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Seriously, don't try this at home...

ConcreteBob

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I know that the crowd here is all about battery safety. And that's a fantastic thing. Everyone should make that a priority. It's easy to push your equipment past the limits and get hurt or burn your house down.
And, to be clear, I don't recommend that anyone build something just to see what they can get away with.
That being said, I know some, if not most, of you guys have. What were the builds? What RDA and mod? How was it? Let's share our various stories of stupidity. And the consequences, if any.
Pictures are of course encouraged.
To clarify the purpose of this thread, I am always glad when someone did something stupid and didn't suffer from it
But, there's a lot of new vapers that might see this and think they want to try something similar. I really do want to hear from people who have had near-misses or even catastrophic failures from trying this stuff. Sort of a 'See what can happen?' thread.
I don't suggest anyone try building anything that's obviously risky. In fact I will be happy to talk you out of it if you're considering it. Just PM me.
 
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ConcreteBob

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I'll start things off.2015-03-18 16.52.05.jpg
Again, don't try this...
That's the dumbest thing I've ever tried. Didn't go sideways on me, thankfully, but I will never build anything else like it unless I've got a pair of Marine Deisel batteries and a good voltage regulator strapped to it...
 
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Giraut

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This thread should be entitled "How I learned to stop worrying and love short-circuits"...

It's good that you know what you're doing, and more importantly, that you recognize it's not safe. But in anybody else's hands, this is a stupid build. Honestly.
 

ConcreteBob

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I am still in one piece, by the way. As are my mod, the batteries, the deck, and the coils.
 

Giraut

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You do realize that half of the power that comes out of the batteries goes into heating the mod itself - including the batteries - and not the coils, right?
 

ConcreteBob

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This thread should be entitled "How I learned to stop worrying and love short-circuits"...

It's good that you know what you're doing, and more importantly, that you recognize it's not safe. But in anybody else's hands, this is a stupid build. Honestly.
I know. It's flat-out idiotic. And that's why I started the thread with a safety post. Also the reason for the name of the thread.
But, it owned at the cloud comp. Absolutely stomped second place. Only reason it even exists. I've fired it a total of 10 or so times, and I was nervous every time.
 
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ConcreteBob

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You do realize that half of the power that comes out of the batteries goes into heating the mod itself - including the batteries - and not the coils, right?
Yeah. I know the ohms law equation only gives you a theoretical value, in a perfectly conductive situation. Also doesn't account for power loss across the mosfet.
 

ConcreteBob

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About 12 drops per hit, unless you like the flavor and feel of immolated denim in your lungs. But it worked. I seriously can't imagine anyone who would want to daily vape with something like it, but it's a purpose-built monster.Again, see the title of this thread, please.
 
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Slurp812

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Most of the batteries I see specs for are ~.019 ohms internal resistance. I squared R would give you the voltage drop across the battery. So if you maxed out a VTC4 you are talking 17 watts dissipated in the battery. This can change for the worse as you over tax the battery. If I were to attempt something like this I wouldn't do it inside.
 

nameonawall

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Lowest I've gone with VTC3's in a mech is .12 . I'm more of a regulated device + .6ohm single coil kind of guy anyway. If I'm running a mech I usually build around .25ohms.
 

JOLT74

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Lowest I went was .06 on my Stillare V3 and FUhattan with an MXJO 18650 and I've had this build for quite some time with incredible success and no problems, I unfortunately don't have a picture tho
 

smacksy

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It didn't happen to me but to my brother....a very close call....
My brother had the copper BCV
26650 BFM mech mod that uses the hybrid top cap...apparently the pin on the Atlantis sub tank didn't protrude far enough and caused a hard short and spot welded the button in fire mode.
The mod got hot quickly and my brother had to drop it..the fully charged venting 26650 blew both end caps off the tube, shot a hole in the ceiling barely missing his girlfriends head..the tube shot around the room like a bottle rocket, burnt the carpet and set off smoke alarms...luckily nobody got hurt but now my brother can't vape in his apartment anymore....
He feels stupid about what happened and blames himself for not taking the time to be safe...scared him so bad he put his mechs up and now uses VW box mods with the shorted atomizer protection...can't blame him there... Lol


