Simplifying the vape life

[Silver]

Just starting this thread to discuss ways to simplify one's vaping life

Ever since I started vaping, i have been very careful about recording and tracking various things, from juice consumption to battery life and from coil life to wick life - among several other things. I started off on Excel spreadsheets but transferred to black hardcover A5 books because I like to record things when pitstopping and didnt want sticky fingers to ruin my keyboard etc.

The long and short of all of this is that I believe I have grown to understand things much better. What coil works best for what juice on my RM2. Whether a battery really does have better life. How many mls to go before I need to rewick (that gradual degradation is deceptive). How much juice I go through. And it has been a journey of discovery and fine tweaking.

But all this does have a downside - it means my vaping has been quite burdened with copious note taking and endless observations. For the last six months or so I have just blindly continued this practice but have not benefited all that much because I know fairly well what works for me now. I have felt somewhat shackled by the notes and observations that accompany each pitstop. And when I see others just filling a tank and swapping out a battery in less than a minute I get rather envious

So, very unlike my habitual self, I have decided to simplify things post VapeCon. I am going to vape and pitstop without any note taking or tracking - for the month of September. I have contemplated this for some time but have just not managed to get over the "hump". And I have tried for a day or two before but then pulled out my notes and continued. So while this may seem quite silly to some, its quite a big thing for me and part of the reason for announcing this on this thread is that there will be no turning back from today for this month. After the month I will review and see how it has been.

The only thing I will miss is knowing exactly how many mls of juice each wick has gone through so I know when I need to pitstop. But heck, I suppose I will taste when that is needed. And I will miss comparing the lives of different batteries and wicks in my setups. Lol.

Anyway, enough rambling.
Today is day 1 of a simpler vaping life for me.

Feel free to discuss ways you have simplified things - I am all ears.

 

[Rob Fisher]

I'm way too lazy to record stuff like that... I guess that's why DIY Juices have been a fail on the last two occasions... I have simplified my vaping to the point that I use REO's with Divo's and Mods with cCell coils in a Melo 3 Mini at 30 watts... everything else is just playing and looking for the next Nirvana vape system. I also have a very very narrow juice profile and I'm hoping to expand that a little having picked up a few juices at VapeCon.

 

[Dubz]

 

[Silver]

I'm way too lazy to record stuff like that... I guess that's why DIY Juices have been a fail on the last two occasions... I have simplified my vaping to the point that I use REO's with Divo's and Mods with cCell coils in a Melo 3 Mini at 30 watts... everything else is just playing and looking for the next Nirvana vape system. I also have a very very narrow juice profile and I'm hoping to expand that a little having picked up a few juices at VapeCon.

@Rob Fisher , the more time i have spent with you the more it has egged me on and the more it has bugged me that your "workhorse" vaping is so simple. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[Silver]

Oh this is just too classic @Dubz - thanks
Am playing it now and vaping on an Evod - trying to forget how many mls to go to the next stock coil change!

 

[Dubz]

Oh this is just too classic @Dubz - thanks
Am playing it now and vaping on an Evod - trying to forget how many mls to go to the next stock coil change!

I just had to post it. Seemed such a good fit for your post .

 

[Stosta]

Best of luck to you @Silver !

I have to be honest the thought of taking notes during a pitstop has never even changed my mind! I might go the opposite route to you for the month of September and see where the note-taking method gets me!

 

[Silver]

I just had to post it. Seemed such a good fit for your post .

Agreed @Dubz - and its a fabulous song. One of the alltime greats. I get goose bumps just listening to some of great ones from Queen.

 

[Silver]

Best of luck to you @Silver !

I have to be honest the thought of taking notes during a pitstop has never even changed my mind! I might go the opposite route to you for the month of September and see where the note-taking method gets me!

Thanks @Stosta -

Although I am trying to "break free" I do think its a good idea for newer vapers to take notes of these things even if its for a few months in the beginning - because it teaches you to observe, change something, observe - and improve. I learnt the most about the RM2 coils that way.

But thats also why DIY scares the living daylights out of me...

I was just too carried away with tracking and I guess what i need to learn is when to stop and ask myself is it still helping me.... Habits habits habits.... At least its better than smoking!

