It was for me. I quit analogs last month after smoking for 30+ years, and I don’t even miss them. I never thought I would quit (never really wanted to either). I had most of a carton left (a nasty cheap brand), and I threw it away last week. The e-cigs were an easy substitute for me; I’ve had no cravings for the old cigarettes.
Yes, I’m hooked on the e-cigs now, but I’m cutting back steadily on the nicotine strength. I started with 16mg, switched to 12, and now I’m on 6mg. I’ll cut that down soon, too.
I can “vape” in my house and my car without stinking them up. I seem to have lost my smoker’s hack too.
Yep, I did the tobacco flavor for my first two carts, and for the third (which I’m still on) I tried the Bluewater Punch.
I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about flavored juice. When I took the first hit, my thought process went something like “AHA! Just as I suspected, it doesn’t taste like anythi-- ooooh, wait a minute. Mmmmm, that’s pretty cool!” I understand now what you mean about the subtlety.
The more I use this thing, the more I like it. I’m already starting to feel like the only reason I’ll finish off my analogs is that I don’t want to throw them out.
Something else I’ve been meaning to mention, about the Tobacco flavor:
The Tobacco carts I got from Volcano taste identical to the ones from the 7-11 brand, and neither taste very much like a real cigarette to me. I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it does taste like, and it finally hit me last night: it tastes like a cigarette does when it hasn’t been lit, or has gone out.
Yeah, the Volcano flavors are very subtle. I used USA mix from Eliquidplanet.com, which I thought tasted a bit more “real”, but then I got hooked on the flavors and I have not puffed on the tobacco flavor in months.
Bluewater Punch has me drooling like Pavlov’s dog whenever I think about it.
Okay, I took the plunge, and ordered this Magma kit. Nothing else. I don’t know enough.
So while I wait for it to arrive and work on finishing my current carton of analogues, what else do I need to consider? From what I can gather, I’ll (obviously) have to order more juice, but I won’t want the pre-filled cartridges; I’ll want empty cartridges so that I can use the juice that I want.
There are no links to instructions or technical specifications, so I don’t know what to order. So do I want “cartomizers” or “clearomizers” or what? Are any of the Magma parts compatible with other parts from other manufacturers?
Since the kit only comes with one atty (I picked up that slang quickly!), I guess I should invest $0.98 in a bottle of isopropyl alcohol solution to clean it daily?
I guess I’m looking for next steps that I need to ensure are completed before the 25 carts in the kit are extinguished.
I’m only slightly less of a newbie, but here’s what I’ve done so far:
I ordered the same kit, plus two extra atomizers; I received it all on Monday night (it took four business days to get from Hawaii to Oregon). So I’ve been doing this for just over 2 days. I just started using (and breaking in) the third atomizer. My plan is to rotate through them, soaking them in rubbing alcohol after being used all day.
The cartridges you’ll get can be reused, but you’ll need caps for them. As I’ve finished each cartridge, I’ve pulled out the filler and tossed it, separated the two plastic parts of the cart, and tossed them in the cup to be soaked that night. On Tuesday I ordered two sets of caps, an aluminum drip-tip, and two bottles of juice. I went with the “Premium” juice, because $12.99 for a 15ml bottle is a slightly better deal than $8.99 for a 10ml bottle. Tomorrow or Friday I’ll go to a pet store and pick up a package of the blue foam so I can mod my carts.
It’s still too early to tell how much I’ll go through on a daily basis, but I’m hoping those two bottles will last me a week. I just started my sixth cartridge; however, I’m still slowly working through my remaining cigarettes. Every third “smoke” has been a real one. I plan to do this until all three of my atomizers are fully broken in, and I’ve modded my cartridges. I think this should all happen by Saturday or Sunday, then it’s goodbye cigarettes. So, if I were to guess right now, once I’m off cigarettes I think I’ll go through four to five cartridges worth of juice per day, thus a 15ml bottle should last three to four days.
ETA: that’s a high estimate, hopefully I’ll use less.
Get thee to youtube and e-cigarette forum posthaste! There all sorts of goodies to ponder before your kit arrives.
