ddavelarsen

Boy, I saw that coming! Politics and religion are a good way to get to Thunderdome... Facts are good for the soul. For what it's worth, I don't like anyone telling me what to do unless I ask them, regardless their political affiliation. The bumpersticker next to my Deadhead one says, "Had Enough? Vote Incumbents Out" because I think our congress is just a very profitable good ole boy's club - if you're a good ole boy. If you're a constituent, you're in the way of progress. But Hey - that's just me. I vote, and I vote against the incumbent regardless of political party. I say let's turn this mess over, break up the buddy list, and get back to living by the Constitution. As to how to deal with the doubters, I'm with Christopher. That's the best response I've ever heard and I'm memorizing it. So far though, people have shown me only interest. Many smokers though, don't want to quit at all. I just keep telling them here at work that the PC club is going to get its way, and we won't be able to smoke even in the partking lot one day soon. So think about vaping. I send links to this forum and other vaping related sites to every smoker I can. I think it's the only way to go. Vape on!

keenan, I'm watching your experience closely too. My brother is a big menthol vaper but I don't like it. My wife was never a menthol smoker, but likes menthol vapor. (She also likes watermelon. ) Diversity rules!

Thanks a million for the good advice - and so quickly! I sure do appreciate the web. I can remember trying to learn unconventional stuff before the internet, and it was very slow going... Living in a small town, small library... You can imagine. Anyway, this forum is a Godsend. Forums generally have been a wonderful advantage in my life. I'm a custom knifemaker, and my learning curve accellerated dramatically when knife making forums came online. Before that, it was trial and error; mostly the latter. This forum has had the same effect for me. Thanks to everyone. And I appreciate your concern about the 48mg nic level. Honestly though, I am such a hardcore nicotine addict that it's really just a drop in the bucket. Part of that might be my e cig itself, which I'll be carefully atuned to when I get that cool VP2. But 36mg was really not very satifying at all - I had to constantly be vaping or I'd go into nic withdrawal. Or go out to my car to smoke, which became increasingly unpalatable. So anyway, I'll be careful with my dose but I'm pleased with it for now. It's allowed me to quit the analogs entirely... Today! First day, no analogs, no plan to get any. Talk about dancing in the streets! Vape on. Man that's a great image. Thank you for cheering up my workday!

Amen to that! I'm so thankful for learning about PVs and finding this forum I can't say it enough. For what it's worth - and coming from me, that's virtually zero - I've read that VG for some people has a bit of a 'greasy' feel. Don't know whether that's true but when I get around to DIY I'm planning to go easy on the VG, at least at first.

That's so good I had to quote it yet again. I'm going to use this in every argument myself; you put it in a way that would be hard to deny -- though I can hear it now. Thanks, that's good stuff. I'm so happy to have quit smoking - Today! Finally! - that I'm walking round like I'm king of the planet. No more analogs for this middle aged fat man.

That's right; I'm nothing if not efficient. Two questions for one subject line. Here's the first: Does nicotine content have anything to do with the throat hit? Or is it that my mad vaping skilz are coming online? I switched from 36 to 48mg nic level, and switched suppliers, so don't know which it is, but I'm getting a much better hit with the new stuff. Any ideas? And here's the second: Does the throat hit slack off as the atomizer warms up? I'm using a small penstyle with cartomizer - Vapor King from Vapor4Life.com. The vapor production absolutely seems to fall off as the cartomizer warms up. I'm taking to using two units simultaneously, letting one cool while I switch to the other. Is this expected? Thanks for any help. This place has been a trove of good advice and I appreciate it all.

Or we could have a paintball festival! Splat!

That's great folks! I'm getting better every day. I still get caught from sitting at my desk so long I want to go smoke just to get away. Lately I've been sitting in my car vaping.

Hi keenan. It's Black Hawk Tobacco. Here's a link to their forum, I did not find the website right off but you'll find it here. Black Hawk Tobacco Good luck! Maybe one day you'll bring your family over too, but meanwhile this should save some valuable money. Dave

Understood. Oddly, I was at first hesitant to use them because of the non-CC issue; I wanted immediate gratification. But using a personal check sure seemed safer to me once I got used to it. I found that most cigarette places don't take CCs. I think it's probably because they operate on such a thin margin that it's not cost effective. And they do kind of have us over a barrel.

Yes, it was a very good experience for me. It takes about two weeks to receive the cigarettes; they only take personal checks and I think they wait for them to clear before shipment. Naturally since I started vaping I've ditched the info on who I was buying from. It was a Native American reservation in California. Let me track that down and I'll let you know. But there are a myriad sellers out there.

myfreedomsmokes.com has huge bottles - up to 500 ml, and in 36 or 48mg for people like me. They have unflavored juice in 60mg for the DIY guys.

Not to worry nana, I think that will come back. I quit smoking once for five years, and within the first three or four months everything just blossomed... I could smell and taste like nobody's business. That was a direct contribution to this 40 extra lbs that I've never lost. I'm too new at this to give any experience, but I will say that right now I really favor My Freedom Smokes (myfreedomsmokes.com). I ordered from them last week and the order shipped the same day. But the reason I ordered from them in the first place is two-fold: The have 36mg and 48mg juice, which is absolutely necessary for me, and they have Clove, which I'd been trying to track down for ages. I'm a happy camper. Now I just need that VP2! I've asked a nurse friend to snag a large syringe and needle for me so I can refill cartomizers more easily in the interim.

Absolutely, it's always about the money when it comes to govt. Thanks for an uplifting link jmhester!