 

[Rob Fisher]

But thats also why DIY scares the living daylights out of me...

I was just too carried away with tracking and I guess what i need to learn is when to stop and ask myself is it still helping me.... Habits habits habits.... At least its better than smoking!

DIY for Hi Ho will include 18 spreadsheets, 4 Databases and a bulk pack of A5 notebooks!

 

[Kalashnikov]

I would track things too but the moment i started DIY i literally have no control anymore. I many times if im tired of a flavour just dump it out and throw in a new one. Wicks get changed sometimes daily . The moment i see i slight brown i pull it out becos OCD is life. Up until last week i would carry a vape bag with about 8 different flavours in 10ml bottles. That used to work well but then filling up all those bottles every 3 days was time consuming. So now i just leave a 100ml at work. 100ml in the car. Carry one with me and some lying all over the show. Made life much simpler . Trying to be to organized made it quite a task. Now i just chill. If i vape 10ml a day or 30.The only thing i think you need to be organized with is batteries.Like dont leave the house with a mod on 50% without a spare battery. That is the one thing i still make sure. Worst thing to happen is your mod die on you.

That said also always carry a spare coil if you have a sub ohm tank. And if you build. Always have at least a piece of cotton on you.

Otherwise keep it simple

 

[Huffapuff]

This is a very interesting topic. Simplifying my life is one of my main goals.

We live in an age where information is king. Just look at how we humans use technology to record everything in our lives - steps, calories, push-ups, runs etc. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, the important thing to remember is why. Why do we record all this info? If one uses this information to make informed decisions which lead to positive changes in your life then awesome. But if we just accumulate information and it doesn't do anything to help us then what's the point?

For a while I recorded how much time I got off of my batteries. But it didn't change anything for me - I still had to take the batteries out and charge them when they were flat. It just seemed pointless as I couldn't make any meaningful changes to my vape experience based on the information.

I think @Silver that after all this time of you recording aspects of your vaping habits that you should have a pretty good model of how you vape. Enough so that you know what you consume and how to plan for the future. So I say do it! Set yourself free and just vape

 

[Silver]

Why do we record all this info? If one uses this information to make informed decisions which lead to positive changes in your life then awesome. But if we just accumulate information and it doesn't do anything to help us then what's the point?

Thanks @Huffapuff - you nailed it with this above!

Why record everything?

Well i am the type of person that when i start something new i want to record everything just in case i ever need that info later for something. I do look back and look for patterns to discover something new. I try scope the data carefully to make it "relatively" easy to record as much as I can but still make it bearable. Now you know why I love my puff counters With vaping I was fascinated in the beginning with so many things so it was not a chore - it was pleasant discovery.

But in the end it got too tiring and after VapeCon which tired us all out its now time to go simpler.

 

[DrSirus-88]

Wow @Silver that is very impressive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with note taking and being who you are at what you do. I'm actually impressed at how you have gone into so much depth in your vaping journey.

I wish you the best of luck for the month of September. I think my juice consumption would be a lot more efficient if I had to break it down, I also wouldn't build so often and would probably save on cotton.

My vaping journey has been more of a chase then anything else, always wanting something new, always building something new and have recently just discovered, well not discovered but come to realize that there is one setup that I contantly go back to and that's my target tank with CCell and XXX. (Thanks to @Rob Fisher)

I'm also a sucker for punishment when it comes to seeing a good Vape mate with what looks cool, he/she is raving about it and then I get FOMO and have to try it. Iv also become attached to all my vaping products/devices to the point that I can't throw away my empty juice bottles or sell gear I just don't use anymore. LOL

Vaping is a never ending cycle for me, can never have to much.

