Got my eGo C in late Feb, my first vaping experience. My goal was to stop smelling like cigarettes. I still smoke 3-6 analogs a day (only outdoors - fresh-smelling hair, clothes, and apartment!), but that's down from 15 or more analogs a day. My analog count will be tapering off, because, just like the pros here say, once you've started vaping the analog taste is just... foul! A few times a day I still find I crave the hundreds of poisons in analogs, but I'm indulging the beast less and less often.
There certainly IS a learning curve with these things! I hope a newbie or two may find this post useful.
1. Research before you buy. Unless you have $50-100 bucks to throw away, do your homework. I started out, like most newbies, certain that I wanted a unit that would look, feel, and taste as much like a real cigarette as possible. When I first heard about the units where you had to press a button to take a puff, I thought it was insanely stupid! But the more I read, the more I changed my mind. Think CONVENIENCE -- length of battery life, ease of refilling, and recurring cost. I highly recommend my eGo C, even though there were early frustrations because of the learning curve.
2. Read several chat boards. Long-time vapers may sometimes speak in tongues, but you'll get used to it, and they are so very willing to help! Before you post a new question, check to see if there's already a thread on the topic - your answer may be there, or you can contribute to the existing discussion. If you're still in the dark, don't be afraid to start a thread.
3. Juice. Don't go all Costco with your first few juice orders. Many places offer small bottle sample packs - it's a little pricier than buying big bottles, but why buy a big bottle of something you may not like? I'm now sitting on a jug of juice that I find totally un-vape-able. But through samplers, I've found three flavors I'd be happy to vape forever -- Honey Cured Tobacco, Andes Mint, and Snowman's Kiss, all from Pink Spot. I know the fruity flavors have lots of fans, but I tried several and they weren't for me. Keep an open mind, and you will be amazed at the varieties available that DON'T taste like cigarettes - and that's a good thing!
4. Soft caps! Soft caps! Soft caps! Order lots of silicone caps, they're cheap as dirt but take forever to arrive from China. (Does anybody know a supplier that ships from the US?) Several advantages:
-- I found it absolutely impossible to remove the hard plastic caps without digging at the edges with a sharp object, and I always ended up zinging the cap across the room and having to feel up the carpet to find it. With the soft caps, I simply cover the cap with a tissue for traction, and peel it up and out.
-- When one eventually gets too ripped to provide a tight seal, just toss it and pop a new one into the old tank. You can use your existing tanks forever if you keep replacing the caps. Tanks are cheap, but caps are cheaper!
5. Leakage. When I started vaping, the problem was so bad I considered giving up entirely. Huge gushes of juice would suddenly run down the outside of the unit, and fill all the connections. With the help of this and other site chat boards, I finally figured out what was wrong... several things!
-- Don't overfill! - make sure you leave enough space in the tank that there's a little air bubble when it's sealed. Sometimes, even if there is a decent bubble, I still have to tap the tank a few times to get the bubble to rise to the mouth end of the tank.
-- Wait a sec! I now push the button for a second or two BEFORE I start inhaling - the amount of time it takes to bring the ecig to my lips is plenty. This seems to help me get better vapor, and I believe it also helps keep the attomizer/tank seal tighter, though I couldn't say why.
-- Don't suck! Take long, slow, relaxed inhalations. You'll get used to it very quickly. Plus, heavy suckage can make juice pull through the mouthpiece and into your mouth.
-- I'll say it again - soft caps! The overlap that wraps around the end of the tank seems to be a huggier seal than the hard plastic caps. Also, I use a large sewing needle to pierce a small starter hole on new caps; it seems to keep the silicone from ripping so much when the tank is inserted for the first time, as well as after repeated refills. There's a poster here who recommends using a 12-guage hypodermic needle, blunted for safety, to actually pull out a perfectly sized plug rather than just poke a starter hole -- I'm going to give that a try too.
-- Insert the tank firmly all the way, and continue pushing while you twist it about 90 degrees. Note that before I started pre-poking the soft caps, occasionally I would come across one that refused to be pierced by the attomizer, and I HAD to take it out and manually start the hole - the polar opposite of a leakage problem.
6. Nic level. Start medium until you know what feels right. You can always buy some higher or lower of the same (or complimentary) flavor and mix them together to bring it to a level you like, so it's not a wasted bottle. I started with 24mg and was overwhelmed - it actually gave me "cigarette hangovers"! I'm now at 18, and just ordered some 12's with the intention of being a 0 by the end of the year. And yes, I will vape at 0. I like it.
7. Get a decent hard case. Again, think convenience! I found a very nice one for maybe $12 at LiteCig. It has interior nets and bands to keep everything in place, and it holds two assembled ecigs, my USB charger, a few extra soft caps, and three sample size bottles so I always have extra of my favorite flavors. I refill my little bottles once or twice a week, so when I'm racing out to work in the morning all I have to do is pop the case in my purse and I know I have everything I need. No thinking necessary.
All this is "IMHO," your mileage may vary, but I hope you find it helpful.
Thanks again to everyone on this site who helped me become a happy vaper!
MommyMcG
