ELIQUID. SHOULD YOU MAKE YOUR OWN?

IT MUST BE TRUE THEN.

So you’ve got your top notch atomizer tank, maybe a Subtank or an Aspire Atlantis. You’ve got your fancy box mod and it’s all set up ready to use. Nicely coiled and the best Japanese cotton. What next?

One of the main components of vaping is your juice. Now juice obviously varies in quality. I’ve had stuff from a gas station that has been not too bad at all (Criss Cross strawberry) and stuff from juice vendors that was absolutely dire although these were exceptions to the general rule. You do generally get what you pay for. Also if you’ve made the jump to sub-ohming you’ve probably noticed you are getting through a lot more juice. Those big clouds and increased flavour do come at a price.

Now I switched from smoking to vaping for 2 main reasons as most people probably do. First are health reasons and no matter what you read from the health Nazis and big tobacco/pharma who would rather keep their lucrative tobacco income vaping is generally safe.

99.9% of people who have stopped smoking to take up vaping will tell you how much healthier they feel now, how the hacking cough has disappeared, how much cleaner they feel and smell etc etc. Now maybe there are a few unknowns in vaping but I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. Vaping IS generally one hell of a lot less dangerous than smoking.

The other reason I switched to vaping was cost. I was spending over $4 a day on 20 cigarettes, $10 a day in the UK. Now I will not for one moment pretend that vaping costs mere pennies unless you are happy with the cheapest ecigs and juices but if you can rein in the temptation to buy the latest mod or the latest tanks every week then vaping is probably going to save you a hefty wedge of cash depending on what you spent previously on cigarettes of course.

And the point of this post is how to maximize your savings on one of your biggest consumables, juice. I have already explained how the cost of the other consumable, being coils, can be reduced by building your own.

Juice? Is there a perfect flavour for you? Probably not and the majority of vapers are always on the hunt for that perfect tasty juice that surpasses all expectations but that is probably like the Holy Grail. Many have searched but none have found and being as our tastes change from day to day we are unlikely to.

Now juice can get expensive. I have seen so called designer juices going for almost cigarette prices, over $20 for a 10ml bottle in some cases. So what are you paying for?

Juices are simple and composed mostly of 4 components in varying ratios.

1&2) Your base mix which comprises 75% plus by volume of your mix and is made of usually 2 ingredients. These are Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine. You can use 100% of either but in the majority of mixes both are involved. They are known as PG and VG for short. Popular mixes are 50/50 or maybe 70% VG to 30% PG which can create larger clouds. Generally PG is sweeter and gives more of a throat hit while VG smooth’s the mix down and creates more vapour. Also some tanks run better at certain wattages on differing mixes but I won’t get into that here as that is very much a personal preference and you will find as a vaper you are always messing about with wattages and juice mixes. It’s part of the fun.

3) Flavourings. These are the all important ingredient that gives you the flavour that you desire. For the record there are NO vape specific flavourings. They are in fact all food flavourings and can even be bought in the baking section of your local store in most cases although if you do make sure they are PG based and not oil based. This is where some of the safety arguments enter the fray. Food flavourings are stringently tested but only for eating obviously as they are usually added to our foods. None have been officially tested for inhaling into our lungs and there have been several worries about diacetyl in some flavourings causing popcorn lung. See my earlier posts about that but generally most flavourings are not considered harmful. Usually you will use them at between 10 – 25% of your mix. Some flavours are obviously stronger and need lower amounts in your mix.

4) Nicotine. This is obviously the same as you find in cigarettes and usually vapers will start at the higher levels of nicotine say 24% and steadily ease off hopefully down to zero nicotine. I am actually on zero nicotine myself now. Nicotine is actually comparable in safety to caffeine. Most of the nasties in cigarettes actually come from the tar/ carbon monoxide/ formaldehyde and the hundreds of other nasties and not the nicotine but it is a health risk so beware. Also if you do use nicotine in your own juices be careful not to get the concentrate on your skin on anywhere even more sensitive. Concentrated nicotine IS TOXIC. Be aware.

Handle it carefully.

There may be several other additives for your mixes such as distilled water and sweeteners/ flavour enhancers but they are not required by most mixes.

And so back to price. Why do people pay so much for vendor juices? They can be tasty. They can have lovely packaging but they are all made from the things above … PG/VG/Flavour/Nicotine in various amounts and that bottle of fancy juice you just paid $20 for and waited a week for it to arrive probably contains about a dollar or less in ingredients. The bottle it comes in is probably worth more than its contents … really.

So. How do you mix? Ever made a gin and tonic? Cooked a homemade meal? Then you can mix. It is pretty simple. There are sites and apps that will even give you recipes or provide mix calculators. Google and ye shall find. You just need some of the above ingredients and some basic equipment to measure and mix and you are away. Made a bad mix? Throw it away. Made a brilliant mix? Hopefully you’ve kept a record of your mix recipe and can recreate it by the gallon if you so desire.

What are you waiting for? Give it a go.

The Bumper Boys Collection of eJuice Making.

These are some of my many flavours. Now what do I fancy today?

My secret concoctions book. Always keep a record of your mixes so you can make the good ones again.

The dark arts…lol

A FEW LINKS

ONE STOP DIY FLAVORS

ELIQUID RECIPES

STEAM ENGINE MIX CALCULATOR

Toodle-pip.

KANGER SUBTANKS AND ISTICKS REVIEW.

TASTY VAPES

Hi Guys.
Well it’s been a while since I last posted due to getting stuck in the UK looking after my mum after she needed a ‘hip revision’ but I am back in my adopted country now (the good ol’ US of A). And I am raring to go. First a few vape related posts and wow… hasn’t vaping moved on since my last post?

THE NEW MVP3

I think I had just acquired an Innokin MVP 2 at that time last fall and was blown away by its power and capabilities. Now not quite 6 months on and the MVP 2 is almost a dinosaur. Mine was the 11 watt version though and they have since released the 20 watt version and now the new 30 watt MVP3. Rather than stay loyal to Innokin I have acquired some different mods.
First of all while I was in the UK I purchased an eFag. Yep that’s right, an eFag. I know. Bit of an unfortunate name especially in the USA but it is basically an unbadged eLeaf iStick with a top end of 23 watts. I believe the normal iStick offering tops out at 20 watts. And it has been great. No problems so far plus it is a lot smaller and lighter which was always a downside for me with the MVP2.

Love the name. The eFAG.

In fact I have been so impressed with it that I bought the official iStick 50w which is also great and gives me that extra power and battery longevity that I like. No need to be charging it up every 5 minutes although I do use my sticks in pass-through mode a lot when I’m on the computer.
Now I do see people in Vape groups on Facebook raving about bazillion watt mods that could power a small town but I do tend to ask why? Apart from the possibility of taking your head off if one of those babies blow I cannot see the point in spending lots of dosh on some over hyped device unless it is viewed as some kind of ‘penis extension’. The 50w iStick has power to spare for all of my needs INCLUDING sub-ohming.

