Some beginner questions

[Viper_SA]

Hi all,

Some of you might have seen my intro post in Newbie Corner.
I apologize if these topics have already been covered, but there is so much info on the forum that is is somewhat overwhelming when you hit that "search" button.

I tried the Twisp when it came on the market, back in 2008 I think, and thought it was a load of rubbish. A few weeks ago I bought an EGO-CE4 at a local Chinese shop, just for those cases at work where I can't get a relief to go for a smoke. I got the Hengthavorn Cigar juice with it, and was surprised at how much better the system worked than the original eCigs.

The only issue was that the juice was not marked for how much nicotine it contained. I have since passed on the CE4 to a relative and bought a dual kit EGO-CE5+. Changed the atomizers though, the string-less models just didn't feel right and I sucked till I thought my eyeballs would pop without any real vapor. Now running basically the same vaporizer that the CE4 uses, and it is much better.

Also bought an X6 with a V2 tank off BidorBuy. Nice bit of kit that, but not that much better to justify the price difference in my opinion.

I also ordered some 18mg Hengthavorn MB, Cigar and Coffee. The coffee seems to scratch my throat a bit, but not too bad. I also got a 12mg eScape Cuban Cigar, which was absolutely vile! I coughed up three lungs when I tried it. The taste was awful and the throat hit was very harsh.

So basically, my question is about the juice I should use. I would prefer something with high nicotine content, 18-24mg, higher density vapor and as low a temperature on the vapor as possible. Little to no throat hit would also be a preference.

I used to smoke around 30 cigs a day. 1.2mg and mostly cheapies lately, who can afford branded ciggies anymore!?

I would be open to suggestions to upgrade my kit a little as well, just not right now. I still smoke a few cigs in between vaping, but have dropped from around 30 per day to less than 10. Which is good for me.

Any advice would be appreciated.
P.S. I have many other hobbies, so I am not looking to get into mixing my own juice and building or modding things too much. I'd prefer a straight "buy off the shelf" approach.

Thanks

Viper, out!

 

[hands]

Hey @Viper_SA . down to 10 cigs is a big deal and congrats for that.
Juice is a personal thing but here is a link to last years best voted juices. http://www.ecigssa.co.za/forums/top_liquid/
Vaping gear gets better and better really fast and if you hang out on the forum you will get up to speed really quickly.
You are spoiled for choice on gear and there is so many that would work for your needs. I love building, modding and mixing so i cant really advise you on what gear to buy but others will.

 

[zadiac]

Hey Viper. Welcome. We're close. I'm in Deneysville, Vaaldam.
At some point I can give you some demonstrations on different devices and help you get up to speed if you want.
Congrats on your achievements so far. Pretty soon you'll kick the stinkies completely and become a full blown (pun intended) vaper.

 

[Viper_SA]

@hands, thanks for the warm welcome and the link. Will check it out.
@zadiac, thanks for the offer, might just take you up on it. Are there any stores in the Jhb area where one can try out different juices and devices? In the Vaal, where is the best place to shop around for these devices and juices? Will PM you my Whatsapp number if you don't mind.

 

[zadiac]

@hands, thanks for the warm welcome and the link. Will check it out.
@zadiac, thanks for the offer, might just take you up on it. Are there any stores in the Jhb area where one can try out different juices and devices? In the Vaal, where is the best place to shop around for these devices and juices? Will PM you my Whatsapp number if you don't mind.

Unfortunately I don't even know if there are vendors in the Vaal Triangle. You can buy common liquids like Hangsen and Liqua in the Vaal area, but proper devices: I don't know. I buy all my stuff in JHB area or from Fasttech.com.
In JHB area, as far as I know, there are skybluevaping.co.za, vapeking.co.za and vapeclub.co.za
Don't really other vendors in the JHB area.

 

[Derick]

Hi @Viper_SA and welcome.

Don't worry about repeat questions, that's always the problem with Forums, lots of info, and perhaps too much - luckily the people here are pretty chill and even when questions get re-asked they usually still get a response

On the juice side I can answer your questions there;
PG adds to the throat hit that you get, so you want to be looking at something with a high VG content in the e-liquid.
Here's a post that shows nicely the difference between PG and VG

A lot of juice companies will not indicate what ratio of PG to VG they have however, so best bet is to ask the vendor in question if you are unsure.

Many flavours can also greatly affect throat hit, and it seems to differ from person to person, so you are unfortunately just going to have to hunt around till you find the one that is right for you.

Temperature of your device is going to depend largely on your device and the voltage that it is running at, the higher the voltage, the higher the temp of the vapour.

The devices you are talking about are usually running at around 3.7V and with no adjustment, there is not much you can do except get yourself a nice long drip tip - that will help in cooling down the vape before it reaches your mouth.

Also the CE4/5 type devices have a top coil configuration, so your mouth is very close to the atomizer, where the juice gets heated and vaporized, so you might want to look into a bottom coil configuration. With the coil in the bottom of the tank, the vapour travels for a longer distance and has time to cool down a bit.

