FINALLY turning into a hobbyist after almost 2 years!

[Vaping_MD_Student]

TL;DR: I'm here to keep an eye out for new research about vaping, learn more about DIY juice (still struggling with flavors after 3 months), and learn about rebuilding (JUST decided to pick up the hobby)!


My vaping history
Hi all! I'm a medical student living in Louisiana who gave up almost all conventional tobacco (minus the occasional cigar or pipe) 2 years ago this coming July. I had gone back and forth between smoking a pack a day and dipping a can a day, sometimes doing both at the same time. I was a little too aggressive with dropping my nicotine level and went a couple months of vaping and smoking, but I got that under control. Anyway, I'm sure y'all care nothing about that longwinded story, so I'll move on and talk a little more about why I'm here. I avoided vaping for about 2 years after I found out about it because there was just so much unknown. As a medically minded person, I have always been that way. A buddy of mine who works at a vape shop in DFW started showing me some of the research and let me taste his juice. I got curious enough to look into it, and I bought my first setup 2 days later. I use a Nautilus X for my all day vape and a Smok TF-V4 for flavor and clouds (kinda funny now that it's so obsolete).

Research
I try to keep up with all of the research going on about vaping, even if it's a bad study (*cough* NEJM). I especially like to find the studies that say vaping is bad because I want to look at the study design to see if I can find a flaw. I'm currently in a research group that is developing a questionnaire to find out the knowledge level and attitudes of healthcare providers at our institution. Unfortunately, the results won't be generalizable, but I'm hoping to use our finding to help develop further research.

DIY Juice
As a student, buying pre-made juice got to be WAY too expensive, so I looked into it and decided that with all the chemistry classes I've taken and the medication math I've learned, I can pretty much get all of the basics! That was about 2-3 months ago. I'm still having trouble with cloning a flavor, and I don't know anyone who really gets into making juice, so I'm hoping to find some good suggestions and info here.

Rebuilding
Earlier this week. I was browsing around online to check prices for the Smok TF-V8. I have a buddy who showed his to me the other day and if I like the TF-V4, I'm pretty sure I'll love the V8. I came across the Smok TF-V12. Holy crap! I want! Then I saw the price for the pre-made coils.... Back to the whole poor student thing. So now I want to rebuild. I started out in the sub ohm world looking for flavor, but clouds are a lot of fun too haha. I started looking at some basics and came across the artistic builds while browsing Instagram and now I want to know all of the things about it and learn to build like that! Same with DIY juice, I don't know anyone who has more than a basic knowledge of rebuilding

 

[AndriaD]

There may be some "unknowns" with vaping (such as, effects of longterm exposure), but there's LOTS known about smoking tobacco... and none of it is good. So you made a much smarter choice -- better to choose a partial-unknown that seems healthier, than a fully-known habit that is ALWAYS detrimental to health and quite often completely lethal. Apparently even a medical student can eventually puzzle that out, so I can't figure out why so many actual DOCTORS have not.

Building coils isn't really a "hobby"... it's the way to have the vape you want, at a price you can afford; simple as that.

Welcome to VU!
Andria

ETA: cloning a known flavor isn't a terribly successful undertaking for anyone -- mixing up flavors that you haven't yet tried as commercial ejuices is far more successful, because you have nothing to compare them to -- so if they're good, they're good, in their own right!

 

[KingPin!]

Welcome aboard ...so with your medical head on how many of the studies out there are a pile of crap % wise? and which ones are notable in your opinion?

 

[Vaping_MD_Student]

Most of what I've run across so far (and I haven't been looking terribly hard) has been good and adds to the mounting pile of evidence that vaping is significantly less harmful than conventional tobacco. I did run across one study, though, that showed no benefit to only reducing tobacco intake - you only get the benefit if you quit smoking altogether.

The one study I'm thinking of that's utter crap is the one that was in NEJM that showed a massive increase in formaldehyde production over cigarettes. That study does serve a purpose in that it was looking at an extreme, but it's just that - extreme conditions that almost nobody uses to vape. It's mentioned all too often as a way to argue against vaping.

 

[KingPin!]

Most of what I've run across so far (and I haven't been looking terribly hard) has been good and adds to the mounting pile of evidence that vaping is significantly less harmful than conventional tobacco. I did run across one study, though, that showed no benefit to only reducing tobacco intake - you only get the benefit if you quit smoking altogether.

The one study I'm thinking of that's utter crap is the one that was in NEJM that showed a massive increase in formaldehyde production over cigarettes. That study does serve a purpose in that it was looking at an extreme, but it's just that - extreme conditions that almost nobody uses to vape. It's mentioned all too often as a way to argue against vaping.

Hmm there are a lot of threads over in the health section with studies attached I'll keep an eye out for your posts on them although same as you most of what I've read relate to extremes rather than normal conditions ...scare mongering, often studies are funded by the tobacco groups themselves which is always dodgy ground

 

[Vaping_MD_Student]

I've got the health forum pulled up, but haven't taken the time to browse through it yet.

 

[SirRichardRear]

welcome aboard!

 

[Whitesoxfan2579]

Welcome to VU

 

[Angrygod50]

Welcome to the Underground. If your looking at studies; https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...armful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review

DIY is the only way to go. It's cheaper and you know exactly what you vaping. Find a few recipes you may like and buy what you need to make them. there's a really good DIY section in the forum with all the help you need. Some of the recipes are from DIY masters and everything they post is worth looking at. I'd also suggest a scale, it's easier, more accurate and no real clean up. Ends up costing about 2 bucks for 30ml

 

[geoffd]

Welcome to VU. Definitely check out the DIY recipe forum. I agree with Andria about not trying to duplicate a commercial juice and just try one that sounds good that alot of people recommend.

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