TOO MUCH POWER.

Ahhhh. Sub-ohming. What is it? Sub-ohming is coil builds where the coil resistance is less than 1 ohm. You need a more powerful battery to run one of these sub-ohm set-ups and so produce more vapour (steam) or ‘clouds’ as they are known to vapers. You also, hopefully get more flavour. The downside is that these builds drink juice like a thirsty steroid laden weightlifter. More on that later. Also my old MVP will barely sub-ohm as it will only fire down to about 0.9 ohms. I still use it with a 1.0 ohm coil in it and it is OK-ish.
So now. I have the POWER. How can I utilize it for my vaping? I need at least a new tank preferably 2 or 3 and I started the hunt. I already have a Kayfun Lite Plus which is a nice piece of kit and so I decided to try the new Kayfun 4. OMG have they misfired on that one. About 40 pieces and over complicated. Now as a hobby interest it may be good for a vape nerd but I want my juice fast and easy and the KF 4 doesn’t cut the mustard I am afraid. Next I tried the Fogger 5. Very fiddly to rebuild due to a small sized deck and also little airflow. I use it occasionally. It is a nice looking tank. But I also hit the nail on the head there in regards to airflow. Basically for sub-ohming you need airflow… and lots of it. The Kayfuns and Fogger don’t have it. Now I see some people drill them out but it’s not something personally I can be assed with and so my next mission was to find a tank with LOTS of airflow.

THE FOGGER 5. NOT ENOUGH AIRFLOW. FIDDLY DECK.

KAYFUN 4 CLONE. TOO MANY PARTS. FIDDLY. I CAN THINK OF BETTER WAYS TO WASTE MY TIME.

I have always been a little ‘anti’ Kanger as I usually find they have leakage problems. I remember my first experiences of vaping with the ubiquitous Kanger EVOD tanks which leaked like crazy and almost made me give up vaping.

REMEMBER THESE? LEAKED LIKE CRAZY.

The Protanks weren’t much better.(I still have a Protank 3 sitting in my drawer gathering dust) And so I have usually gone with Aspire whose products do seem more reliable ( I still think fondly of the Vivi Nova BDC which I still think takes some beating now you can fit them with the BVC coils.)
BUT … I now have a new Kangertech Subtank Plus and I am pleasantly surprised. It’s a great tank and now it uses the same rba deck as the Subtank Mini which I also own it is even better than the old Subtank.
Why did I not stay with Aspire products? Well I thought I’d give Kanger another go as the new Subtanks (well 2 out of 3 of them) can use the ready-made coils and also they come with a rebuildable deck, so all angles covered. The small Subtank Nano doesn’t have the rba deck option. Aspire’s Atlantis only use pre-built coils, or at least they did. I see now that they have released a rebuildable deck too obviously to compete with Kanger’s Subtank. Too late for me Aspire.

L TO R. KAYFUN LITE PLUS ON MVP2. NEW KANGER SUBTANK PLUS ON ISTICK50W, SUBTANK MINI ON EFAG 23W.

I have used both the Kanger 0.5 ohm occ coil and the rba deck. Both are excellent and the ease of building the rba is amazing. I also have the Subtank Mini which is also using the same 0.5 ohm coil it came with lasting just over 3 weeks before giving up the ghost. And as the occ coils are expensive you don’t want to pop those babies too frequently… which is the other reason I want the rebuildable option. Kanger coils are great but at about $3 a time they don’t compare with rebuilding which costs pennies.

NOT WITH THE SUBTANKS YOU WONT.

I must point out one problem I have encountered with Kanger’s rba deck though. The one I received with my Mini did not work. It was odd too. It came pre-installed with a coil. It read around 0.6 ohm on my ohmmeter … fine. But when I loaded it up into the Mini my eFag just showed ‘No Atomizer, which was very odd. I tried making my own coil. Still the same problem and since then I have also tried it on the iStick 50W with the same ‘No Atomizer’ result even though it still reads 0.6 on the ohmmeter. I have given up and ordered a new rba tank direct from Kanger.

NEW KANGER SUBTANK PLUS. COMES WITH EVERYTHING.

It is nice and easy to refill and the fantastic new double airflow control on the Subtank Plus works a treat too. It now has airflow holes on both sides for that all important airflow and my Subtanks both blow clouds like a steam train. So much so that I have to turn away from my screen as I am writing this when I take a puff unless I want to wait for the fog to clear before restarting my post. Kinda reminds me of that Pink Floyd album … Obscured By Clouds. Ha.

OBSCURED BY MY CLOUDS

Problems? Well yes my Subtank Mini does suffer from the notorious Kanger leak although it seems to be just a very slight weeping. Nothing too serious and my new Kanger Subtank Plus seems fine. They boast an extra o ring in the blurb. Whatever they have done seems to have cured the new Subtank Plus.
Overall a great buy and who knows? I may even get a Nano to complete the set.
Toodle-Pip.

SUBTANK MINI ON EFAG 23W. VAPE ON.

INOKIN MVP 2 AND KAYFUN LITE PLUS + REVIEW.

Four weeks ago my Innokin MVP 2.0 arrived.

VapeMail. My new Innokin MVP2

First impressions?

I like it. Yes it is big and heavy but I found it surprisingly comfortable in my hand. The packaging was great. It comes in a sturdy hard plastic case with a verification number (I checked and yes it is genuine), instructions, 2 Innokin IClear 16 clearomisers which I probably won’t use, a connector/adaptor/beauty ring and a USB connecting lead for charging other devices. Yes you can use the MVP as a recharging source for your iPhone or various other electronic do-dabs. Useful maybe and time will tell whether I actually use that feature. But anyway, I know I put the MVP’s attributes down in a previous post but here they are again. Oh and fyi my kit cost around $35.

• Variable Voltage: Voltage can be adjusted from 3.3 ~ 5.0 in 0.1 volt increments
• Variable Wattage: Wattage can be adjusted from 6.0 ~ 11.0 in 0.5 watt increments
• Ohms Meter: Reads the resistance of your atomizer
• Puff Counter: Number of puffs taken since last time the battery was turned off.
• Protections: Short Circuit/Atomizer Protection, Over-Discharge Protection
• Battery Level Indicator
• Large battery capacity: Built-in 2600mAh polymer Li-Ion rechargeable battery
• High compatibility 510 connector: Threads fit 510 atomizers and many Ego Clearomisers, iClear10, iClear16, iClear30 etc.
• ON/OFF battery switch
• 10 seconds cut-off
• Pass-through Functionality: Can be used while the battery is being charged
• Memory: Remembers last set voltage or wattage when the battery is turned off and then back on
• Built-in 3 digit display: Digital display shows Ohms meter, Voltage /Wattage setting, Puff count

• Portable power source: USB output port can be used to charge portable Mp3 players and cell phones.

