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Thread: GrnEyedDvl's E-Cigarette Experiments

  1. #1
    GrnEyedDvl's Avatar Liberalism is a Socially Transmitted Disease
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    Default GrnEyedDvl's E-Cigarette Experiments

    I have been smoking since about the age of 13 when I thought it was cool to steal cigarettes from the old man (thats Dad to you youngsters). Now I am over 40, and am still about a 2 pack a day smoker. At one time many years ago I was smoking anywhere from 3 to 5 packs a day. I like smoking, especially that after dinner cigarette, but I am certianly not getting any younger, and for the last few years I have really been feeling it. Especially in the morning as your lungs are trying to purge all the crap from them and you cough your head off for a few minutes.

    Even with that, the only time I ever seriously tried to quit was right after my bout with an infection around the heart in 2009. I did quit for 3 months then, even though the infection was not related to smoking at all, it was actually a viral thing. During the next few months I had to take all kinds of tests, and one of the things they regularly checked was the oxygen saturation level in my blood.

    Normal oxygen saturation is considered to be 95-100% at sea level. I do not live at sea level, I am a mile above sea level, and my cardioligist says that he regularly sees people below the 95% mark and doesnt worry about it much until they fall below 90%. At the time I was regularly between 86 and 88% which he didnt like, but as I wasnt having any complications from it such as lethargy or decreased concentration, all he did was give me the smoking lecture and make sure I had it checked any time I went to the doctor. For the last 3 years I have maintained that 86-88% and havent ever really thought about it. I am told that people that low generally arent as active as "normal" people, they need more sleep, etc etc. That has never been the case with me. Its a rare day when I get more than 5 hours of sleep, and I have always had a pretty high metabolism so I go all day long. The doctor says that is a contradiction, but for me its normal.

    Fast forward 3 years to July 2012. The wife has been on me about smoking in the house. She gets on that kick once in a while, especially since my office at the house is now my permanent office again. For several years I was only home a few hours of the day, now I am home more than half the time, though I am still working the same number of hours, probably more. But the extra time in the house means more smoke in the house, and more smoky odor in the house, and its been driving her nuts for months even though she is also a (very light) smoker. She is always washing the curtains and stuff like that, and every time she does I have to hear about it.

    Three years ago when I did quit smoking for 3 months or so, I used everything. The patch, the pill, and even the electronic cigarette. But I didnt really want to quit, which is probably why I didnt, and everyone tells me what a pain in the ass I was to live with during that time. The patch and the pill replace the nicotine, but as anyone that has been a heavy smoker can tell you, that is only part of the addiction. So I tried the e-cigs of the day to try and replace the other things that smoking addicts you to. The hand motions, the feeling you get when you inhale, all of that stuff.

    The problem I had with the e-cig is that it literally sucked. You had to pull on them like you were trying to syphon gas, and what you got out of it certainly didnt taste like a cigarette. They were just plain nasty, and I only used one for about 2 days before I threw it away and went to buy cigarettes. So when I ran across this thread by John I Tzimisces about his experience with a modern e-cig I thought I would give it a try at least while I was in the house as a way to make peace with the wife.

    So I tried the brand he suggested. I ordered the starter kit and the flavor sample pack, and I got them in the mail on Sat, Aug 11th after a cluster from their shipping department (more on that later). I didnt want to screw with it Saturday night, so I plugged them in and figured I would mess with them on Sunday. Sunday morning I did my normal thing and went to get donuts, and on the way home I bought 2 packs of cigarettes.

    Sunday at about noon I broke open the e-cig stuff and tried them out, and was pleasantly surprised. They actually tasted pretty good. So of course I had to try all 16 flavors, I actually hit them so hard I gave myself a nicotine headache and had to lay down for a couple of hours on the couch. By the time dinner rolled around I was fine again, and tried out the ones I hadnt tried yet. After dinner I had a real cigarette and then it hit me:

    I only smoked 2 cigarettes all day long.

    That realization actually surprised me, as I wasnt feeling the normal cigarette withdrawal that I had experienced 3 years ago. In fact I felt just fine. So I thought what the hell, I had some running around to do for clients on Monday and Tuesday, I would take the e-cig with me along with my normal cigarettes, and just see what happened. When I wanted a cigarette, I picked up the e-cig. When I really wanted a cigarette, I picked up a real cigarette. On Thursday at about noon I ran out of cigarettes, and realized that I hadnt bought any since I bought the 2 packs on Sunday. And that was the last 2 packs I bought.

    I still have one or two real cigarettes a day, more often one than two. I still really like my after dinner cigarette so I steal one from the wife. She still buys a couple of packs a week but she has been trying the e-cig stuff too. Some of it she likes, some of it she doesnt.

    Next up: How GED has gone off the deep end with e-cigs.

  2. #2
    GrnEyedDvl's Avatar Liberalism is a Socially Transmitted Disease
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    Default Re: GrnEyedDvl's E-Cigarette Experiments

    So about 2 weeks after buying the original starter kit, and the 80 cartridge package, I ran across a review on the V2 site that mentioned the model number of the V2 cigs, which happens to be KR808, and I remembered this post from Thorn about his Ego model and making his own liquid. So I started looking around a bit more and buying some extra stuff. I got a USB passthrough, which is basically a hard wire that you can use to smoke the stuff instead of a battery, a couple of clear cartridges, stuff like that.

    And then I found that there is a veritable plethora of flavors out there. I am sure by now that some of you are laughing your asses off at the ignorance of old man GED, but I had no idea it was this big of an industry, and its far more complicated that I would have believed just a few short weeks ago.

    PG vs VG, battery voltage vs resistance, 2 piece vs 3 piece, steeping methods, recipes, and the opinions on all of that are like crooked politicians: Everywhere you turn there is another one.

    So in typical GED fashion, I set out to become an expert. I think I have spent about $500 on this stuff so far, trying all kinds of stuff. A lot of that has been on flavors, which you can pick up for like $10 for a smallish size bottle. Some are good, some are average, and some just plain suck. Pretty much what I expected. I bought 6 or 8 extra batteries and chargers, and gave them away to friends that smoke, along with a few bottles of juice. Probably 75% of what I have tried I give away to get other opinions on it.

    Which brings me to the mixing. As Thorn mentioned, you can pick up the ingredients fairly cheaply, and there are recipes galore on the internet. Mixing small batches is fine, but awfully tedious. And then there is the time you should allow for steeping, even if you use the "speed steeping" technique that some people suggest.

    So GED sets out to become an expert on e-liquid mixing. And we are not talking small batches here. Mixing a gallon pretty much takes the same amount of time as mixing 50 ml. But a gallon is a LOT of e-liquid. And I do mean a LOT. Typically 1 ml is about equal to a pack of cigarettes, depending how hard you hit the thing when you vape it. A gallon is 3700ish ml, so 3700 packs of cigarettes. At 2 packs a day thats 1800 days, or nearly a 5 year supply!

    So what the hell do you do with a 5 year supply of e-liquid in a single flavor? Especially when you have mixed 5-10 flavors? The obvious answer is to sell it of course. A 50 ml bottle of e-liquid ranges from $15 on the low side to $30 on the high side, plus shipping. And unless you have tried it before, you really have no idea if you are going to like the flavor so most people probably order the small $2-3 bottle sizes first, then order bigger bottles of the ones they like.

    And 90% of this stuff comes from the same supplier in China. Most websites I have visited are all selling Dekang liquid, in fact most of what I bought was made by them. Its ok, but I think I can do better. In fact I know I can, as one of the places I bought from also makes their own from scratch and it was better than the Dekang flavors.

    There are two problems with this:

    1. Actually making good flavors.
    2. Marketing it and selling it.

    I will deal with selling it first, as I am in a bit of a unique position. I am not going to open a shop, or an online store, or anything of the sort. I happen to provide computer network/tech support to several bars already, and one is even a hookah bar. With the anti smoking laws in public places, this is a perfect option for them, and in fact some have already considered it or even tried it. The problem with two of them is that they tried the "disposable" varieties that have cheap cigarette clone flavors in them, and it completely bombed. Much like my own personal experience with them a few years ago. I already have 2 places signed off and ready to go.

    The biggest hurdle is actually getting good at mixing flavors. I will post more on that in the next post as I have a few ideas in mind, and actually tested one out last night.

    But before I go, I wanted to mention one more thing. In the first post I talked about my blood oxygen saturation level, and the fact that it has been at 86-87 for years now. On Monday, it was at 92.

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