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JOLT74

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It didn't happen to me but to my brother..a very close call
My brother had the copper BCV
26650 mech mod that uses the hybrid top cap...apparently the pin on the Atlantis sub tank didn't protrude far enough and caused a hard short and spot welded the button in fire mode.
The mod got hot quickly and my brother had to drop it..the fully charged venting 26650 blew both end caps off the tube, shot a hole in the ceiling barely missing his girlfriends head..the tube shot around the room like a bottle rocket, burnt the carpet and set off smoke alarms...luckily nobody got hurt but now my brother can't vape in his apartment anymore....
He feels stupid about what happened and blames himself for not taking the time to be safe...scared him so bad he put his mechs up and now uses VW box mods with the shorted atomizer protection...can't blame him there... Lol


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Have you posted this story on here before? Wasn't a story just like this in the news recently? Do people not do research on anything before they buy and assemble, I think tanks like the atlantis should come with a warning on compatibility when it's comes to mods and connection that will/won't work so we don't see anymore problems like this in the future
 

smacksy

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Have you posted this story on here before? Wasn't a story just like this in the news recently? Do people not do research on anything before they buy and assemble, I think tanks like the atlantis should come with a warning on compatibility when it's comes to mods and connection that will/won't work so we don't see anymore problems like this in the future
Yeah, I think I did when it happened ..the thread was called "Atlantis tank destroyed BFM", or something like that..but I thought it might be worth repeating here...
My brother knew about he had to use a protruding pin on his BFM and the Atlantis 510 protruded a little but obviously not enough...he doesn't use mechs anymore because of this accident..at last count he owns two IPV3's, and one 150w Sig...but doesn't use his mechs for they all use that hybrid top cap ...he is done with mechs..


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Robert B

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Lowest I went was .06 on my Stillare V3 and FUhattan with an MXJO 18650 and I've had this build for quite some time with incredible success and no problems, I unfortunately don't have a picture tho

Your pulling almost 67amps on a 20A cont. 35A pulse rated battery. I wish you continued incredible success with no problems !!
 

JOLT74

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Yeah, I think I did when it happened ..the thread was called "Atlantis tank destroyed BFM", or something like that..but I thought it might be worth repeating here...
My brother knew about he had to use a protruding pin on his BFM and the Atlantis 510 protruded a little but obviously not enough...he doesn't use mechs anymore because of this accident..at last count he owns two IPV3's, and one 150w Sig...but doesn't use his mechs for they all use that hybrid top cap ...he is done with mechs..


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Ok good I'm glad this is the same story and not another horror story of an atlantis exploding due to a hybrid mod, the awareness of this issue needs to be more known
 

smacksy

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Ok good I'm glad this is the same story and not another horror story of an atlantis exploding due to a hybrid mod, the awareness of this issue needs to be more known
A good practice would not to use tanks like the Atlantis, Arctic or Starre, or tanks in general without an adjustable 510 pin on mechs, especially the ones that have the hybrid top cap... But I like vaping my subtanks on my VW box mods these days..keep my RDA's on my mechs. Lol
.

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JOLT74

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Your pulling almost 67amps on a 20A cont. 35A pulse rated battery. I wish you continued incredible success with no problems !!
It's literally magic lol when I did the math right after build, I'd said oh well lemme give it a try and it has given me no issues since *knocks on wood* and it's about 70 amps and almost 300 watts
 

JOLT74

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A good practice would not to use tanks like the Atlantis, Arctic or Starre, or tanks in general without an adjustable 510 pin on mechs, especially the ones that have the hybrid top cap... But I like vaping my subtanks on my VW box mods these days..keep my RDA's on my mechs. Lol
.

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I don't know why anyone thought tanks on a mechanical was a good idea in the first place, maybe a box with a floating/spring loaded pin but other than that why?
 

smacksy

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Because the new sub ohm tanks let's you vape like your dripping maybe...I drip but its messy sometimes, and I have to constantly re-drip.. I can see why a person would like to try a tank like the .2 ohm Arctic on their mech....but the hybrid top caps on some of these mods demand a protruding pin to vape safely....I don't know for sure...I like my arctic on my IPV3.. Vapes great at around 65w...and very safe! Lol
BTW, I did modify my Arctic 510 pin to protrude about 2mm to run on my stainless BFM safely...it vaped great
but the vape went down as the batt wore down...no worries like that with the IPV3..
 

