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Got my eGo C in late Feb, my first vaping experience. My goal was to stop smelling like cigarettes. I still smoke 3-6 analogs a day (only outdoors - fresh-smelling hair, clothes, and apartment!), but that's down from 15 or more analogs a day. My analog count will be tapering off, because, just like the pros here say, once you've started vaping the analog taste is just... foul! A few times a day I still find I crave the hundreds of poisons in analogs, but I'm indulging the beast less and less often. There certainly IS a learning curve with these things! I hope a newbie or two may find this post useful. 1. Research before you buy. Unless you have $50-100 bucks to throw away, do your homework. I started out, like most newbies, certain that I wanted a unit that would look, feel, and taste as much like a real cigarette as possible. When I first heard about the units where you had to press a button to take a puff, I thought it was insanely stupid! But the more I read, the more I changed my mind. Think CONVENIENCE -- length of battery life, ease of refilling, and recurring cost. I highly recommend my eGo C, even though there were early frustrations because of the learning curve. 2. Read several chat boards. Long-time vapers may sometimes speak in tongues, but you'll get used to it, and they are so very willing to help! Before you post a new question, check to see if there's already a thread on the topic - your answer may be there, or you can contribute to the existing discussion. If you're still in the dark, don't be afraid to start a thread. 3. Juice. Don't go all Costco with your first few juice orders. Many places offer small bottle sample packs - it's a little pricier than buying big bottles, but why buy a big bottle of something you may not like? I'm now sitting on a jug of juice that I find totally un-vape-able. But through samplers, I've found three flavors I'd be happy to vape forever -- Honey Cured Tobacco, Andes Mint, and Snowman's Kiss, all from Pink Spot. I know the fruity flavors have lots of fans, but I tried several and they weren't for me. Keep an open mind, and you will be amazed at the varieties available that DON'T taste like cigarettes - and that's a good thing! 4. Soft caps! Soft caps! Soft caps! Order lots of silicone caps, they're cheap as dirt but take forever to arrive from China. (Does anybody know a supplier that ships from the US?) Several advantages: -- I found it absolutely impossible to remove the hard plastic caps without digging at the edges with a sharp object, and I always ended up zinging the cap across the room and having to feel up the carpet to find it. With the soft caps, I simply cover the cap with a tissue for traction, and peel it up and out. -- When one eventually gets too ripped to provide a tight seal, just toss it and pop a new one into the old tank. You can use your existing tanks forever if you keep replacing the caps. Tanks are cheap, but caps are cheaper! 5. Leakage. When I started vaping, the problem was so bad I considered giving up entirely. Huge gushes of juice would suddenly run down the outside of the unit, and fill all the connections. With the help of this and other site chat boards, I finally figured out what was wrong... several things! -- Don't overfill! - make sure you leave enough space in the tank that there's a little air bubble when it's sealed. Sometimes, even if there is a decent bubble, I still have to tap the tank a few times to get the bubble to rise to the mouth end of the tank. -- Wait a sec! I now push the button for a second or two BEFORE I start inhaling - the amount of time it takes to bring the ecig to my lips is plenty. This seems to help me get better vapor, and I believe it also helps keep the attomizer/tank seal tighter, though I couldn't say why. -- Don't suck! Take long, slow, relaxed inhalations. You'll get used to it very quickly. Plus, heavy suckage can make juice pull through the mouthpiece and into your mouth. -- I'll say it again - soft caps! The overlap that wraps around the end of the tank seems to be a huggier seal than the hard plastic caps. Also, I use a large sewing needle to pierce a small starter hole on new caps; it seems to keep the silicone from ripping so much when the tank is inserted for the first time, as well as after repeated refills. There's a poster here who recommends using a 12-guage hypodermic needle, blunted for safety, to actually pull out a perfectly sized plug rather than just poke a starter hole -- I'm going to give that a try too. -- Insert the tank firmly all the way, and continue pushing while you twist it about 90 degrees. Note that before I started pre-poking the soft caps, occasionally I would come across one that refused to be pierced by the attomizer, and I HAD to take it out and manually start the hole - the polar opposite of a leakage problem. 6. Nic level. Start medium until you know what feels right. You can always buy some higher or lower of the same (or complimentary) flavor and mix them together to bring it to a level you like, so it's not a wasted bottle. I started with 24mg and was overwhelmed - it actually gave me "cigarette hangovers"! I'm now at 18, and just ordered some 12's with the intention of being a 0 by the end of the year. And yes, I will vape at 0. I like it. 7. Get a decent hard case. Again, think convenience! I found a very nice one for maybe $12 at LiteCig. It has interior nets and bands to keep everything in place, and it holds two assembled ecigs, my USB charger, a few extra soft caps, and three sample size bottles so I always have extra of my favorite flavors. I refill my little bottles once or twice a week, so when I'm racing out to work in the morning all I have to do is pop the case in my purse and I know I have everything I need. No thinking necessary. All this is "IMHO," your mileage may vary, but I hope you find it helpful. Thanks again to everyone on this site who helped me become a happy vaper! MommyMcG

I love bungie cords !!!! duct tape and wd40...build a mall

Finished books 2&3 of the Hunger Games this week. Great series!! I cant remember the last time I actually sat down to read a book

