Beginning to Vape:
Vapor Renu (for your Juice)
*NEW* Pro Vapers' Area *NEW*
This page is for anyone who's interested in an alternative to smoking, or wants a way to get their nicotine fix in places that don't allow smoking. I tried to stop smoking many times myself (using gum, patches, pills, etc.), and nothing worked until I delved into the world of Vaporizing, or e-cigs if you will. The FDA probably prohibits me from saying that if you start vaping, you'll stop smoking, so I won't. But I stopped smoking, and am a full time vaper now....so....I guess you can come to your own conclusions. A few things about vaping that I personally like:
*No tar, carbon monoxide, or any of the 200 known cancer causing chemicals present in cigarette smoke.
*No "second hand smoke" putting others at risk of breathing in my fumes.
*They are legal to use ANYWHERE.
*It feels like I'm really smoking a cigarette.
*I get all of the nicotine in a cigarette with thousands of different flavor options.
*No more need to empty ashtrays :)
*No worry that someone will "pocket" my lighter on accident.
*No stinky cigarette breath or cigarette taste left in my mouth.
*No more smoker's cough.
*I feel a million times healthier.
*Besides all of that, they just look a whole lot sleeker than a cigarette.
I was one of the lucky ones and found a good quality company with a solid product on my second try. Some people try out 4 or 5 different types of ecig before they find something that works for them. Anyway, to save you all some time, I'm going to tell you about my experience, what works best for me, and give you some good links to find the best products at the best prices so you don't have to look all over the internet to find what you're looking for just to get ripped off by people charging way too much or selling junk products.
First off, the bad experience I had:
Blu Cigs.
They're horrible. When you order from these guys, your shipment goes through a third party shipper - or so they say - and that shipper is supposed to deliver it to your local post office to deliver to you. Why the blu company doesn't just bring the package to the normal post office is beyond me, and my shipment took upwards of 20 days to arrive. I could have driven to blu headquarters in about 8 hours and picked it up myself if I knew that was going to happen. Also, when inquiring about my shipment and what was taking so long, the customer service agents were very rude, kept putting me off telling me to wait until the next day and then get ahold of them again, and at one point telling me that they already sent it and that it wasn't in their hands anymore before hanging up on me. Furious, I contacted their live chat support, which told me the same thing - wait until tomorrow. Blu has a 30 day money back guarantee, and I'm pretty sure they just try to get the product to you just before that 30 days is up so you can't return it. Upon reporting them to the BBB, my package miraculously was shipped the next day. When the starter kit arrived, everything was there - 2 batteries, 2 atomizers, 5 packs of cartriges, charger cables, blu pack, etc. One of the atomizers was broken right from the start, which they said they would replace, but I didn't feel like waiting 20 more days, so I bit the bullet on that one. I also ordered the all black kit, but one pack of cartriges (the vanilla flavor) was the orange color like a cigarette butt. The batteries both constantly needed charged, and would only hold charge for about 10-15 minutes tops, and the way they design their cartridges completely destroys the atomizer unless you pop the container inside of the cartridge out and peel back and discard the foil cover on it. Not fun. The one thing I did like was the convenience of the blu pack. That's why I bought them in the first place, and at the time, I didn't know any other companies offered it, because blu advertises as the "only company with the blu pack." Bogus experience all together, they get 1 out of 5 stars in my book, and would get 0/5 if it weren't for the blu pack.
Now on to some happier news. I DID find another company with the same style pack as blu, but with A LOT faster shipping (mine arrived in 2 days from Hawaii to Illinois), and tons of options for customization. Volcano Ecigs has 3 different types of ecig to choose from depending on your preference, and tons of options for color of the cig, color of the led, drip tips, cartridges, cartomizers, clearomizers, atomizers...pretty much any and all of the best attachments and accessories for an ecig.