You need to get some juice- You will burn through those first 25 carts amazingly quickly as you are adjusting to the feel.
The beauty part is the pre-filled carts are exactly the same as the blanks, so you can simply break them down, refill with blue foam (As seen on the videos I posted earlier in the thread), and fill with fresh juice. The only catch is that you will need some caps for the carts, but you can find things around the house that will work well. A guy that I turned on the to the Magma at work used pencil erasers until he ordered again from Volcano.
I have no experience with either- Yet. Like all things with e-cigs, some people swear by them, and other people swear it’s the Devil’s own.
I am purchasing a pack with my next order on Monday, so I will let you know how they turn out. If you can break them down easily enough for cleaning it would seem to be a better deal than working with foam.
e-cigs come in all shapes and sizes. The Magma is called a “510”- In fact it is made by the same manufacturer as Blu (IIRC, at least the V-Pack was). Google about for “510”, and you will find many different dealers. I prefer Volcano because they stand behind everything they sell, and are awesome to deal with on a personal level.
You need to go to Costco and get the Drum-o-Isopropyl. I use 1 ounce daily to clean my atty’s. I cannot emphasize this enough- Clean your atomizer(s) daily!
They will last longer, the vapor will be much better, and far more consistent over time. Atomizers lose performance gradually, so you don’t notice it until you are barely getting any vapor. As I stated before, without cleaning, an atty lasted a month before it died, and it was only a week or so before the performance was lowering. Since I have started my cleaning regimen, I am working on 4 months with my current set.
I take two out of the alcohol bath, rinse and let dry overnight, and put two more in (See my previous post on how to clean them in a hurry). This gives me a nice rotation so I am never out, and I can also have two flavors working. (Mixing flavors on the atty can make some…interesting…combinations. (Of course, the opposite can happen as well- My new favorite is mixing Kona Coffee with Butterscotch- yum!)
Read the forums, watch some videos, and get excited! Buy some nice flavors (Allow me to plug Bluewater Punch one more time) so you will have some refills ready. Get an extra atomizer. Get an extra battery. Don’t worry about the money- Just make a pact with yourself not to buy anymore analogs until you make up the cost difference.
I kid a bit with the last part- Don’t deprive yourself of your analog “fix”, or you will just grow to dislike the e-cig. If nothing else, you will have something to puff on in bars.planes/office/public places. (Except in New York, where the nanny state is trying to ban them)
I feel that is a very high estimate. YMMV, of course, but I think you will be surprised at just how long that 15ml will last after you get used to the experience. I’m looking at my 15ml bottle of, (I bet you will never guess) Bluewater Punch that I purchased in mid-December, and it is 1/3 full. Folks in this thread will probably put it together that I tend to puff that flavor more than others- Yet I still have that much left. (I have used some other flavors as well, but I use BWP at least once per day)
In my last post, which I wrote just before going to bed last night, I said that I’d just started using my third of three atomizers, with a new cartridge. What actually happened was, I’d been using atty #2 all day, put the new cart on it, took a few hits, then remembered that I needed to move on to atty #3, and soak #2 overnight. So I took the cart off and put it on #3.
All day today I’ve been struggling with my unit - it’s been really shitty about producing vapor, I have to puff several times to get the battery going and then it turns off while I’m mid-drag, and the atty keeps flooding. I’ve now been able to experiment with several different methods of cleaning out the fluid - this one is interesting.
I finally decided maybe this cart I’ve been working on is either “bad,” or somehow I screwed it up by removing it from the one atomizer and putting it on another. So I just put a fresh cart on, and voila! Back in business.
So, I guess it’s possible that there are some bum carts out there? Care to confirm or deny, Spit?
I would be willing to bet that when you put it on the #3 atomizer you pushed the foil down, crushing the polyfill, and causing the fluid to seep freely into the atomizer. Pop out the insert, take a paperclip to pull up the polyfill, and puff whatever is remaining. I did this frequently when I first started, because I kept taking the cart off and on playing around with different flavors.
