Hello all. I really dig this forum. It has been helpful in filling in the gaps created by the local vape shop. I'm not knocking them and they were incredibly helpful meeting my criteria for a first time vape setup. In fact the young man at the shop totally listened to my requirements and guided me to a mod that works for me. He did not try to up-sell me with something I was not ready for yet. Good guy right there.
Anyway, my nicotine addiction story is typical of a 70's child who was a teen by the 80's. By the time I was 15 I was nearly a pack-a-day smoker. We all did it, it was normal. By my 20's I was a two pack-a-day smoker. My son was born in 2003. It was time to quit. I tried all kinds of things and finally got off the coffin nails for a couple of months. I was okay for the most part but it seemed that something was missing on Friday night beer sessions, and I knew what it was. I was telling a colleague how bad it sucked and he handed me his can of Copenhagen. I tried a dip and loved it. Way better then cigarettes, way better. I could have a nicotine buzz all day long. No up-down cycle. I could do it at work, at the movies, in restaurants, bars, etc. No one knew. It was great. I was not a spit cup dipper, just left it in for 30-40 mins, then rinsed it out in the bathroom. Total stealth. Unfortunately all good things must end. Even at three to four cans per week the cost was killing me. I'm sure the Cope would eventually kill me as well. The insanity had to stop.
Three weeks ago my neighbor, who has been vaping for three years to get off cigarettes, let me try his back-up mod for a three hour beer session in my garage. It was great. I didn't dip the entire time and did not want to. The following night we took a ride to the vape store. I spit out my last dip in the parking lot and have been vaping ever since. I can't believe how well it worked. Half way through the first week I stopped thinking about the first dip of the morning. Simply amazing.
So here's my criteria for the kit. It had to be small to fit in a shirt pocket so i could hide it at work. It had to have a replaceable battery. The vape store kid set me up with a Smok AL85 and two batteries. I already have a killer charger for my model airplane batteries that can do all chemistries so I simply fabbed up a charging tray for 18650 LiIo cells. I bought a bottle of 6mg juice which they upped to 9mg for me and I was set. A week later I switched to 6mg juice and have not looked back. Oh, and no tobacco flavors. The point is to get off of tobacco so I went with dessert, then breakfast, now I'm on berry flavors. I love it and it doesn't have the burning pickled bung hole taste of tobacco.
The only thing I was not liking was the costly and short lived pre-made Smok coils. Those things suck. It was costing more than Cope. I had to take action so I ordered a Baby Beast RBA, Coil Master tool kit, Cotton Bacon and some 26g kanthal wire. I spent the last half hour making some coils and wicking it up. Success! This is how it should have been from the start. It came out perfect on my first try. The flavor is better and I can chain vape with no burnt cotton taste. Brilliant! Note that I like fiddly small stuff so this type of building suites me just fine.
Anyway, I was inspired to try building by viewing threads on this forum. Thank you so much. You folks are truly great. Now I'm off to plan my next mod setup, going dual cell regulated. Then maybe a mech squonk box...Oh, I'm liking this.
-Ray
Anyway, my nicotine addiction story is typical of a 70's child who was a teen by the 80's. By the time I was 15 I was nearly a pack-a-day smoker. We all did it, it was normal. By my 20's I was a two pack-a-day smoker. My son was born in 2003. It was time to quit. I tried all kinds of things and finally got off the coffin nails for a couple of months. I was okay for the most part but it seemed that something was missing on Friday night beer sessions, and I knew what it was. I was telling a colleague how bad it sucked and he handed me his can of Copenhagen. I tried a dip and loved it. Way better then cigarettes, way better. I could have a nicotine buzz all day long. No up-down cycle. I could do it at work, at the movies, in restaurants, bars, etc. No one knew. It was great. I was not a spit cup dipper, just left it in for 30-40 mins, then rinsed it out in the bathroom. Total stealth. Unfortunately all good things must end. Even at three to four cans per week the cost was killing me. I'm sure the Cope would eventually kill me as well. The insanity had to stop.
Three weeks ago my neighbor, who has been vaping for three years to get off cigarettes, let me try his back-up mod for a three hour beer session in my garage. It was great. I didn't dip the entire time and did not want to. The following night we took a ride to the vape store. I spit out my last dip in the parking lot and have been vaping ever since. I can't believe how well it worked. Half way through the first week I stopped thinking about the first dip of the morning. Simply amazing.
So here's my criteria for the kit. It had to be small to fit in a shirt pocket so i could hide it at work. It had to have a replaceable battery. The vape store kid set me up with a Smok AL85 and two batteries. I already have a killer charger for my model airplane batteries that can do all chemistries so I simply fabbed up a charging tray for 18650 LiIo cells. I bought a bottle of 6mg juice which they upped to 9mg for me and I was set. A week later I switched to 6mg juice and have not looked back. Oh, and no tobacco flavors. The point is to get off of tobacco so I went with dessert, then breakfast, now I'm on berry flavors. I love it and it doesn't have the burning pickled bung hole taste of tobacco.
The only thing I was not liking was the costly and short lived pre-made Smok coils. Those things suck. It was costing more than Cope. I had to take action so I ordered a Baby Beast RBA, Coil Master tool kit, Cotton Bacon and some 26g kanthal wire. I spent the last half hour making some coils and wicking it up. Success! This is how it should have been from the start. It came out perfect on my first try. The flavor is better and I can chain vape with no burnt cotton taste. Brilliant! Note that I like fiddly small stuff so this type of building suites me just fine.
Anyway, I was inspired to try building by viewing threads on this forum. Thank you so much. You folks are truly great. Now I'm off to plan my next mod setup, going dual cell regulated. Then maybe a mech squonk box...Oh, I'm liking this.
-Ray
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