Are Ecigarettes Economical?

[Speakeasy]

I'm happy to say that I haven't had any tobacco for over 16 days!! I used to smoke a pack and a half of Marlboro lights every day, as well as 3-4 foot long cigars every week (which is the real reason why my nickname is Footlong). I've been smoking for over 25 years. I'm completely out of shape and I can barely climb a flight of stairs. In fact, up until a month ago, the greatest amount of physical activity I engaged in was dressing myself (which is why I spend most of my free time at home naked from the waste down).

I have been vaping (almost non-stop) with my 510 for just over two weeks now. I want to share some things with the forum (even if some people think I'm sharing too much) and get some input from others. I would like to describe the experiences I've had with the eliquid, the suppliers, and about how the 510 has been working for me. Hopefully, I can get some feedback from others that have the 510 and get their opinion (about vaping, that is).

Now, from the beginning, my main reason for starting with the ecigarette was to stop smoking tobacco. I've been smoking for way too long and I'm also way too fat. It is my goal to get my body into shape just one more time before I'm too old to care about what I look like. It has become more than apparent to me that if I'm ever going to find my third ex-wife I'm going to have to clean up my act. So, I figure the only way that I'm gonna attract one of those slim Russian gymnasts from Ukraine is to drop 40lbs, stop smoking, and save up for a plane ticket and some jewelry. Tread mills, rowing machines, and spin classes scare the **** out of me. And the amount of sweating I do at the gym scares the **** out of some of the other patrons, I'm told. By quiting tobacco I hope to improve my chances of getting prettier without causing a heart attack. Oh, and I'm not really concerned about anyone's opinion of my courting techniques, or my current life-style choices, so you can save your criticism. I know I'm being shallow and I frankly don't care.

So, as you can now understand, the economic benefits to the ecigarette are also a big concern for me. Let's face it, steroids, gym memberships, diamonds, and Viagra are expensive. A pack of analogs costs me $4.90. If I get a carton, they're about $45.00. My Macanudo Portafinos cost me about $8.00 each. A box of those last me about a month. Total all that up and I'm paying about $360 a month. That's almost a fourth of my child support payment (4 kids, plus arrears).

I purchased a 510 starter kit from awsomevapor.com. Arno is fantastic, and his desire to be a top-notch supplier is second to none. I received two manual batteries, two atomizers, a wall charger, and 5 fresh cartridges. I also bought a 16ml bottle of 36mg/ml RY-4 eliquid. Along with the new kit, Arno gave me two free samples of eliquid. These liquids were both 3ml bottles and were 18mg/ml. One was the Mentha flavor, and one was the Marlboro flavor. The whole thing cost me $64.00 after shipping, which I think is a pretty sweet deal.

Before I even ordered my 510, I read quite a bit from this forum. I also watched just about every video I could find, both here and on youtube. I made the choice of getting a 510 because of all the positive remarks made about it. I basically came to the conclusion that the 510 was probably the most popular e-cigarette out there. After receiving the 510, I was very happy to see that I had made the right choice for me. I charged the batteries for 8 hours before using them and all the equipment has been working very well for me. However, because I have read several remarks about the short battery life of the 510, I made a point to concentrate on how my batts performed. I noticed that the first charge lasted for more than 3 hours and I was very happy about this. But over the coarse of these past two weeks I have certainly witnessed a sharp decrease in the time between charges. I now have only about an hour and a half until I find myself switching to my other battery. Luckily, it only takes about 45 minutes for my batteries to charge completely. I have also noticed that the vapor production isn't what it once was. I think this may have more to do with the batteries than the atomizers. I have cleaned the attys twice since receiving them and I don't see any great improvement. When I put on a new battery I can hear the atty gurgle like crazy as it boils the liquid. But within only a short time this gurgle gets less and less.

When I first started vaping I just added more liquid to the cart batting as needed. Technically, this isn't actually dripping as I understand it. I didn't really find the RY-4 to be very tasty. I thought the Marlboro was pretty good, but the Mentha made me gag. I got the 36mg liquid with the idea of cutting it with some VG that I picked up at Walmart for $3.90. Cutting it 50/50 would double the volume and save me even more money, but I started to notice that this made me vape more, and I still didn't like the taste. So for now, I'm just sticking with the full strength. I still haven't really found an eliquid that I love yet, but I'm still looking.

