Stocking Up Strategy?

Hello everyone. I have a problem. I'm gonna need some help to get through this, I may not even make it. Who knows?

I'm addicted. Not the good kind. The kind that costs money... The kind that makes my long hours at work perish with the swipe of my debit card... I'm addicted to.. Upgrading.

So I'm in need some some help from the best of the best with you guys. I'm looking to upgrade! I'm currently looking into going from my istick50w and Subtank Mini, to a mech mod and rda. I'm gonna start my way with single coil builds, and go up to dual. I am thinking I have about $100 I want to work with, so can someone make some recommendations?!

I already have some cotton and kanthal from my rba with the subtank. I'm just looking for a good starter mech and battery set up, with a pretty decent rda. Now, since this is my first, I'm not biased at all against clones. I welcome them! As long as they are decent quality and get the job done, so be it!

But here's one catch: I don't really like shiny stuff, oddly enough. I mean brass, or really shiny silver. I don't like scratches that stuff seem to get in my pocket. I love stuff to look perfect all the time!

So any help or recommendations are greatly appreciated! I have no idea about batteries or their chargers, but I'm more than willing to educate myself.  

"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!  

Hello!

I've started to vape more than a year ago with eGo AIO e-cigarete and now the battery has almost dead. What I mean with "dead" is that it is dead while at 50% charged and I feel like it will die in a couple of days or weeks. So now I'm looking for a new vape.

I searched on the internet what would be a good vape mod and found Eleaf. It seems a lot of people enjoy and are satisfied with this brand. I also looked into SMOK mods but looking at internet reviews, they say that it is not the best mod for long use.

So in my case, I've found to choose between...

1) Eleaf Istick Pico S 100W
2) Eleaf iStick Pico 75W

I also listed these since the shop I'm going to buy include these but not sure if these mods will be any good to be in the long run.

3) SMOK SPECIES 230W & TFV8 Baby V2 Starter Kit.
4) Smok R-Kiss 200W
5) Smok X-PRIV 225W
6) VooPoo Drag 2 177W
7) VooPoo Drag Mini 117W

The question is... from what of the all listed mods should I buy? Would be good if anyone shared their own experience with these listed products.

I don't need to puff big clouds and stuff. 30-50 W is good enough for me.  

Please help... I was wondering if anyone knows of a website that is still shipping to NYC?? I definitely wasn't as prepared as I should've been for what is going on here. I guess if things get desperate I will have to order stuff from China. When I started vaping I used to get juice from fasttech.. I really do not want to do that.

As far as the DIY thing goes I would have to figure out how to get all the stuff I need. I really don't want to quit or start making my own juice considering the time you have to steep... it probably takes a lot of time to have a good result.

Please advise... what would you do if you were me?  

I don't ever gripe ..... about anything ...., I am very quiet and to myself a lot. A proud introvert so to speak. But this has been bugging me a lot lately. People gathered in a group "mainly facebook" and laugh and make fun of their local B&M's House Juice. Because nothing under $30 for 30 ml is good enough for them. I have great juice that wasn't massed produced and labeled "premium" Or others who rip apart someone for having a clone or whatever. Not everyone has the money to spend on this high end stuff ..... So I guess that means they should verbally be ripped to {Moderated}.... and called a cheap {Moderated}. or whatever. I thought the vape community was supposed to stick together and support each other's goal of quitting smoking no matter what device, juices what not. We have more things to worry about with fighting supreme court for our right to vape, not singling each other out based on how much your setup costs. Just my thoughts. Feel free to speak your mind.  

Maybe going to shoot myself in the foot for not just starting this but...I wonder how hard it would be to create a clone of youtube strictly for vape related stuff. There's a YouTuber that did the same thing for "other" things and I believe it took off.

Since they are smashing people down on YouTube for vape stuff, why not start a new one?

PS - Not familiar with website design  

Hi Guys,

I've been vaping for 5 years or so. The main reason I quit smoking and took to vaping was I confess, not for my health, but for my purse. As we all know cigs are too expensive and I actually love vaping more than I ever liked smoking.

Anyway, I'm also set in my ways. Except for a brief foray into tanks, I have used low res cartomizers and have been happy. Now, I am finding it impossible to buy cheap Boge cartos so apparently while I have been happily vaping away without hanging out in the vaping community, the world has moved on and there are all sorts of new fangled products on the market. But, most of the new stuff is ridiculously expensive! I'm just a poor girl, I don't wanna buy fancy crap. Right now I am using an Iclear 16 tank and I gotta say it sucks compared to Boge cartomizers. I use a ton of juice (I make my own juice cuz it is wayyy cheaper) and the wicks only last a couple days compared to 2 weeks for cartos.....What gives?

Isn't there a CHEAP way to vape anymore? I don't wanna buy expensive mods, I use these 10 dollar pass-through rechargeable batteries and everything is cheap and hunky dunky....

Any suggestions on a cheap cheap cheap replacement for cartomizers?

Thanks!

Annie  

I am not sure where this should go but this was the best place I could see. Anyway I need a bit of help here it should not be too hard. I am look to build a dual 26650 variable voltage cordless power supply for electroplating small parts . I need to be able to vary the voltage from about a .5 volts to 3.5 volts if it possible average voltage about 2 volts I would like it to compensate as the battery runs down a bit don't have to perfect but just help it keep the voltage steady so it will need to have a volt meter I see those all over in the diy mech mods
So I want to use a dual 26650 battery sled
A 1 amp usb charger port
I need a project box big enough
digital volt meter
I would think a mosfet to vary the voltage with a potentiometer
resetting fuse
and I would guess A piece of that project board stuff with all the hole in it like a for building stiff like this on I can't for the life of me remember what they call that board I built small projects on this stuff when I was kid so that was some time ago LOL it just a board with lots a little hole in it it's a sort of a PCB

I have a basic idea for this thing but last time a built any kind a power supply it was in high school and I am 53 now so I am rusty as Hedouble toothpicks LOL. So I really use a bit of help from someone that is good with this stuff I am sure I can build it that not the problem is getting the right values and wiring diagram and finding sources for the parts I sure one I have a wiring diagram and the values I can google most of that stuff but tips pm someplace maybe you got stuff from that has good prices and don't take a 100 year to ship LOL

In the end this will be the power supply for a silver plating with I have hope to maybe add some little videos picture and stuff of it. this will be kinda fun and I want guys to see how easy and cheap it is to electroplate silver for your box mod so when I done with the power supply I will do a tutorial help fold out in return for help with this
I will be doing stuff like nickel silver platinum. even gold plating

Any help with this would be great if it works out maybe I can plate some small parts for you as a thanks  

Anyone got a good solution for atomizer seats to store them on. Im gonna take a look at my local home depot see if i can come up with something.

This what they look like if you were to get from vape store.(yes there cheap but so am i )
Atomizer Seats - 101 Vape

Im open to your ideas i really dont care what it looks like long as it stands an atomizer up. I got mine proped up against stuff so anything better than that system of storage.  

Anyone try ordering from Fasttech since the shipping ban? I mean they always labeled their packages as "Electronic parts" or "screws" and innocuous things like that. So I was wondering if they could still get stuff through or if customs was x-raying and confiscating that stuff.