 

[Jpq]

Simplifying my vape life...
An Essay By Jpq

It all started with a twisp, how did it end up like this,did it end up like this?
Back then it was easy, month end buy 6 Juices, 3 of A and 3 of B, get home and mix A with B x3...
Ready mix on the go....
Then i made THE switch.
So it started off small, 2 bottles of Diy juice, a bottle of bought juice, and trying to keep that all together in my (ex toiletry) bag, then...i Saw the Smok Tfv8.
Which meant carrying an extra tank. Then the limitless rdta came along for the ride also.The budget was toight, like a tiger, so the Toiletry bag got an upgrade, i took the holes punchy thing-a-ma-bob, and since Vaping is all about Mods, i modified my bag, put string inside it with knots outside, Simplify they said, right.
Then i got an extra set of batteries, and started to diy...
I had about seven different sized bottles unmarked, thus i went from, One bottle of Twisp Ready mix, to 6 different flavours in at least two different nic strengths.
MY toiletry bag grew, it became my old back pack styled laptop bag.
The upgrade was great! i had a bag bigger than my wife's handbag, and i was carrying more stach than a mule in a tunnel between exico and The US.

The inevitable happened the Tfv8 prebuilt coils were done, Enter Bacon from stage left, wire stage right, and a new tool kit.

At this stage i had plus minus 50 flavours of concentrate on my desk, together with it all.

My wife called a house meeting, a new law was passed that night in my kingdom, with rezoning to happen soon.
The second spare bedroom was converted from a single bed one sleeper, to a building station with a Cupboard for all the concentrates, paper towel dispensers on the wall, a steeping shelf, ready to pull stickers for bottles, a pen on a string.

She even went so far as to offer her laptop up for note taking and excell spread sheets. I decided thats overkill.

Today i Have 2 juices, Frozen from ncv, and my own strawberry creamy yoghurt, a dripper, spare batteries and a small baggy of cotton, with oneallen key.

Life is simple now.
Maybe i Grew up.
Maybe my wife won.
Maybe it all fell into place eventually...

 

[DrSirus-88]

Simplifying my vape life...
An Essay By Jpq

It all started with a twisp, how did it end up like this,did it end up like this?
Back then it was easy, month end buy 6 Juices, 3 of A and 3 of B, get home and mix A with B x3...
Ready mix on the go....
Then i made THE switch.
So it started off small, 2 bottles of Diy juice, a bottle of bought juice, and trying to keep that all together in my (ex toiletry) bag, then...i Saw the Smok Tfv8.
Which meant carrying an extra tank. Then the limitless rdta came along for the ride also.The budget was toight, like a tiger, so the Toiletry bag got an upgrade, i took the holes punchy thing-a-ma-bob, and since Vaping is all about Mods, i modified my bag, put string inside it with knots outside, Simplify they said, right.
Then i got an extra set of batteries, and started to diy...
I had about seven different sized bottles unmarked, thus i went from, One bottle of Twisp Ready mix, to 6 different flavours in at least two different nic strengths.
MY toiletry bag grew, it became my old back pack styled laptop bag.
The upgrade was great! i had a bag bigger than my wife's handbag, and i was carrying more stach than a mule in a tunnel between exico and The US.

The inevitable happened the Tfv8 prebuilt coils were done, Enter Bacon from stage left, wire stage right, and a new tool kit.

At this stage i had plus minus 50 flavours of concentrate on my desk, together with it all.

My wife called a house meeting, a new law was passed that night in my kingdom, with rezoning to happen soon.
The second spare bedroom was converted from a single bed one sleeper, to a building station with a Cupboard for all the concentrates, paper towel dispensers on the wall, a steeping shelf, ready to pull stickers for bottles, a pen on a string.

She even went so far as to offer her laptop up for note taking and excell spread sheets. I decided thats overkill.

Today i Have 2 juices, Frozen from ncv, and my own strawberry creamy yoghurt, a dripper, spare batteries and a small baggy of cotton, with oneallen key.

Life is simple now.
Maybe i Grew up.
Maybe my wife won.
Maybe it all fell into place eventually...

Awesome post man. I rated funny because it was and would give you a winner badge too

 

[Spydro]

Great reads, and a great idea for a thread @Silver.