Pretty impressive eh. So on with testing.

Firstly I liked the fact that it was pre-charged as that 2600 mAh bad boy would take hours to charge from flat I bet. I did put it on charge but within a couple of minutes it was topped up. Nice. I did find that the firing button is quite stiff on the MVP but that will help stop it being fired in error in your pocket or purse. You can also use the MVP as a pass-through battery, i.e. plug it in and charge whilst still using it. Very handy.

I did not have my rebuildable tank at the time so I connected up my Aspire Vivi Nova BDC to it for a try out. The MVP as mentioned above comes with a built in ohms meter and so I tried it out. It seemed to be accurate showing me 2.1 ohms which was correct for the coils in my Vivi Nova. Then the real test. I gave it a few good puffs. Fantastic. Plenty of taste and plenty of clouds, but the Vivi Nova is not what I have planned for this baby. I want more. The MVP does have a dual display which it easy to use and is explained in the booklet. It tells you ohms/watts/volts and puffs but read the booklet. It isn’t rocket science.

My new MVP with my Aspire Vivi Nova bdc unit on. Nice.

REBUILDABLE TANKS

This is a toughie. There are so many out there. I preferred to start with a tank. I am not sure dripping is for me but more on that later. After spending what seemed like an age looking at tanks I had settled for a Kayfun Lite +. The + is important. It is an upgrade on the non + in that it has variable airflow. Wassat? It means you can vary the amount of air you suck in on each puff making it either a hard or easy draw. I am told it makes a difference. We will see.

Anyway it arrived and this is it.

The Kayfun Lite + I put my own plastic drip tip on.

It came with the metal drip tip but I am not a fan of them. Too cold on the lips so I invested about $2.50 to get the green plastic one. Much more user friendly.

The Kayfun arrived in one piece but I disassembled it. This is what it looks like.

This was not actually my one but is very similar apart from the full size plastic tank part.

You will usually get a spares kit. If not then invest a few bucks in one. It contains all of those easily losable or breakable bits like o rings (washers) and those tiddly screws that I just know I will lose at some stage. If you use the plastic see through tank part it may be worth your while to get a spare too in case of breakages although I suppose you could use the metal section as a temporary fix.

The usual ones come so you can chose between a full metal tank like this.

Yes it looks good but it does mean you are guessing your juice levels so I opt for the other part that arrives with the kit. The small plastic window section.

I have actually opted to buy a large plastic center section as I still find juice quantities hard to judge in the supplied small one. Here’s a pic of all three together for comparison. (Again not my pics)

Now your Kayfun may or may not arrive ready wicked but you will need to get ready to build. There are lots of video tutorials on YouTube explaining how to do this. In my experience this is what you will need.

1) A steady hand. Those little terminals are small. I was surprised how small. They looked bigger in the YouTube vids … lol. I use a magnifying lens to help out with rebuilding. It is probably comparable to threading a needle. Some rebuildables do have easier posts. Not the Kayfun.

2) Some tools. You possibly have these already.

a) A pair of nail clippers. These are the coil builders essential. You will see all kinds of fancy cutters advertised… don’t bother. The nail clippers are perfect.

b) A gas lighter to prepare your Kanthal wire. Again, you will see all kinds of mini gas torches and again don’t bother. A simple gas lighter is fine; maybe even a candle or burner lighter.

c) A few small drill bits (3/32 seems handy) to wind your coil wire onto. Changing the amount of wraps changes the coil resistance which is very important. I have the MVP which will not sub-ohm successfully. Sub-ohm means coils built with a resistance of less than one ohm. But I do not want to sub-ohm. That is probably more for dripping. I aim to build my coils to about 1.2-1.5 ohms. I also use a blunt syringe but really any small round item will do. Even a mini screwdriver.

d) An Ohmmeter. This is vital if you intend to rebuild coils. Don’t even try it without one unless you are very confident or experienced. Luckily my MVP has one built in as have most box mods but I also have a cheap eBay meter. Only about $5 and useful for pre-assembly testing although not vital. They aren’t as hard to use as you may think either.

e) A mini screw driver. These normally come free with your tank, but if not you will probably have one lying around somewhere. They can also be used at a pinch for coil wrapping.

f) Tweezers. If you haven’t got any then they are cheap as chips on EBay. Very handy for rebuilding.

That about wraps it up tools wise although you may wish to add a pair of small pliers to hold your Kanthal wire while burning it. A rubber glove or piece of rubber shelf matting may also come in useful for gripping tank sections for unscrewing. Also make sure you have kitchen roll or toilet paper. Rebuilding can be messy.

CONSUMABLES

Next you will need your wick building materials. I started with 28 gauge Kanthal wire and 3mm silica wick which seems to be a popular choice. Consumables are a personal choice and I will be experimenting with other bits and bobs as time goes by. For example you can use different gauges of wire and wick. You can also use cotton for your wick instead but as I said it is all personal, so experiment. My initial choice above makes a good starting point though. Wick and wire is also very cheap and one of the main benefits of rebuildable coils. It costs mere pennies per coil instead of the usual $2+ a pop for stock Kanger or Aspire coils for instance. It is good fun to experiment and play about with different materials too. Currently I am using organic cotton but I am not sure about it. I may go back to the silica wick.

Silica Wick and Kanthal Wire.

Organic Cotton

Coil complete.

Organic Cotton in coil.

I am not going to get into the actual rebuilding details. There are plenty of those on YouTube. Just type in the type of tank you are rebuilding and hit search … simples.

And finally dripping atomisers or RDA’s.

I actually bought two of these. They are cheap but I am not a fan. Supposedly you will get more vape and flavour from them but you will also need to use a different type of power pack to get the full use out of them called a mod. They are not a tank so have very little storage. You need to keep topping them up as you go along. Fine if you are ok with that but I can’t be bothered to tell the truth. Too much sodding about … lol

VORTEX RDA (Dripper)

NEMESIS RDA (Dripper)

And so my voyage into the land of vaping continues. I do hope my experiences may help you as you enter this strange land.

In my next post I will be looking at another interesting and money saving side of vaping when I shall be telling you about making your own eJuice.

Toodle-Pip

© 2014 Stan M Rogers. All rights reserved.

Adventures in Rebuildable Coils for Vapers.

---

MOVING ON TO REBUILDING COILS.

---

Nice Clouds from my Vivi Nova BDC.

Now I am very happy with my Aspire Vivi Nova bottom double coil setup. As I have said in my other posts it is easy to use, maintain, and it holds plenty of juice. It also beats other products I have tried in taste and oomph. Kangers in particular seem to lack that, especially oomph as my Protank 3, now gathering dust in my bottom drawer proves. I notice that Aspire are moving to the new BVC’s now (that’s bottom vertical coils) which I see people raving about with the new Nautilus. Apparently these BVC’s are backwards compatible too. I was tempted but …

Nautilus Bottom Vertical Coil… nice.

