New to vaping. Need advice on what to buy.

[doveman]

Hi

So I've never vaped before but want to start and am struggling to decide what to buy.

I've decided that I want a variable voltage battery, two in fact so that I have a backup whilst the other is charging. I currently only smoke about 10 Marlboro lights/day and have been advised that therefore a 650mah battery will last me about a day but I'm not sure that vv batteries are available in that capacity and it probably makes sense to get something a bit larger, either 900mah or even 1100 or 1300mah.

I also want clearomisers but have been put off the EVODs by the risk of certain flavours cracking them, so I think I need to get a couple of protanks/mini protanks (not sure which size I should go for), although I've been told that they don't produce a great vape in cold weather, which is a bit of a problem here in the UK but that's still preferable to having a tank crack on me!

I'm rather confused about the different ohm ratings of the heads as well and don't know if I need to get a certain rating for it to work or if the different ratings produce different vapes or what. myepack.co.uk/accessories.html?p=1

I've been considering ordering from Fasttech to save quite a bit of money but then again, in the few weeks the stuff will take to arrive I'll have spent quite a bit on cigarettes, so it's probably a false economy and I might as well order from somewhere like myepack, although that's only worth it if I can get everything, including the liquids, quickly, so advice on where to get the liquids from, what flavours are good to start with and which to avoid (I know it will partly come down to personal taste but there's probably some that are universally liked) and what nicotine levels I should get would be welcome.

I know if I order separate parts, rather than a starter-kit, I'll need a charger and spare heads as well but I might get enough heads to last me a couple of months and order some cheaper replacements from FT in the meantime.

Maybe I should order one vv battery from myepack, such as the Twist 1000mah for £14.99 or the Spinner 1300mah for £17.99 myepack.co.uk/batteries.html and then order a second battery from FT, as if it will last me all day and I can charge it overnight then I'll be able to manage with one temporarily at least  and FT are considerably cheaper. I could get this www.fasttech.com/products/0/10004043/1408802-ego-c-twist-1100mah-variable-voltage-rechargeable or this two pack which is even cheaper per battery www.fasttech.com/products/0/10005383/1430100-ego-vv-1100mah-rechargeable-variable-voltage and I think having the battery level indicator will be useful and I can probably sell one of the batteries to a friend if he starts vaping as I won't really need three.

I know from ordering vitamins from the US that VAT at 20% is payable on any orders totalling over £15, including shipping and Royal Mail charge a ridiculous £8 processing fee if there's any VAT payable as well, so I've always used DHL for my vitamin orders as I get the benefit of my parcels being tracked and insured and they only charge a % fee, which as I recall has only come to about £2-3 but with FT parcels would be sent by airmail, so would be handled in the UK by RM, so I'd have to avoid ordering over £15 worth of goods to avoid the charges kicking in and making it no cheaper than myepack (although maybe if I placed a couple of separate orders I could get round this?)

So yeah, any advice/recommendations on what to buy would be helpful in getting me started ASAP

[seniorphil]

Hi and welcome.
The array of batteries out there is confusing, but you've picked the cheapest uk and chinese vendors. Variable voltage is a great place to start. The bigger the mah rating the longer it will last, and 1100mah and 1300mah should last you all day, but you will find you you will want a back up. As panic will kick in when something lets you down. I would order from myepack, as fasttech have had major problems with battery deliveries in the last few months. Parcels with batteries in have been returned to fasttech, and delayed by weeks, but they seem to be getting back to normal. I haven't been hit by any import duties on 10 orders with fasttech as they lie on the customs declaration. Parcels that have been worth £80 have been declared at under a fiver. I am sure someone will come along and let you know their recent battery experience.
Clearomizers are much a matter of taste. I use Evods, Protanks, iclears, vivi novas. I use a lot of citrus tank cracking juices and I am still waiting for a tank to crack on me. I use evods mostly and I keep checking, but nothing after 6 months. I've never had a problem with Protanks in the cold neither. So I would recommend both. You'll get replacement heads nice and cheap from fasttech.
Juices are a minefield, it's each to their own on that one. The same flavours you like in sweets etc. seem to work with ecigs. I used to get my juice from fasttech(dekang brand) but now mix my own, so I don't know any UK suppliers.
What part of the UK are you in? There are vape meet ups happening all over the country this Saturday(11th Jan) and they are great opportunity to see kit and sample juices.
I wish you luck in your vape journey.

Phil.
p.s With the resistance on the heads, I prefer 1.8-2 ohm. If the resistance is higher, just turn up the volts until you find your "sweet spot" with the vape. With non-variable voltage devices it id much more important to get it right.

[Perpetua]

Welcome to you doveman.

If you can cope with the form, I'd suggest getting this cracking piece of kit from Myepack along with some eliquid, over £40 it's free delivery:

myepack.co.uk/itaste-mvp-v2-0.html

Then order some back ups from Fasttech as the MVP will tide you over in the meantime.

As for clearo's I use Evods/Iclears/Vivi Nova's and have yet to have a tank crack on me like Phil . . . though with the well known culprits, if you're going to use them - then a glass tank of some description is a must.

[newdawn]

Hi doveman and to aae-c

I'm only a few months in and got two of these when I started. Don't buy juice from them because their price is crazy.

The same kit can be bought here but costs a bit more. That said, myepack have best price around on most things and is where I got two of these mini protanks for tank cracking juice. Not sure what their juices are like because I've never tried them.

A good starting point for juice is to buy a bunch of samples to see what you like. www.smokerainbow.com/ sells 1ml samples from various producers. Another popular one is joosejuice who do 10ml samples of their own blends for 1.49 each. Joosejuice has a discount code for their larger 30ml bottles and they also do BOGOF on those, but trust me when I say...DON'T BUY BIG until you've tasted a bunch and figure out what you like.

Discount codes for various vendors can be found here.

[Chrissie]

Hello & welcome doveman

I know we have already chatted on ECF & that you want to keep your spend down to start with as you are a relatively light smoker.

I'd still go for the evod kit if I was you (just avoid well known tank crackers), to get you up & running. You can then buy a Vision Spinner or other VV at a later date - it will be completely compatible with your evod kit.

[Roscopecotrain]

Hi doveman. Welcome to aaec

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[Carpe Vapor]

Not much to say that hasn't already been mentioned.

This forum is a wealth of knowledge though, so I'm sure you will be up and running in no time.

[tominmids]

Hi doveman and welcome to AAE-C
Lots of good advice here, and I think I'd have to go along with Chrissie. The Evod kit is a great and good priced starter which you can build from.
myepack also do Dekang juices, and you might find the USA mix a good one to start with while looking for a juice that suits you best.

[Karma]

Nice to meet you doveman

I agree with Chrissie that Evod kit is a good buy and a great starter set

[babs]

I too use the itaste vv/vw newdawn linked to with a mini protank. It will last you all day At the amount you smoke and is easy to adjust to your taste. I smoked 20 a day and it lasts me from morning to evening and being a pass through can be used while charging. You can get a 2nd battery only from fasttech www.fasttech.com/products/0/10004594/1363600-authentic-innokin-itaste-vv-v3-0-variable-voltage about £16.00 I bought my 2nd one from there with no problems a couple of months ago just the usual about 3 week wait. No custom charges either. It's just the battery but all you need and all I use

[djs]

Welcome doveman

Good to see you here on AAEC.

[giles]

Nothing wrong with the itaste, but personally I'd stick with your original plan & go for spinner+protank or evod - maybe something like this.

And I wouldn't get even a back-up from China at this stage. Murphy's law says that if you do, something will go wrong before it gets here.

[djs]

Jan 6, 2014 17:07:47 GMT giles said:

Nothing wrong with the itaste, but personally I'd stick with your original plan & go for spinner+protank or evod - maybe something like this.

And I wouldn't get even a back-up from China at this stage. Murphy's law says that if you do, something will go wrong before it gets here.

I agree.

[doveman]

Jan 6, 2014 3:53:00 GMT seniorphil said:

Hi and welcome.
The array of batteries out there is confusing, but you've picked the cheapest uk and chinese vendors. Variable voltage is a great place to start. The bigger the mah rating the longer it will last, and 1100mah and 1300mah should last you all day, but you will find you you will want a back up. As panic will kick in when something lets you down. I would order from myepack, as fasttech have had major problems with battery deliveries in the last few months. Parcels with batteries in have been returned to fasttech, and delayed by weeks, but they seem to be getting back to normal. I haven't been hit by any import duties on 10 orders with fasttech as they lie on the customs declaration. Parcels that have been worth £80 have been declared at under a fiver. I am sure someone will come along and let you know their recent battery experience.
Clearomizers are much a matter of taste. I use Evods, Protanks, iclears, vivi novas. I use a lot of citrus tank cracking juices and I am still waiting for a tank to crack on me. I use evods mostly and I keep checking, but nothing after 6 months. I've never had a problem with Protanks in the cold neither. So I would recommend both. You'll get replacement heads nice and cheap from fasttech.
Juices are a minefield, it's each to their own on that one. The same flavours you like in sweets etc. seem to work with ecigs. I used to get my juice from fasttech(dekang brand) but now mix my own, so I don't know any UK suppliers.
What part of the UK are you in? There are vape meet ups happening all over the country this Saturday(11th Jan) and they are great opportunity to see kit and sample juices.
I wish you luck in your vape journey.

Phil.
p.s With the resistance on the heads, I prefer 1.8-2 ohm. If the resistance is higher, just turn up the volts until you find your "sweet spot" with the vape. With non-variable voltage devices it id much more important to get it right.

Thanks for all the welcomes and advice everyone, nice to see such a friendly bunch of people

seniorphil, yeah the range of batteries is a bit confusing at first, until you've got some advice on what you're likely to need but I know I want a vv now and definitely will want a backup, even if I can manage with one temporarily at first. Sounds like it would be best not to order from FT just now then, at least not for the stuff I need to get started but maybe for spares that I won't need anytime soon. I was actually wrong when I said that VAT is charged (and the RM fee kicks in) if the order including shipping is over £15, it's actually just the goods value that is considered but if the goods are over £15, then VAT is charged on the total order value including shipping. If FT lie about the value though, it shouldn't be any issue even for orders worth over £15.

A lot of people have said they've never had an EVOD crack on them but then again there's a fair few who've said they have and I'm not really keen to take the risk, so I think I'll concentrate on the Protanks but maybe get one EVOD to experiment with to see if I find the vape preferable. Regarding juices, I think I'll like things like cinnamon, vanilla, bananna, blueberry as I have quite a sweet tooth. Hey, vaping might help me give up sweets/chocolate as well as smoking, so I'll be extra healthy

Ah, thanks. I understand that the resistance isn't so important with vv devices now, as the voltage can be increased to compensate if necessary. It was just a bit confusing seeing devices rated at 2.2ohm and not knowing whether this meant I had to use 2.2ohm replacement heads or not.

I'm in Kingston-upon-Thames but it's easy to get into London from here, so if that's the nearest meet on Saturday I'd be interested in going along, probably take a couple of friends who are interested as well.

Perpetua, thanks for the suggestiong. The MVP is interesting but I'm not sure I'd get on with it's profile and would probably prefer the more "standard" battery/Protank profile. I see it comes with a iClear 30 clearomiser but could that be replaced with a (mini)Protank to eliminate the risk of cracking? If so, I'll think about it a bit more but if I'm replacing the clearomiser, it seems I'm basically paying £40 for a large battery and charger and I can't honestly think of any situations (even camping with no charging ability) where having two or more smaller batteries wouldn't be just as good, if not better.

newdawn, thanks but I'm not sure that would be good value for me, as I'm unlikely to use the iClear 16 clearomisers, so I'd be paying £30 for a 800mah battery and charger (albeit a very nice, highly tweakable one), when I could get two vv 1000mah Twists for about that, which would probably be better for me. Thanks for the tips on juice vendors, I've not come across those two before

Chrissie (sorry, for some reason the board has converted everyone else names into links to their profiles but won't with yours), it's not so much that I want to keep my spend down (although who doesn't!), I just want to avoid wasting money on stuff that I'm not going to use and knowing that there's a risk of the EVODs cracking with certain flavours, some of which are the ones I think I'll like, I'm going to be using Protanks anyway. I also know I want to use vv batteries, so there's no point in spending money on non-vv ones. So although it might cost me a bit more to buy two vv-batteries, a charger, two mini-Protanks and some heads than the EVOD kit, it will be cheaper than buying the kit, only to put half of it to one side and then also buy the vv-batteries and Protanks.

babs, thanks but as I've said above, I'm not sure that itaste kit makes sense for me. I very much like the FT battery you recommended though and might order that as my 2nd battery and just make do with a single battery from myepack or another UK supplier until the 2nd one arrives.

tominmids, thanks for the suggestion of the Dekang USA mix, I'll give that a go to start with to tide me over whilst I'm testing flavours.

giles, you might be right that it's a bit risky to order my 2nd battery from FT but as long as I make sure that every night I remember to charge the 1000/1300mah vv battery I order from the UK to get me started, I should be OK for a few weeks shouldn't I? Regarding the kit you linked to, it doesn't strike me as a good deal for £59 (especially when I'm not planning to use the included EVOD clearomisers and heads) when I can buy two 1000mah vv Twists for £30, two mini Protanks for £20 (although I could just order one from the UK and the 2nd from FT to save a bit), 5 protank replacement heads for £6 and a charger for £3.50, totalling almost exactly the same price as the kit. If I bought the kit and then the protanks and heads, it would cost me about £85. Sure, I get the zipper case and a 10ml bottle of liquid with the kit but they're not really of any value to me.

So thanks again everyone, I think it's probably going to be the vv and protanks (or possibly the MVP but I'm not sure about that). Can anyone point me to good mini-protanks clearomisers and replacement heads on FT, as they have so much variety of devices on there it gets a bit overwhelming trying to decide which ones to get and once I've got my startup sorted, I'll probably order at least some of my spares from there to save a bit of money. I also recall reading about a glue issue with one of the protanks, so I'm not sure if I need to get the mini-Protank 2 or mini-Protank v2. I'm guessing the latter but maybe the glue issue was fixed in the plain 2 as well and there's some advantages with that over the v2. They're the same price on myepack anyway but maybe the only difference is the removable drip-tip on the v2 and some people see that as a negative rather than adding extra value and would rather pay the same for the plain 2?

As for liquids, can anyone advise what nicotine strength I should be getting and also how long 10ml is likely to last me, so that I can make sure I order sufficient stocks to keep me going until I re-order? I'm sure there will be some flavours I order that I don't like, so I might run out a bit earlier than expected if I can't force myself to use those flavours when I run out of the ones I do like so it's hard to predict accurately when starting out and testing flavours but it will give me some idea at least.

[djs]

What cigarettes were/are you smoking?

I started on 24mg (on a rubbish e-cig) went straight down to 18mg on my "kit". I can get by on 12mg these days. I smoked roll-ups. (1.0mg minimum)