and get pissed off because they're tired of smelling my "fruity {MODERATED}". How can I convince them to get a better understanding of vaping and potentially start them on it too?  

Because it has a coil? Because it has a tank that contains VG or PG? Because the user expels vapor that looks like smoke ? Because it has a battery? Because the tank holds liquid that contains nicotine? What if the tank does not contain nicotine? Is it still an E-Cig?

These are my burning questions for tonight while watching Modern Marvels on H2 (History Channel 2)

That and I really need to know what exactly constitutes an E-cig. I've been tobacco free, smoke free for almost two years. Vaping exclusively. I'm close to zero nicotine now. Will I still be an E-cig user when I go to zero? Obviously yes, but why ?

I really dig vaping a million times more then I dug smoking. I hated smoking. Just did it for 40 years 'cause I couldn't get off the stinkies til I discovered E-cig (24 mg/ml when I first quit smoking) almost two years ago. Still can't believe I've been smoke free for so long.

Hope you weigh in on the subject of "What constitutes an E-Cig ?"  

To bring you up to speed on my vaping. I started in mid 09 and went 2+ years with out an analog np, Then kinda dropped it for bar hopping and I really dont know why. Kept vaping but only when smoking was prohibited.

I come back, and I have always been a mod whore. So pickin up where I left off. But now we got all the sub tanks and sub ohm mods, ect. I find myself in the odd position that my desire to be a mod whore, and my ability to vape these new powerful devices is leaving me,,,,,,,,unfulfilled. Worse yet I think TC or some form of that will be the future of vaping.


So today with my new MiniM and new Kanger subtank mini Ni coils. I begin to try lung hits. Doing pretty good for being at it less than an hour. I brings me back to a time in my misspent youth.


But I immediately noticed some differences in what works and what. More specifically I used to hit the button slightly before I would take a mouth hit. If I didnt it would cause me to cough. With lung hitting the opposite seems to be the only way, (Hit as I press).


I really want to get my brain around this. Is their any other "Lung Hit" tips anyone cares to share??


A problem I anticipate is I probably have $300 worth of 24mg juice laying about. So I suppose I will really be reliving my glory days.


Looking for lung hit tips?????  

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:
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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
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Its a new addiction, :?)  

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.  

I am new to the mod world and I entered the foray with an IStick 30 and a Kanger Subtank Mini. When I use an old cheapo tank that came off an earlier Ego my juice taste fine. It's a 2.7 ohm coil set at 7.5 watts at 4.5 volts.The problem is the taste with my Kanger hooked up. It is very harsh. I also do not get the same visible exhaust (sorry, but I can't think of another term ) I operate it at about the same watts. I have tried both a sub ohm coil and a 1.2 ohm coil. I have also tried different air intake settings. One thing to note: The cheapo tank gives me a much tighter draw (It's harder to draw in the air). I have adjusted the Kanger down to the smallest inlet and the resistance still seems very easy.

Would the difference in resistance of the coils affect the taste with running the same power. Do some juices just not taste good with different tanks? I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I assembled it wrong by leaving out something but for the life of me I can't see what? I did insert a little piece of cotton in one of the coils which was foreign to me.

Any ideas? Fire away and don't assume anything. Again, I am ignorant with these mods so I am learning here. Thanks a bunch  

Starting from a clean - authentic nautilus mini - with a brand new 1.6 (or 1.8 it makes no difference) coil (coils also verified as authentic).

1. Turn tank upside down - with tip removed and fill with juice.
2. Take base unit and set so no air holes are open.
3. Put a tiny bit of juice around the o ring of the base unit (i get the issues if I do this or not)
4. Put 2 small drops of juice into the coil (I get the issues if do this or not)
5. Screw the coil into the base unit (as tight as you can comfortably get it without going past the obvious stop point and damaging something)
6. Screw the coil/base unit into the tank.
7. Turn nautilus mini correct way up.
8. Move air hole to a middle setting.
9. Take some primer puffs with no power.
10. Leave standing for 5-10 mins.
11. Begin vaping gently at 6 watts - moving up slowly to 10.

Ive tried all types of juice - both high VG and high PG and in-between. Invariably at some point i start to get the gurgle. Ive tried the following fixes:

1. Using a paper towel blow gently out of the air hole to get rid of juice - doesn't work - if i kept on blowing id blow the whole tank of juice out.
2. Take the unit apart - most times there will be juice in the base unit underneath where the coil sits - dry this out - dry the coil off and repeat from step 2 above missing out steps 3 and 4. - this sometimes works but its a temporary fix.

There seems to be no pattern to the problem. Sometimes the gurgle starts as soon as ive changed the coil - sometimes its ok for a week. I have 2 units and 2 spare tanks and have rotated them all using the above method - still get the issues.

I have actually never experienced the burnt taste or reduced draw because Ive always got sick and binned the coil before that point.