It would be a bit of a conflict of interest for me to recommend a device and/or store to buy from, as I am a vendor on here, so I'll leave that to the other forum members

 

[MurderDoll]

@hands, thanks for the warm welcome and the link. Will check it out.
@zadiac, thanks for the offer, might just take you up on it. Are there any stores in the Jhb area where one can try out different juices and devices? In the Vaal, where is the best place to shop around for these devices and juices? Will PM you my Whatsapp number if you don't mind.

Welcome to the forum @Viper_SA

I know that at Vaal Mall there is a little shop called "Jump Street" (Right opposite Game)

They sell some e-cig equipment, although their prices are shockingly high.
Suppose if you're really in a pinch and need a new coil or liquid urgently. Its good to know the closest shops for emergencies.

Other than that shop, I don't know of any others.

 

[Silver]

Hi all,

Some of you might have seen my intro post in Newbie Corner.
I apologize if these topics have already been covered, but there is so much info on the forum that is is somewhat overwhelming when you hit that "search" button.

I tried the Twisp when it came on the market, back in 2008 I think, and thought it was a load of rubbish. A few weeks ago I bought an EGO-CE4 at a local Chinese shop, just for those cases at work where I can't get a relief to go for a smoke. I got the Hengthavorn Cigar juice with it, and was surprised at how much better the system worked than the original eCigs.

The only issue was that the juice was not marked for how much nicotine it contained. I have since passed on the CE4 to a relative and bought a dual kit EGO-CE5+. Changed the atomizers though, the string-less models just didn't feel right and I sucked till I thought my eyeballs would pop without any real vapor. Now running basically the same vaporizer that the CE4 uses, and it is much better.

Also bought an X6 with a V2 tank off BidorBuy. Nice bit of kit that, but not that much better to justify the price difference in my opinion.

I also ordered some 18mg Hengthavorn MB, Cigar and Coffee. The coffee seems to scratch my throat a bit, but not too bad. I also got a 12mg eScape Cuban Cigar, which was absolutely vile! I coughed up three lungs when I tried it. The taste was awful and the throat hit was very harsh.

So basically, my question is about the juice I should use. I would prefer something with high nicotine content, 18-24mg, higher density vapor and as low a temperature on the vapor as possible. Little to no throat hit would also be a preference.

I used to smoke around 30 cigs a day. 1.2mg and mostly cheapies lately, who can afford branded ciggies anymore!?

I would be open to suggestions to upgrade my kit a little as well, just not right now. I still smoke a few cigs in between vaping, but have dropped from around 30 per day to less than 10. Which is good for me.

Any advice would be appreciated.
P.S. I have many other hobbies, so I am not looking to get into mixing my own juice and building or modding things too much. I'd prefer a straight "buy off the shelf" approach.

Thanks

Viper, out!

Hi @Viper_SA

One could answer your question with a mountain of suggestions. I will keep it simple

Hardware
Nautilus mini and iStick

Juices
Try from the following great tried and tested local juice manufacturers:
Vapour Mountain (www.vapourmountain.co.za)
Craft Vapour (www.craftvapour.com)
Vape Elixir (sold through a few of the other retailers)
SkyBlue Vaping (www.skybluevaping.co.za)
VapeKing (www.vapeking.co.za)

You will likely find a few flavours from each of the above that you like. Order a few samples from each over time and see for yourself.

All the best

 

[Andrew Munn]

Hi @Viper_SA

One could answer your question with a mountain of suggestions. I will keep it simple

Hardware
Nautilus mini and iStick

Juices
Try from the following great tried and tested local juice manufacturers:
Vapour Mountain (www.vapourmountain.co.za)
Craft Vapour (www.craftvapour.com)
Vape Elixir (sold through a few of the other retailers)
SkyBlue Vaping (www.skybluevaping.co.za)
VapeKing (www.vapeking.co.za)

You will likely find a few flavours from each of the above that you like. Order a few samples from each over time and see for yourself.

All the best

Started vaping ten days ago, with gum as a back-up. Very impressed, no cigarettes for 10 days. I gave up for five months a few years ago, just on gum. I now have gum & e-cig!

 

[Silver]

Started vaping ten days ago, with gum as a back-up. Very impressed, no cigarettes for 10 days. I gave up for five months a few years ago, just on gum. I now have gum & e-cig!

Welcome to the forum @Andrew Munn - all the way from Thailand!
Congrats on your 10 days cig free!
Are you in Thailand for work or is that where you live?
Enjoy the forum!