Amen. The governor of Iowa loves taxes. He's raised the tax on a pack of cigarettes a dollar, twice. The second time it was because tax revenue had dropped off - people were either quitting smoking or finding cheaper places to purchase them. With the second tax increase - now $7 a pack - I found an online vendor for a third that price. But then I found vaping. That's going to cure it for me. I'll stock up on juice and parts as much as I can before big tobacco gets its monopoly, but I agree that's inevitable. And like Chris says, all we'll be able to buy are cartomizers. I can tell you, that is not a cost-effective way to vape.

I got sucked into one of those ads... Until it came to the part about giving them my CC number. I quickly shut down the browser; you never know what kind of malware sites are loading to your machine while you're sitting there dithering...

Thanks, I checked the link and they didn't have clove, which is what I was looking for, but they sure have a bunch of great stuff. But I have a question - what base should we be looking for if not oil? I'd have gone looking for oil flavorings too. Thanks,

Very handy, thanks! Here I'd been thinking about doing something like that and found it here. I love this forum. This had some things I hadn't thought of too, because of my newbieness.

Yeah, I think there are a couple of factors. Getting the thing to hit the way I want it to and finding the right concentration of nicotine is key for me. The Vapor King passthrough works really well for me, gets a consistent good throat hit, at least with a well-charged cartomizer on it. The batts, not so consistent. VP2 will hopefully resolve that though my brother is going through a lot to get his working well. But then there's that whole 'ceremony' issue of analogs. We get to compensate for that to a great degree, maybe even over-compensate , with all the futzing around we do with the paraphernalia. And that is cool by me. But ritual is a big part of any addiction, and analogs have been around so long there's a whole set of social issues we give up by switching. I'm thinking of "smoker's corner" at work/school and such. The smokers at work are very resistant to the concept of vaping. This morning my brother and I had breakfast with friends at a local diner. We sat there vaping and no one bothered us about it at all. That is really very nice, and a wonderful benefit to this life. StringDancer, thank you for the ceremonial note above. Please accept my condolences for your loss, and I am grateful you have a way to embody its seriousness. I didn't say that well, but I hope you know what I mean. I often wonder what I will do when that time comes for me.

Right on. My first kit is a Vapor King and while it's cut my analog use by 2/3 at least, I still have to pick them up once in a while. I find that in the morning especially, and after meals. Vapor doesn't 'taste' as good to me after meals for whatever reason. That being said, I think the only reason I haven't quit them entirely is due to the VK; after the cartomizer warms up a bit the vapor production falls off dramatically. Even with 36mg juice I don't get a sufficient amount of nicotine to set the e-cig aside with just one or two hits. Plus, the carts don't last too long; I use about two per day, which isn't much cheaper than analogs. I think when my VP2 gets here it'll be a whole other story and I'll be able to drop the analogs completely. But my kit's not quite doing it yet. Good thread. We all really want to quit and want our loved ones to also.

That's good to know. I expect I'm going to stock up attys like crazy anyway, get a lifetime supply built up before the FDA gets too crazy. Go figure that one out if you can... Sheesh.

Yeah, I've been told the passthrough is 5V. It does a nice job. I know what you mean about some carts working better than others. I've been about half successful taking them apart to refill, and they don't work quite as well as when they're new. But I haven't tried cleaning them either. Might do that. Really, I'm seriously looking forward to that VP2. I ordered 801 attys, not sure whether they or 901s would be better. I think people just have their preferences. Haven't thought about trying the 510 but if everyone else's experience is any measure I'm sure I will eventually.

Hi Steve. If the VK had more volume I'd like it better. I'm finding the passthrough to be more satisfactory than the batteries, but I'll tell you what, this thing has replaced at least half my analogs - which is saying something, I'm a diehard smoker.

You know keenan, as I was talking about Totally Wicked I was thinking about the customs issue. It'd sure blow to have customs snag my expensive order because they just want to. I generally have, and will continue to cultivate, a desire to spend my money as locally as possible. I'll give these folks you mentioned my first shot. I really believe in personal recommendations, and I appreciate your good will. I'll take your observation re the longevity of bottle size to heart, as you have the experience I don't. I'll go ahead and purchase multiples of 30s and see how that goes. I'm not big on mixing my own juice other than as a general rule I make everything I use that I can make. I make my own aftershave too. Let me throw in a good word for Vapor4Life. I made an emergency order of cartomizers Friday, and they hit my porch this afternoon, with a bonus. That is great service!

That's great! I'll check out Awsomevapor.com soon. One that looks intriguing to me is watermelon - can't say why, I'm not a watermelon nut or anything. Just sounds like a 'cool' way to get nicotine. While we're on the subject, I'm a heavy smoker - 24mg juice doesn't even come close to cutting it, and 36mg was barely making it when I had some. I've found that 36mg juice is fairly rare among suppliers, and am seriously considering just buying a bunch of 36mg or stronger unflavored juice to try flavoring myself. Is there a source out there (I've looked in the supplier forum) for large bottles of juice? 30 ml is far too small a purchase size for my interest, particularly given the 'stock up' motto. Sure, I could buy 10 30 ml bottles or something, but that just seems backwards to me. I'd rather just buy it by the gallon. (Just kidding! Mostly. ) I noted that Totally Wicked has 54mg juice for cutting down to a rational mix, but I'm not sure yet how one would do that (I'm investigating). Thing is, I can't see what volume that juice comes in. I'm hesitant to buy anything I don't know what I'm getting. This is all fairly perplexing, and there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast info - at least not what I'm looking for, where I'm looking. I admit that I haven't given this as much time as I guess I'm going to have to. Help, as always, greatly appreciated.