to feel positively evangelical about electronic cigarettes?

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

I was reading the AIBU thread about the husband vaping in the house with a newborn. I was struck by the passionate testimonials from former smokers, saying they couldn't have done it without e-cigs. I had tried a puff one of those things that look like a cigarette and was underwhelmed. But I didn't know about the more advanced set ups where you can fill them up with your flavour of choice. Anyway, I was intrigued. I smoked a pack a day for 25 years, and never quit more than a few months at a time, no matter which methods I tried.

nb84 encouraged me to give it a try and told me what to buy to get started.

I ordered a starter kit that night. It arrived the next day and I fell in love. I have three of them, now (one always charging, one near to hand, and one in my purse ready to go) and eight different flavours of the juice.

I don't want to smoke cigarettes any more. I like this better. It tastes really good. It feels good. And it doesn't stink. My hands, clothing, and breath don't reek anymore. I don't have to keep going outside. I don't have to feel like a smelly pariah. My husband can't smell it even when I'm sitting right next to him.

And I don't have to try and not think about the fact that my mother died of cancer after spending her last decade debilitated by emphysema.

And instead of paying £8 a day for fags, I can buy a week's worth of juice for £10. The hardware was less than £20 to get started and will require only £10 a month going forward. Of course, I can spend more. Many people geek out on it as a hobby because the gadgets are fun and constantly improving.

I'm not worried about putting on weight like people usually do when giving up the cancer sticks. In fact, I snack less. I no longer crave sweets. I would normally nibble all day, especially Haribo sweets. I don't want them anymore because I am tasting a bunch of sweet flavours all day long.

I'm so happy that I want to tell everyone - every smoker and everyone who loves a smoker - about it.

PG is propylene glycol - it's one of the bases you add the nicotine and flavourings to.

When I was on cigalikes I used a screw to open the carts to refill them - screw it into the little hole in the plastic on the end (3-4 turns of the screw should do) and then pull. It might need a good yank the first time you try it. The stuff on the inside looks like cotton wool - you want to put in enough that it looks wet but has still absorbed all the liquid. Make sure not to get any in the middle bit. If you put in too much liquid then put the plastic end back on, hold a scrunched up tissue or something to the metal end and then give a little blow from the plastic end - this will get the excess out. I found that E-lites would take several refillings especially if you use a light coloured e-liquid (less gunk to clog up the atomiser). I think that keeping the carts topped up so they don't burn dry might also help.

If they start to taste burnt or stop producing enough vapour then you can take the plastic end off and hold the carto under hot running water for about 30-45 seconds so that the water goes in the open end and then out the metal end. Give it a shake and a blow to get rid of as much water as possible and then leave it for a few days to dry with the plastic end off (on a sunny windowsill if possible) or put it in the oven for a few minutes the next time you have it on.

I have just successfully cleaned and dry burned the coil I've been using for the last week and a half

fucking hell it took me over an hour!

All went well until I took the flavour wicks out and they disintegrated into a pile of separate strands. I did the dry burn then attempted to get the flavour wicks back in but it was so fiddly. After about 20 mins trying I googled around and discovered that lots of people leave them out anyway so I reassembled it (not easy as the post was incredibly hard to get back in) and gave it a go.

Leaked like a sieve.

Took it to bits again, found some tweezers and put flavour wick back one strand at a time. Tried to get post back in but because it was so stiff it pinged off, scattering the flavour wick fragments everywhere. Gathered them up and once again pressed them into the slot a strand at a time with the tweezers. I had better luck this time and managed to get the post back in without the wicks coming out.

Screwed to battery ... leaked like a sieve. Grrrrr.

Took it to bits again and discovered flavour wicks were now a soggy matted little heap on top of the coil. Then I had an idea ... I took a hammer to one of the leaky shit CE4s I bought last week and used the long dangly wicks from that to make new flavour wicks. Success at last! No leaks

I'm not sure it even needed doing. It was performing fine anyway and the coil only took a couple of burns to glow all the way across. I just thought I ought to as it's had a week and a half of fairly heavy use. I have two others on the go with different flavours in but I'm not touching them until I have some spare wick (got some wick and wire ordered to have a go at making coils).