In the two weeks that I've been vaping I've learned a lot. I've met quite a few new friends, as well. The biggest thing that I've learned is that my 510, as it is, will soon need to be either replaced, or up-graded. So I went shopping.

Recently I've found some very small issues regarding supplies. First of all, PayPal dickishly shut down Arno for a few days. But this misfortune allowed me the opportunity to meet Jeff at wordup-ecig.com. He was extremely helpful in not only getting me what I needed, but also giving me a few tips about eliquid. This guy actually called me in order to thank me for my business (I think he was more curious to meet someone from Wyoming). One of the things that he told me is that it has been his experience that most new vapers don't like the taste of VG starting out and that I should stay with PG for awhile and also stick to the tobacco flavors. He also educated me about the differences between what you get at Walmart compared to what he supplies. Now, Some of you might feel like this may be a sales gimmick but it made a lot of sense to me. Call him up. His phone number is on his website and he'll always answer. Another problem I ran into was that a lot of suppliers have been temporarily out of stock on some of the replacement and accessory items I'm looking for. I found that wordup had a fancy little thing that Jeff calls the "520". Some of you might know this as the mega batt for the 510. It's basically a manual batt that is about 1/2" longer than the regular 510 batt and is advertised as lasting twice as long. But, alas, the 520 batt is out of stock.

Some other things I found that should really eliminate most of my batt concerns are the PCC and the USB passthrough. Both of these items, however, are also temporarily out of stock through Jeff or Arno. I really think that it's best to only go through suppliers that VaporTalk has recommended as I've come to really trust Chris and all the folks here at the forum. I commented on this fact a couple of days ago in the chat room and guess what happened. I met Jason from ElectroNicStix.com. He had most everything I was looking for available and in stock, so I ordered through him, as well. I should see these supplies tomorrow as he is real close to me and shipping should be pretty quick.

All three of these guys are great! They all have great customer service skills and offer all OEM equipment. I have to say that Arno is the cheapest, IMO, but Jeff is a real close second, and he offers free shipping which can save a guy about $6.00 on average. Jason is a bit more expensive, but his selection is much wider and he has some really cool 510 supplies, like stainless steal and even copper 510s.

Getting back to the dollars, I think I'm doing pretty good so far. Over the past 16 days I've gone through about 25mls of liquid. Thats right at 1.5mls a day and I'm vaping like a mad man possessed! The total cost of my nicotine addiction over these two weeks has cost me just over $76.00 if you include the startup costs. I've spent more than that though. My PCC from Jeff, which won't be here for a couple of weeks, due to his being out of stock, cost me $45.00, but comes with a completely new charging system and a brand new 510. Jason sold me a really sweet stainless 520, a USB passthrough, and two bottles of liquid (10mls ea.) for $67.00. And each of these fellas threw in a little something' on the side. I got two 3ml sample bottles from Arno, 3 from Jeff, and Jason offers free shipping for orders over $65.00.

So, lets add it up.....(BTW, all prices are rounded up)

Starter 510 kit from Awesomevapor................$49.00

22mls of eliquid (including 6mls of samples).....$10.00

PCC w/new 510 from Wordup........................$45.00

30mls of liq. and 30mls of PG cut from Wordup....$21.00

1 510 stainless atty from ElectroNicStix.........$11.00

1 1 520(mega) batt from ElectroNicStix...........$18.00

1 stainless USB passthrough from ElecrtoNicStix..$19.00

20mls of eliq. from ElectroNicStix...............$20.00

Shipping total....................................$5.00

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Total expenses so far...........................$198.00

This gives me 4 attys, 4 batts(incl. 1 mega520), a PCC, a USB passthrough, and enough juice to last me for 68 days. The passthrough and the PCC, coupled with the durability of the 510 attys should eliminate any equipment concerns and will last for several months. The only additional cost I need to worry about is eliquid, which I won't run out of until January 23rd. $200 dollars for almost 3 months worth of trouble free vaping. Subtract that from the $1,000 I would have spent on analogs and footlongs, and I'm up $800.00 for the quarter!! I can buy a lot of love for $800 in most eastern-European communities.

I really have no idea how long it will be before I'll need to but more attys or batts but I'll bet it won't be till after the snow melts, which is the middle of May up here.........