My vaping road has been a very long one, or at least it feels like a long one since vaping is pretty much all I have done 24/7 for almost 3.5 years. After over 50 years I stopped smoking cigs and my pipes over a month before I started vaping (not being addicted to nicotine made that as easy as tossing the tobacco's in the trash). I did not know anyone who vaped, and in fact had only recently become aware of this thing called vaping from some Blu commercials I saw on TV. So I did massive research, up to 24 hours per day for weeks before I took the plunge into vaping and DIY. I wanted to be an "informed buyer" from the start, and at least informed to a reasonable level on all the mechanics involved with vaping and DIY before I dove in. Blame that on the analytical and logical mind I have always been accused of having (a product of a lifelong scientific background). I have the time to do the research and experimenting being long retired and long divorced with no family left except a son, live alone with other health issues that means I do whatever I want to that I can do when I want to, or I can do nothing at all.

So it has been over 3.5 years of what has been a continuous learning experience about vaping. But the path has been much easier the last couple of years because I do have it mostly all figured out for my personal needs and tastes. New things are still learned, new things will always will be learned, but they are far fewer and not as often anymore. I did all my record keeping in doc files, and I have them going all the way back to the start. But I seldom if ever need to refer to them anymore as I know what I like and I know how to achieve it. What is my style of vaping has become second nature to me.

Well over a year ago I too decided to get closer to the KISS in vaping when I stopped fooling around with all the crazy coil builds, stopped trying/vaping hundreds of different liquids (either store bought or DIY) and tossed hundreds out, more or less settled on just a dozen and a half or so. My DIY "evolves", so they get modified as I get tired of them or my tastes change into something slightly different or entirely new. At present around a dozen DIY and 3-4 store bought SA liquids is my goal to work towards. Recently I also retired all the rest of the gear except for 6 Reos and 6 TC Mods, and specific toppers for them. Even that is a quandary, I could get by with far less mods with the multiple "acceptable" toppers for them I have to run different liquids in. But it's hard for me to get away from "any" Reo (not so hard to set TC Mods aside). So maybe I have finally reached the time in my vaping tenure where no more or very little new gear will be bought after almost 3.5 years of constantly buying the massive amount of gear I have that I no longer use.

 

[Spydro]

This is a very interesting topic. Simplifying my life is one of my main goals.

We live in an age where information is king. Just look at how we humans use technology to record everything in our lives - steps, calories, push-ups, runs etc. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, the important thing to remember is why. Why do we record all this info? If one uses this information to make informed decisions which lead to positive changes in your life then awesome. But if we just accumulate information and it doesn't do anything to help us then what's the point?

For a while I recorded how much time I got off of my batteries. But it didn't change anything for me - I still had to take the batteries out and charge them when they were flat. It just seemed pointless as I couldn't make any meaningful changes to my vape experience based on the information.

I think @Silver that after all this time of you recording aspects of your vaping habits that you should have a pretty good model of how you vape. Enough so that you know what you consume and how to plan for the future. So I say do it! Set yourself free and just vape

How well I remember the days for much of my life when I did such things as record every tank of gas each of my many vehicles were filled with AND did the math to see what the MPG they were getting was with each tank when a spot check a couple of times a year would have been more useful and way less trouble. I've owned well over 100 vehicles in my life and didn't stop the nonsense with them until I was around 50 YO. And the list goes on of other worthless things I wasted far too much time on when I was younger. Now days I don't keep track of anything at all except some aspects of my vaping and DIY. I seldom know what day of the week it is, the date, or even what time it is unless I happen to run the mouse over the computers task bar to pop up that information. Mainly because I don't care what any of them are at this end of my life.

 

[Silver]

Wow @Silver that is very impressive. There is absolutely nothing wrong with note taking and being who you are at what you do. I'm actually impressed at how you have gone into so much depth in your vaping journey.

I wish you the best of luck for the month of September. I think my juice consumption would be a lot more efficient if I had to break it down, I also wouldn't build so often and would probably save on cotton.

My vaping journey has been more of a chase then anything else, always wanting something new, always building something new and have recently just discovered, well not discovered but come to realize that there is one setup that I contantly go back to and that's my target tank with CCell and XXX. (Thanks to @Rob Fisher)

I'm also a sucker for punishment when it comes to seeing a good Vape mate with what looks cool, he/she is raving about it and then I get FOMO and have to try it. Iv also become attached to all my vaping products/devices to the point that I can't throw away my empty juice bottles or sell gear I just don't use anymore. LOL

Vaping is a never ending cycle for me, can never have to much.

