I’m a non-smoker, but when my daughter was interested in e-cigs, I did some research. The one piece of advice I picked up that I would pass on is this:
TIME your e-cig sessions! Otherwise, it’s easy to stand out there with other smokers, vaping the whole time, and ‘smoke’ the equivalent of two or more cigarettes. If you have a real cigarette, you know when it’s done. The e-cig isn’t done until the cartridge runs out or until you turn it off.
Looking for a disposable one? Every truck stop I’ve ever been in sells them.
This thread inspired me to contact a fella I know, heavy smoker, many years, who I saw using an ecigarette, about 7 months ago, and see how he made out. Mostly because I honestly didn’t think he’d stick with it all that long.
Surprise, surprise! He’s delighted with the thing. Said it worked the charm, so much he said, after 7 months he rarely uses it anymore. And, transitioned to not making sure it was always with him, somewhat painlessly.
I’m sold. And I feel ready. He told me where he bought it, and I’m going there, on the weekend, to check it out. See what brand they sell, how much it costs, what flavours it has, etc.
I admit I’m surprised by the whole flavours thing, to be honest. Menthol cigs are yuck for me, flavours just seem wrong, somehow. But clearly, such is not the case. Most people here think the flavours are important. I’ll have to keep an open mind, on that front.
Elbows, as far as flavors go, think of it like a hookah. I’ve smoked hookah several times in my life and it was always a far more pleasurable experience than smoking cigarettes. I really don’t like the flavor of tobacco, ever since I tried my first green apple hookah. It’s just become a tolerable byproduct. From the reading I have been doing, after you get used to vaporizing (vaping) instead of smoking, going back to cigarettes will make you gag. However, the most common vapable flavor appears to be… tobacco! (or menthol) So if you LIKE that flavor, you can continue to pursue it.
So true. One of the reasons I was most reticent about getting into e-cigs was that it seemed impossible to regulate my nicotine intake. (not that I am concerned about overdosing–I’m not–but about spending more money on carts than I would have on ciggies, or running out of e-liquid and not having anything to replace it with).
But there are some super cheap options for e-liquid out there. I got my 50ml bottle for 11 bucks, and the flavor is highly recommended by reviewers. And from google it looks like a rough conversion is 1ml = 1 pack of cigarettes. So even if I were to double my current nicotine intake from a half pack to 1 pack a day, that’s 50 days’ worth of nicotine in an $11 bottle. Way freaking cheaper! Even if I tripled my consumption it would be cheaper.
I like Liberty Stix (libertystix.com). They are mostly made in the U.S. Some Chinese imports use substances that may be harmful, I’ve heard. Plus I am always leery about possible contamination with products from China.
I seldom use it. Nicotine gum is more effective for me.
I smoke a brand of cigarettes that claims to be made from untreated tobacco*. Smoking these cigarettes DO make going without for as long as twelve hours much, much easier. I had a very long plane flight; the out bound trip, after weeks of smoking the reportedly untreated tobacco, was a breeze; the trip home, after two days of smoking relatively few ‘normal’ cigarettes was an addict’s nightmare.
(Anti-smoking propaganda claims cigarette tobacco is treated with chemicals to make it more addictive.)
OK, so I bought the “XhaleO2” at 7-11. The instructions say the battery comes partly charged (?), and charging takes 2-3 hours. I plugged it in, and 5 hours later the “charging” LED is still on… but anyway.
I gave it a try about an hour and a half ago. I tried to treat it like I normally do with a cigarette, taking a puff every 30 seconds or so over five or six minutes. After taking a drag and inhaling, I couldn’t feel anything in my lungs, the way I’m used to with a real smoke; it made me feel like I wasn’t really getting anything out of it. However, once I put it away, I felt the same as I usually do after finishing a cigarette.
Is the not feeling anything normal, just something I have to get used to? Or is it because of this inferior brand?
Oh yeah, it didn’t seem to have any taste at all, which was kind of weird, too.
Did you exhale a big plume of vapor? If not then something isn’t right. It being a 7/11 staple, you can probably pick up carts wherever you may be.
How many carts came with the unit? For the amount of time you are there, three should be sufficient, I think.
By the time you read this, you will already be at your destination, so hopefully it started working correctly. You should also have learned the joy of going to the lavatory for a “smoke”, while chuckling at the “No smoking” sign. In first class on Delta, they don’t even say anything if you vape in your seat.
As far as timing your vape goes…Whatever works for you. I never timed. I puffed until I didn’t want any more. Yeah, there were a couple of times where I took too much, and got a little light headed for a second or two. The free market of your body will tell you when it’s time- No different than when you are in a bar chain-smoking over beers.
Flavors: I started with tobacco- Marlboro Gold to be precise, which tasted pretty close to the real McCoy. Over on E-cigarette forum, people were always talking about the other flavors, so on a whim I picked up Cotton Candy & Dr. Pepper. I was expecting to have a filmy, sticky aftertaste, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that was not the case. All of the flavors (At least from Eliquidplanet.com & Volcanoecig.com) are very subtle. The Cotton Candy is very faint- You barely taste it on the intial drag, and then on exhale at the very end. It is just enough to keep you coming back for more.
Kona Coffee OTOH, has a nice mouth-filling flavor- Similar to a good cigar. You just want to sit there and savor it in your mouth. Like I said before- it is much nicer to have a mellow coffee or sweet candy flavor after a nice meal than it is to have the tobacco flavor.