I am vaping generally at 9.2 watts - but have tried as low as 7 and as high as 13 - it makes no difference.

I don't draw hard - I cannot understand why I keep getting juice in the air chamber - its not a problem with a "dud coil" unless they are all intermittently dud coils - they are all authentic aspire and I've bought them from different places - so its not a dodgy batch issue - the rings are all the correct way up - I have spent hours and hours researching to try to fix these issues - and cannot for the life of me maintain a stable nautilus mini.

Can anyone save me from madness and tell me what Im doing wrong - Im tending towards a conclusion of all nautilus mini components are junk at the moment.

Many thanks in advance  

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.  

since my last cigarette. I haven't been posting in recent months, I have been keeping up on the treadmill of life.
Thanks to ECF for being here, to the mods for keeping it sane, CASAA for working so that we can have a future, and all of you for helping each other and yourselves!

Like most of you, I spent too large a percentage of my life killing myself slowly, and eventually spending a lot of money to do so. In my particular case, I still loved smoking, but grew disgruntled over the health realities, BT, and the taxation of cigs. I have quit many times, in many ways, but never for more than a few months. During those few months, I was never pleasant to be around.

It's easy to make excuses to keep smoking, I made them all.

I am *not* an expert, and nobody asked me, but since I am waxing eloquent I will make suggestions about how it worked for me. YMMV

1. To quit smoking, you really only need two things. A device that works for you (charging, form factor, blahblah) and juice that you like.

2. Don't feel obligated to stop smoking immediately. I was an accidental quitter. Initially I wanted to smoke some and vape some. I could save some money, and not have to stand outside in the rain. It's OK to smoke while you are learning what works for you. You can do that for the rest of your life, if you want to.

2b. Keep an idea of where you are on supplies. You need backups of everything (home, work, car). After I decided to actually quit smoking, two weeks in I had two battery deaths in two days. I only had two batteries. After 12 hours of crazy, I had to smoke.

3. Learn your device well, before you start collecting more and more! It can be convenient to wind up with a couple of different styles that work for different life situations. If you buy one every week, you will spend a lot of money and could still be deep down unhappy that "it's not working like I thought it would". Many of us as smokers can be a wee bit OCD anyway. Don't let collecting get in the way of Not Smoking (tm)

4. Don't buy a gallon of the first juice that you like. It will take a month or more before your damaged sense of taste/smell start regenerating. What you loved initially you may hate in a month. Buy lots of small samplers, to discover what you like.

5. Yes, you will save money, lots of it. See #3 and #4 above.

6. At the end of the day, all PVs are just batteries. How long they last, charging, the form factor, the ability to adjust them during use are all just variations on a theme. Some of the cig-a-likes have a lifetime of 30 charge cycles. Some larger ones can be charged 500 times. Find the balance that works for you. What *does* matter, is the actual vaping end of it. Explore attys, cartos, tanks, RBA. Try them all, this is what determines the taste and vapor production.

7. Support your local vape shop. I know you can get this stuff from China for cheap. Your local B&M is spending a lot of money for rent and employees, and the ability to sample juice is not possible on AliBaba. They are also providing a valuable service in being a first exposure to vaping for many. Go in and hang out. If nothing else, buy some drip tips, juice, attys or doo-dads. Check out the new PVs.

8. With few exceptions, the kiosk at the mall is not a good deal, nor a good idea. Free trials online or from radio ads are always a ripoff. You will spend a lot more on much inferior equipment and then have a hard time getting it off of your credit card.

9. Don't be arrogant about vaping in public. They don't know that you are not smoking from 10 feet away.

10. Don't get in flamewars on ECF about your favorite PV. Yes, there are idiots here, don't be one. If it works for you, that is the best one for you.

11. Once you get comfortable with vaping, consider DIY. Juice is what costs the most in the long run. Start small, measure with precision, keep detailed notes, be safe. You know what you like better than any description on a web page.

12. Join CASAA, and do things.

13. ECF is great for support. Don't be afraid to bare your soul to kindred spirits here in a hard time, you can find a lot of strength.  

I was just thinking about some of the unique things about vaping that is different from analog's

In the past I had used my analog as sort of a timer. Worked great for cooking a frozen pizza, It took me roughly 10 minutes to have a smoke. I could string several together for things that required more time.


The last cig would kick off my sleep. "when I finish this one it's lights out" . When I vape with a tank it is never finished.


Analogs were a convenient excuse to get away from non preferred people or activities.


Analogs at an event, would decide for you, who your social group would be. It would be the group huddled by the entrance smoking.


Would force you to get out of bed and start the day. Especially when you were hung over and out of them.


Could refresh you day of the week memory. "Hmm got three packs left, bought the carton on Monday, So it must be Thursday.


Forced me to clean my room or car. Looking for that Emergency Smoke.


Meet girls (smoking girls).


Anybody else notice the weird differences?