The fist option they offer is the Volcano Kit, or V-Kit. This is for the light smoker and looks just like the blu cig, has the charging pack, and takes cartriges like the blu. That's where the similarities end though. The volcano has much longer battery life (the site advertizes 20 minutes, but I just got one and vaped on it for an hour before the battery died), the atomizers are much better and produce way more vapor, you can choose between black and white color for the pack and cig, and between red, blue, and green for LED color for the tip of the cig, or no LED at all, and the pack has a display that shows how much battery life is left in it. Very cool. The starter kits for the volcano range from 39 to 69 bucks, depending on what all you want in your kit - like I said earlier, it's very customizable, and you get to pick your flavors of cartridges instead of being forced into getting the variety pack like blu does.
The next kit that Volcano Ecigs offers is one step up from the volcano, is made for the moderate smoker, and is called the Magma Kit. This is basically a supercharged volcano kit. The magma batteries are longer, about the size of a 100 cigarette instead of a short, and last quite a bit longer between charges. The atomizers are also even better and produce the best amount of vapor you can get short of a low resistance atomizer. This kit comes with 2 batteries, 1 atomizer, the charger pack with LED display, the charger cables, and 25 cartridges in flavor and strength of your choosing and runs $79.99.
Now for the big daddy of vapor. If you aren't stuck on the shape and size of a cigarette, and/or you are a heavy smoker or just want longer battery life or more vapor, Volcano Ecigs has a third product line they call the Inferno. This is what I use to vape, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It's about the size of a sharpie marker, comes in red, blue, black, chrome and pink, and the site advertises a battery life of 6 hours. I've used mine for an entire day though without charging it and it hasn't died on me yet, so I'm guessing they mean 6 hours of continually holding the button down, or something....I don't know, but this baby LASTS. It comes with a magma atomizer, 2 atomizer cones, two batteries (one of which is a usb pass-through so you can charge it while you're vaping at the same time), and all the cables and whatnot you need to charge it. The kit is only $59.99, but you WILL need to purchase a couple things to be completely ready to roll.
First, you will need a couple spare atomizers (or cartomizers) in case the one with the kit goes out (atomizers' lifespan is usually about a month or so). The Magma atomizers and Cisco atomizers from Volcano Ecigs both fit the inferno perfectly, but the magmas look better with the atomizer cone on. If you plan on vaping different flavors of eliquid, I'd recommend one for each flavor, and one spare in case the atomizer you use for your favorite flavor goes out. You'll also need at least one drip tip for your atomizers (I use a different color for each flavor) if you plan on dripping, or, if you purchase cartomizers instead of atomizers, the drip tip will fit, but is optional, and you'll need the cartomizer refill kit as well. Lastly, you'll need eliquid to vape. I recommend Vapor Renu for that part if you want the best deal around and the most flavors available. Volcano Ecigs sells eliquid, and every flavor they have is amazing, but their selection of flavors is more limited and they have smaller bottles at a slightly more expensive price. They also pre-mix their juice, so you can't customize PG/VG. You can customize the amount of nicotine, strength of hit, amount of vapor, amount of flavor, etc. on Vapor Renu's order page. When ordering liquid, PG = Throat Hit, and VG = Vapor. It's important to find a mixture that suits you when ordering liquid. If you prefer a smoother hit, but want huge clouds of vapor, raise the VG and lower the PG. If you want less vapor, but a strong hit, lower the VG and raise the PG. 80/20 PG to VG ratio is pretty good and is about equivalent to a normal cigarette in throat hit and vapor, in my opinion, so that's what I use. A 30 ml bottle of liquid from Vapor Renu runs $6.99 to $11.24 depending on your options (added flavor shots, super aggressive throat hit, extra nicotine, etc.), and depending on how much you smoke, will usually last upwards of one week. I smoked about 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day before I began vaping, and a 30 ml bottle will last me about 2 weeks.
Now, I know there's a lot to take in here, and I've just thrown a whole bunch of info at you all at once, but to make things simple, I'll include a shopping list now depending on what type of smoker you are with all the gear you will need to get started and prices.