… I now want to move on and experiment a little. I want to try out a rebuildable tank of some kind as I am led to believe that these will give me more taste and more clouds (as us old experienced vapers call steam lol). As the coils are rebuildable that also translates as cheaper. The two main consumables in vaping are ejuice and coils and the coils work out about $10 for 5 of whichever brand you use (I am not including the new BVC’s which seem to be retailing for about 15 bucks for 5). Making your own coils costs mere pennies which sounds good to me.

Now to use rebuildables you need to have a little experience of vaping and how to use a multimeter for Ohms (resistance reading). I did practice replacing wicks/coils on an old CE5 a while back. That worked great for a day till it went bang and destroyed my battery. I didn’t have a multimeter then so I thought to buy one for 5 bucks on eBay, although I thought I’d wait to get a proper rebuildable tank before using it. (See my last post on my misfortune here.) And then I found out I may not need the multimeter after all.

As usual I have done a bit of research and I don’t want to spend too much cash. I have just ordered an Innokin iTaste mvp v2 which comes with an on-board ohmmeter and circuit protection amongst many other things. I also got a $16 voucher so that helped too. I will keep the multimeter for pre-testing though.

itaste mvp v2.0

Obviously I also want a good CHEAP rebuildable tank (I don’t want to drip) to go with it. I want a minimum dual coil type. I stress that it must be an EASY to rebuild tank and cheap although reliable. I also do not want to mess about drilling holes etc. in the near future.

I spent hours looking for tanks and reading reviews and watching You Tube vids and all very confusing it was too. I looked at Foggers, Genesis, Perseus, Smoktech and so many others but I eventually went for a Kayfun Lite + Plus Svoemesto Russian 91% Clone RBA RDA Vape Atomizer Tank. It looks good, it looks simple to build and I hear people raving about how good these Kayfuns are so I’ll give them a go.

Hurry Mr Postman

All I have to do now is to wait for the postman to call with the goodies which will hopefully happen mid-week. I want to get building….lol

More reviews soon when they arrive. 🙂

 

 

© 2014 Stan M Rogers. All rights reserved.

 

Billy Bob’s Ice Bucket Challenge.

Hi there Folks.

This here’s ya old buddy Billy Bob. Y’all know me. Ah’m the one that took up with that danged vaping and ah hear people bin wonderin’ how the heck ah’m doing.

Well ah am steel enjoying ma steam and heah is a pic of ma latest tank and mod. Y’all can’t see the power source as ah have it wired into the local mains elek-tri-citi grid. Ah’m still using grandmaws old still connected to some old sewer pipe ah dug up somewhere. That’s ma uncle Billy Bob takin’ a heck of a good suck on my latest e-juice concoction of 50% nic-o-teen and 50% battery acid. Hell that do pack one helluva punch.

Ma latest Vape. Danged sturdy too.

Now ah was living in Nohope, Kentucky with ma sister Mary Sue n ar baby Billy Bob an here’s ar latest pic. As y’all can see Mary Sue is specting again. We are not sure but grandmaw reckons this time it’ll be a boy or a gal. We sure hope so only old Barack (he’s ma dawg ) has got awful keen on humpin Mary Sue’s leg lately and we don’t need no more puppies.

Me, Mary Sue n lil Billy Bob. She’s spectin’ agin.

Ah just got three new coon hounds and that is the danged limit as them n Barack are eatin us outta the trailer.

Ma new ‘coon hounds. Trying to train em not to hump the dang coons.

We have had ta leave Nohope, Kentucky now and we are livin’ with kinfolk in Mississippipipi. This is due to that danged sewer pipe I found and this is the story.

I was talking to grandpaw one day. Barack was a humpin’ his leg but the old feller didn’t seem to mind none, and we started a talkin’ about metal dee-tek-tors. Ah said ah’d like to do a little bit of treasure hunting and grandpaw said he had one of those danged dee-tek-tor thingamy jigs in his trailer.

So we plum went and dug it out. It looked ta be a fine peece of macheenery so we tried it out some.

Grandpaws Tecta.

We soon found some treasure. We found us a few nickles, lotsa beercans and we found three sets of grandmaws old teeth that she lorst yeahs ago. She was overjoyed, gave em a quick spit n polish and tried em out. They fitted jes great still. She was so grateful that she even gave Barack a set of em.

Don’t he look jest dandy.

Don’t he jest look so purdy.

But ah digress some. We carried on dee-tetoring with grandpaws macheen an all of sudden that dang thing starts a squeekin’ an a squawkin like that danged duck of grandpaws did jes last month when his dawg Bo tried ta hump it.

Bo duck luvvin’

Anyways we got our grandpaws backhoe and dug that dang thing up.

Grandpaws backhoe. Sturdy.

It turns out that it was a lovely long piece of alu- min-na-mumumum pipe and ah thought “Dang that’d sure make a mean peece a tubing for ma vape pipe an if nobody else needs it ah’ll halp maself.”

And ah did. But …

Turns out that danged pipe belonged to the Town of Nohope, Kentuckys’ water department. It was one of thar danged sewer pipes.

Oops. I’ll be danged.

Well ah didn’t know that and boy o boy did tha shit hit the fan (well actually it hit me n grandpaw). We got in trouble with grandmaw coz we smelt so danged bad, well ah did, not grandpaw as grandmaw said he actually smelt better than he did before. And we got in trouble with the sherriff. He sed ah could keep tha pipe but ah’d have ta leave town and that’s why ah’m now living down in Hellhole. Mississippipipipi with ma kinfolk.

Heres a few pics of em’ they sure is a great family.

Ma Mississippipipipi Kin folk.

An’ this here is cousin Billy Bob. He wuz trrying ta use one of my vapo-rizer do dabs but he couldn’t quite git tha hang of it.

Cousin Billy Bob Vaping as only he can.

Uncle Billy Bob said ma cousin wuz a bit slow as he got dropped on his head by the nurse when he was born due to her hi intake of Uncle Billy Bob’s moonshine as a pre-natal tipple. But dang he still enjoys himself bothering Auntie Mary Sue’s sheep.

Anyways me and ma family have settled in well. Me Mary Sue and lil Billy Bob even have our own annex by their trailer and it is pretty dang fine as soon as we finally git all tha chickens out of it. The eggs will come in danged handy tho.

Our new place. Sure is cozy.

Anyways. Finally. We had a visit from a couple of ma other cousins the other day. They sure are fine lookin’ boys. Ah’ll have ta watch em with Mary Sue as she thinks they is danged sexy.

Billy Bob and Billy Bob. Ma Mississippipipipipipi kin folk. Danged handsom boys.

We had a great time on the lake barbi-cuing possum.

Mmmmm. Barbie cued Possum. Dang that was sweet.

Then we went back to their place. They are doing purdy danged well for themselves. Hell those boys even enjoy multi-level living. Ain’t that jest doggone amazing.

Fancy Penthouse Living.