[keenan]

Thats WAYYYYY too much math for me, much less information (jk ).I applaud you for sitting down to figure all that out, and REALLY, I wish I had the incentive to do it. I know, I was spending an absolute FORTUNE on analogs, and being the spankapottumas that I am, I cared more about the MONEY then my health. I have been fortunate enough to have had the love of a good woman for the last 29 years. I also have a wife (jk). Seriously, my wife was worried about my health more than me, I just wanted to save money. I was up to 3 cartons a week, sometimes more. Now, I have argued that a LOT of my cigs just burned up in the ashtray, as I was a chain smoker and would light up, get to doing something and it would burn away. Whether it burned up in the ashtray or in my lungs, it was getting WAY too expensive. When I started e cigs, I told myself Im going to spend no more than half out of every paycheck on e cigs than I spent on analogs, thereby saving half of what I would normally spend, I have found that Im not even spending that much, though I would like to for stocking up purposes. I believe if you work hard, you DESERVE a few pleasures, and smoking USED to, now Vaping pleases me. Money saved by vaping hasnt been accounted for as accurately as you have done, but I know I have saved a ton of it. Well not a ton, but several ounces. Now, if youll excuse me, I have to go wash my brain after reading your first paragraph again.......

[TheSmokingMan]

Wow, someone else who likes to write, like I do. And you guys thought I was long winded, Ha!

[mistorfog]

Sounds like you have a nice mini arsenal now Speakeasy! I have the 510 also and know about the short batt life. That is also why I use my PT when I'm at home. I even take it with me for a backup when I go out because it seems to last 2 hours unplugged from the port.(it uses the same batt as the VP1) As for the juice, I have never tried the RY4 but I do like the Cuban Cigar from Wet Your Stick Liquids. I think his stuff is Dekang liquid. The Cigarette prices here in Michigan have jumped to 6.50 a pack(thanks to our lovely governor) and the 2 e-cigs , PassThru, carts, and liquids I have bought for myself in the past 5 weeks have only cost me a third of what I usually spend. Not only that, I can breathe better and I cut my nicotine down to about 14mg so far. Not do I only feel healthier,but now I can afford to buy health insurance! As for the exercise, start slow. As for the Russian mail order bride, make sure she comes with a Mosin Nagant or Dragonov rifle!lol

[xsnut]

HEY ALL : I didn't know they made 3-4 foot long cigars....loolololol....peace

[StevenP]

Haha, read the whole thing through, it certainly an entertaining read.

Edited November 17, 2009 by StevenP

[Speakeasy]

Wow, someone else who likes to write, like I do. And you guys thought I was long winded, Ha!

Lol, My chronic, long-winded remarks are precisely why I try to keep from commenting on most political issues, Talmadge. I'm afraid that the 1000KB limit just isn't enough for a guy like me...

And my cigars are not 3-4 feet, awww, never mind......lol

[Christopher]

An entertaining post! I'm glad everything is starting to work out for you. There really are some great suppliers on the board, I"m sure given time you will find the right e liquid for you.

[jiffy]

I believe at first the e-cig can be more expensive for some smokers. In the long run it becomes less expensive and the return on investment becomes obvious. Don't forget the residual returns like sense of smell, taste buds, lungs, and overall condition of health that you get in return.

[profbeard]

I believe at first the e-cig can be more expensive for some smokers. In the long run it becomes less expensive and the return on investment becomes obvious. Don't forget the residual returns like sense of smell, taste buds, lungs, and overall condition of health that you get in return.

My experience is that, once you have chosen a PV to live with and have avoided becoming a "collector" who must have every new device that comes along, the savings are considerable - I've worked mine out at averaging around £150 a month

[NeRo9k]

My experience is that, once you have chosen a PV to live with and have avoided becoming a "collector" who must have every new device that comes along, the savings are considerable - I've worked mine out at averaging around £150 a month

I have that same problem. I have plenty of devices but I keep buying more. I know most of them are going to work the same but I can't help myself. Even so, I'm having fun and I'm a lot healthier, after all, isn't that the main reason we vape?!

At first glance I skipped this topic because of the length, then I came back and read it. It was an interesting read and I'm sure a lot of people have a similar process that they went through. I also think without adding up the costs most people don't realize how much they're actually saving. For me, I'm in the hole, but I love it!