Hello vaping world!  I thought I might write about cartomizers as I seem to have acquired several different types and they all seem to be a little bit different from each other.  Cartomizers are a disposable combination of atomizer and cartridge all in one unit. It screws into your ‘battery’ or device where you would normally use an atomizer. Before talking about cartos that I’ve tried, I’ll try to cover some of the basics of what you’ll need to know about them. There’s a few basics to cover such as filling, drip tips, resistance and coils. Then I’ll talk about cartomizers that I’ve used and my thoughts on them.

Filling a Cartomizer

There are three ways to fill a cartomizer.

1. Dripping.
   Dripping a few drops of liquid at a time into the filling material that’s inside, taking care to tip it slightly so that the liquid doesn’t go into the centre, where the coil and electronic bits are located.  Many suggest using two or three drops, give it a quarter turn and then repeat until the filling is saturated.
2. Condom Method.
   Each cartomizer comes with a silicone or plastic top and end cap. Fill the top cap about half to three quarters full of juice and then sink the end of the carto (the end with the connector) into the cap of juice while holding the cap. You then use a tissue to wipe the outside and connector before using it. With larger cartos you may have to repeat this process until it’s filled all the way. Some videos show the connector end being put into the cap, and others show the top portion slid into the cap.  Which end that gets put into the juice is a matter of choice. I’ve always used the end that’s open and has the filler at the top to put into the liquid. I think it’s a matter of preference unless I learn otherwise.
3. Syringe
   Fill a syringe with eliquid and slowly add it along the sides of the cartomiser until the filling material is saturated. This method can be particularly useful with the much larger (2.5 mil and larger) cartomisers.

 

If you get more juice in the carto than will fit, you can put a wadded up tissue on the connector end and then carefully blow through the top part – the excess liquid will come out onto the tissue. Should there be a lot of excess juice, instead of a tissue, I hold the silicone top or bottom up to the connector end and then blow the excess into that.  After I’ve finished, I can then pour the remaining juice back into the juice bottle so there’s very little waste.

Drip Tips

Cartomizers come with a small plastic cap that is inserted into the top part. This can be removed for filling and replaced when done. You can then vape as if it were the end of a cigarette, but I much prefer using a drip tip. These fit into the top and let you vape without your lips touching the metal part of the cartomiser which can get quite warm. The name comes from their use when dripping liquid into atomizers but they’re also useful as a tip on a cartomiser. They also give a bit of colour to your daily vape.

Resistance

One of the first things I learned (unfortunately the hard way!) is that many cartos come in two different main formats – SR (Standard Resistance) and LR (Low Resistance).  You don’t need to be an electronics tech to use these – you just need to know what the differences are so you can make a good choice for what your needs are, and remember too that what you ‘need’ today might not be what you ‘want’ in a few weeks.  One of the first mistakes I made was assuming I would use one or the other exclusively. What you prefer to use really depends on what device you’re using vape on, and your personal preferences.

1. SR, Standard Resistance or just ‘regular’ cartomisers offer a cooler vape with less vapor but the liquid and batteries last longer. These can be used on pretty much any device from the 510 to the variable voltage devices. Sometimes these will be listed on a vendor site as anything from 2.2 ohm or higher.
2. LR, Low Resistance helps to mimic the vape one gets from a higher voltage device (i.e. more flavour, vapor and throat hit). It uses more power output and gives a warmer vape, a bit more throat hit and vapor, but the liquid is used a little quicker and will also use more battery power.  These cartos should really only be used on devices that are lower voltage to begin with such the Ego, or variable voltage devices set no higher than 3.7 volts.  As they use more battery power Low resistance cartos aren’t recommended for use with the standard 510 batteries.LR cartos vary in their resistance levels, usually between 1.5 and 2.1 ohms. I haven’t purchased based on ohms but just go by whether it’s LR or SR when I can.  I talked one vendor into adding the letters “LR” or “SR” to his item descriptions to help newbies like me – and it’d be nice if other vendors did too.  Tossing ohm numbers around just confuses new vapers in my opinion. Otherwise if the description refers to the ohms as 1.5 up to 2.1 then it’s a low resistance carto, if it’s 2.2 or higher then it’s standard resistance.

Coils

The coil is the part of the cartomizer that heats up the liquid so that it becomes vapor. Some of the cartomizers I’ve tried have dual coils, one type uses a horizontal coil, and the first ones I tried don’t even mention what they use – these would be a single vertical coil.

Slotted / Punched / Dotted / Flanged / DCT
If you aren’t using a cartomiser with a tank, don’t buy any that are slotted, punched (or factory punched), dotted or flanged. All of these words refers to whether the cartos have been modified to work with tanks. Tank cartomizers have holes in them to allow you to fill up a cylinder with eliquid and then the cartomizer draws the liquid from the hole. This can be a line (as in a slot), a hole punched into it or if it’s done at the factory it’s a very small hole (or dot) that’s added at the bottom of the cartomiser.  Some of these also come with a flange at the bottom of the carto which stops the tank from sliding. The letters DCT refer to ‘Dual Coil Tank’.

Size

If a particular cartomizer brand comes in different sizes I’ve noted this in the title in the same format that many vendors list them on their sites.  All have a regular size but these are listed on vendor sites without an XL variation in the title.

Cartomizers that I’ve Tried

I’ve listed the cartos in the order that I’ve tried them in, for no other reason than it shows my journey and discoveries.

Boge 510 (SR / LR) (Soft cap) (XL) (Slotted / Punched)

 

These seem to be the most common cartomizers. The first I tried of these were the LR because I didn’t understand the difference between standard and low resistance.  This was also before I had learned to properly inhale when vaping so I found them a bit ‘strong’, not realising that in the future this would be exactly what I’d be looking for – warmer, more vapor and more of a throat hit. So for quite awhile I preferred the standard resistance version and stocked up on them.  I have more of these SR Boges than I do any other carto and tend to use them for testing flavours, simply because of their smaller size (in comparison to some of the larger ones I’ve since tried) and the fact I have so many.  One of the most noticeable things about the Boges is they all seem to have a distinct hissing or slurping sound when I vape them, from the moment I press the button.  For flavour and better vape, I would prefer the LR over the SR when using an Ego battery but that said, the standards last a fair while with my Ego, but with the higher current (on 5v or variable voltage devices) they tend to empty fairly quick. The flip side of course is that at a higher current the flavour and vapor is better. It’s a bit of a trade off.  They’re even more slurpy sounding at higher voltages.

As far as usage goes, I really didn’t notice any difference between the standard sized Boges and the XL size. The major difference is that the former holds about 0.9ml of liquid while the XL holds around 1.2ml.

Kanger Horizontal Coil  (SR / LR)

I’ve only tried the SR version of these and have added the LR version to my shopping list.  In comparison to the Boge or even the Dual Coil cartos, the Kangers are very quiet.  If I haven’t vaped on one for a while and have forgotten how quiet they are, I’ve first thought they weren’t working!  These give a very warm vape and are nice on my Ego battery as well as at slightly higher voltages. I’m not sure if it’s the liquid I use with them (I have these reserved for my favourite tobacco flavour) but at 5volts the taste of my juice is a bit burned when used with my WOW 5v device.  With the LavaTube I get the best taste at around 4.7v.  Again, this could simply be the liquid used as I’ve only tried my tobacco flavour with it.  I do like these.  It’s a warm vape and the fact that they’re silent means I can be a more discreet when I’m out and about. These hold about 0.9ml of liquid.

SmokTech Dual Coil 510 (SR / LR) (XL, XXL, XXXL) (Slotted, Punched, Flanged)

 

1. XL
   If I’ve tried the standard *size* of the SmokTech dual coil cartos, it would have been in a tank situation so I’ll skip right to the XL size.  This is without a doubt my favourite. Although it comes in different resistances, the 1.5 LR  one is also suitable on both my Ego and at higher voltages.  This is because of some magic with the fact that it has dual coils and each work together. It gives me the strongest vape and because I can use it at a higher voltage it also provides really good throat hit and flavour.  Yet it gives quite a bit of flavour and vapor even on the Ego battery.  It holds about 1.8 ml of liquid so I really only need to fill once or twice a day and I’m good to go.  These do make a little bit of noise but what makes them distinct in terms of sound is that they make a little ‘popping’ sound as the coil is activated.  I find I get a better overall vape if I wait for this sound.  On my 5v device, the pop(s) come very quickly after I press the button. There’s a bit of a delay when I use the LavaTube even at higher voltages and a further delay when I use it with Ego battery.
2. XXL and XXXL
   I ordered five of the XXL size by accident. These are wider in diameter and come with a rubber whistle tip top. They hold about 2.5ml of liquid and as I can’t use my regular 510 style drip tips with them, they were promptly handed over to my other half. He also ‘inherited’ the gigantic XXXL “Ego” 5ml  cartomiser. This came with the WOW (along with several tank cartomisers) so it’s not one I ordered specifically.  This particular carto has Ego style threads (i.e. not 510) and also comes with its own rubber whistle tip top.  He’s been using these larger cartos for a week or more but doesn’t yet seem to have a preference for either one.  He didn’t like the smaller Boge cartos as he had to fill them too often. I’ve certainly not heard any similar complaints from him about the XXL or XXXL SmokTech’s.  Both of these are dual coil and he’s vaping them on the LavaTube at around 5 or 6volt.

 

Summing Up

Of all the cartomizers I’ve tried, at this point I think I prefer the Smoktech XL 1.2 Dual Coil cartomisers. They work well regardless of what device I use them on and hold about a mil more than the standard size Boges. I do like the pleasant vape from the Horizontal Kangers and I look forward to trying out the LR version of these sometime in the near future.

One last little tip – I found a package of small coloured bands – intended for little girl’s pony tails that I use to mark what flavour juice is in each carto.  In one of the photos above the carto has two green bands on it. This tells me it’s lime flavour. I use one or two bands and make note on a pad of paper for which colour(s) go with which flavour.

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I’ve been off the smokes for a month and 3 days now.  In that time we’ve had Christmas, New Years, a heatwave with no A/C and both Rod and I have had nasty colds.  I reckon if I can make it through all that without a hitch, I’m nearly home free.  I do have the odd twinge of a craving, but I keep my E-cig next to me, right where I used to keep my lighter and just reach for that instead and before I realise it the craving is gone.

Although I’m sure in the long run I’ll be saving money, in the meantime I’ve been trying different hardware as well as various juice flavours.  It’s been fascinating and very rewarding.  I’ve found that I really enjoy mixing juices and trying flavours – there’s a satisfaction to whole process that’s hard to describe.

Just about a week after I quit a new device I ordered arrived. It was an Ego-like VV (Variable Voltage) battery that has 3 different voltages, the highest being about 4.5.  The regular batteries I’d been using give 3.3 voltage or is it 3.7? I forget. The higher the voltage the more flavour, vapour and ‘throat hit’.  Throat hit is that feeling you get when smoking on inhaling.  Some E-liquid and voltages give more than others.  Until I experienced this with the new battery, I had no idea what it was.  And once I did, I wanted more.  It truly makes a big difference.

About the same time I was reading in the Aussie Vapers forum about a new device from China that offered variable voltage (VV) from 3 volts all the way to 6 volts and was actually quite inexpensive compared to other devices that had similar options.  After giving it serious thought I joined several others in pre-ordering the device. It arrived on the 23rd of December, a little over 2 weeks since I’d quit smoking. Wow!  It completely changed things for me.  I could set the voltage as high or low as I wanted, it brought out the taste of most of my E-liquid and gave that throat hit satisfaction that makes all the difference in the world.  The only problem with it is that it’s really quite large and not terribly pretty to look at. It’s not the kind of thing I can just toss in my purse – it’s more an at home thing. While I had my cold I found I could set it lower so that it didn’t hurt my throat or give me a coughing fit. Once I was feeling better, I set it higher – to around the 5v mark and quite enjoyed the difference.

So about a week ago after seeing good reviews on another new device that is regulated to 5v, I decided to try it. It was a good price and came with quite a bit of extras. It’s also closer in size to the Ego’s and will fit in my purse or pocket easily.  It only does 5v. But that is just about perfect for me. After a couple of days of using it and the other VV device I put away my old Ego batteries. They just give me a really fuzzy flavour with so much less throat hit or vapour.  I’m keeping them as if something happens to my newer devices these will be available as spares – as in the ‘something is better than nothing’ category.

I quite like the new 5v device and use it most of the time.  I do like having two devices going at once though – one with my tobacco flavour in it – what I reach for when I get a craving, and one with whatever flavour of the day/moment I’m vaping on.  I like having the choice and being able to have a variety. (You can’t do that with cigarettes unless you buy two different brands!).

The other night the unthinkable happened.  Rod wanted to taste what I was vaping and I handed him my Ecig to give it a go.  His immediate reaction was ‘Wow! That flavour has a lot of throat hit!’ .  I explained that it wasn’t so much the flavour as the device and proved it to him by taking off the cartomiser with juice in it and letting him try it on his Ego. The thing with actually experiencing good flavour and throat hit is you want it. So being the soft-hearted person I am, I ended up letting him have my VV device while I kept the 5v one.  After being lost for the evening without having two different devices to use – and having to change cartomisers on the one thing to change flavours I went shopping for another one for myself. Unfortunately the 5v only device was out of stock so after looking at various other choices on the Internet, I went with another of the larger VV ones like I gave Rod.  For the price and what it does I’m quite willing to have another one. It will arrive Monday and I’ll be very happy to see it!

Up till now I haven’t mentioned what the device names are because I didn’t want this to be a review of them. But if you’re interested the variable voltage (VV) device is the Lavatube or ‘VV Power’ while the 5v is the Smoktech WOW.  Both are available from the same vendor here in Australia, GGecigs.  I received good service from them with both (and now 3) purchases. I should note that the WOW has a button issue but less so if I remove the Ego thread cover cap.  The Ego (like) VV I bought from Health Cabin.  For the price, it’s OK but only to try out a slightly higher voltage or to have an additional Ego battery.  It is NOT made by Joyetech however, but is a knock off.

So this has been part of my journey thus far but there’s still a lot more to share which I hope to do in the near future.

According to my little ‘quit smoking’ app on my phone, I’ve now been vaping exclusively for 11 days.  In that time I’ve had no withdrawal symptoms, no being cranky and irritable, no problems at all.  About the only thing of note would be that my lungs have been cleaning themselves and I’ve coughed up a lot of icky stuff which is now becoming less and less.

I tend to mostly use cartomisers throughout the day when vaping, but when I have my vape breaks out on the patio, I prefer to use the drip method.  I get a much warmer, smoother & quieter vape, and because it has a beginning (when I put liquid in the atty) and an end (when I get the “you’ve used your liquid up” taste) it’s a bit more like what I had when smoking.  When you use a cartomiser it lasts a fair long while – several hours.

One of the first things I noticed after a few days of full time vaping is that I certainly use much more in the way of e-juice.  I’ve made up my favourite flavours in larger 30 ml batches so they can steep and will be nice when I’m ready for them.

I’ve learned to make up a few cartomisers with the juice that I use the most. That way when one gets empty I can toss it into the bag to be refilled later and grab another one that’s already filled. It makes for a very quick and easy change over.

Last week I tried a little ‘tank’ type cartomiser named ‘Bud Sapphire‘.  I thought it would give me a bit longer vape and skip the added filler that’s in cartomisers (some of which can be very noisy). The Bud Sapphires came in a box of two and the first one I filled with a freshly made up juice that I thought I’d love to vape on all day. I don’t know if it was the device or the juice (haven’t been game to try it since) but the first taste was wonderful. The second was stomach-churning awful.  So I let it sit for a bit and tried it again. Same thing. I let it sit for a few days trying it every now and then with the same results each time. Very odd. I removed the liquid with a syringe and tried something else but there’s still the hint of the other juice. The second sapphire I tried with juice I use all the time and it’s all right – it gives a lot of vapour but lacks in throat hit and just doesn’t seem to have much ‘oomph’.  I keep this on my bedside and use it for my first few vapes of the day. It’s the one time of the day when I need something ‘light’ rather than giving me so much it blows my lungs out.  The other thing I don’t like about these is the flat tip.  I’ve really become spoiled by using drip tips with a round mouth piece. It just feels far more natural to me.

This week I ordered a couple of Baby Notta tanks from Vape King.  These are inexpensive ‘tanks’ that use a regular cartomiser with a little hole punched in it. The cartomiser sits in a plastic cylinder with gaskets on either end. You first fill the cartomiser with juice, put it in the cylinder and make sure the gaskets are in properly on both ends.  There’s a little plastic screw on the cylinder near the top that you unscrew to access a small hole to insert a syringe and fill the cylinder up with liquid.  Once done, the screw goes back in, providing a sealed tank.  The liquid gets added to the cartomiser from the small hole and as the Baby Notta holds about 3 ml of liquid, you’re all set for about the same amount of time as 3 or 4 cartomisers full, at least. I’m really glad I gave this a try – and that I bought two.  I took the first one apart to ensure I could put it back together again — when the cartomiser reaches the end of its life I’d need to replace it  so knowing I could re-assemble was important to me. Having the spare one to see what a correctly assembled tank is supposed to look like was very helpful.  Only problem I have at the moment is what juice to put in the second tank!

Edited on 20 Jan 2012 to remove banner based on a time in another timezone.

It’s a different world for me this week. It’s not filled with smoke, ashes or burning tobacco. Instead it’s filled with vapour, lovely tastes, great smells and real relaxation without a smidgen of guilt.

I traded in smoking for vaping full time. FINALLY.  I feel much better thinking of it as graduating to full time vaping than to say I quit smoking. I’d much rather think I’ve started something rather than an end to smoking. It’s just a much more positive spin and it’s more fitting of how I feel.

I got really frustrated that I hadn’t yet made the transition to vaping 100% to the point where, for a few days, I quit trying to quit. I was just getting too frustrated with myself and needed to take a step back and re-group. I’m glad I did. It helped get me in a better mindset. Something else that really helped was starting a thread in the AussieVapers forum and asking people to tell what their vaping day was like. That was really informative. I’d been making the assumption for myself that I’d just continue to have my usual smoke breaks but vape instead with very little, if any, vaping in between.  Turns out the vast majority of people who responded told me they vape all day. And some also take vape breaks as well.  That was interesting and proved to be quite helpful in making the transition.  It was also brought up that the amount of nicotine I was vaping was still quite low and if I increased it, that might help with cravings for cigarettes.

Around the same time I was doing some other reasearch online and found a few discussions and videos on the ‘right’ way to inhale when using an E-cig. What I was doing was inhaling directly into my lungs (the same way I smoked). The better way to inhale vapour is to draw it into the mouth first and then into the lungs. This works much better for me I have less issues with asthma doing it this way.

So I taught myself to inhale differently and once I could handle the nicotine I made up more E-juice with slightly more nicotine and slowly, every other day kept increasing the nicotine amount until I was vaping 18mg successfully. This seems to be my level as I vaped more but smoked less cigarettes.

Last Saturday I knew my tobacco would run out sometime during the day or night and I made the decision not to buy any more. Also in my favour on the weekend is my particular brand (and genre) of rolling tobacco is menthol and only available at the smoke shop. I can’t just go into any grocery store or petrol station and get my tobacco. The smoke shop closes at 5pm on Saturdays and doesn’t open again until 11am Sunday.  I saw this as a real advantage for running out of tobacco – it’s not like I’d be able to run out and get more for awhile.

I finished my last smoke around 3:30 am and went to bed.  When I woke on Sunday I reached for my E-cig and starting vaping away even before making myself coffee.Each day I’ve still spent time out on the patio taking breaks but instead of smoking, vaping instead. And it’s been quite pleasant.  I haven’t had too many cravings at all and when I do have one, I’ve been able to quickly deal with it by having a vape instead.

When I think of all the awful nicotine lozenges I’ve gone through in the past when trying to quit smoking and how much easier and more pleasant this transition was, I’m blown away.

I should clarify.  It hasn’t been easy getting sorted out as far as my asthma goes but learning how to inhale correctly really made a huge improvement in that regard. Once all the conditions were right though, the actual change over to vaping full time wasn’t anything as horrific as other ways I’ve quit smoking. And I can still take breaks on my patio and pretty much follow the same routine as I always have with the exception that I’m using an E-cig instead. This is SO much better!

I have lots of other news about vaping but wanted to share this today. It’s been almost 4 full days now!  I’ve definitely graduated to full time vaping.

I’ve spent the last week trying various blends of tobacco flavoured e-juice as well as having a go at organising and consolidating my ever growing collection of various flavoured juices.  I couldn’t resist creating a database of the flavours, types and amount of nicotine. (Yes, I’m a geeky lady!)  It’s actually proven to be very useful. Rather than digging through bottles of juice, I’m able to objectively look at the list in the database and see what I have and decide what to do with it.

There were several bottles of nicotine juice, all in different strengths, left over remnants from my initial trials in finding what nicotine strength works for me. Many of my first tests used menthol as the flavouring so there were a number of these too. I found a website that has just about every e-juice related calculator tool conceivable. One of it’s calculators proved really useful to me in consolidating both my nicotine menthol mixes into larger batches of 18mg strength.

Once finished with that project I was then able to adjust the tobacco flavours that I’d mixed with too high nicotine down to a level that my body can deal with by adding a bit of menthol. The combining calculator proved really useful for this as well.  So there are no more ‘orphan’ bottles of too strong e-juice that can’t be vaped in my kit and no more looking at these in frustration of previous mistakes.   The website with the calculators is at: http://www.ecigvape.com/ and I highly recommend it. Very useful tools.

In my last blog I wrote about trying a tobacco flavour named VK4. This is the only flavour I’ve totally finished. It has a fantastic carmel and vanilla taste to it without being overly sweet.  At the start of the week I was out of it and really missing it. It was truly something I could vape all day long. I was lamenting being out of it on Twitter when it was suggested to me I just buy more. The problem was Vape King was out of stock.  As this blend is based on a popular tobacco flavour named ‘RY4′ which has a rich history, I thought maybe I could find it by this name from an Aussie vendor. I was surprised to only find one vendor selling it, but this could be because they gave their blends other names as Vape King did with their VK4.  I ordered from VapeBar and had their RY4 a couple days later. I wasn’t as enamoured with it as I had been with the VK4, but it certainly helped me make it through the week.

Near the end of the week, Vape King let me know that their blend was back in stock and they also announced on AussieVapers that they had a new line available – concentrates for people who enjoy DIY mixing of flavours.  Awesome. I did use SOME self restraint and held off ordering until Sunday! I bought 30ml of the lovely yummy caramel VK4 doubler – that should hold me for awhile, I hope. From the list of concentrates I picked out apple, lemon, caramel and unflavoured tobacco.

The fruit flavours are because after vaping the tobacco flavours for awhile I’ve found I sometimes need a change of taste for a bit and the fruit flavours really seem quite nice then.  The caramel should be helpful for improving the other RY4 tobacco. It might also be interesting to make a blend of caramel and apple for a caramel apple flavour. Yum. And sugar free!  The unflavoured tobacco can be used for creating my own mixes. It’s more for future need rather than current stuff.

I also ordered a couple of ‘Fuss Free Mixers’. These come in 10ml bottles with 5ml of doubler flavour so all I have to do is add 5ml nic juice and it’s ready to go.  I opted for ‘Apple Pie’ and ‘NRG Drink’.  The NRG drink has guava and caffeine in it so that should be interesting to try.  It might be the perfect morning vape!

Speaking of morning vapes, I’m still working on the not actually smoking thing. I have had some really good days where I’ve had maybe 5 smokes all day.  I’ve also had days where I kinda lost count and didn’t do as well. @BlacksmithPro on Twitter reminded me, “You’re doing great, at your own pace and if and when you’re ready, you need not feel any pressure ”    I really can’t tell you how helpful I found that.

In response to someone else who’s still smoking but new to vaping on the AussieVapers forum, Sik wrote “lots of people don’t switch straight away. I know of a few people who very gradually cut out the “key” smokes over a period of months till they actually preferred to vape. Theres no reason to feel guilty about it. Just take it at your own pace. One of the good things about vaping you can make the therapy fit you rather than you having to fit the therapy.”  Aren’t these folks – and the concepts they put across – absolutely wonderful?!  It’s so refreshing to feel that I’m striving for something at my own pace – and with this kind of support I know I’ll get there.

I’m still finding my way when it comes to vaping and giving up the smokes. Sadly, I haven’t been the lucky type that could immediately give up on them and move right into vaping. First there was the nicotine issue. I’m able to handle a slightly stronger mix but have to be careful. There’s a very fine line between what I can handle and what I can’t. The moment that line gets crossed, I pretty much have to deal with asthma for the rest of the day. This makes it hard to find what works for me.

As an aside, what bugs me is that I’ve read a lot of people have less issues with asthma when they’ve switched to vaping. That may be true – I know when I have the mix of e-juice and nicotine just right I don’t have any problems at all and if I’m also not smoking on the day it’s even better. Meanwhile though, finding a good consistent, always right mix is still being worked out, which means the occasional bout of wheezing and using inhalers (how ironic is that?)

Taste and ritual have also come into play. One day last weekend while outside having a break (and yes, a cigarette), I pulled out some ejuice and experimented with all of my gear and through trial and error found that I really liked ‘dripping’ as it let me taste and try things without using too much and without really wasting anything. Dripping involves dropping two or three drops of liquid into the atomiser directly and then vaping that. There are ‘drip tips’ that you can buy so you’re not putting your lips directly on the atomiser, but I found the soft caps from my Boge cartomisers worked a treat for this and it makes my little 510 e-cigs look and feel more like a cigarette as it just covers the top of the atomiser. It’s amazing how far a few drops of liquid can go. Probably a little longer than it takes to smoke a cigarette. And there’s where ritual really helps. I’m used to sitting down, rolling a smoke, lighting it and then putting my rolling materials away. By using the drip method, it gives me a new ritual to associate with vaping – I sit down, take the cap off the atomiser, add a couple of drops of liquid into it, put the plastic cap back on and then vape away on it until the liquid runs out in about 10 minutes or so. You know when the liquid has gone away. The taste changes dramatically. This little ritual lets me know when my break is over and gives me a new thing to do beyond just sitting down and toking on the e-cig.

After finding that dripping really makes things a little better for me, the next discovery was comparing the ‘taste’ of my cigarette vs the menthol I was vaping. I decided I really needed the taste to have something in the background or to be a bit more like tobacco. When I received my first starter kit, I was sent a few samples of tobacco flavouring so I dug one out to give it a try. I found that menthol and PJ (a flavour similar to Peter Jackson brand cigarettes) flavours worked really well for me. The only problem was I only had a little bit of the PJ liquid and what I had was a ‘single’, meant for use when not using any additional nicotine liquid. It was enough to let me know I was on the right track, though.

I ordered a 5ml bottle of “VK4″ tobacco doubler flavouring from Vape King on Sunday and had it in my hands by Tuesday. I mixed half of this into a 5ml bottle (being a doubler it makes a total of 10ml but I wanted to start small so I’d have a back up if something went wrong). The mix I made was 10mg nicotine, 40% VK4 and 10% menthol. Wow. Smooth as! VK4 is Vape King’s own formula on a popular tobacco flavour variant named RY4. This mix has caramel and vanilla in it. I can’t honestly taste the vanilla (maybe because my tastebuds are still shot from smoking) but the butter flavour in the caramel just makes me think I’m enjoying some really fancy desert. It’s not too sweet though – it’s just enough. And mixed with the 10% menthol it just gives it a bit of a higher note that (for me) is just right. This mix is the only one I’ve ever actually finished a 5ml bottle or 3ml tank. I had it in my 510 e-cig for vaping as well as in a 3ml tank on my Ego-T model which I guess would be the equivalent to having a spare pack of commercial cigarettes on hand for those times when rolling a smoke is inconvenient. Whenever leaving to go anywhere, I’ve just tossed the Ego into my purse and that way it’s available anytime, anywhere without any worrying about leaking (which is still an issue with my 510 but less so with dripping). The only problem with my mix is that it was a bit light in nicotine. I still need more nicotine to feel ‘satisfied’ and leave the cigarettes behind.

As I had half the bottle of concentrated VK4 left, yesterday I made a new batch using 16mg nicotine and no extra menthol. It was too strong. Cue the asthma attack central. This morning I added plain (not doubled) menthol to it – not enough to over power it, but just enough to give that added ‘light note’ and reduce the nicotine content slightly. So I’ve no idea of the actual nicotine amount in terms of milligrams, but the mix I have is perfect – it gives me a nice tasting menthol tobacco taste and probably the highest amount of nicotine my body can handle. It’s probably around 14-15mg. Ish. But it works. And this should give me a couple days of vaping.

Added several hours later: I’ve had to further cut this mix with more menthol as the cumulative effect of a vaping it over the course of an hour proved too much for me and the asthma was cued again.  I’ll just keep cutting it back till it works. Frustrating though, once again I thought I had it sorted. 

After finding that the VK4 tobacco flavour was delightful, I decided to make sure to have tobacco flavouring on hand. I didn’t really want to order any of the other tobacco flavours Vape King has on their site, aside from the VK4 of course. So I shopped around online and came back to probably the best e-juice site in Australia -JuiceWhore. I ordered her Tobacco sampler #2 which includes a flavour that I hear about in the AussieVapers forum all the time – it’s named Del’s Ultimate Pipe, and given the rave reviews of it hope it’ll be as nice as everyone tells me it is. The Sample pack has 5 different types of flavours, all 5ml doublers, so they each will mix up to 10mls, for a total of 50ml altogether. That should see me through for a while.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep working on strategies that will make my use of cigarettes something in my distant past. I do feel I’m making progress, even though it’s been slower than what I was expecting.

In other news, I’ve created a new Twitter account just for vaping friends and sharing my vaping experiences (not to mention asking dumb questions and getting quick answers!). You can find me as @Flittervape.

Things I learned while sorting out what strength Nic Juice works for me…

If you’re going to mix flavours and nicotine, make sure you have plenty of small 5 ml bottles. Don’t mix anything larger than this no matter how tempting until you know you’re going to like the combination. Especially when trying to determine how much nicotine you can handle. You may find yourself with several 10 ml bottles of nic juice that’s too strong or too weak.

Buy more bottles than you think you’ll use. I need to find more as I’ve used all that I’ve ordered in my experimentations and now that I know what works, I’m ready to try a few different flavours but I’ll have to either use some makeshift containers or wait until I order some more bottles.

Start out with higher amounts of nicotine first. If it’s too strong you can always dilute it to lesser concentrations. You can’t easily do the opposite. I now have several bottles (yes, some are 10 ml) of flavoured nic juice that I’ll need to dilute down to my tolerable level.

If you find that the higher concentrations cause you issues, don’t keep vaping it hoping you’ll get used to it, especially if you have issues with asthma. Mix a lower concentration of nicotine and try again. I really made things worse for myself the first few days by trying to ‘get used to it’ while my body was busy telling me it wasn’t working.

Don’t assume you’ve found the right amount of nicotine to use by your first few vapes of a particular strength. Make sure you can get through a day with the same mix as you may find it unsuitable in certain conditions. I thought I’d found the right amount several times until I’d gone without a cigarette or vaping for a while and then took a deep inhale and it kicked off an asthma attack. I don’t have that issue with the 6 mg amount. If I have a big vape I only have a little bit of a slight twinge.

I should mention I don’t normally have asthma issues on a regular basis, but I’ve also had issues with asthma when using traditional nicotine replacement therapy such as gum or lozenges. Oddly I don’t have that issue with smoking cigarettes. Go figure.

Measurements are important. If you use syringes to measure the various components such as nicotine, PG and VG juice, make sure to get comfortable using them and check your ‘recipe’ against what you’ve measured. It’s easy to make mistakes. Slow down, check your measurements carefully – more than once. If in doubt ask someone else to check too. They may catch something you missed. Such as using 1.5 ml instead of the 2.5 it shows in the ‘recipe’. It’s all too easy when working with unfamiliar equipment like syringes and trying to see the individual measurement lines to not notice that you’re looking at the wrong section. Or is that just me? At any rate, I ordered a small mini-scale to help me get it right in the future.

Don’t use cartomisers to test your nicotine mixes. Save your cartomisers for once you’ve found the right mix. I made this make. More than once. I ended up having to steam the cartomisers so I could reuse them. This was an added job I could have avoided. I’ll write about using steam to clean out cartomisers in the future.

If you get frustrated, set it aside but do keep trying. Eventually you’ll find what works for you, and vaping, once you get the nicotine amount worked out, is much healthier than smoking. You may also find you prefer vaping without the nicotine, and that’s OK too. What works for you is what’s important.

These are a few of the lessons I learned in the last week while trying to find the perfect amount of nicotine to let me switch from smoking to vaping. You could read this as a list of things I learned the hard way… And you’d be right too!

A week ago I received my order of nicotine liquid and started on a journey of finding the right amount to use for vaping. I made the assumption that because I smoke a lot I should go with a higher amount of nicotine to vape. I started with 18 mg, and found the vape to be very harsh and almost painful in my chest. Every time I had a vape, I’d wind up coughing and wheezing. I asked about this in the forums and then tried 12 mg. Same story. And again with 10 mg. Finally instead of mixing bottles of nic juice I found it easier and more economical to use the tank cartridges of my Ego-T e-cigarette and simply add drops of nicotine to my preferred flavour mix.

The Ego-T cartridge holds 2 ml of liquid. I was able to use a nicotine calculator and work out how much nicotine was in 1, 2 and 3 drops along with my menthol flavouring to work out what level of nicotine I could actually handle. The answer turned out to be 2 drops of 100 mg nicotine into 2 ml of flavour gives me about 6 mg nicotine and that’s my tolerance level.

There are several online nicotine calculators but I used a free program for Windows. Luckily I have Windows as a virtual machine on my Linux box so no problems there. The software is called “eJuice Me Up” (http://www.ejuice.breaktru.com/). Once I got my head around what details I needed to fill in, it’s quite straight forward to use. If you’re looking for an online calculator, this one is often mentioned in some of the forums I read: http://www.todmuller.com/ejuice/ejuice.php

At 6 mg nicotine, I can inhale the vapour without any sudden asthma attacks and I’m able to use it over the course of a day without any issues. I’ve found that it satisfies my need for nicotine quite well. I was able to go about 5 hours last night and about the same length of time today without having a real cigarette. That’s a pretty good indication that when I finish this last bit of tobacco I have, I should be able to make the switch to vaping completely. My problem here at home is that I know my roll-my-own cigarette supplies are just out on the patio and it’s easy to give in to temptation. When I went without, it was because I left all my smoking supplies at home so I didn’t really have any easy temptation. I only had the e-cig, and it did a great job at managing my craving.

I’m still struggling to find the words I’m comfortable with – “e-cig” still doesn’t sound right. “PV” for Personal Vaporiser is ok, but not everyone is going to know what that is. So excuse me while I flounder for the right noun to give this little device that’s becoming a part of my life. Meanwhile, I’ll keep on learning and will share my adventures as I go.

The other day I wrote about my initial experiences with vaping and wrote about the fact I had so many problems with the 510-T e-cig leaking. I said I’d have to retire them from use entirely due to the problem.

I’ve done some further investigating and have found that instead of using the little tank cartridges I can use a cartomiser instead. This is a two-in-one thingy. The 510-T (and most e-cigs) has 3 parts to it – the battery which is the bottom section that also has the silly little red light that comes on when you take a puff, an atomiser, which is the part that heats up the liquid and makes the vapour, and the tank cartridge that holds the liquid. A cartomiser combines the cartridge and atomiser into one unit and apparently does a nicer job of making vapour as well as being less prone to leakage. While they’re disposable, you can also reuse them several times over, and they’re fairly cheap too – under $2 for each one. As well, the same cartomiser will fit on my Ego unit so that’s a bit of a double score. I’ve ordered a few of these and look forward to trying them out.

I also ordered something called a ‘drip tip’ which can either be used on its own above an atomiser or used above a carto (the shortened term for cartomiser). You drip about 3 drops of liquid into it which goes into the atomiser and this lets you have a more direct vape, as well as making it easy to try out various flavour liquid without having to use a great deal of it in a cartridge or carto. It too was under $2 and will be interesting to check out.

I’m so glad I don’t have to retire the little 510s. I really do think they’ll be nice for any vapes I have that are just for fun – such as the various dessert flavoured liquids and such.

I watched a few videos on YouTube to learn how cartos and drip tips are used. YouTube is excellent for learning about this stuff as you can see the exact steps to take and it’s sort of like having someone right with you to show you how things are done. I’ve watched more videos on YouTube since discovering vaping than I’ve ever watched in the last 5 years!

On another bright note, my other half has taken to carrying around his Ego in his pocket and has mentioned more than once how much he really likes it. Yay!