And they even have one helluva sporty set a wheels. Billy Bob even fitted it with a sports spoiler all by himself.

Ain’t she sporty. Hooowey. Ah want one.

But anyways ma cousins suggested we try that thar ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Now we dunno a lot about Al or his challenge but it sure was a hot dang day and the idea sounded purdy danged good. We looked about for a bucket but danged if we could find one. Great uncle Billy Bob was using the nearest thing we could find to a bucket for his yearly bath so that was no dang good.

Takin’ a bath.

So anyways we im-pro-vised with a fire hydrant and a stick of Billy Bob’s best gelignite. Ah think personally it went danged well although I believe the sherriff is talking bout gittin me and ma cousins ex-co-moon-icated or sumpin up to Ohio.

Cooled me n the boys off nicely for our ice bucket challenge thingy. Still dunno who Al is tho.

 

Dang!

Catch you all soon folks.

X

Billy Bob.

© 2014 Stan M Rogers (Billy Bob). All rights reserved.

MORE VAPING TIPS FOR NEWBIES.

It’s been a while since my last post regarding vaping. Well I am still loving my Aspire Vivi Nova bottom double coil setup. I still don’t think you can beat them. My Kanger Protank 3 is now consigned to the bottom drawer along with my eVods and CE4/5s etc. I must admit I do occasionally stoke up a CE4 or 5 just for the fun of it, nostalgia I suppose…lol.

A GREAT COMBO. ASPIRE VIVI NOVA BDC WITH 1100mah PASS-THROUGH BATTERY

 

My next adventure will be into rebuildables and I will probably start with an Innokin iTaste mvp 2.0 to power them.

Wassat? I hear you cry. Well this is it.

itaste mvp v2.0

It comes with oodles of features including;

• Variable Voltage: Voltage can be adjusted from 3.3 ~ 5.0 in 0.1 volt increments
• VariableWattage: Wattage can be adjusted from 6.0 ~ 11.0 in 0.5 watt increments
• Ohms Meter: Reads the resistance of your atomizer
• Puff Counter: Number of puffs taken since last time the battery was turned off.
• Protections: Short Circuit/Atomizer Protection, Over-Discharge Protection
• Battery Level Indicator
• Large battery capacity: Built-in 2600mAh polymer Li-Ion rechargeable battery
• High compatibility 510 connector: Threads fit 510 atomizers and many Ego Clearomizers, iClear10,iClear16 ,iClear30 etc
• ON/OFF battery switch
• 10 seconds cutoff
• Passthrough Functionality: Can be used while the battery is being charged
• Memory: Remembers last set voltage or wattage when the battery is turned off and then back on
• Built-in 3 digit display: Digital display shows Ohms meter, Voltage /Wattage setting, Puff count
• Portable power source: USB output port can be used to charge portable Mp3 players and cell phones.

Let me tell you first why I will using this.

Going back to last month and I decided to try rebuilding a CE5. I bought some silica wick and some Kanthal wire which you will need to rebuild a coil. Looks easy I thought and it wasn’t too hard.

After a couple of attempts … success. It fired up so I re-assembled the Clearomizer and away I went. Back to single coil vaping and it was good. I was surprised how good. Lots of lovely crackling as I puffed. Lots of vapour and taste. Marvelous I thought … until.

The next day I fired it up, took a puff … and bang. It shorted out leaving a rather unpleasant burning smell. It also wiped out my favorite non pass-through battery. $20 down the Swannee but as I always say even bad experiences are there to teach us something and I learned not to attempt rebuilding without an ohmmeter (which wouldn’t actually have helped in this case) and not to use an ego type battery which is not protected.

OH BUGGER!

And that my friends is why I shall buy the MVP 2.0. In the specs above it mentions … Short Circuit/Atomizer Protection, Over-Discharge Protection, this means I hope that it will have survived my catastrophe with the Ego battery.

I have also acquired a cheap multimeter although the MVP 2.0 also includes a built in Ohmmeter. I am ready to go as soon as I get one and a rebuildable coil. I have not decided which one yet.

ESSENTIAL KIT FOR REBUILDERS

HOW BIG IS YOUR ONE?

Now I do get the feeling sometimes when I mosey around vape groups on Facebook and wherever that there is almost a little ‘penis-envy’ to hear some of these guys talk. I am talking about mods and rebuildables. There seem to be some large and fantastic contraptions that people use out there and I often wonder why people put pics of these up. Why must you spend sometimes hundreds of dollars on something like that? You see pictures of guys blowing enough steam to power a loco engine. Why?

To be honest I am perfectly happy with my Vivi Nova. It blows nice vapor and tastes great but the coils are about $2 a pop. Not a lot I know but rebuilding works out at pennies per build so I will try it and hopefully I will understand….lol.

JUICES.

I seem to have settled down to using Vista Vapors juices. You can choose to boost the flavor as well as altering the nicotine strength. I am on 12mg of nicotine at the moment but I am running those down to begin using the 0mg juices. For this I will need strong flavors to get some kind of throat hit and my faves so far are their Green Apple, Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Candy but I am currently trying a nice Fuzion Vapor juice. It’s called Fruit Blend #357. I quite like it and already have 2 of their 0mg nicotine flavors put away to try out. I’ll let you know how I get on with that.

And finally I mentioned vape groups on Facebook. On in particular I like is Vaping for Newbs. Great group, lots of good info. Click the link and give it a try.

 

Laters.

© 2014 Stan M Rogers. All rights reserved.

VAPING ADDICTION (JUST FOR FUN)

It was too easy ya know. One day one of my friends took me too a vaping session. Ah had always promised mama that ah’d never get hooked on the demon vape so ah was con-fi-dent ah wouldn’t but ah did.

Ah started innocently enough just a few puffs on a buddy’s vap -oh- rizer but ah was hooked. Ah plucked up my courage one day helped by a jar of great gramma’s homebrew and walked into my local to-bac-oh shop. Ah wore grandpaw’s best wig so nobuddy would recargnise me and ordered one of those thar e-lec-tronic doo dabs. It was one a those de-spose-able ones. It was called an nJoy ah think.

Wouldn’t do any harm I guessed. Just a few puffs and ah’d git rid of the dang thing after ah’d tried it.

But ya know what? Danged if I didn’t puff that thang dry and go buy another one. Ah soon had a habit and ah was puffin’ away on ma old steam stick all day long. Ah hid it from the folks of course but ah was soon a ten a week dude. Man I was suckin’ on those babies like cousin Emmy’s kid on her teat. (Ah rememba that well. Ah think she was in fifth grade at that time.) Grandpaw denied it was his and we tend to believe the old buzzard as Grandmaw says he’s been firing blanks for years.

Grandpaw.

Now ah had always been warned that those danged e-lec-tronic doo dabs could lead to harder things and ah needed to up the steam. Those nJoys just simply wasn’t cutting the danged mustard. And ah was purdy well hooked by now so ah went looking for some of that doggone harder stuff.

