ddavelarsen
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Posts posted by ddavelarsen
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There's hope for you Brian, there's hope. I even hold out hope for my dear friend nana! But Hey! - who really cares one way or the other. Well, I do, but who cares what I think? Well, I do, but who else? Nobody. Well, except you, maybe a little. Or not. Anyway, kudos to you Brian for the polished PT and DBSB! That's rockin.
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Nana I love to nag you guys for buying black when you could buy mirror; it's just my nature. I'm sure you understand.
I certainly do believe that the SB is the ultimate vaping machine, and with its integral switch the Omega could only make that better. These are certainly the best value for the dollar out there, hands down. Regardless one's esthetic leanings. -
I vape 6V and it's all about the quantity of vapor and the TH. I could no more go back to 3.7V now than I could push my car to work. It just wouldn't happen. I use a regular 510 atty on my 6V devices. I've tried LR atty at 3.7V and while it's a great alternative Jolly's right that they do not last as long and I found they'd get a really nasty taste built up rather quickly. Still, a decent alternative to a more expensive 6V device.
With 6V I've taken to using my own liquid mixes because I can tweak the VG content to my satisfaction. That pushes up the vapor production and smoothes out the vapor, but does counteract flavor a bit.
High voltage might not be for everyone but I sure could never go back. Good luck with your experiments!
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I've had great luck with regular old Joye 510s and 510 cartomizers. I like more TH than the hi res attys provide, personally.
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Great review Brian, and you're a natural on video! You should do more of this, it's a great help for people who haven't seen these devices. BigJim, you can believe what these guys say and if you get an SB or Omega you'll be in hog heaven. If you like the PT idea, go with the SB. Brian likes black, but I love the highly polished original silver personally. We can't question Brian's reviewer chops but I can dis his taste in PV finishes.
At least the Omega comes in basic mirror.
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Man I vape openly - brazenly - everywhere, all the time. Sometimes people look at me funny but no one has ever said anything. (Alas - opportunity for education.) I've never understood why anyone would feel uncomfortable vaping publicly. There's nothing wrong with vaping!
Edit. Local grocery store always has an off-duty cop hanging around. I've vaped in the checkout line in front of half a dozen different cops - no one ever said anything. Once a checkout guy asked about it, and he got all psyched when I explained what it was. Vaping is good for people! Do us all a favor - be proud you're vaping!
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I think we scared everybody away kitsune!
I tend to get too scientific about this, while some people do it the way they cook: just add this or that until it tastes right and vape on. You might never vape the same flavor twice, but that might be a good thing. 
For me, mixing really puts some fun into vaping and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't even remember the last time I bought premade juice. Really. I could find out of course, because I've kept track of every invoice and what it was for (not recommended! you don't want to know how much vaping really costs the first year!
but there's no price for a healthy lifestyle.).PS - by the way kitsune, your syringe method for measuring drops is brilliant! Virtually no waste! Wish I'd thought of that. You're the best.
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The liquid I vape is 55% VG; I'd add more but VG tends to lessen the flavor, which means I bump it up -- and since flavoring is PG based, 55% is all the VG I can get in my mix. I'd buy 48mg liquid from the VT store in a heartbeat, or I'd buy VT flavoring to mix my own. If I were buying flavoring, I'd prefer an option for larger quantities, an ounce or more, up to four ounces. This is the only reason I don't shop at VT store more often. You guys are great.
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Excellent Kitsune! Another big +1 for you. I love this forum. Hedge, I partially answered this question a while back too, check post number 4 on Sensay's thread too if you're interested.
DIY is a wonderful, and addictive!, pastime and addition to your vaping repertoire. After the initial expense getting set up, you'll be able to mix liquids for as little as 25 cents per ml. No kidding. Well, that assumes buying large quantities of the more common cooking flavorings, but even so, it's far less expensive than buying commercial liquid. To me though the best part is being able to tweak your mixes to work best with your voltage and atty, and your personal tastes. I have a pretty unusual approach to liquid mixing because I vape high voltage, but it works for me and might for you if you're at 6V or more. (If not, if you're vaping 3.7V, then stick with the more traditional levels of up to 20% flavoring and mostly PG.)
For high voltage liquid, I use 100% VG base nic and as much as 48% flavoring, which can get very pricey (but still less than the cost of commercial liquid, assuming you've purchased large enough quantities of the basics kitsune mentioned). This should make more sense as you get into it more.
The only thing I would caution is using drops to measure. I say this because there are too many variables using drops. Different liquids with different viscosities have way different drop sizes, so you can't rely on the 30/ml rule of thumb very well. That's how I started too, and while it does kind of work for small batches (and that's how you'll want to test your mixes!), drops do not scale up accurately. If you're going to use drops for your testing, you have to measure how many drops in 1 ml for each of your inputs. For example, using a common disposable pipette, here are the number of drops per ml for each of my basic inputs:
100MG nic Base, 100% VG -- 16
100MG nic Base, 50% VG, 50% PG -- 26
100MG nic Base, 100% PG -- 31
VG, cut with 20% distilled water -- 15
PG -- 20
Average Flavoring -- 20
So you can see that there's a lot of variance depending on viscosity of the liquid you're inputing and each dropper is different. The 30 drops/ml assumption could get you weird results if you wanted to scale up, and you'll want to measure with each dropper you use.
Determining how many drops per input using your dropper is simple. Get an inexpensive graduated cylinder (the smaller the better for accuracy; mine is 10 ml and it's a bit too large for this purpose). Using your dropper, drip into the cylinder being very careful not to let any drops hit the side of the cylinder going down (if they do, they won't count properly), and count each drop until you get to the 1 ml line. You want to measure where the low part of the fluid comes right to the 1 ml line in the cylinder. Because of surface tension, the liquid will rise along the edge of the wall of the cylinder; don't measure the top of the edge, but the lower, flatter part of the surface. Hope that makes sense.
