Vaping and ecigs. - The Bear and Badger

Mod74

Despite having the shoddiest looking site I've seen for a long time I ordered an eGo set from vaperone on Thursday and it turned up this morning special delivery. Seems to be going well so so far. Their "menthol" liquid isn't really menthol at all, but mint. ie it tastes of mint with no tobacco. I'll use it but think I'll try the Litejoy menthol flavour next time.

Been tugging away all morning and have only used an indicated .2ml. Gonna be a lot more economical than the cartomizers.

Yossarian

The site is shoddy, but the service is excellent.

Actually tracking down decent juice that works for you will involve a lot of trial and error. There are two main diluents used for the nicotine, one of them produces the 'throat hit' but can cause dry mouth, and another which doesn't have a throat hit or a drying effect and produces a lot of vapour. Getting the balance right between the two seems to be key.

I'm currently using the Vaper One own brand stuff (bought mainly because I was running low and I knew that it would arrive quickly) but it's not that great. A bit of digging suggests that Juicy E Juice is very highly rated, but there doesn't seem to be a UK stockist which means paying shipping from the states so it's not the cheapest option. Having said that, decent sized orders would help make the shipping costs more bearable. I'm planning to get some when I get paid.

Mod74

The litejoy menthol cartomiser flavour has been perfect, so I'm going to try their bottle in the hope it's the same formula

http://www.litejoy.co.uk/eliquid.html

Seems reasonably priced. There's a 15% discount is you buy 5 or more items so I might wait until I need some refills for the actual unit. How do you tell when the stringy bit needs changing? Does it simply stop working?

Yossarian

I switched mine out fairly recently because I wasn't getting much vapour out of it and presumed it must be the head that needed changing, but in fact I think it was more down to the Vaper One juice than anything else, so I don't really know.

AJ

I've been feeling heavy-chested and paranoid recently, but don't want to kick the habit right now. Do the science/medical peeps reckon these are less cancer inducing?

Yossarian

As far as we can tell, they aren't cancer-inducing at all.

AJ

Who are this "we"?

Wait, I've just realised I may have asked about something unknowable. Have they even figured out why fags cause cancer, yet?

Yossarian

'We' being the whole human race. Of course, this is new technology and it may be that in time we discover that nicotine itself, or the two diluents in ejuice (both of which are common food additives) are harmful in themselves when inhaled as a vapour in the amounts that they are, but at this point, while we can prove that many of the chemicals in cigarettes are harmful on their own, and we certainly know that inhaling particles (such as those contained within smoke) is harmful, we have no proof that nicotine is in small amounts.

AJ

Cool. Thinking about it, common sense says that the heat of the smoke is probably going to be a big part of fucking your insides up and your lungs would be a lot more tolerant to having stuff breathed into them if they weren't also blistering up inside.

Better get onto deciding what I want to "smoke". Don't suppose they do cheapo taster versions of things, so I can try the different types out without spending a fortune? I know there's those £5 disposable ones that look like toy fags you get on newsagents counters, but that's just going to cover the one type.

Oh, another thing: a drag on one of these is meant to be something like one fag's worth, isn't it? Can you get ones that are designed to be puffed on like a normal smoke?

Yossarian

I drag on mine like a normal cig. You can buy different strengths of liquids to put in them.

As to which one to go for, overall it'll end up costing you less money if you go for something you can refill yourself as opposed to the newsagent ones where you have to replace the end. You can then also experiment with different juices to find one you like, although it may be worth starting with a cheapo one to see if you like it. Essentially, you need a battery, a recharger, a clearomiser and some juice to get started. The Joyetech eGo batteries seem to be about the most popular, when I have to replace mine I'm going to go with an eGo twist which allows you to vary the voltage to your taste. As for the clearomiser, there are loads out there and if you have a look at starter kits, they'll include something. You will have to replace the heads in them every few weeks, so bear that in mind. I'm currently using the Mini Vivi Nova clearomiser which cost me a bit under a tenner from Vaper One, the batteries, depending on which you go for, cost from around 12-20 pounds. Replacement heads for the Vivi Nova are about £8 for five from Vaper One as well. If you do go for the eGo plus Mini Vivi Nova setup, you can also buy a plinth for a couple of quid which just makes the whole setup look a bit nicer.

Yossarian

Also, watch out for tank systems. I had one of those originally with my eGo battery, but it leaked constantly which is why I switched to the clearomiser. Whether that was an issue with the design of my tank or a more general problem with them, I can't say.

AJ

Wow, that seems to cover just about everything, thanks.

Was I wrong in thinking there's two or three distinct ways in which they work, and it's really just how they're put together that is, then?

Yossarian

There are different setups for what attaches to the battery, clearomisers and cartomisers seem to be about the most common, AFAICT, the only difference is whether you have to refill them and replace the heads (clearomisers) or whether the end is a sealed unit and you have to replace the whole thing when the liquid runs out (cartomisers, like the cheapo ones in the newsagent). There is at least one other type, a dripper, I believe it's called, which has a different method for getting the juice onto the heating element and is supposed to give great flavour, but as I say, those don't seem all that common.