Thanks everyone - Didn't mean to appear as if I was ignoring life's been CRAZYNESS lately! Just an update - I picked up some new carto's for the tanks... enlarged the holes a bit and still have the same problem. I've decided (begrudgingly) to put the tanks away for now... tho my stubborn side will end up back at em... no doubt. Just going to do more research before I start dumping more cash into em. I did get the CE2's working pretty well. I remove all the innards and rebuild them all as soon as they come so that I have them ready to go when I need them. They're working out 100% better - but that still only makes them a C+... I know there's got to be better options. I spent all last week dripping.... best vapor and flavor... but what a pain in the hind quarter! Volcano was in town last weekend for VapeBash and VapeFest... I purchased what I thought were CE2's from them to find out they were some shoddy knock off (a more expensive shoddy knock off at that)... didn't leave a very good taste in my mouth (literally or figuratively) on the company as a whole. But if you guys are happy with their tanks I'll keep that in mind when I get back to wrestling tanks Now that I have a set up providing a good experience... I'm having a lot of fun with the learning curves. Even rebuilding the CE2's is almost enjoyable. Flavor Tests.... Good Lord! I tasted an uncountable number of juices last weekend at VP & VF.... I've ordered 2 more sample packs of new flavors since! I think the VT signatures need to be re-worded to "Money not spent on cigarettes" Cuz I've surely not saved a dime! LOL One of my co-workers makes her own mods... pretty simple - copper pipe/mechanical switch... I've been borrowing one from her that fits a 14500... I just ordered one from her yesterday for an 18650. The kick is on my "to research list" so that size will allow for it with a 18500 battery That will be Mod #2... and I'm stalking a mod from a local guy that's gonna be on cigtechs.com - the "Shockwave". Forums, Vaporcast and GrimmGreen... OH MY! I have at least one vaping related window open every time I sit down to the PC... My boss threatened to setup an intervention....

god im so excited I cant wait

I've been mixing my own for about two months now. I ordered a gallon of each PG and VG from Amazon.com, Dr. Adorable Inc, VG for 10 lbs, which is around a gallon, for $19.99 (though I think that was a special and it is normally $29.99) And I got the PG I want to say it was $39 for a full gallon. I've barely made a dent in my VG and the PG is about 1/3 of the gallon gone, since I tend to do a 60 or 70% PG to a 40 or 30% VG. I also have been brewing my own tea flavor using the PG, there's a little waste with that, but I do a half a cup at a time because it only has a shelf life of about two weeks before it goes green and tastes funny. Also wasted a couple of cups on bad brews, but that's the nature of trial and error. For Nicotine, I've tried a couple different brands, I ordered a 30 mil 60mg nic from ecigexpress for my first try. Between me and my boyfriend we finished off that 30mil bottle in three weeks, it seemed to be accurate for nic levels. But I am completely sold on using Myfreedomsmokes. It's 100 mg nicotine, I got the 120 mil bottle and in almost a month we've used less than a 1/3 of the bottle. I kept my 60mg nic bottle from ecig and sharpie marked 100 mg on it and refill it with a syringe from the large bottle. It's much easier to work with if it's in a drip top bottle. I only use gloves when I am filling the nicotine bottle from the big bottle. Though if you are prone to getting stuff on you I'd recommend using gloves whenever working with the high levels of nicotine. I did at first, but I never get it on myself from the drip bottle, so I don't bother anymore. I mix all my bottles of juice to either 18mg for me, or 22mgs for my boyfriend (he likes it a little stronger.) I haven't had a single problem. For flavors, let's see, Flavor Art is good, LorAnn is good, and I absolutely love The Flavor Apprentice. I wasn't that impressed with Cappellas, though taste is subjective, they just seemed really weak compared to the other three. I go through ecigexpress for the Flavor Art and LorAnn, though LorAnn also does have a site of their own, and it is a tad cheaper than the secondary venders are. I go directly through The Flavor Apprentice, because that is the cheapest way to get the flavors. Most are only $1.40 for 4ml. The higher concentration of TFA and Flavor art make your dollars stretch. I can mix many more bottles out of those two brands than I can any of the other's I've tried. I start with 4ml bottles of flavors, I don't ever get larger ones until I know I like it. Like the Honey or Tobacco flavors from TFA...the honey flavor has to be diluted so much before it can be used, three drops in a 5ml bottle of distilled water makes it useable as a subtle flavor, otherwise it overpowers everything, clogs cartos, and burns out attys. I also like the Sweetener, sour, and koolade (gives you a cold hit) from TFA. I just put an order in for 30 new flavors, I'm goint to give the Kiwi and a few of the newest flavors a go this week. I've been vaping a mix I called Pomegranate on Ice. With the koolade in it it tastes just like a cold pomegranate drink, add a little alcohol flavor, like rum, and it tastes like a mixed drink, though I can't vape that for very long. Chocolate Wintergreen Menthol is also a flavor I could vape non stop for days without switching. The double chocolate (clear) version from TFA is probably the best I've had so far, though I am trying the dark one this week. In conclusion, to get the best prices on product you have to spend a good several hours searching through sites and for sites. I've got more links than I can count in my favorites, I had to put it in a folder of it's own to keep them organized. And I always stay on the look out for other places that might have things that are used for vaping, like the PG and VG, as long as it is food grade product it is okay to use for vaping. You just have to be certain it is. I also try to avoid any of the Chinese juices. The couple I have tried as samples we horrible. I don't trust their juice. Their regulations are not nearly as strict as the USA's and Europe's. There were two reasons why I started DIYing my juices, I wanted the freedom to play with flavors, and it is more cost effected on my budget. You're going to save the most by buying gallon jugs of PG and VG and the larger quantities of Nicotine. I was a pack to a pack and a half a day smoker. That's nearly $300 a month on analogs, that's not including my boyfriend who was also a pack a day smoker. Since we've switched, the amount I've spent on the bulk purchases and all the flavors I've gotten so far and have coming, I haven't even spent what we would spend in a month's time on analogs.

i'm sure i'm doing it wrong. It feels like i'm vaping fresh air, i want to get that kick at the back of my throat sometimes i can do it and sometimes i can't. It's not something you can explain to me i suppose.