Adventures in Electronic Cigarettes – Part 2

So here I am, one week using the E-Cigarettes. I decided against creating a video of my first drag from an E-Cig. After looking on YouTube there are more than enough videos of dorks taking drags off E-Cigs. I didn’t see the need to create another. In any case, here are my thoughts so far.

My shipment of the hardware from www.happyvaper.com arrived safe and sound. I ordered a Joye 510 starter kit. The E-Cig device itself is fairly solid. It has a little weight to it. The battery and atomizer screw together and the threads are well machined – not bad for something that ultimately is fully consumable (IE: all the parts will wear out over time). The PCC (personal charging case) hold and charges one battery. It has a space for two cartridges and one atomizer. You can also attach another cartridge on the atomizer and carry three if you like. This is what I’ve been doing.

My e-liquid shipment from www.electronic-cigz.com arrived a few days later. I ordered two bottles of juice from these guys. One is Propylene Glycol (PG) based flavoured as “Classic Tobacco” with 16mg of nicotine. The second was Vegetable Glycerin (VG) based flavoured as “Tobacco” with 24mg of nicotine. Something happened during the shipment and the bottle of VG leaked out inside. Everything was covered in it. The liquid has a consistency of slightly less sticky maple syrup. Needless to say I got it all over everything attempting to clean it up. I let the fellow at electronic-cigz know this had happened and he is sending me another bottle of VG no charge. Darn nice of them.

So all charged and ready to go I decide to fill two cartridges with each liquid and give them a go. The vapour created by both the PG and VG liquid seemed about the same. I think the VG had a bit more kick to it given it has more nicotine. The taste is nothing like a real cigarette. The “Classic Tobacco” had a slight cigarette smoke flavour to it. The VG’s “Tobacco” is almost more of a pipe tobacco with a hint of sweetness. I went back and forth between the two for the next few hours trying to see which I liked best. I decided to try a 50/50 mix of the two. Now THAT I really liked. It created a nice smoke-like flavour with an interesting aftertaste of something like maple candy. Perhaps a bit of hazelnut. It is very subtle and kind of hard to describe, but I like it.

How does “vaping” compare to regular smoking? It is different but I have to say I think I like it better. It took me a day or two to get used to using the device. Now that I have the hang of it, I’m satisfied with it. It isn’t as heavy as cigarette smoke and it is more like breathing in steam – which is pretty much what it is. I like that I can use it indoors without leaving a cloud of smoke behind me (even though I haven’t smoked inside my home for years). The exhaled vapour only has a slight smell to it which doesn’t seem to linger behind. If I use the E-Cig in a room for an hour, then leave the room, when I return I do not smell anything.

Since starting with the device I have only lit two regular cigarettes. The first was on the first day I received the device (which I smoked all of it) and the second was a day or two later (I took 3 drags and put it out). I don’t crave regular cigarettes or feel like I’m having any nicotine withdraw. As of right now I don’t feel really any different from not smoking regular cigarettes for a week. I would like to say my lungs feel clearer and my sinuses feel better – and they do slightly – but I’m not sure if this is actual or placebo. We will see  how I am after another week or two.

I was interested in how much juice I would be using on a regular basis. Since day one I have been mixing both liquids together which gives me a nicotine strength of about 20mg per milliliter of juice. I have a blunt needle 3ml syringe  and have been using this for mixing equal parts of the liquid and filling the cartridges. Each cartridge holds 1/2 ml of liquid. It seems you can not drain a cartridge completely because the fluid sticks to the filler and the sides and it will no longer wick to the atomizer. Because I have space in my PCC case for 3 cartridges and one more on my current battery, I filled 4 cartridges. I use these throughout the day and them top them up at night before I go to bed. On average it takes about 1/2 to 3/4 ml each day to top off the 4 cartridges. At this rate a single bottle of 30 ml fluid should last me a month. These cost, on average, around $20. That is quite a savings from my usual cigarette budget of around 3 cartons a month – around $270.

I have ordered a bunch of different fluids and flavours. I ordered a sample pack of five 10ml bottles from www.electronic-cigz.com. I ordered a PG and VG unflavoured, peppermint, camo (Camel cigarette flavoured) and Havana (I assume cigar).

I also ordered several liquids from another company called vapables.com. These are Dunhill (which was my brand of cigarette), Marly-boro (guess what that is supposed to taste like), Blended DK-TAB (which is a supposed to be a Turkish style blend) and RY #4. I’ve heard good things about RY #4 which sounds almost like the flavour I’m getting now. I also ordered a bottle of unflavoured 26mg PG liquid – this will allow me to up the nicotine dose on any of these flavours. In all I ordered 180 ml of juice which came to $114 with shipping.  If my calculations are correct just this order alone should last me around 6 months. 6 months of regular cigarettes would cost me around $1600. ZOINKS!. Going the e-cig route I’m saving around $1500 in 6 months (granted my atomizers will go dead so those will need to be replaced).

Perhaps after a few months of doing this I’ll do a post about costs and how the consumables are holding up.

Today I made another order with www.happyvaper.com. I ordered two 120ml bottles of unflavoured/non-nicotine PG and VG liquid. This will allow me to create some lightly nicotined mixes or reduce the nicotine levels in some stronger fluids.

I also broke down and ordered some different hardware. You see, I’m a real slut when it comes to devices and toys. I’ll let you know what this is on my next entry.

Overall, I’m well satisfied with Electronic Cigarettes. They feel safer in a million different ways over regular cigarettes. They don’t bother non-smokers like regular cigarettes. These things really should be promoted as smoking alternatives. Not everything fun is good for you, but these have got to be 100 times better than using cigarettes. I really hope these take off and I can buy e-cig products at a local store.