Hahaha! Well done I tried to clean my favourite one the other night. The original one that came in my starter kit. Rather than watching on YouTube how to do it properly I just went ahead and started washing it. Then I pulled the wicks out. Big mistake! How are you meant to get the two bits of coil back down and through that tiny hole? I think that's what you are meant to do anyway. I gave in and binned it the whole thing

QueenStromba - buy your VG from a pharmacy and not the baking aisle.

This one from Boots is only £1.29 for 200ml.

Thanks nbee! I had no idea you could buy it in Boots. Any idea where to get PG cheaply?

What clearomisers are you using PlentyOfPubeGardens and Maggie? I've not had to remove the wicks for my CE4s or Vivi Novas - I've just boiled them for ten minutes and then left them to dry for a day or two before doing a dry burn.

I'm using GS-H2s - they're built like evods.

I didn't boil mine (I didn't take the coil out either ), I followed method - just a good rinse in hot water and dry burn it dry, if that makes sense.

QueenStromba and nbee84 for some really informative posts.

It is a year today since I had my last cigarette!!

I will be celebrating later!!

Well done magimedi! Although it's not hard to do when vaping is so much nicer than smoking.

I thought you were on GS-H2s Plenty which confused me because I thought they didn't have wicks. I watched the first couple of minutes of the video and that's basically what I did with the E-lites cartos before I moved on to proper vaping kit.

If it really is that much faff then I recommend vivi nova tanks. You just unscrew the atomiser, stick it in boiling water for ten minutes, wait for it to dry then reattach it without getting e-liquid on the wicks and burn it in 5-10 second blasts until you stop getting smoke from the coil. They're also very good for leakage - I've only had them leak when I'm lying on my back in bed vaping solidly for ten minutes or so. Apparently the coils are easier to rebuild than most of the ones that bill themselves as rebuildable. I'm saving up the completely knackered ones for when I have more time to do it.

Well done magi, that's a fantastic achievement!

Not too much faff Queen. My wick arrived this morning so I won't be stuck next time. I also just got my pyrex protank (woohoo!) which has the same sort of coil so I think it's good to practise on something cheap first.

G'day.
New to thread, but a long-time vaper!
I use Halo liquid exclusively now - Juicycigs sell it. Bloody lovely and consistent. My fave is Sub-zero menthol, but I also have Kringle's Curse (peppermint) and Shamrock (chocolate mint) on the go.
The coffee flavours were promising, but way too sickly sweet for my taste buds.
If anyone fancies a bottle, I have a Cafe Mocha and a Twisted Java (both 30ml and steeped) going spare. Managed to actually vape about 2ml. Can't do it anymore!!

I love Lavatubes (have the regular and mini), but they snap so easily. I work in electronics, so have managed to get them rewelded, but CBA anymore.
I'm back to trusty Vision Ego clearos and batteries. They are hard to kill - they get crushed, dropped, sat on frequently.
I gave up on VV batteries because I only have them on max. I was tempted by the Provari, but heard too many tales of woe.
Does anyone have one of those?

...and the liquid I have is 24mg, if anyone is interested. Drop me a PM. Happy to post next week.

Well done Magi I'm nearly at 8 months and I have no doubt that I will reach a year - vaping it so much better than smoking.

Queen - you can only really buy PG over the net. Search for the best prices (check out ebay too) and there are some discount codes here.

My clearomiser of choice at the moment is an iclear16. The heads on these last for weeks and weeks. I buy the clearomisers and spare heads from here. I choose the free postage option and all my orders have arrived within a week.

Wow! Well done Magimedi. Have a great time celebrating.

I need to buy some decent new clearos. The CE4's that I bought to replace my gurgling GS-H2's are not up to much either. They gurgle too and they have to many air holes, I've been wrapping Sellotape around some of them. I'm thinking I may need invest a few more £'s and buy something decent as it's ruining my experience. Too much faffing about.