Rinse and dry your cylinder and dropper between each input you're testing, and try to do this at the common temperature that you'll be working with your materials. Temp can also affect viscosity of the liquids, and even 20 degrees difference could change your measurements. You can dry the inside of your cylinder with canned air -- or a paper towel and a coat hanger. Whatever works, but dry it out so drops of water remaining won't affect your count.
Don't forget to write down your count after each input! No need, probably, to ask why I mention this.
You'll be able to pour most of the liquid you measured back into its container, so there isn't much waste doing this. It's really necessary for accurate record keeping.I tried to upload my calculator but for whatever reason the uploads are failing this morning. If you'd like to see it I will be happy to email the file to anyone with basic instructions how to use it. It's very simple and direct, and lets you measure your inputs in both drops and milliliters.
That's all I have for now, hope it helps a little. Sorry to go off on the drops rant, but I've gotten in so much trouble with drops assumptions I wanted to get it off my chest.
Have fun and as kitusne would say, Merry Mixing! 
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Well I'm sure glad I read this. I was about to X the drip-tips right off the map for me. I bought a steel tip, shorty, and I wasn't happy with it at all. It's heavy, it gets really cold when when it sits in the a/c in between puffs, feels weird in my mouth and I swear it makes everything taste a little bit like steel! Not to mention I seem to get "juiced" more often than not. Maybe a steel shorty just isn't the best choice. Thanks for the review, I'll have to give the drip-tip another shot, but plastic this time!
Amen Jim, it's plastic for me. I never could get my head around sticking metal in my mouth, against my teeth and gums. I vape when I'm driving a lot, and smashing my gums with a metal tip just never registered as a good idea for me.
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Why David,
Are you suggesting that a report generated at a University that coincidentally happens to be located in a state where tobacco farming is a main industry would produce a report that was not in the best interest of the public but instead in the best interest of the local economy?
For shame, Mr. Larson, for shame.....
LOL! Okay, I'm busted.
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Don't freak out on me FTJoe, but I'm with you on this one.
I think it's all about addiction, which has a 'habit' component - call it ritual - as well as a physiological dependency on the drug, in this case nicotine. Nicotine is a pretty benign substance in the concentrations we use it in, no worse than caffeine. And most of us are probably caffeine addicts too; I sure am. We can get our satisfaction with varying amounts of the drug we use; half our addiction is the act of using. Think of all the paraphernalia we use vaping -- device collections, atty preferences, all the little bottles of liquid; DIYers are probably the worst! Some of us are really into our PVs, to the point they make a personal statement. An honest study of the efficacy of vaping would include all these factors, just as you said. But psychology is too soft a science, can't be quantified the way measuring chemicals can be. For what it's worth, I totally know for a fact that we can get a sufficient quantity of nicotine from vaping to satisfy our physiological requirement, notwithstanding the whole ritual thing. So that bogus study didn't prove anything to me. That was totally FUD and nothing more.
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That was a slanted non-study if I ever read of one. What kills me is that some people take this crap at face value - like for example, congress? This is nothing but FUD. We al know that our devices deliver nicotine or we'd all be smoking truly deadly compounds. What's with these people?
Money, of course.
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Great thoughts jgray!
As you can see, we all agree with you; drip tips are the only way to go. I use a plastic one too, and wouldn't vape an atty without it. This is something every vaper needs to own, and not just one. As inexpensive as they are, there's no reason not to have backups at least, in case one is lost.
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One I would add to those mentioned is My Freedom Smokes. I've done a lot of business with them, and always received excellent service and products. They also sell sample packs, which I think is a good option. Like many early vapors you might be thinking along the lines of tobacco flavors and that's fine - I've come full circle back to tobacco, personally. But keep an open mind for all kinds of stuff; you'll find you can vape anything you can taste, which is a world of selection. Maybe too much? My invoice collection suggests that might be true.
Welcome to VT! We're glad you're here.
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For what it's worth, on every new atty or carto, I just run a few cycles without inhaling, all in a row. Don't want to get it too hot, but I like to use that awful stuff up before I start vaping.
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Dave on our web site there is a downloadable CHART that shows Turns VS Voltage http://www.notcigs.c...uemart&Itemid=1
Also you can at times use the LED to get an idea , the BLUE led will get brighter with higher voltages. Other than that you need a volt meter to set the start point.
Thank you!
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My brother's Buzz is a really nice unit. Very good looking and well made. But it sure needs a way to adjust the voltage without the meter! Even knowing how many turns equals how many volts would be something to go on. I say this because he switches between cartos and 801s - 510 carto for the commute, 801 for daily vape. But they do need the voltage adjusted for optimum menthol vaping.
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Be sure your measurements are accurate. Different droppers can change everything. Also, different mfr of the same flavor can make a huge difference. More info might help too. Good luck.
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Amen on that one brother! Me too! I got a little excited there for a while, need to tone it down a bit.
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ROFL Jeff!!!!!!!
I'm thinkin the dragonfly placed diagonally so it will show more. If it is vertical, most of the wings will wrap around my arm and look funny.
Hell man, I was thinking full back piece! How cool would that be?!
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I'm wanting to DIY bad! But, I need to get a lil more educated before I try it!
Yeah man, there's no education like vaping your own mistakes!
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Right on man. Believe me when I say, a year from now it'll start to even out because you'll have made most of the upfront purchases and you'll be down to maintenance expense. But you're right, it's a shock to get set up and find the combination that works for you.
kitsune and Hodge - how can anyone resist temptation like that?!
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Man I really like the idea of a big dragonfly. That could be mind-blowing.
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