Mike H.

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I never got the so called "brave" with extreme subohm.

All i see is bad publicity for the rest of us when things do go wrong...IF there is any bad risks involved in e juice, those who are sucking 100 times the amount into the lungs are gonna surely be the ones who screw it up for the rest of us...Like we need more fuel for the "bad guys" to make it worse for those who just vape to stay off smokes with a minimal of risk if any in smaller amounts.

Maybe it will take a trip to the ER to put some in their place and recognize its stupid.
 

unregulatedvaper

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24 guage Dual parallel continuous at 3/4 wraps at a .06 in a little boy rda on a dual 18650 unregulated box. I ran the same build on my skeleton key with single 18650before i got the box too with no issues. Thats my everyday build. Some people will argue about it, but ive had no indicators of short, make the coils really clean and tight with no kanthal over lapping, and dont hold the button down for forever.
 

Cloudboss

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Built a sweet .1 on my tobh clone once with twisted 26guage kanthal. It hit like a boss but I tossed it after about an hour it was getting my batteries warm...
 

ConcreteBob

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It didn't happen to me but to my brother....a very close call....
My brother had the copper BCV
26650 BFM mech mod that uses the hybrid top cap...apparently the pin on the Atlantis sub tank didn't protrude far enough and caused a hard short and spot welded the button in fire mode.
The mod got hot quickly and my brother had to drop it..the fully charged venting 26650 blew both end caps off the tube, shot a hole in the ceiling barely missing his girlfriends head..the tube shot around the room like a bottle rocket, burnt the carpet and set off smoke alarms...luckily nobody got hurt but now my brother can't vape in his apartment anymore....
He feels stupid about what happened and blames himself for not taking the time to be safe...scared him so bad he put his mechs up and now uses VW box mods with the shorted atomizer protection...can't blame him there... Lol


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I had a similar issue with a hybrid top Clone Killer mod. Luckily, as soon as I felt it heating up I was able to release the button and drop it. It was the exact same problem, too, but with a different tank. Battery didn't vent, but I tossed it anyway.
 

ConcreteBob

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I've also purposely shorted an Efest 18650, in a very controlled and contained manner, do see how they vented. But that was done in a steel container in an enclosed and safe environment. I must say, though, it was certainly an interesting result. I'm not going to say exactly how I did it, just so no one else tries me stupid ideas, but once you actually see an uncontrolled release of the energy in one of those babies, you will gain an entirely new level of respect for battery safety.
 

zaroba

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"don't try this at home"

lol, if nobody tried it, then it would never be done at all.
Including by you :p
 

ConcreteBob

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That's true. But I'd rather take the risk myself than see anyone else get hurt.
 

Jah

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"taking a risk" to "blow clouds" seems "silly"
just my opinion, YMMV 8)
 

smacksy

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"taking a risk" to "blow clouds" seems "silly"
just my opinion, YMMV 8)
I agree...but blowin clouds is fun and as long as I obey ohms law I've had no safety worries whatsoever...but I never push taking risks for the sake of bigger clouds...but that's just me...lol

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Mykline

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A good practice would not to use tanks like the Atlantis, Arctic or Starre, or tanks in general without an adjustable 510 pin on mechs, especially the ones that have the hybrid top cap... But I like vaping my subtanks on my VW box mods these days..keep my RDA's on my mechs. Lol
.

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When I think mechs, I think RDA. I do not own any mechs yet but plan on getting at least one. Want to get my coil building skills down solid before launching a mech.
I was lucky when I started vaping I meet a person who showed everyone he met about safety first when vaping.
 