Ah bought me one of those Kanger eVod thingummy jigs. Ah bought the darn thang on-line so no-one would guess ah had a habit. Goddammit that thang sure hit the sweet spot. Ah would often load my dawg up in ma truck and head out to the top 40 to enjoy my steam. Shucks. You jes can’t beat it. Ah was as happy as ma dawg Barack humping my leg. Ah don’t rightly know what breed he is but Grandpaw reckon’s he’s a Mississippi Leg Hound. He sure do like to eat too. We often find old Barack ass up in the garbage bin looking fa scraps.

Ma Dawg Barack.

He even got the blame when our neighbour Mary Ellen’s dawg disappeared last year. She had one of them thar little fluffy things. Ah think she called it a Shit Sue. Damned if ah know why but I know Barack was shitting hairballs for three days after the lil critter went missing.

Last Known Pic of Mary Ellen’s Shit Sue

One day ah was up thar sucking on my favorite juice mix at the time (80% nic-o-tine, 10% bourbon and 10% anti-freeze) when I bumped into Grandpaw. Barack was so happy he went to greet the old-timer. Grandpaw let him finish then came and sat beside me. Turns out he’s a dang vaper too. “Ya know what Billy Bob he says. That bunch a no goods up thar in Wash-ing-tun are trying to outlaw this vaping. It’s downright un-a-murcan if ya ask me. That Prezeden O’Bama … he sure got a lot to answer for. You jes can’t trust an Irishman I swear.” Grandpaw spat to show his displeasure.

But ah digress. Ma habit got worse. Ah needed more steam. I started building ma own vaporizers. Now those danged things are tricky. Ah kept settin’ fire to thangs. Got ta be so bad that the Local Fire Department would station a fire truck perm-a-nent-ly outside our trailer. Ah set fire to it, to the garage, to the truck and even to Grandpaw once. But ah think ah have the hang of it now.

Dang, This vaping is dangerous.

Ah needs plenty of power for ma vaping habit so I use four Chevy Truck Batteries in series connected to ma tank which is one of Great Grandmaws old whisky stills. Ah have re-fined my juice now to 50% nic-o-tine and 50% rocket fuel. Dang that sure hits the spot. Ah have to be careful tho. Last week I wiped out half of the town after the dang thing exploded. Luckily ah was out in the truck shootin’ varmints with my cousins Billy-Bob and Billy-Bob at the time but hell that fireball sure was spec-tac-u-lar. Yessir, Barack even stopped humping Billy Bob for a minute when it went up.

Ah got kicked outta town after this one

Ma cousins Billy-Bob and Billy-Bob

Ah have had to move to another State now. The Sheriff run me out so I am living in a fine trailer in Nohope, Kentucky with ma sister Mary Sue. That’s her in tha picture with our baby Billy-Bob. She sure is purdy aint she?

Me n ma Sister Mary Sue with our lil Billy-Bob

But ah still have my vaping habit. It has got so danged bad now that I sit in small dark rooms uploading How To Rebuild Your Vap-o-rizer in-strucshun-al videos to YouTube. Ah even had ma hands tattooed special like by Mary Sue but the I LOVE BARACK one seems to be gen-er-ratin’ me a lotta hate mail. Shucks he’s ma dawg guys.

So all you potential vapers out thar. Beware. This here vaping is kinda a-dic-tive. Ah should know.

 

© 2014 Stan M (Billy-Bob) Rogers. All rights reserved.

 

NEWBIE VAPING REVIEW. KANGER PROTANK 3 AND MADVAPE E JUICES.

 

KANGER PROTANK 3

Well my new Kanger Double Bottom Coil Pro Tank 3 arrived last week. I have been raving about my Aspire Bottom Double Coil Vivi Nova for a couple of weeks now and I thought I’d compare Kanger’s equivalent model which does at first sight look like the Vivi Nova.

My Vivi Nova full size unit.

First impressions … well it arrived and it was packaged beautifully. It came with two spare coils and even its own beauty ring which is a definite bonus. The packet even has a code so you can check that it is a genuine product (it is). I duly unwrapped it and it really is a beautiful looking tank but alas after using it for a week it has now been retired to my spares draw. Why?

LOVELY PACKAGING AND THE BEAUTY RING/ADAPTOR IS A BONUS

Firstly it is heavy. The stainless steel tank casing and drip tip may look nice but it weighs a ton. Don’t try to use one of your rubber stands to put it in. It is too heavy and will fall over. A metal stand does work though.

DON’T TRY THIS. IT WILL FALL OVER.

Secondly the drip tip. This is the mouth piece that you vape through. Again it looks lovely but again it is metal which means it can be very cold on your lips if you have your air-con on. I can imagine it getting very hot too if you are outside on a sunny day.

LOOKS NICE BUT VERY HEAVY AND THE METAL DRIP TIP IS IMPRACTICAL.

Thirdly. The coils look very similar to the eVod single coils. They may be doubles but they just don’t have the oomph of Aspire’s Vivi Nova double coils. I found myself drawing hard for minimal taste. At least I didn’t run into any leak problems that the eVod tanks are notorious for.

Fourthly. The Kanger is a lot easier to clean and refill than the eVods but it is still a mile behind the Vivi Nova in this respect. It also does not have the Vivi Nova’s 3.5ml capacity. Despite its hefty size it only holds about 2-2.5 ml of juice. Both types have easily changed coils. You can also change coils without emptying your juice first.

FULLY ASSEMBLED. LOOKS GREAT BUT BEWARE.

To sum up. I was very disappointed with the Kanger Protank 3. Its only good points are its looks and being packaged with a free beauty ring. Other than that? Well stick with the Aspire Vivi Nova BDC. A far better tank by far.

One final note. Coils are your main consumable in vaping next to your juice. The Aspire and Kanger double coils look very different but are almost identical in price running at about $10 for a pack of five. My Aspire coils seem to last for about a week each. And lastly make sure you get the Kanger Protank 3 if you do decide to buy one. The earlier ones had only single coils although they look very similar.

.-.-.-.-.-.

The next item I have been trying out is e juices. Normally I use Vista Vapors juices and find them to be very good. As I said before you can even boost your juice flavours for a small price. I find them to be mostly good but of course juices are flavours and peoples tastes differ. I like their Green Apple and Vanilla Ice Cream flavours but that is my taste.

Anyway I thought I’d try out some different juices last week. I chose Madvapes who actually stock several different ranges. I went for a selection of 5 of their TOP VAPES range. Boy was I disappointed.

These were the ones I tried by flavour.

1) Coconut Twist. This was probably the best of a sorry tasting selection. It is supposed to be Coconut with a twist of Lime. It wasn’t that bad but I could only really taste the lime. It should be called Lime Twist. I give it 3 out of 5

2) Key Lime Freeze. Nice and limey but tastes suspiciously like toilet descaler. I give it 2 out of 5.