Carts don’t really go bad, per se- The trouble is almost always the foil. It tears in unpredictable ways because of the plastic backing.
But it won’t be a problem once you mod them and start using caps.
Actually, on advice from one of the videos you’ve linked to, I’ve been using a paper clip to try to remove the foil from each cart before attaching it to an atty. But it’s difficult to remove every last bit, so I tend to just try to make sure the center is clear, and remove the remaining foil later when I dismantle the cart.
A couple of times I’ve accidentally pulled up a few strands of the filler with the paper clip, but tamped it back down. So maybe that’s my problem… when I finish my current cart I’ll play around with the “bad” one.
Gosh, you all make it sound like I’m going to receive a new toy. And that’s not bad. It’s appealing!
I ordered a mix of flavors with the first shipment, including tobacco, but, uh, that macho side of me is kind of concerned: “flavors”? Not a big deal among vapers? I mean, I’d never, ever, let myself buy some fruity-flavored cigarettes.
I’m totally sold on the flavors - I won’t be buying regular “tobacco” flavor. I don’t even like sweet or fruity things, but I’ve tried the Vanilla, Bluewater Punch and Cherry Lava and they’re all pretty good.
I’ve gotten quite a few people to try the Magma- and that is the universal reaction!
When I started, I thought the folks who were getting these “Flavors”, must be hipsters that never really smoked anyway. Generally, I held a dim view of flavors. Then on a whim, I tried a bottle of cotton candy and my vaping world changed. I cannot begin to tell you how nice it is to choose a flavor for an after-dinner vape.
Flavors are very subtle. You will just barely get a “taste” when you are inhaling & exhaling, but you will instantly be coming back for more. I tell folks to at least purchase one flavor, to try it out.
Well, my Magma arrived! I’ve played with it a bit. I still have a few packs of analogues, so I’m going to do some mixing and matching the next few days until they’re gone, but I’m already seriously impressed.
I think I need to work on my draw technique, though. The instructions say not to do it so hard as on a regular cigarette, but I find that I have to draw pretty hard in order for the LED to stay on. Also, I’m not sure what weird taste I’m supposed to have from a new atty, but so far, so good.
I started with the tobacco flavor, natch, but I’ve also got some kona coffee, pineapple punch, milk chocolate, and waikiki watermelon I’ll try out in the next few days.
Banana bread is my favorite flavor. I got it as a sample with my order.
The ecigs I have are 510s. Not the magma or volcano brand, though I like them very much. And I am looking at getting a drip tip since that’s how I prefer to roll. I don’t want to mess around with blue foam or cartridges. Just juice, atomizer, battery, drip tip, and go.
I also highly recommend a manual battery over the automatic ones. You can’t drip with an auto battery because they have a hole in the end. And I prefer having the ability to push a button and control when my atomizer is hot or off.
Really? I use a drip tip on mine quite often. I just drip it on the atty, and draw. How does the manual help? I have only used one manual that was a friend’s.
The site I ordered from said NOT to drip onto the atty with an auto battery because autobats have a hole on the end, and you will damage the battery if you flood the atty and/or it overflows. If you do it and it works, that’s cool. It’s not recommended for beginners.
Manual batteries have a closed end so even if the atty leaks or floods, you won’t cause battery damage. Plus with a manbat you can do a dry burn as part of the cleaning process, which is a pretty advanced method and I don’t use it myself, but I like having the option. I’ve also been able to use different draw methods with a manual (like press, release, press release in short bursts while inhaling) to alter vapor production.
I’ve been inspired to give this a shot and just placed an order for a Magma kit, a bunch of caps, stainless drip-tip, two extra atomizers and two manual batteries.
Hopefully that will be some decent referral points for you Spit, because your input into this thread was quite influential in my decison. With cigarette taxes in NY, all that shit I ordered was equivalent to a carton and a half of real cigs. (Sorry, I can’t adopt the “analog” slang, cause e-cigs ain’t binary. ;)) I’m looking forward to giving this a shot and very much hoping that my results are similar to yours. Thanks for motivating me. I hope this can replace my tobacco habit.