Yossarian

Come to think of it, some clearomisers don't have replaceable heads so you have to replace the whole unit when it burns out, so keep that in mind.

Also, it is worth double-checking my information above, I'm just learning about all the different setups myself so I could be getting some of the details wrong.

AJ

Well, that's going to save me some time and money, then.

Just looking at this eGo Twist. Is there some difference between the different battery sizes, other than the battery size? 'Cause there's so little difference in the price it makes you wonder why they bothered with the lower ones.

Yossarian

Nope, just battery size. Incidentally, I run two batteries to be on the safe side.

AJ

By battery size, I meant the mAh. Just realised they're probably different physical sizes. That right?

EDIT: Woah, found a video. That 1000mAh one is huge!

Yossarian

I don't know about physical size, all of the eGo batteries I've seen (admittedly, not that many) have had the same dimensions.

Mod74

You can get the Litejoy ones from newsagents, it's £7.99 for the battery and one refill to try it. If you like it it's £6.99 for the USB charger and £6.99 for two refills.

There's a list of locations on the site

http://www.litejoy.co.uk/ustorelocator/location/map

The shops only sell low and medium strength tobacco and medium strength menthol refills, but you can order up fruity flavours from the site

http://www.litejoy.co.uk/e-cigarette-refills-cartomisers.html

The experience from one of them is virtually the same as a full size unit. They both take virtually the same amount of effort to pull (i.e. more than a normal fag).

If you like the experience then I'd say cut your losses there and then and don't bother buying a charger, second unit and refills like I did. Go straight for a full unit. The refills were costing me £6.99 every two days, which whilst half the cost of fags, is nowhere near the cost per puff of the full unit.

AJ

They do vary somewhat.

650mAh:

1000mAh:

Looking at more, all the brands/capacities seem roughly the same size. Guess I'd always been assuming they were smaller in general since I'd not really seen them in relation to anything else.

Mod74

As for the health....well we don't really know do we, you can do some research and there's nothing suggesting they're as bad as fags. The only question mark really is trusting the reliability of the chemicals from China.

I will say this though....I've got a skin condition that causes little blisters of clear liquid on my hands and feet. I've had it on and off since I was a teenager. They don't really know what causes it but it's related to psoriasis which is thought to be an immune disease. Recently my hands have got worse and worse. I stopped the real fags and they've started to clear up almost immediately.

My theory, for what it's worth, is my body isn't fighting all the nasty shit in the real fags and over producing the response to it.

Yossarian

That's not half bad advice from Mod, there, but I would add that you should bear in mind that with the full units and a bit of experimentation, you can fine-tune the experience a fair amount. Not getting quite enough of a hit or not quite enough vapour for your liking? You can change the voltage, the resistance of your head and the actual juice you're using to get it closer to what you want.

It's also worth warning you to be a bit careful for the first few days at least. I didn't realise it at the time, but I was taking in far too much nicotine at first because you don't have quite the same response to it as a normal cigarette because it doesn't reach a point when it's finished and you have to put it out.

Mod74

Not a great photo but

scale.

TheDJR

@Mod

You've quit? I haven't smoked in over a week myself.

Mod74

I've been on the fake fags for about a month now. I've had two days when I bought 10 real fags. And as if to prove my theory my hands flared up again the day after I'd had them.

I've no intention of quitting the habit/nicotine, not yet at least. But I am off the real ones yes.

AJ

Yeah, realised how there's no way to tell yet about the health issues after I posted; didn't engage my brain and went straight from "we know smoking is bad" to "we know why smoking is bad".

Used to have a mate with that skin condition, or at least one with the same symptoms. Um... not sure what else I can say about that.

It's probably a terrible thing thing to base my choice on, but the less it looks like a fag, the happier I'll be. Trouble with most the ones I've seen in newsagents is they're very... uh... faggy.

AJ

Good god, I'm typing slowly today. Last post was at Mod a few up, obvs.

Mod74

Thing is, if you have a full unit it is quite a beast. It's worth having a small disposable or refill pack version for nights out as you can slip it in your pocket.

Or, just buy 20 real fags. You're saving so much on the fake one that one packet of real ones for the occasional day/night out isn't going to break the bank. It's easy to flip between fake and real and back to fake again in my experience.

Oh, and I'd echo what Yoss said earlier, it is dead easy to over do it on the first few days. It's too easy to just site almost continually puffing away like it's a pipe.

AJ

Yeah, guy from my old office was actually off work for a bit and when he got back I found out it was 'cause he'd got nicotine poisoning from vaping at his desk all day.

I do like the look of that one in the picture. Which is that?

Mod74

This one

http://www.vaperone.co.uk/ego_ce4_1100_mah_kit/p1365275_6697421.aspx

You'll find the same unit being sold under different names all over the place though..Totally Wicked, LiteJoy, Smoker's Halo..afaict they're all just rebands of EJOY kit http://www.ejoy.cc/index_en.html

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories