Vaping, then

[Paul]

Is anyone vaping anything interesting, such as DMT?

[Jez]

So I quit the fags about 6 months ago now and have vaped ever since. Using an aspire nx75 battery unit and Stainless Steel coils which let me use temp control (more smooth vaping with no dry hits). The juice I'm absolutely in love with is Fantasi Orange (the company that makes it has a great line up in general). My local shop sells it to me for 15 quid for the 100ml bottle.

I really want to buy a new kit with double battery set up, and replace my own cotton soak. One of the chaps on exercise had one and it was really nice. Bit apprehensive about moving from replaceable coils but I seem to go through them very quickly often replacing them every week or so.

[Snowy]

Good to hear you are off the smokes again mate.

I am still vaping on a Tugboat DNA250 box mod and several tanks, with my Kylin V2 RTA as my go-to atomiser. I also have a Goon dripper and a Limitless RDTA but they get less use. I enjoy building my own decks, which also saves a fair bit of money. I tend to use SS316L Clapton wire from Flatwire, with Cotton Bacon for wicking. Twin coil, 6 wraps per coil, vaping at 60W on around a 0.15ohm build.

I do like the Fantasi Orange, the Ice one even more so, but it has a huge drawback - it is loaded with sugar, which fouls the shit out of my builds in no time and will be wrecking your coils. Literally I can go from a pristine new deck to a blackened ruin in the space of a day or two on the Fantasi juice.

[Jez]

Any other juices you can recommend that are good tasting but maybe a bit less harsh?

[Snowy]

A basic rule of thumb is avoid the high sugar content ones - any good vape shop will be able to steer you right.

Links from my local vape shop on some liquids:

https://vape-er.co.uk/category/e-liquids/vapor-maid/ Vapor Maid make some nice dessert flavours - I am a fan of the pancake and syrup one. The cookie dough one is also nice, but higher sugar content and a bit of a coil-fouler.

https://vape-er.co.uk/category/e-liquids/beard-vape-co/ Beard are always a good bet - nice juice all round - their custard with a dash of custard is particularly nice if you enjoy vanilla in your vape.

Old-school English desserts - Dinner lady do some nice juices, the lemon tart is very nice https://vape-er.co.uk/category/e-liquids/dinner-lady/

My all-time favourite remains Boss Reserve by Cuttwood - basically like vaping crunchy nut cornflakes and milk.

[Jez]

Cheers Ian. I'll see if my local shop does those. In general I'm not a huge fan of the dessert type ones maybe I've not tried enough of them though.

So I'm thinking I'm going to try get a dual wicked OBS Engine and a decent sized double battery mod to go with it. The OBS seems to gather some great reviews round abouts. Main things being no leaking, easy refill, great flavour etc.

One of the blokes I was on exercise with has a single wick OBS and I had a blast of it really really nice and he's not changed the coil inside for 2 months. He showed me how easy it was to change the cotton and such.

Hoping my local shop will have some in stock.

[Snowy]

If desserts not your thing then my suggestions may not be for you

Building decks is easy enough, surprised at a coil lasting 2 months though - 2 weeks is a good result. If he is changing the wicking and dry-burning the coil clean that could work. Unfortunately I like clapton coils, and the make-up of the wire means that you get stuff burnt into it, so changing them out regularly helps keep the flavour clean.

Doesn't bother me, I can have a new deck built in 5-10 mins so no hardship

[Jez]

Yes he was definitely taking out the wick and burning the coil dry. Dunno what it was made of though.

[Snowy]

I am still surprised he wasn't getting any worse flavour but hey, more power to the man

Not seen that RDA you linked, although it looks decent. The main trick with building your own decks is always wicking. Too much too tight, and you will choke off the flow of juice leading to dry hits. Too little too loose and you will get leaking. Has to be the Three Bears every time - has to be just right

Wicking is pretty cheap though, so easy enough to change up. Also worth looking at toolkits for your deck builds - you can just use a screwdriver shaft or drill bit, but I use a coil-jig which gives you identical coils time after time - some options from £10 up on here - https://vape-er.co.uk/category/tools/

[Rusty]

These all sound delicious. Count me in (no, I don't smoke or Vape )

[Tichinde]

I have finally made the jump to zero nicotine.
Some wonky sleep issues, a bit of unusual tiredness (which could be anything in fairness) but all seems to be calming down after 2 weeks.

Still vaping at the moment, but without nicotine it's genuinely not quite as nice.
Who knew addictive substances made things better eh?

On liquids I'm a fair fan of the AVB stuff, Their Smurfs Blood and Wise man (Blueberry and Watermelon respectively) are pretty nice in terms of flavour.

[Jez]

I decided to make the jump to an RTA build with a new more powerful mod.

I got a GeekVape Aegis mod, seems ok, plenty of power in it anyway.

Got 2 Kylin v2 RTA tanks so i can have a couple of flavours on the go. My local shop spent ages with me giving me a full tutorial, threw in loads of free stuff and a discount on top. All seemed fine initially, then it started leaking in a big way. Not just a bit of a drop here and there but it was full on flooding out then it would stop and start again. Tried rebuilding and that didnt help either. Watched a few vids on YouTube and tried again, no real difference. So I've boxed the lot up and properly sulked about it all now. I read that these tanks have this problem, theres 10 pages about it on planet of vapes forum.

You use these Ian right? Whats the problem here? Im totally new at wicking so im tempted to say that its probably me but i dont feel it is as it all looks ok to me.

[Snowy]

Jez, the chances are it is a wicking issue. I have a Kylin as my daily vape, same as yours, and it can be a bugger until you get it just so.

If I tell you the build I use, it might help.

I like to use Clapton coils, and I buy stainless steel Flatwire SS16. I prefer steel as there is no oxidisation and you can burn the coils clean a few times each so gives a longer life. I wind 6 loops on a 3mm jig, giving around a .14 ohm coil. That is quite a wide coil, but allows me to get the right level of wicking to make the kylin work well. I use twin coils in my build.

Before wicking I fire the coils to burn off anything that might be coating them, as well as to make sure they both heat evenly. Where they don’t, a squeeze with my ceramic-tipped tweezers and fire again soon fixes that.

I use cotton bacon wicking, and take enough to provide a snug fit within the coil (a small amount of resistance as it is pulled through) but not too tight. I then leave about 1cm of wicking either side. The wicking I am careful at the point I tuck it down into the juice area to ensure that it is all facing down. I do one coil at a time, tuck the first down, make sure I have space for the other wick, and do the same again. I make sure then by looking side-on that there are no obvious gaps and fluff the wicking if needs be to remove any before patting it flat with the juice openings.

Do that both sides, prime the coil and wicking with a good slug of juice, and screw it all together. Hold it upside down (if you have any juice in the tank) as you do so, and screw it closed but so that the gold insides show against the juice holes not the wicking. Then close off the airflow, before opening the top and filling. After filling, twist the body so the wicking is open to the juice, then open the airflow up.

Finally, an issue I had with mine was that the copper contact screw on the bottom was not very well tightened, so give that a check. Be careful though as these screws are not massively strong, being made for conductivity more than anything else. Don’t go mad or you will shear the screw and the whole unit is ruined.

If you want to get together on Skype, I am happy to walk you through a build using a webcam so that you can see what I am doing as I do it. Let me know fella.

[Tichinde]

I'm pretty much done with vaping.

Took about a week and a half of no nicotine and I've just stopped picking it up....
Took it out with me to a piss up on Wednesday, used it once to keep our teams resident smoker company.

Shame, I do miss the actual act of vaping but it's just no where near as pleasant without the nicotine.

[Snowy]

For me it is my last real vice. I don't drink much any more, I certainly don't go near anything else that could be classed as *ahem* recreational, and vaping cuts out about 1999 chemicals that were part of my intake for 30 years. In my mind, I need something in my life so 3% nicotine vape it is, I have no desire to go to 0 or stop just yet.

The main reason is work - I work in a whirlwind of constant stress, and without the opportunity to pop outside the mayhem for a few minutes every few hours, I would go insane, no question.

It might kill me, but I can't let go my only lifeline to sanity!