Thanks @DrSirus-88 for the post - I enjoyed it - I hear you on the "chase" aspect - that is something that catches most of us. I have been lucky though, the past year or so I have not had too much FOMO seeing the latest and greatest of others. Here and there the FOMO does grip me and I satisfy it with the occasional purchase. Seldom does that new device do much for me. But I guess we are all chasing the elusive perfect vape. For me its now all about simplicity for September - so that sort of implies no new gear - because new gear leads to more fiddling and the urge to start up all the tracking systems

 

[Silver]

Simplifying my vape life...
An Essay By Jpq

It all started with a twisp, how did it end up like this,did it end up like this?
Back then it was easy, month end buy 6 Juices, 3 of A and 3 of B, get home and mix A with B x3...
Ready mix on the go....
Then i made THE switch.
So it started off small, 2 bottles of Diy juice, a bottle of bought juice, and trying to keep that all together in my (ex toiletry) bag, then...i Saw the Smok Tfv8.
Which meant carrying an extra tank. Then the limitless rdta came along for the ride also.The budget was toight, like a tiger, so the Toiletry bag got an upgrade, i took the holes punchy thing-a-ma-bob, and since Vaping is all about Mods, i modified my bag, put string inside it with knots outside, Simplify they said, right.
Then i got an extra set of batteries, and started to diy...
I had about seven different sized bottles unmarked, thus i went from, One bottle of Twisp Ready mix, to 6 different flavours in at least two different nic strengths.
MY toiletry bag grew, it became my old back pack styled laptop bag.
The upgrade was great! i had a bag bigger than my wife's handbag, and i was carrying more stach than a mule in a tunnel between exico and The US.

The inevitable happened the Tfv8 prebuilt coils were done, Enter Bacon from stage left, wire stage right, and a new tool kit.

At this stage i had plus minus 50 flavours of concentrate on my desk, together with it all.

My wife called a house meeting, a new law was passed that night in my kingdom, with rezoning to happen soon.
The second spare bedroom was converted from a single bed one sleeper, to a building station with a Cupboard for all the concentrates, paper towel dispensers on the wall, a steeping shelf, ready to pull stickers for bottles, a pen on a string.

She even went so far as to offer her laptop up for note taking and excell spread sheets. I decided thats overkill.

Today i Have 2 juices, Frozen from ncv, and my own strawberry creamy yoghurt, a dripper, spare batteries and a small baggy of cotton, with oneallen key.

Life is simple now.
Maybe i Grew up.
Maybe my wife won.
Maybe it all fell into place eventually...

Excellently written, thanks @Jpq - I loved that.
Lol about the meeting with the wife and rezoning.
I have had one or two of those so I know exactly what you mean

 

[Silver]

Great reads, and a great idea for a thread @Silver.

My vaping road has been a very long one, or at least it feels like a long one since vaping is pretty much all I have done 24/7 for almost 3.5 years. After over 50 years I stopped smoking cigs and my pipes over a month before I started vaping (not being addicted to nicotine made that as easy as tossing the tobacco's in the trash). I did not know anyone who vaped, and in fact had only recently become aware of this thing called vaping from some Blu commercials I saw on TV. So I did massive research, up to 24 hours per day for weeks before I took the plunge into vaping and DIY. I wanted to be an "informed buyer" from the start, and at least informed to a reasonable level on all the mechanics involved with vaping and DIY before I dove in. Blame that on the analytical and logical mind I have always been accused of having (a product of a lifelong scientific background). I have the time to do the research and experimenting being long retired and long divorced with no family left except a son, live alone with other health issues that means I do whatever I want to that I can do when I want to, or I can do nothing at all.

So it has been over 3.5 years of what has been a continuous learning experience about vaping. But the path has been much easier the last couple of years because I do have it mostly all figured out for my personal needs and tastes. New things are still learned, new things will always will be learned, but they are far fewer and not as often anymore. I did all my record keeping in doc files, and I have them going all the way back to the start. But I seldom if ever need to refer to them anymore as I know what I like and I know how to achieve it. What is my style of vaping has become second nature to me.