 

[free3dom]

Welcome @Andrew Munn

Congrats on your first week+ off the cigs...it's a great start. Personally I quit smoking a couple of time and while I did not find the quitting too hard, it was the "staying off cigs" that got me every time - 2-3 weeks and it got too bad so I always went back

But this was before vaping - now it's 8 months later and I haven't (and won't) ever consider going back to cigs, ever

Enjoy the forum and the vaping, and best of luck to you

 

[Andrew Munn]

Welcome @Andrew Munn

Congrats on your first week+ off the cigs...it's a great start. Personally I quit smoking a couple of time and while I did not find the quitting too hard, it was the "staying off cigs" that got me every time - 2-3 weeks and it got too bad so I always went back

But this was before vaping - now it's 8 months later and I haven't (and won't) ever consider going back to cigs, ever

Enjoy the forum and the vaping, and best of luck to you

Thanks, About two years ago I gave up for 5 months with the nicotine gum. Anyway I was 50 years old in January and have been puffing away on the fags since I was 11! Recently on 40 a day, they are cheap here in Thailand, even cheaper in Cambodia (where I go on a visa-run occasionally) about 75 US cents a pack over there! (So cheap it hardly makes sense not to smoke!! LOL).

The big deal for me is when I drink alcohol, I went back on them whilst sitting in a bar in Phnom Penh where people were smoking. I am using gum and vaping, I find the gum gives you a swift hit, but it's a bit pricey.

One of my friends is going to try vaping, he has concerns (founded or not) over stories of the juice containing formaldehyde.

I believe vaping has got "Big Tobacco" running scared, so they could be spreading all sorts of falsehoods!

 

[free3dom]

Thanks, About two years ago I gave up for 5 months with the nicotine gum. Anyway I was 50 years old in January and have been puffing away on the fags since I was 11! Recently on 40 a day, they are cheap here in Thailand, even cheaper in Cambodia (where I go on a visa-run occasionally) about 75 US cents a pack over there! (So cheap it hardly makes sense not to smoke!! LOL).

The big deal for me is when I drink alcohol, I went back on them whilst sitting in a bar in Phnom Penh where people were smoking. I am using gum and vaping, I find the gum gives you a swift hit, but it's a bit pricey.

One of my friends is going to try vaping, he has concerns (founded or not) over stories of the juice containing formaldehyde.

I believe vaping has got "Big Tobacco" running scared, so they could be spreading all sorts of falsehoods!

It's not just Big Tobacco unfortunately, most the scientists just don't understand vaping and do all sorts of stupid tests which then leads to stupid results. Have a look at this site for some proper research papers (as well as debunking of the scary ones) done by a scientist who understands vaping

 

[Silver]

It's not just Big Tobacco unfortunately, most the scientists just don't understand vaping and do all sorts of stupid tests which then leads to stupid results. Have a look at this site for some proper research papers (as well as debunking of the scary ones) done by a scientist who understands vaping

Echoing @free3dom 's sentiments above - that website link he posted is where you should look first.

If you go through the research that has been done properly, you will see that vaping is likely to be orders of magnitude safer than smoking. That means 100 times safer or more.

That does not mean it is 100% safe and we still don't know the long-term effects. But all signs point toward that its much better to vape than to smoke.

Vaping needs to be given a chance - of all the ways to quit smoking, vaping seems to be having the greatest success by a long, long way.

 

[Viper_SA]

Just a side note, I have read that formaldehyde is only found in vaping at very high voltage like 5+ volts on a cheap clearo) and the actual wick burning. One of the chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes, listed in the list of 599 chemicals added to stinkies, is in fact formaldehyde. So, if he is a smoker he is breathing that anyway...

 

[Ashley A]

What @Silver said. He's nailed it.

Only addition is that if you want a lower throat hit (TH), then go with liquid that has higher VG concentration but I suspect the liquid you have is bad stuff, especially if you got them from the Chinese or Pakistani shops. If you go with @Silver's recommendations, you should get a much smoother vape on 18mg and not even need 24mg.

 

[Tiaan PTA]

I also started off with a CE4 and thought it would help me to quit the analogs, but it just didn't give me that kick I wanted.
Then I went over to the iClear and then the Kangertech T3S, but still not enough kick.
Then I went and bought a iStick 20W with a Aspire Nautilus Mini and what a difference that made.
It is a dream compared to the other things I had.
I still use it daily as my main nicotine fix.
If you really want to do yourself a favour then get an iStick with a Nautilus.

 

[Tiaan PTA]

And on the juice part.
It's all about personal taste. I also have the Esense Cuban cigar and I love it. It gives, when mixed with other juices, that woody taste. Everyone I know who tried it hate it.
What I do when the TH gets too strong is mix some pure VG in with my liquid in the atomizer tank.
It makes the vapour smooth and takes away the harshness.
You can buy VG in the form of Dolly glycerine at any supermarket or pharmacy. Look at the skin care section or the baby section.
Make sure the glycerin is pharmaceutical grade. BP on the bottle stands for British Pharmaceuticals.
I use food grade glycerin bought from a baking supply shop, only because my fiance used it to bake a cake and there was 500ml left after the cake and I find it just as good as the pure pharmaceutical VG.