Slight hijacking of the thread, if you'll excuse it. I'm generally pro electronic cigarettes, but have started to have issues because of how someone I know uses them. She still smokes as much as before (which she is entirely entitled to do) and uses the e-cig as a top up when she wants another nicotine hit.

My issue (and I may be being massively unreasonable) as that she puffs away in meetings at work and at the table at sit down formal work dinners etc. I know it isn't the same as smoking in that there are no fumes, but I still feel that this is not really on. Are there social rules for e-cigs? For all the others I know, they treat them as if they were real cigarettes. I haven't said anything to her (not my place etc) and won't even if you say I am not being unreasonable, just wanted some thoughts.

Thanks!

Just been to my DMum's. She had to give up smoking about 5 years ago because of emphysema (they can't cure it but now she's given up it shouldn't get any worse). She was really quite cross that e cigs weren't around when she was giving up. She misses smoking every day and says if she had a bad enough day she would smoke again (although she's only had one day in 5 years that was bad enough - luckily with no access to shops that day). Anyway, she's now promised that if she has a bad enough day, she'll get an e-cig instead of fags.

She didn't quite understand our ego batteries. She thought that if the little ones looked like cigarettes then they should make the big ones look like cigars

Hi Beckamaw, welcome to the thread

Can you recommend a menthol for someone who doesn't like menthol very much?

Also, is there such a thing as a low nicotine liquid with a good throat hit? I got some 12mg RY4 and vanilla for times I know I'll probably vape a lot but it's missing the throat hit and is a bit unsatisfying because of that.

What base is your e-liquid? PG is better for throat hit - if you're already on pure PG then I don't have any suggestions.

That's what scares me. Actually managing to stop (I do want to) but still missing it every day. Did she have a try of yours? Well done your mum for managing to stop and staying stopped

I'm thinking I'm not meant to vape. Last Friday I gave my neighbour my spare ego to try and ordered a new one for myself, just another starter pack. It came on Thursday so i was happy that I had the two again. Have had it on charge tonight and just went to get it and it doesn't work! No blue light, nothing. I'm now back on my sky cig until my other ego charges. Between dodgy gurgling clearos and now my battery I think maybe someone is trying to to tell me something

Is this because I'm buying from ebay? The seller's all have good ratings and I have a great buyer history just incase anyone thinks I'm trying to get all my vaping paraphernalia for free . Has anyone else had experience of this? I'm feeling like giving up and going to the garage fo a ten pack. I won't though I hope

Maggie, from reading around, I'm coming to the conclusion that the only way to avoid faff is to get pre-filled cartomisers. Everything, whether it's top coiled or bottom coiled, top or bottom of the range, seems to leak sometimes, burn dry sometimes or need tweaking and looking after a bit.

Having said that I'm curious about what's going wrong with your GS-H2s because I've had no real problems with them. When is the gurgling happening? Is it from the start or when you've been vaping for a while? Is it leaking into the battery or is it just in the inside tube? How hard are you sucking? I think if you suck too hard it can flood.

I'm on Hangsen which I think is generally 80% pg. Is there anywhere that sells 100% pg?

Hi everyone, I'm new, I'm on day 4 of the eGo-T ?
Sometimes the vapours are ok to inhale, most if the time get a horrid stinging in my throat/chest, and cough like mad.
I am getting used to lack of real cigarettes, infact, haven't gave them much thought ! Does the inhaling get easier ? Sorry haven't read through the whole thread.

Maggie, if I were you I'd be banging on your neighbour's door! Seriously, if she's just trying it out but is still smoking and you've managed to stay off th fags I think your need is greater than hers, go and borrow it back until you have a replacement.

I think the occasional dud battery happens and any decent vendor will send a replacement.

Hi twosugars, don't inhale if it hurts! Most of the nicotine is absorbed through the mouth anyway. The first puff or two of the day makes me cough but it settles down after that. Very well done on 4 days without a fag!

Isabelonatricycle - I'd say 'don't be an arsehole' applies here as much as anywhere. If it's affecting her job then the relevant person should say something. Personally I wouldn't vape anywhere indoors without asking first - both the venue and the people I'm with.

Liberty flights have some e-liquid that's 100% PG here.