Well over a year ago I too decided to get closer to the KISS in vaping when I stopped fooling around with all the crazy coil builds, stopped trying/vaping hundreds of different liquids (either store bought or DIY) and tossed hundreds out, more or less settled on just a dozen and a half or so. My DIY "evolves", so they get modified as I get tired of them or my tastes change into something slightly different or entirely new. At present around a dozen DIY and 3-4 store bought SA liquids is my goal to work towards. Recently I also retired all the rest of the gear except for 6 Reos and 6 TC Mods, and specific toppers for them. Even that is a quandary, I could get by with far less mods with the multiple "acceptable" toppers for them I have to run different liquids in. But it's hard for me to get away from "any" Reo (not so hard to set TC Mods aside). So maybe I have finally reached the time in my vaping tenure where no more or very little new gear will be bought after almost 3.5 years of constantly buying the massive amount of gear I have that I no longer use.

Thanks for the post @Spydro - I loved reading that as I do all your posts.
And thanks for the follow up post about checking the MPG readings every tank on your cars in your earlier years. It's so funny I was going to mention that exact thing in my original post. Don't even get me started on that!
At least I am not the only one...

Simple September continues...

 

[Jpq]

Excellently written, thanks @Jpq - I loved that.
Lol about the meeting with the wife and rezoning.
I have had one or two of those so I know exactly what you mean

Thank you kindly Silver.
I think most guys have had The Talk.

My next move i have been told, is out to the Wendy house. And immediately first thought that popped up: "My DIY juice have been wooden steeped in a temp controlled (aircon) area"

 

[Spydro]

Thanks for the post @Spydro - I loved reading that as I do all your posts.
And thanks for the follow up post about checking the MPG readings every tank on your cars in your earlier years. It's so funny I was going to mention that exact thing in my original post. Don't even get me started on that!
At least I am not the only one...

Simple September continues...

You and several others are interesting thread starters here, so it's fun to get into them. To me life experiences, good or bad, funny or sad seem to get the most interesting replies. Works for me anyway. About all I have left to write about outside of the norm is the endless memories of going through life with my hair on fire balls to the wall, and somehow surviving it this long.

So another one that came from my roaring twenties folks that was wasted time and effort to me... keeping all home monthly bills and other expenses on file. As in filing every bill in file folders for each when paid, in order by date and tossing out the oldest "year" when a new year was completed. IE, always having a 7 year record of all things home related like utility bills, household equipment bought, etc that I doubt I ever referred back to for the 25-30 years I did it. It was just wasted time due to not needing them for taxes or to budget for future bills as I was lucky enough to always have jobs and businesses that paid way more than needed for anything we ever needed except for a few months in my early married life while still in the military stationed in the middle of nothing many, many miles from nowhere. Those months after the hard bills were paid for rent, utilities, auto and gasoline to live off base, the last few dollars bought ammo/hooks/etc for the only food put on the table that all came from my hunting, fishing and the wild edible plants I harvested. So we lived off the land that I had learned to do from my earliest days while growing up in the outdoors. All my adult life (until 2005) I still went deep into wilderness areas alone and did the same for up to weeks at a time when I could get away. So I was born over a century late... I should have been a Rocky Mountain trapper and mountain man in the 1820's.

 

[Silver]

Day 4 of a simplified vaping life in September

All is going well. To be fair I havent done any major pitstopping yet because I pitstopped the main workhorses a few days ago and they tend to last a few days. Am also on a little vacation and havent vaped as much as when Im working.

I do miss the tracking of tanks on a wick so may need to think up an easy way to keep track of that.

Would be cool if someone could invent a vape band that had some beads or something on it that one could keep track of this easily. Like an abacus or something similar.

No notes, no battery tracking. So far so good...

 

[Raindance]

Day 4 of a simplified vaping life in September

All is going well. To be fair I havent done any major pitstopping yet because I pitstopped the main workhorses a few days ago and they tend to last a few days. Am also on a little vacation and havent vaped as much as when Im working.

I do miss the tracking of tanks on a wick so may need to think up an easy way to keep track of that.

Would be cool if someone could invent a vape band that had some beads or something on it that one could keep track of this easily. Like an abacus or something similar.

No notes, no battery tracking. So far so good...

And my friends say I am full of (R@P ! Lol.