mkauthen

I want to start this off with a disclaimer.
Don't try this at home.

I was looking through some totes I have in storage for a Halloween prop for my wife. While doing this I came across something I had totally forgot about.

I'm a Huge fan of cinnamon and I had set out to make the perfect cinnamon vape. I wanted it to taste like cinnamon. Not the artificial cinnamon like candy, but the real ma coy. Before I did things as I do now I had tried soaking Cinnamon sticks in PG/VG. While it was ok, it was not as strong as I would have liked it. I know that it is recommended that 1 year is the limit for storage. I still would say that to anyone that is looking to store e-Liquid for any length of time. Well, tonight, I had my socks blown off.

I found a 16ozs of 80/20 that had cinnamon sticks steeping in it for 5 years. It was a bottle I had stared back in 2009 and has been sitting a tote in storage. I was expecting it to smell Nasty musty and old, but I had to give it a whiff. OMG It smelled simply Divine!!! No Joke! Instead of tossing it out I set it aside while I looked for what I was wanting. I brought it up to my lab and had to check it out. There was no mold or any funny looking film growing it. I poured some out in a beaker and it looked as clean as if It were made that today. It has a rich dark mahogany color to it that you can still see through.

I decided to rewick my RDA and give it a vape. Again I was expecting it to have a nasty musty moldy taste. It was the best Cinnamon vape I have ever had!! Granted it was strong, but in a good way. You may think that I was totally nuts to try it and maybe so. But, It is the absolute hands down the best Cinnamon taste I have ever had.

Private Reserve! Sounds freakin deliscious!

out of all the RDAs I have had, I would say the stillare is probably the easiest and best I've worked with (all opinion of course). Like comp said, you can drip with a provari, but it leaves you with fewer options because you have to build at 1.2 or higher. A mech mod would probably be the way to go for dripping (also opinion)

Smoktech magneto
Sony vtc 4's or 5's
Igo RDA (of some sort. There are plenty)
26 or 28g kanthal
Organic cotton balls

Reasonably priced mod, good starting atomizers that aren't expensive, correct batteries, and a good starting point on wire gauge.

This way if he decides he's not into dripping, he won't have dumped insane amounts of money into it.

I never had that issue. I went through about 5-6ml a day with my tanks and I still do that in my drippers. Occasionally I'll go through 8-9, but that's only on rough days.

All good suggestions above...

I'll toss in the Magma as a good starter RDA... It has a deep juice-well (less mess), as well as a stable (and forgiving) platform for building single or dual-coil configurations, and it has adjustable airflow.

Things to mention about RDAs... and these are just my opinions and observations...
You will use (exponentially) more juice than vaping from a tank (i.e. more juice expenses) You WILL require lower Nicotine levels with an RDA than you use in your tanks (extra juice costs) You will "want" a Mech MOD or two as you try lower-ohm builds (and yes, you eventually will with an RDA) Buying resistance wires (different gauges), cutters, mandrels (something to wrap wire on), wick (silica, cotton, rayon, etc), and resistance meter are all additional expenses UP FRONT
So, buying a $15-30 RDA is cheap, but getting all the necessary equipment to properly use it can set you back $50-150! Again, that is generally an expense you only have to bear once, but I feel it should be pointed out for anyone starting out with their first RDA.

My first RDA set me back $23, and even though I already owned Mech MODs (and batteries/charger), an Ohm-meter, cutters, mandrels (drill-bits or other known-size rods), and a torch... I still spent an additional $50 on different gauges of Kanthal and a big bag of Japanese Cotton (enough to last for years).

Also, my first week "dripping" added in the extra expense of different flavor/nic-level juices (six bottles), and I vaped roughly 60ml the first week, alone (trying to nail-down new flavor preferences and coil-build preferences)... on top of my usual 18-22ml per week of tank vaping! So, one tiny, inexpensive RDA set me back $150 in total costs to get "going", and I added the extra expense of increasing my juice costs by 200% per week, minimum....

Yes, the flavor and vapor production are amazing from my Magma (like a good pipe or cigar), but I feel everyone wanting to drip should be aware of the initial, up-front expenses, as well as the increase in juices expenses you will incur, weekly.

NOW, an alternative would be a Kayfun Lite Plus or Russian 91%. Both RTAs can be found in quality clones for $20-45, still will allow him to build a coil to suit his needs, use wick of his choice, the flavor is still amazing (like a dripper), but you use less juice than a dripper, although still more than a KPT2 If I only use my KPT2s all week, I use ~20ml of juice... If I only use my Russian 91%, I use ~25ml of juice... if I only use my Magma, I use between 60ml and 90ml of juice! Yes, for a Kayfun-style RTA, you still have to have a meter, wire, wick, etc... but juice expenses will be lower... and RTAs typically perform best with coil builds > 1.0 Ohm, so there is no "need" for a Mech MOD... the ProVari (or most any regulated device) will suffice.

A good Butane mini torch is optional but recommended, especially if he's going to build micro or nano coils. Another optional thing would be a pair of tweezers or needle nosed pliers with insulated handles.

The recommendation that Comp made for a quality OHM reader or multimeter can't be repeated enough. This one is NOT an option. It's a necessity for safety's sake.

Can he drip with a Provari? Yes he just needs to stay with in the min ohms of that device. Though I don't have one I can not say for sure, but 1.2 ohm or above builds would work just fine. If he is wanting to Sub Ohm (Below .9 ohm) then he would want a mechanical MOD with good batteries. I recommend Sony vtc 4s or 5s.

He must have a quality OHM reader or Multimeter to test OHMs.

RDAs are a mater of debate. I recommend a TOBH, Doge, or Patriot for a starter. These all have good building platforms.