This is very normal, for an inferior brand. Don’t let it put you off of vaping entirely! But yes, it’s what I meant upthread when I said that a bad ecig is worse than no ecig. Too many people decide to try something like this for convenience, and then give up on the idea altogether because it’s such a bad product. There are good ecigs out there, this just isn’t one of them. (Unless there’s actually something wrong with it, of course. But what you’re describing is par for the course for low end ecigs. Check your charge, make sure you’ve punctured the foil if it’s a slip on cartridge, and see if it’s any better.)
I know that medical marijuana people are pushing vaporization, so if they legalize pot do you think they would end up with pot cartriges for the ecig? Or would it even be possible?
I’m sure someone with better knowledge of chemistry than I could answer this better, but my first thought is that it might be tricky. The ecig liquid is water based, and nicotine is a water soluble chemical, so this works. THC, however, is fat soluble. That means you’d need an oil based liquid to keep and deliver it in. And I don’t know if an oil based solution will vaporize well. And if you can get it to vaporize, it’s going to gunk up your atomizer. Concentrated marijuana extract is sticky - very sticky, and thick, like molasses. I’m not sure how dilute you could get it and still give the smoker a satisfying level of THC.
Of course, people are clever monkeys, and those looking for THC even cleverer, so I’m sure someone will come up with something workable, eventually, if it’s legalized and ecigs remain legal. Both very big ifs.
Now, there *are *pot vaporizers, sure. But they’re larger and they vaporize by heating the leaf, not a liquid extract. Could you make a smaller leaf heating vaporizer than what’s on the market now? Probably. Could you just swap out your ecig nicotine cartridge for a THC cartridge? Unlikely.
Again, a good friend, who I know very well, assures me that it is quite possible, and is in fact quite handy at concerts. Or movie theaters. Or airport terminals. Or the office. Or church.
Leaf alone, stuffed in the atty: It works, but is a very minimal effect, and the leaf burns. This will also destroy your atty after a few attempts.
Residue; compacted- “Hash”: Stuffed in the atty. Better effect, but destroys the atty.
Hash oil: Does not work on its own. It gums up the atty almost immediately.
Has oil suspended in Propylene Glycol: Excellent source! Not something you would want all of the time, but is perfect for a situation where it would not be tolerated.
As I understand (And I am not sure how deep I can go here, Mods smack my wrist if need be), he grinds the plant matter to a fine powder, then soaks it overnight in isopropyl alcohol. The matter is filtered out, and the alcohol poured in to a dish where it then is left to evaporate. He is then left with the oil, which is blended in to propylene glycol. It is then dripped on to the atomizer when needed.
Weed doesn’t lead to harder drugs- It leads to carpentry and electronics.
Oh, and I have to add: Every conversation I have had about the e-cig in a bar, restaurant, wherever, leads to the THC question within 2 minutes- Even people you would not expect to ask such a question. It has been a bit of an eye opener on that front.
It is according to my not-very-rigorous research methods. Google. Could be entirely wrong, of course, but I was fairly sure several sites specifically mention the “water based vapor” and the exhale of “water vapor” as part of the “You won’t stink anymore!” selling point.
Thanks for the details, Spit. I hadn’t considered doing an alcohol extract, as in *my *friend’s experience, it takes a whole lot of cannabis for a rather meh yield if it’s drunk, but perhaps adding heat changes things.
And yeah, anyone who thinks pot makes people lazy and unmotivated hasn’t seen a room full of stoners with no bowl or papers.
A room full of stoners would never have no papers or bowls between them… heh. I speak from experience. Usually it’s at least a 2:1 piece-to-person ratio.
People say that vaping entails exhaling plain water vapor but… I don’t know about that. The one site I went to that let you “pick” the base of your e-liquid gives a choice between animal or vegetable glycol. I assumed this was universal, and that people are actually exhaling alcohol vapor. But I’m willing to be proven wrong. A cursory search of mine shows that nicotine is water soluble, but the absorption is aided greatly by suspension in oil or alcohol.
I just ordered the Volcano Magma on your recommendation Spit. I hope you didn’t let me down man.
They were out of the refillable cartridges right now so I had to go with the pre-filled cartridges, which I’m sure won’t be quite as good as the liquid, so I won’t get my hopes up too high at first.
I also bought an additional atomizer.
I’ll let you know how I like it.
Well, I got a hell of a test run on my cheapy unit.
My flight was supposed to be from Portland to Anchorage with a very short layover in Seattle. After boarding the second plane, we sat there for about 40 minutes then they announced there was something wrong with the plane, and made us all disembark. Long story short, I sat around SeaTac all day - they finally got a replacement plane and we took off at 8:30, seven and a half hours after the flight was originally supposed to leave. :mad::mad::mad:
Anyway, while sitting around the airport, I’d “go to the bathroom” every 45 minutes to an hour or so. Made me feel like I was back in junior high school. Towards the end, though, I said fuck it and started sucking on the e-cig discreetly out in the waiting area, and on the plane I did the same thing. The woman sitting next to me either didn’t notice or chose not to say anything.
As for the unit itself, not being able to feel anything as I took drags was annoying, but the unit definitely served its purpose - even though I felt like it wasn’t doing much while I puffed, it did curb the cravings. If I hadn’t had it I would have gone completely insane. I tell ya, though, once I finally got outside at the Anchorage airport and lit up a real cigarette, after 13 hours, it was pure bliss.
The battery performed well, too. It didn’t poop out on me until about a hour before the plane landed.
In all, I think once I get a better unit, I can see myself getting into this, and leaving cigarettes behind.