3) Double Vanilla. I honestly cannot see what the Double refers to as it isn’t Vanilla. Pretty tasteless apart from a slight muskiness. Avoid. Horrible. I give it 0 out of 5.

4) Blueberry with Lemon. Actually not too unpleasant. It did remind me of something. I think it was dish washing liquid. I give it 2 out of 5.

5) Very Berry. The only berry this tastes of is rub-berry. No fruit flavour at all. It also looked horrible and cloudy. Nasty. I give it -1 out of 5.

TOP VAPORS VERY BERRY JUICE. LOOKS CLOUDY. TASTES REVOLTING.

So there you go. I probably will not try Madvapes again and certainly not their Top Vapor range. And in case you think I am just pushing Vista Vapors range I have actually had an awful juice from them too. I tried their Banana Nutbread flavour a couple of months back. It tasted like burnt toast. Awful.

Catch you all soon. I’m off for a puff of my Aspire Vivi Nova with a nice mix of Green Apple and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Toodle Pip.

© 2014 Stan M Rogers. All rights reserved.

 

 

The Aspire Vivi Nova BDC Mini

Well here’s the latest on my vaping experiences…
I am still enjoying my new Aspire Vivi Nova Bottom Double Coil unit. I even bought a spare as the plastic tube part of the assembly looks a little fragile so better safe than sorry. I have found that these bottom coil units are definitely the way to go.
Now as much as I love my Vivi Nova, which you can see in my last post, it is rather bulky. That isn’t a problem at home where I use it as I sit at the computer; in fact its 3.5 ml capacity is great. Saves topping up all the time. I love it but for going out and about I thought I’d try the new Aspire Vivi Nova Mini unit, again in the new Bottom Double Coil version.

My Vivi Nova full size unit.

The Vivi Nova Mini is just the smaller version of the Vivi Nova but it packs the same Double Bottom Coil punch and also the coils are the same as the ones for its bigger brother. So lots of vapour, easy to fill and a lot more portable. It holds 2 ml of juice which is still a bit better than my earlier eVods with their 1.6 ml capacity. The only downside to my unit is that I ordered the stainless steel armoured version. It looks great but I find it a little hard to see the ejuice level through the small side glass viewing panel, especially when it is running on a clear juice like my current favorite, Green Apple. A tip for the new vaper might be to buy the clear Vivi Nova tank. It will be a lot easier to see how much juice you have left.

My new Vivi Nova Mini tank. Same as the Vivi Nova but slimmer.

 

The Clear Version. A lot easier to see your juice level.

And now on to ejuices. In my quest for the perfect vape experience I thought I’d look around the juice market this week. I have been using Vista Vapors products most of the time till now which are fine. I particularly like the way I can order a flavour boost of up to 50% with their juices.
But this week I have acquired some juices from Madvapes. They do several lines but I am trying out the Top Vapor range in 5 different flavours. I’ll let you know how I get on with these soon.
Until then, toodle-pip and enjoy your vaping.

Madvapes Top Vape range. How will they compare to the others?

 

By the way. I thought I’d add that a friend of mine who doesn’t vape asked me in jest if you could get Absinthe flavoured juice. I looked, and yes you can.

Absinthe juice. One for the future….lol

 

Aspire Vivi Nova BDC Mini, beauty ring and 1100 mah  battery.

© 2014 Stan M Rogers. All rights reserved.

AN INTRODUCTION TO VAPING.

Back in December last year (2013) I decided to give up smoking … yet again. Don’t get me wrong, giving up the wicked weed is easy. So easy that I’ve done it hundreds of times now, but this time I wanted a method that would ensure that I stayed off of the coffin nails for good.

I have tried virtually everything over the years; cold turkey, gum, nicotine gum, patches, inhalators and even Champix (which for some reason is known as Chantix in the USA). They all worked for a while. I gave up about 8 years ago for three years after using the patches but I stupidly succumbed again.

Champix/Chantix

Champix is great. It blocks the nicotine receptors in the brain and even trying a cigarette is pointless as you get no hit from the nicotine, just a nasty taste but of course it only works while you take it and you only get a prescription for 3-6 months. The result is that you go back to the smokes again. Well I did anyway.

Never again.

So what could I do? I decided to try vaping. Vaping is the inhalation of flavoured vapours using some kind of heating device such as an ecigarette. The benefits for someone trying to quit is that A) You have something to do with your hands and B) the vapour you inhale is free of most of the nasties in tobacco cigarettes such as tar/carbon monoxide/formaldehyde etc. They do of course contain nicotine but you can vary the amounts even going down to 0% nicotine free, which is my aim. But be aware that some of the flavoured ejuices, particularly creamy flavors contain food flavourings which can irritate your lungs along with triglycerides. They may also contain Diacetal, especially the buttery flavoured juices. It is safe in foodstuffs but can cause Bronchiolitis Obliterans (Popcorn lung) when inhaled. Beware. There is a handy little link here that explains more.

There are many types of Ecigarettes and this blog is about my experiences. Follow my advice and you might save yourself lots of hassle and certainly lots of cash. Vaping CAN work out expensive when you are unsure of it.

FIRSTLY. E cigarettes such as NJoy, Blu etc.

I started on these. You can buy these at most stores and they do have their uses. I bought one before I travelled to the USA. You can’t use them on the flight but you can at the terminals so they are handy for that. You can buy disposable ones (as I did for my flight) or you can get versions where you can replace the cartridges and recharge the batteries. All of these are OK I suppose if you are an occasional smoker or a cigarette smoker who needs a quick puff where you are not allowed to smoke. Try them but I found them relatively expensive although cheaper than tobacco cigarettes, and kind of weak. They do feel like a normal cigarette in your hand though.

NJoy

I tried Finiti which are sold by Walgreens in the USA. About $20 for a kit with a charger and 3 cartridges. You can buy refills. I wasn’t pleased with this model so I tried some from Westside Vapor. These were better but I still found them unsatisfying. I needed something else.

FINITI KIT FROM WALGREENS

Finiti Kit Contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westside Vapors Kit. Better than the Finiti and cheaper.

 

SECONDLY. Vaporizers that use clearomisers/atomizers etc.

These are a little more advanced than the Ecigarettes and you will find lots of options. I haven’t tried them all but I have tried many versions.

I started with a small Criss Cross unit. It comes with a small rechargeable battery which I found too small. I was constantly recharging it although you can buy bigger batteries online at hundreds of sites. I believe the Criss Cross battery was a 650mah unit. Unless you are a very light smoker you will need either spares or at least a 1000mah unit (mah = milliampere hours). I suppose the Criss Cross is a good intro to vaping at only $14.99 but I was soon dissatisfied. Criss Cross e juices I found to be very nice though.

Criss Cross Kit. A basic intro to vaping.