Now on to some happier news. I DID find another company with the same style pack as blu, but with A LOT faster shipping (mine arrived in 2 days from Hawaii to Illinois), and tons of options for customization. Volcano Ecigs has 3 different types of ecig to choose from depending on your preference, and tons of options for color of the cig, color of the led, drip tips, cartridges, cartomizers, clearomizers, atomizers...pretty much any and all of the best attachments and accessories for an ecig.
The fist option they offer is the Volcano Kit, or V-Kit. This is for the light smoker and looks just like the blu cig, has the charging pack, and takes cartriges like the blu. That's where the similarities end though. The volcano has much longer battery life (the site advertizes 20 minutes, but I just got one and vaped on it for an hour before the battery died), the atomizers are much better and produce way more vapor, you can choose between black and white color for the pack and cig, and between red, blue, and green for LED color for the tip of the cig, or no LED at all, and the pack has a display that shows how much battery life is left in it. Very cool. The starter kits for the volcano range from 39 to 69 bucks, depending on what all you want in your kit - like I said earlier, it's very customizable, and you get to pick your flavors of cartridges instead of being forced into getting the variety pack like blu does.
The next kit that Volcano Ecigs offers is one step up from the volcano, is made for the moderate smoker, and is called the Magma Kit. This is basically a supercharged volcano kit. The magma batteries are longer, about the size of a 100 cigarette instead of a short, and last quite a bit longer between charges. The atomizers are also even better and produce the best amount of vapor you can get short of a low resistance atomizer. This kit comes with 2 batteries, 1 atomizer, the charger pack with LED display, the charger cables, and 25 cartridges in flavor and strength of your choosing and runs $79.99.
Now for the big daddy of vapor. If you aren't stuck on the shape and size of a cigarette, and/or you are a heavy smoker or just want longer battery life or more vapor, Volcano Ecigs has a third product line they call the Inferno. This is what I use to vape, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It's about the size of a sharpie marker, comes in red, blue, black, chrome and pink, and the site advertises a battery life of 6 hours. I've used mine for an entire day though without charging it and it hasn't died on me yet, so I'm guessing they mean 6 hours of continually holding the button down, or something....I don't know, but this baby LASTS. It comes with a magma atomizer, 2 atomizer cones, two batteries (one of which is a usb pass-through so you can charge it while you're vaping at the same time), and all the cables and whatnot you need to charge it. The kit is only $59.99, but you WILL need to purchase a couple things to be completely ready to roll.
First, you will need a couple spare atomizers (or cartomizers) in case the one with the kit goes out (atomizers' lifespan is usually about a month or so). The Magma atomizers and Cisco atomizers from Volcano Ecigs both fit the inferno perfectly, but the magmas look better with the atomizer cone on. If you plan on vaping different flavors of eliquid, I'd recommend one for each flavor, and one spare in case the atomizer you use for your favorite flavor goes out. You'll also need at least one drip tip for your atomizers (I use a different color for each flavor) if you plan on dripping, or, if you purchase cartomizers instead of atomizers, the drip tip will fit, but is optional, and you'll need the cartomizer refill kit as well. Lastly, you'll need eliquid to vape. I recommend Vapor Renu for that part if you want the best deal around and the most flavors available. Volcano Ecigs sells eliquid, and every flavor they have is amazing, but their selection of flavors is more limited and they have smaller bottles at a slightly more expensive price. They also pre-mix their juice, so you can't customize PG/VG. You can customize the amount of nicotine, strength of hit, amount of vapor, amount of flavor, etc. on Vapor Renu's order page. When ordering liquid, PG = Throat Hit, and VG = Vapor. It's important to find a mixture that suits you when ordering liquid. If you prefer a smoother hit, but want huge clouds of vapor, raise the VG and lower the PG. If you want less vapor, but a strong hit, lower the VG and raise the PG. 80/20 PG to VG ratio is pretty good and is about equivalent to a normal cigarette in throat hit and vapor, in my opinion, so that's what I use. A 30 ml bottle of liquid from Vapor Renu runs $6.99 to $11.24 depending on your options (added flavor shots, super aggressive throat hit, extra nicotine, etc.), and depending on how much you smoke, will usually last upwards of one week. I smoked about 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day before I began vaping, and a 30 ml bottle will last me about 2 weeks.