CDZVaper

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The closest I came to disaster was when I bought my first mech mod. Its a 4nine clone. The guy at my BnM put the switch magnets in the wrong way causing it to short, get hot etc....I finally figured it out myself, after bringing it to them for help, and switched the magnets to their proper places. That combined with one of my first builds at 24g. I think it read about .19ish?? It was 4 wraps and a bit to low for my liking. Also I was a newb and admittedly had very little clue to what I was doing.
Now I research everything, have multiple apps for calculations and coil builds etc....the hobby aspect has taken hold for sure which is cool and I never believe I know it all when it comes to this stuff, shit can be dangerous for sure and safety is my main priority. This is a good thread idea....
 

smacksy

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When I think mechs, I think RDA. I do not own any mechs yet but plan on getting at least one. Want to get my coil building skills down solid before launching a mech.
I was lucky when I started vaping I meet a person who showed everyone he met about safety first when vaping.
I was just the opposite..I started out with mechs and leaned how to build safely then when the new subtanks came out I got these two IPV3's with the Arctic tanks..the BFM with the dark horse is still top dog cloud wise but the Arctic isn't that far behind and I don't have to re-drip..lol... All three have .2 ohm coils in them , the dark horse is actually .21 ohms...blows good clouds/flavor and not too hot for me...ah, the wonderful world of vaping just seems to be getting better all the time, lol
0da06afed4c2bc37bd48664cc8dc9f8a.jpg


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ConcreteBob

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"taking a risk" to "blow clouds" seems "silly"
just my opinion, YMMV 8)
The risk I was referring to was purposely venting the Efest battery. I VERY rarely build anything I'm even vaguely nervous about vaping with. The one glaring exception being the picture I posted upthread. And that was during a couple of days when I had no 'f' left to give.
But venting the battery was done as safely as possible. And in a container designed to withstand a good deal more force that a dozen 18650 batteries could muster
 
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ConcreteBob

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The closest I came to disaster was when I bought my first mech mod. Its a 4nine clone. The guy at my BnM put the switch magnets in the wrong way causing it to short, get hot etc....I finally figured it out myself, after bringing it to them for help, and switched the magnets to their proper places. That combined with one of my first builds at 24g. I think it read about .19ish?? It was 4 wraps and a bit to low for my liking. Also I was a newb and admittedly had very little clue to what I was doing.
Now I research everything, have multiple apps for calculations and coil builds etc....the hobby aspect has taken hold for sure which is cool and I never believe I know it all when it comes to this stuff, shit can be dangerous for sure and safety is my main priority. This is a good thread idea....
The hobby aspect is the only reason I even still vape. I was happily off the death sticks and over the addiction while I was still rocking an MVP with an Aerotank on it.
 

ConcreteBob

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Anyone ever had a mech mod fire in their pocket or after setting it down somewhere? My first mech was a Stainless Cartel clone. I was at work, and had it sitting on my desk for about 45 minutes. Suddenly, I'm smelling it like crazy. I went to pick it up and immediately had to drop it. It was scorching hot. Didn't short, but the button had decided to micro arc and the body of the mod and the battery turned into a stovetop. Luckily I had some gloves handy and managed to remove the bottom cap pretty quickly. Tossed the battery after it cooled down, but it didn't leak or vent. Just wasn't willing to chance it.
That's actually what inspired me to purposely vent one. I was curious about what kind of disaster I had avoided.
 

JOLT74

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Anyone ever had a mech mod fire in their pocket or after setting it down somewhere? My first mech was a Stainless Cartel clone. I was at work, and had it sitting on my desk for about 45 minutes. Suddenly, I'm smelling it like crazy. I went to pick it up and immediately had to drop it. It was scorching hot. Didn't short, but the button had decided to micro arc and the body of the mod and the battery turned into a stovetop. Luckily I had some gloves handy and managed to remove the bottom cap pretty quickly. Tossed the battery after it cooled down, but it didn't leak or vent. Just wasn't willing to chance it.
Now that's a new one, was it locked? Or was it a magnetic button?
 

