Serendipitous or not, the threads that I have replied to over the last few days have got me thinking about my vaping journey so far.
I started about 18 months ago, wanting to cut back on my tobacco consumption during the day, and getting fed up with my (lease!) car stinking so much when I got in on the mornings. I ordered an eGo battery and a disposable clearomiser, with some RY4 juice (a blind punt in the dark) and remember vividly parking up in a layby on a Friday morning after picking up the package from the post office. I filled the clearo, screwed it on, and had my first vape before my first school visit of the day. I vaped a bit more on the way to my second, and so on throughout the day.
When I got home I didn't tell my family, just went outside as I would normally do but vaped instead of smoked. Imagine how surprised I was when I got through a whole day without smoking!
Over the following months I bought another couple of clearos, a couple of spare batteries and naturally, some more juice. I joined this forum as a lurker, and started to read about the whole vaping business.
I learned about clearos with replaceable heads, so bought one of them, and then some spare heads. I learned about dry-burning heads to make them last a bit longer, about speciality juices like Grants Vanilla Custard, and then splashed out a tenner on a Mini Vivi Nova (now sadly no more - the tank cracked and the top casting came apart
).
About 3 months in I mentioned on another forum that I was considering getting a Vamo. A vaper local to me had just ordered two from two different Chines suppliers, and offered me whichever one arrived second for cost price. I took him up on the offer, and my VW stage began.
I bought a Vivi Nova, and then dabbled with cartomisers and DCTs until I realised that they were actually quite pricey to run, and I had awful leakage problems filling them.
About 6 months in, I took the plunge and started mixing my own juice, especially as GVC was almost permanently OOS and I just loved it. Once I had mixed my first juices, I realised that it was so much cheaper, and have hardly bought any shop-made juices since (the exception being JooseJuice of course!).
Before going on holiday last summer, I bought a Spinner as a backup battery, and was pleasantly surprised how long it lasted. For discreet vaping with an iClear 16 on top, it was in a league of its own.
More recently, I have bought Protanks, and started recoiling their heads. Firstly with Ekowool and silica wick, and now with microcoils and cotton wool. This meant that I only had to build a coil every six weeks or so, and rewicked them whenever they needed it. With this recoiling experience under my belt, I wondered what all the fuss was about the Kayfun family, but baulked a bit when I realised how much they were! I took a deep breath and ordered a Kayfun and a Russian clone from FT, and they eventually arrived with a Caravela kit which must have sneaked into my basket when I wasn't looking
I think I have now reached the point where I have always wanted to be. I have two clones which I can reliably recoil and rewick every time with no issues, the Caravela is an ideal companion and looks just fantastic.
Along the way I picked up another Vamo, and these are great workhorses as well as being ideal for checking resistances!
What have I learned about vaping on my journey?
There is an awful lot of rubbish being sold to poor unsuspecting new vapers, and it is one of the many strengths of this forum that new members are reliably pointed in the right direction for good quality reasonably priced gear from trusted vendors.
The taste of a juice is very personal - speaking to other vapers who I know well, what I like they sometimes hate, and vice versa.
Mixing juice is really really easy - it saves you shed-loads of money and is hugely satisfying with total control over the ingredients and strengths.
Recoiling is nowhere near as frightening as it seems 10 seconds before you start your first coil. It also saves you loads of money.
Best of all, I have made some great forum friends right here, and I know I can rely on them to help me if I have any problems not only with my gear or recipes, but in almost any aspect of my life. For this I thank you all.
Sorry for rambling, but I hope this may just help a new vaper to see what a great
hobby pastime way of kicking stinkes this is!
).
it's not a bad thing Andy, in less than 6 months I have accumulated a load of gear that doesn't suit me and I could ill afford - I really must have a clear out and get some stuff on the classies