Now, I know there's a lot to take in here, and I've just thrown a whole bunch of info at you all at once, but to make things simple, I'll include a shopping list now depending on what type of smoker you are with all the gear you will need to get started and prices.
Light Smoker:
V-Kit from Volcano Ecigs
$39.99 to $69.99 depending on options
*If you order the $39.99 kit, you may want to order more cartridges for when the 5 that are included run out.
Medium Smoker:
*If you order the $39.99 kit, you may want to order more cartridges for when the 5 that are included run out.
Medium Smoker:
Magma Kit from Volcano Ecigs
$79.99
*You can also order the extras from the Inferno list below, as they're interchangable, but since the Magma kit comes with cartridges already, it isn't necessary when you first start. I would recommend the drip tips, spare atomizers, and eliquid when your cartridges start to get low, though.
Heavy Smoker:
Inferno Kit from Volcano Ecigs $59.99
30 ml Eliquid from Vapor Renu $6.99 to $11.24
Spare Magma atomizers from Volcano Ecigs for each flavor you purchased $7.99 each
Drip Tip(s) from Volcano Ecigs $3.49 each
Total = $78.46 to $82.71*
*Total price is for one drip tip and one spare atomizer just to get you started. The spare atomizer isn't necessary, but it's good to have for when your first one goes out. Also, make sure to order your juice first so you know how many atomizers to order. You don't HAVE to have one atomizer per flavor, but I prefer it so that I don't have to clean my atomizer when switching flavors.
Best to Start If You Have A Tight Budget:
30 ml Eliquid from Vapor Renu $6.99 to $11.24
Spare Magma atomizers from Volcano Ecigs for each flavor you purchased $7.99 each
Drip Tip(s) from Volcano Ecigs $3.49 each
Total = $78.46 to $82.71*
*Total price is for one drip tip and one spare atomizer just to get you started. The spare atomizer isn't necessary, but it's good to have for when your first one goes out. Also, make sure to order your juice first so you know how many atomizers to order. You don't HAVE to have one atomizer per flavor, but I prefer it so that I don't have to clean my atomizer when switching flavors.
Best to Start If You Have A Tight Budget:
Inferno Passthrough Battery from Volcano Ecigs $19.99
Cisco Atomizer with free delrin drip tip from Volcano Ecigs $9.99
30 ml Eliquid from Vapor Renu $6.99 to $11.24
Total: $36.97 to $41.22
*With this option, you will only have one atomizer, so if it goes out on you, you're kind of screwed, but it's the bare minimum for a really tight budget. If you can scrape up ten more bucks, it'd be best to get a spare atomizer. Also, you'll need a mini USB cable to charge it so you don't have to buy a charger. Most people have one of these just laying around. Pretty much everything you attach to a computer (cameras, phones, etc) uses this type of cable. This is what it looks like:
Cisco Atomizer with free delrin drip tip from Volcano Ecigs $9.99
30 ml Eliquid from Vapor Renu $6.99 to $11.24
Total: $36.97 to $41.22
*With this option, you will only have one atomizer, so if it goes out on you, you're kind of screwed, but it's the bare minimum for a really tight budget. If you can scrape up ten more bucks, it'd be best to get a spare atomizer. Also, you'll need a mini USB cable to charge it so you don't have to buy a charger. Most people have one of these just laying around. Pretty much everything you attach to a computer (cameras, phones, etc) uses this type of cable. This is what it looks like:
Now for the Math:
1 pack of cigarettes = $5.00 (cheap estimate)
* 7 Days a Week
* 52 weeks in a year
$1,820.00 a year on traditional cigarettes.
