With the current high-power vaping craze going on, I feel like sharing a little truth that may seem obvious to many of you, but that I think bears repeating.
When I was a kid, we didn't have much money in my family. Back then, we'd only get chocolate truffles on Christmas Eve: Grandma would buy a box, gift-wrap it, and we'd all enjoy it at midnight. I remember we used to look at the box with expectation for hours during dinner, and then when it was finally broken open, we'd each get a truffle: we'd stare at it, smell it, nibble at it, and finally popped it in our mouth and let it melt forever, trying to squeeze as much pleasure out of that piece of chocolate as we could.
Today as a reasonably well-to-do adult, I could afford to eat 100 lbs of the finest chocolate truffles a day, but I'd never enjoy them as much as when I was a kid: I'd just grow tired of the taste in a hurry, and make myself sick with it. It's the same with fine cigars, liquors, or music: consume too much of it and the amount of pleasure you derive from it will flatline. Half the pleasure comes from the scarcity.
And guess what: it's the same for vaping. Remember when you got that crappy eGo kit and you thought it was great? Now, can you honestly say you're 7 times happier with that 50W mod? I bet you can't. I bet you spend more time wondering why you're not getting as much flavor or vapor as you expect than actually enjoying your vape, like you did with the crappy eGo.
If you're a dripper, here's a trick to enjoy your vape more: run you wick drier with less power, and work at enjoying each and every puff as if it was the last - something that's entirely psychological.
The thing with wicks is, the wetter they are, the more liquid there is to warm up, and the more power you need to vaporize the juice. But it's a vicious circle: the more juice you put in the atty, the more power you need, and the more power you apply, the more juice you need.
To break free of that vicious circle, vape at your usual power level until you start tasting acrolein. Then instead of recharging the atty, lower the power, give the wick a few seconds to get wet again under the coil and vape. You'll get less vapor but the burnt taste should disappear. Once it comes back, lower the power again. Do that until you hit the absolute minimum amount of power you can live with, and the burnt taste won't go away. Then recharge the atty very sparingly.
Stay at that power level and vape. Draw more slowly. Enjoy the increased flavor. Enjoy the the thin hot vape that's only perfect if you draw perfectly - too fast and it's cold, too slow and there isn't enough vapor. Take time to enjoy the flavor longer in your mouth and nose. Hold the vapor longer in you lungs to extract more nicotine from less vapor. Exhale slowly to enjoy the flavor again on the way out. In short, make the puff count, like we kids made Grandma's chocolate truffles count!
Your mileage may vary, depending on you particular vaping setup. But to give you an idea, with a Smok XPure mounted in single coil (5 turn coil, 1.8 Ohm over silica), I drop down to 7W. At that power level, I drip 5 drops every 10 to 15 minutes, a 18650 battery lasts 2 days easily, a 10 ml bottle of juice lasts forever, the coil doesn't require dry-burning for days or weeks, I can stealth-vape very easily, and most importantly, I enjoy my vape as much as I would at 13W. Also, 7W makes it possible to drip happily with dumb eGo batteries. What's not to love about low-power vaping?
Of course, if you're into dense vapes and cloud chasing, this clearly isn't for you. But if you want to rediscover the pleasure of vaping you experienced when you started out, I urge you to give the above a try. With a little effort, I guarantee you'll renew your interest in the hobby more than any super-powerful mod would allow, and it'll cost you zilch.
When I was a kid, we didn't have much money in my family. Back then, we'd only get chocolate truffles on Christmas Eve: Grandma would buy a box, gift-wrap it, and we'd all enjoy it at midnight. I remember we used to look at the box with expectation for hours during dinner, and then when it was finally broken open, we'd each get a truffle: we'd stare at it, smell it, nibble at it, and finally popped it in our mouth and let it melt forever, trying to squeeze as much pleasure out of that piece of chocolate as we could.
Today as a reasonably well-to-do adult, I could afford to eat 100 lbs of the finest chocolate truffles a day, but I'd never enjoy them as much as when I was a kid: I'd just grow tired of the taste in a hurry, and make myself sick with it. It's the same with fine cigars, liquors, or music: consume too much of it and the amount of pleasure you derive from it will flatline. Half the pleasure comes from the scarcity.
And guess what: it's the same for vaping. Remember when you got that crappy eGo kit and you thought it was great? Now, can you honestly say you're 7 times happier with that 50W mod? I bet you can't. I bet you spend more time wondering why you're not getting as much flavor or vapor as you expect than actually enjoying your vape, like you did with the crappy eGo.
If you're a dripper, here's a trick to enjoy your vape more: run you wick drier with less power, and work at enjoying each and every puff as if it was the last - something that's entirely psychological.
The thing with wicks is, the wetter they are, the more liquid there is to warm up, and the more power you need to vaporize the juice. But it's a vicious circle: the more juice you put in the atty, the more power you need, and the more power you apply, the more juice you need.
To break free of that vicious circle, vape at your usual power level until you start tasting acrolein. Then instead of recharging the atty, lower the power, give the wick a few seconds to get wet again under the coil and vape. You'll get less vapor but the burnt taste should disappear. Once it comes back, lower the power again. Do that until you hit the absolute minimum amount of power you can live with, and the burnt taste won't go away. Then recharge the atty very sparingly.
Stay at that power level and vape. Draw more slowly. Enjoy the increased flavor. Enjoy the the thin hot vape that's only perfect if you draw perfectly - too fast and it's cold, too slow and there isn't enough vapor. Take time to enjoy the flavor longer in your mouth and nose. Hold the vapor longer in you lungs to extract more nicotine from less vapor. Exhale slowly to enjoy the flavor again on the way out. In short, make the puff count, like we kids made Grandma's chocolate truffles count!
Your mileage may vary, depending on you particular vaping setup. But to give you an idea, with a Smok XPure mounted in single coil (5 turn coil, 1.8 Ohm over silica), I drop down to 7W. At that power level, I drip 5 drops every 10 to 15 minutes, a 18650 battery lasts 2 days easily, a 10 ml bottle of juice lasts forever, the coil doesn't require dry-burning for days or weeks, I can stealth-vape very easily, and most importantly, I enjoy my vape as much as I would at 13W. Also, 7W makes it possible to drip happily with dumb eGo batteries. What's not to love about low-power vaping?
Of course, if you're into dense vapes and cloud chasing, this clearly isn't for you. But if you want to rediscover the pleasure of vaping you experienced when you started out, I urge you to give the above a try. With a little effort, I guarantee you'll renew your interest in the hobby more than any super-powerful mod would allow, and it'll cost you zilch.
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