smacksy

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Anyone ever had a mech mod fire in their pocket or after setting it down somewhere? My first mech was a Stainless Cartel clone. I was at work, and had it sitting on my desk for about 45 minutes. Suddenly, I'm smelling it like crazy. I went to pick it up and immediately had to drop it. It was scorching hot. Didn't short, but the button had decided to micro arc and the body of the mod and the battery turned into a stovetop. Luckily I had some gloves handy and managed to remove the bottom cap pretty quickly. Tossed the battery after it cooled down, but it didn't leak or vent. Just wasn't willing to chance it.
My sister sat her nemesis down and forgot to set the locking ring..she knew something was wrong when she seen it smoking...she wrapped it up in a towel and quickly took it outside...it cooled down but she never used it again...she got a BCV XXIX with the recessed button and been using it safely ever since...lol

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ConcreteBob

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The Cartel doesn't lock, and it's a spring button. Both the positive and negative contacts are threaded to be adjustable, and apparently I had the negative contact a hair too close. So after sitting there quietly for a while, it just fired.
 

ConcreteBob

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My sister sat her nemesis down and forgot to set the locking ring..she knew something was wrong when she seen it smoking...she wrapped it up in a towel and quickly took it outside...it cooled down but she never used it again...she got a BCV XXIX with the recessed button and been using it safely ever since...lol

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I don't have the Cartel anymore either. It was ridiculously prone to hot button issues. The only mech I currently have is the solid copper Clone Killer. It's got a recessed button as well, and a decent throw to make contact. I've been pretty happy with it.
 

Giraut

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The hobby aspect is the only reason I even still vape. I was happily off the death sticks and over the addiction while I was still rocking an MVP with an Aerotank on it.

Lucky you. Me, nicotine has made me her bitch forever, and if I don't get it through vaping, as much as I hate tobacco, I'm pretty sure I'll start smoking again. Or maybe I won't, but I won't have the same quality of life I have now - what with the cravings and all...
 

ConcreteBob

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Lucky you. Me, nicotine has made me her bitch forever, and if I don't get it through vaping, as much as I hate tobacco, I'm pretty sure I'll start smoking again. Or maybe I won't, but I won't have the same quality of life I have now - what with the cravings and all...
I still do 3mg nic once in a while, but I tried going a month without it and was successful. And I generally only use it when either really stressed or drinking. But, I still smoke cigars occasionally, as well. Don't inhale, of course, but I never did.
 

Giraut

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My sister sat her nemesis down and forgot to set the locking ring..she knew something was wrong when she seen it smoking...she wrapped it up in a towel and quickly took it outside...it cooled down but she never used it again...she got a BCV XXIX with the recessed button and been using it safely ever since...lol

Personally, I don't use caveman electrical devices that don't even have a stupid fuse to prevent disasters such as the one your sister narrowly avoided, because I didn't skip Electricity 101 at school and I know better.
 

ConcreteBob

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But, I'm still curious, has anyone ever done a build that they wouldn't readily admit to their vaping friends in real life?
 

smacksy

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Lucky you. Me, nicotine has made me her bitch forever, and if I don't get it through vaping, as much as I hate tobacco, I'm pretty sure I'll start smoking again. Or maybe I won't, but I won't have the same quality of life I have now - what with the cravings and all...
No man, don't go back to that nasty ass tobacco ... Especially since you know how much better/healthier vaping is for you...I was a two pack a day smoker for over 20 yrs and been tobacco free the last two yrs thanks to vaping...in my tanks I like 12 mgs of nic, but dripping about 5 mgs satisfies my acquired nicotine addition like no cigarette ever could..lol
My sister likes 18 mgs of nic no matter what she's vaping, and it must satisfy because she's been tobacco free too for the last 1-1/2 yrs..I hope you stick with vaping

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smacksy

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Personally, I don't use caveman electrical devices that don't even have a stupid fuse to prevent disasters such as the one your sister narrowly avoided, because I didn't skip Electricity 101 at school and I know better.
It was part of my sister's learning curve..she doesn't use caveman devices anymore either... Lol

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Giraut

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[...]I hope you stick with vaping

Oh I do, and I'll keep vaping because I haven't craved once since I've started... as long as it's legal. What I'm worried about is the legislative vapocalypse that's coming our way: when I find it harder and harder to get my nic fix the healthy way, then I'll be in trouble. You won't, being nic-free, and apparently happy that way. But I will.
 

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