1 Inferno Kit $59.99
+1 Drip Tip $3.49
+1 Drip Tip $3.49
+ 1 Year's worth of eliquid (52 weeks/2 weeks per bottle * $6.99) $181.74
+ 1 Year's worth of atomizers (1 per month * $7.99) $95.88
$341.10 a year vaping an inferno
Total savings if you smoke one pack a day and replace your cigarettes with the inferno:
$1478.90 the first year!!
So there it is, plain and simple for you. Not only will you be healthier than ever, stop bothering people with your cigarette smoke, and be able to vape anywhere you want, but you'll save tons of money doing it. Why wouldn't you want to quit now? And like I said, everything is fully customizable, you may find options that you like better than what I choose to use. Mix it up, try different flavors and pg/vg mixes, mix your own eliquid with bulk juice and flavor concentrate from Vapor Renu and save even more money, buy different colored drip tips, if you don't feel like dripping all of the time, order mega cartomizers and the cartomizer refill kit in place of atomizers. Personally, I use atomizers at home and drip into them, and use the mega cartomizers from Volcano Ecigs during the day while I'm at work so I don't have to bring my eliquid with me, I just fill them at night and have them ready for work when I wake up.
*Update: I recently ordered the "tankomizer" for my Inferno and some blank tanks. They get about as much vapor as dripping without having to carry your juice with you all the time. You just fill up the tank before you take off for the day and you can vape on one tank all day. It doesn't produce as much vapor as dripping into a cisco atomizer, but still a strong, thick cloud...comparable to dripping into the Magma atty that comes with the Inferno kit. I think I found my new baby. Definitely a much better option than the cartomizers. Gotta love new technology.
Cleaning your atomizers
It's recommended that you clean your atomizers if they start to lose vapor or collect build-up. Also, if the first time you use your atomizer, there is a weird taste, it could be the primer the company uses on it, and you might want to clean it and prime it with your flavor of eliquid for better taste. This is how you do that:
Step 1: Boil some water (distilled is recommended, but I use tap because I'm cheap)
Step 2: Drop you atomizers in
Step 3: After about 10 minutes, take the atomizers out and let them dry
Step 4: Add about 8 drops of Eliquid to your atomizer to prime it.
Step 5: When the liquid starts to drip out of the bottom, blow into the top to get the rest of it out.
Step 6: Wipe off any excess juice from the bottom of the atty and start vaping again.
Hopefully, I've helped you understand a little more about the world of vaping and helped you avoid common mistakes made when starting out. If anything hasn't been answered, I'll try to do my best to help you out if you email me at joeweinberger1983@gmail.com, or hang out in the Volcano Ecigs chat for a bit and somebody should be able to answer your questions. Thanks to everyone at volcano and in the chatroom and forums for helping me out with all of my questions when I started out. Much appreciated, you've all been a great help.
Thanks for reading, and happy vaping :)
rayzr_bern
Good Renu flavors to start off with:
*Swedish Fish (tastes just like the candy)
*Strawberry Banana (tastes like banana runts)
*Chocolate Eclair (awesome chocolate flavor)
*Cinnamon Roll (exact flavor match)
*Vanilla Frosting (goes great with cinnamon roll)
*Mochachino (like a chocolate coffee)
*Extreme Ice (for all the menthol smokers, this feels like you did a line of Winterfresh gum)
*Peppermint (candy cane-like)
*Cinnamon Red Hots (EXACTLY like the candy)
*Banana Split (Very mellow, thick vapor, delicious)
Not So Good Flavors:
*To start, anything that's 100% VG - it's an acquired taste. Especially 100% VG Cherry, unless you like Cherry cough syrup. Instead, go for 80/20 or 60/40 mix.
*"That Sticky Icky" - straight pine cone taste, don't even bother with this one.