Wire... Wicking it is all debatable.
Wire: I would go with 30ga, 20ga, 24ga, 26ga, to start with. Temco will give your best deal in bulk wire. I would go no less than 50ft of each.
Wick: I would go with Organic Cotton. it is easy to pickup at any Walmart, Walgreens, CVC. Japanese Cotton is better, but can be harder to get and more expensive.

As a lifelong Dodger fan, I have to root against your Giants. Sorry. LOL So I will be pulling for KC (if you squint at the screen, it looks like a Dodgers vs Giants game anyways).

I wouldn't expect any less from Dodger fans.

Cool!!! Figured I may as well put a few pics up since I see I'm already talking out of my ***.
The group shot with my Mods is incomplete with the dna40s Not being here yet.

As someone that has a Nautilus, I can second what Tam said about too thick of juice. I've found that if the vg is too high, not only does it gunk up your coil, but because it takes longer for the wick to absorb the liquid, you tend to burn the coils much quicker which makes everything taste nasty...

50/50 works great. And my preferred juice mix is 60/40 pg/vg, works like a dream.

Hydra's Delight is MY delight to vape! It's going to be interesting to see if/how it changes (for the better of course!) after sitting in the juice 'bin' for a few days. A week is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too long to let that bottle sit and steep! It's just that good!

PS. Hubby likes it too and he's a single fruit flavor vapor!

Ok, I'll give the 12 a go, and see. And after my last experiment going to the hour long banking exercise without vaping, if I can't soon find lower mg juice, I'll try not vaping an hour or so before sleeping. I'm so brave! Bring it on! It would be so great to sleep through the night without having to drink all the available beer in the neighbourhood

I am right there with you I don't like the fruit flavors either. I am just starting out 4 days vaping 2 without an analog. I have found help with an itaste vtr and the flavor gorilla juice from alien vapor. It is like banana something. Keep at it and you will succeed.

Yep. It tasted like a real clove. When I was vaping it I had a toothache which turned out I needed a root canal. The juice, applied to the gum with a Q-tip, numbed it right up until I could get to a dentist. Got my nic fix AND it worked on my toothache. Win-win.

So I like to smoke pipe, cigars and hookah, wanted to try this vapeing thing out,.try the no tobaco route

we have a local shop so I stoped in to check it out, first time trying it out, asked all the questions and got lots of info.

tried a bunch of flavs, they make there own, seems like good quality from the looks of the shop and all the setup.

ended up buying a spinner 2 with a kanger tech mini set up ...the help at the store was pretty good I feel good about the setup, they had starter kits for less, but I think I did good jumping into a descent little set up.?

bought these flavors

clove
coconut
jagerbomb
green apple mint
dark roast coffee

like it pretty good, I think this can satisfy and replace my tobacco use,

I do the same thing... watching TV, I tend to chain-vape, and had issues going to sleep at night because of the 18mg nicotine stimulation.

I tried a 6mg apple-cider one night before bed, went straight out, and slept like a rock (rather than a baby, waking up ever 2-hrs, lol). Now, I find citrus flavors (apple/orange/cherry/lemon) work best before bed... bakery flavors make me hungry or leave a lingering flavor in my nose all night

3mg or 6mg work very well if you switch to them an hour or two before bed-time... you allow your body to step-down from nicotine naturally, without going into a withdrawal-mode, and you're not hyped-up when your head hits the pillow....

welcome!!!

Thank You all for the warm welcomes!! Always a pleasure to find a friendly community.. Michelle, that sucks to hear that. Although I think I would still do it, I can't help myself. My dorky side would shine and not let me refuse that job, although I would have to find a second one just to help pay the bills. HaHa!! I still think that is awesome that he is a tester, I would jump at the chance to be one in a heartbeat.

Hmm, I don't have to look back too far, but I would definitely say, stay away from the cigalikes, and go straight for a beginner battery (Evod Twist or Spinner 1 or 2), and get a good pyrex tank (protank or Nautilus). Take some time to sample various liquids in a brick and mortar and find a couple that I really like. Make sure to start with a higher nicotine level, and go down in level as needed.

That's what makes this forum so great. I still feel like I owe this forum for how much it helped me in the early days. It's easy now but not in the early days especially finding a flavor I liked. I bet I shipped out 2000ml of unwanted liquids before I found what I like. Gotta pay it forward!

Best battery for a beginner? Simple is best in my mind. I would vote for either an Evod Twist or a Vision Spinner 2. Both are simply plug and play. lol Easy to charge, easy to use. Get a starter kit or just get the battery by itself, and buy a tank separately. Good tanks would be either a Protank or a Nautilus.

Juices are subjective. Look for flavor profiles that suit your personal tastes. As to nicotine level, that depends on you. I'm a pack a day smoker, so I started with a high nicotine level (24 and 18), but you can get levels all the way down to 0.

Same solution for trolls...... First preheat oven to 350f that's 175c gas mark 4......

Okay, I've been clumsy lately, and banged my MVP and tanks around a bit more than usual... especially knocking the rig over on my desk! So, I considered one of those "rubber-band" thingies to help pad the Pyrex on my tanks.... That is, I considered them until I saw the prices for a strip of silicone!

So, being the ingenious person I am, lol... I remembered that I had hundreds of feet of 550 paracord lying around (which I make key-chains, survival bracelets, lanyards, dog-collars, etc. from when I'm really, really bored).

Five minutes later, I have a Four-Bight-Turk's-Head tied around one of my AeroTanks, and not only is it decorative, but it should provide a small amount of protection from drops and knocks? It also slides up or down (with a little force, because I tightened it up quite a bit) so I can still see how much juice is left in the tank

What do you think?