 

Tasty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I tried a Kanger eVod. These are a lot better than the Ecigarettes. I bought a kit from a vape store here in Columbus for about $25. The battery was better although it still needed charging at least once per day, often twice and so I bought a spare battery. I must mention here that all the batteries I have seen have a button on the side. You use this to turn them on and off (5 quick clicks for either) or to vape. You hold the button as you draw and a pretty little light tells you it is working. My spare battery also has 5 small lights on the tip which tell you of the battery condition. Can’t tell you the make though as I don’t know and it isn’t branded. You can charge your batteries either with a usb connection or a mains adaptor. Be warned though, they take hours to charge from empty. There are many kinds of batteries on the market. With some you can even vary the wattage and resistance. I haven’t tried those yet.

The gold one is my first eVod. The small black one is the Criss Cross battery. In the bag is a spare eVod coil and several eVod tanks around it.

You can refill the eVod tanks although it can be messy. You can also change the coils which work out about $2 each. They last about 2 weeks although it does depend on usage. Also don’t allow them to get too low on ejuice. They can burn out if dry.

THE TROUBLE WITH EVOD TANKS

Initially I was happy with my eVod from Kanger Tech but they still seemed a little weak sometimes particularly if the battery wasn’t fully charged. Also I soon noticed that they do have a tendency to leak. I tried all the tips on different sites but none seem to work. You get a horrible gurgling sound then ejuice in your mouth. You will also find the battery has about a dollars’ worth of your juice in it. Such a waste. I think it is a design flaw as they all do it. They are also messy to clean which means wasting ejuice too.

Different coils. From left to right they are. CE5+ wickless, CE4 wicked, Kanger eVod bottom coil and Aspire Double Bottom Coil

Next I went back to clearomisers with a wick in them. I’ve tried a few with wicks and the new Aspire CE5+ which is wickless. It cures the leaking problem but still I find them hard work. Lots of draw for little reward.

A quick piece about tanks. Some like the Kanger eVod have their coils at the bottom. They do have a tiny wick but it is very small. These are called bottom coil clearomisers. Others like the Aspire CE range have top coils with a long wick which hangs down inside the tank to absorb the ejuice. These are called obviously top coil clearomisers. There are also newer clearomisers like the CE5+ which have a bottom coil and no visible wick. They all work on the same principles. If you use any clearomisers remember to allow time for the juice to reach the coil before use when you top up. Remember a dry coil will burn out in no time at all. Also try to refill them before they get less than a third full.

CE4 AND CE5+ wicked and wickless.

FINALLY Double Coils.

At last. Double coils. My savior. I recently purchased an Aspire Vivi Nova Clearomizer. These are the new ones with a DOUBLE bottom coil. They are wickless. They tick just about every box for me. The dual coil gives lot more vape. Clouds of vapour and great taste too. I have been using mine for a week now. It is still running at full blast on the original coil and NO leaks. It is easy to fill and not messy. It looks good too although you will also need to buy a ‘beauty ring’ to fit nicely on your standard batteries although it will work without one. It is a large tank holding 3.5ml of smoke juice (my previous tanks hold about 1.6 ml so you don’t have to top up so often. I have just bought a Vivi Nova Mini with the same double coil set up but a smaller capacity. I am looking forward to trying it out. You can find both online for about $7-$8 and the replacement Aspire double coils are about $11 for 5 so not even that expensive. The beauty rings are only a couple of bucks and you only need one or two.

Beware though. There are still lots of the cheaper Aspire Top Single Coil wicked tanks online. Make sure you specify the Bottom Double Coil newer version in the Nova or Nova Mini. They are only a couple of bucks more too. DON’T get the old kit even if it does look like a bargain.

Aspire Vivi Nova Bottom Double Coil Wickless

A WORD ABOUT BATTERIES

Batteries are the engine room of your vaping experience. Mine have been ok but I have noticed some very cheap ones on eBay. Probably best to avoid them. Expect to pay upwards of $15 for a decent 1100mah battery. They last well and I haven’t had a flat one yet. Just remember to get a spare as they take hours to charge. You can buy the aforementioned variable power batteries. I haven’t tried one yet.

OR… get yourself a pass-through battery like mine. If you hunt around you will find one for not much more than a normal battery. A pass-through is just a normal battery but you can unscrew the tip and connect it via its usb connection to a charger or to your computer. That means you can use it while it is plugged in and charging up. Handy if you are by the computer a lot or near a power point or even in the car if you have a usb power adaptor. If you need to go out then just unplug it, put the end cap on and you have a fully charged normal battery. Make sure you get one with plenty of power lead. Excellent kit.

Pass-through battery attached via USB.

Pass-through battery charging. You can vape with it on charge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cap on and ready to use away from the laptop.

 

TO SUM UP.

After much trial and error I have found this to be the best combination so far for hassle free vaping.

Aspire Vivi Nova Bottom Double Coil Tank.

Aspire Bottom Double Replacement Coils

1100mah or larger pass-through battery

Any good 1100mah battery as a spare.

My perfect vape. Aspire Vivi Nova Bottom Double Coil with 1100mah pass-through battery.

JUICES

You will have to check these out yourself. There are plenty of stores online and off that supply it. I am currently using Vista Vapors juice which is OK as you can vary the amount of juice flavour as well as the nicotine strength. Juices normally come in 32/24/18/12/6/0mg of nicotine. I am led to believe that domestic juice is best and to avoid the imported Chinese juices. I haven’t tried imports so I can’t comment on that. Read my note at the top about Buttery/Creamy flavours causing some people lung irritation and be aware. I personally prefer the fruit flavours but that is merely my choice. You can buy all sorts of strange flavours such as bacon flavour or Banana Nut Bread. Try some out till you find the ones you like. Some sites will even sell you a sample pack of different flavours. Also just buy small bottles at first till you know you like it. There’s no point being stuck with 30ml+ bottles of a juice you don’t like. I did that with a Whiskey flavoured juice which is yucky. I still use it but I mix it with other flavours so save wasting it. And don’t forget that you can mix them to make a kind of vape cocktail. I have a strawberry juice that I sometimes mix with my vanilla ice cream juice. Very tasty.

A selection of my Vista Vapors ejuices.

CONCLUSION

My experiences with vaping have been interesting if trying at times and I hope you find my observations useful. I am still a novice in some ways as there are plenty of other types of vaping equipment out there which I haven’t tried some of which will cost you hundreds of dollars.

My observations are from the perspective of a former twenty a day man. If you only smoke occasionally you may be better off with just the NJoy type Ecigarettes.

It’s been 6 months now since I had a tobacco cigarette bar one small slip up and I find I don’t miss those old tar sticks too much. As I said I do intend to get down to the zero nicotine juices eventually but right now I am on the 12mg juices (about one third of max strength) so my next step is the lowest strength of 6mg. I will keep you updated.

A FEW LINKS

VAPOR BLADE

VISTA VAPORS

KANGERTECH

ASPIRE

From this.

 

 

To this…lol