Vaping: 2013-2014 Edition

[MahrinSkel]

I'm about to get new gear, I've been on a SmokTech 18650 ePower (the Ego compatible version) for the last year or so, using Ego DCC's.  It's been a decent combo, I went nearly a year on the first one, recently had it go out (think I might have reversed a battery) and don't like not having a backup.  Things have moved on a lot in the last year, as Schild has chronicled, and I'm currently planning on some kind of Variable Voltage model, and I'm willing to try some tanks.

I'm currently debating between the Vamo V5 and the SmokTech SID.  They're equivalent in terms of features (RMS current regulation, control either wattage or voltage, display coil resistance, etc., I think they're probably running the same PCB inside).  Vamo V5 is of course very common and popular, but I've been happy with SmokTech for the last few years, through their first two generations of 18650's, and unless someobody raises a red flag I'll probably wind up with the SID.  Looks like either will take both Ego cartomizers and the common tanks (like the Kanger Protank "Glassomizer") without issues, and they're both around $50.

I'll keep mixing my own liquid from LorAnn oils and unflavored liquid (I'll probably step up the VG from 20% to 25-33%).  I think you guys are crazy to spend so much for pre-mixed flavored liquids.

Anyway, after 5 years, not counting the money I sank into my homebrew mods in the early days I've probably spent less on vaping than I would have in a single year of cigarettes, probably much less.  I'm just barely hitting the bottom of $230 for 2.5 liters of 24mg liquid I mixed myself 5 years ago, and $78 worth of flavoring (I can now get it for about $50/liter).  Since I switched to 18650's, I've probably spent about $150-200 a year on gear (batteries, chargers, rigs, and cartomizers).  Oh, and I've discovered I'm allergic to certain artificial flavors, another reason I won't be buying pre-mixed juice.

If you're still smoking, you need to ask yourself "Why?"  eCigs are through their early adopter phase and are offering some pretty mature tech that's easy to use, and there isn't really any social stigma (if anything, the biggest problem these days is smokers bitching about having to go outside while vapers happily puff away at their desks, restaurant tables, and movies).  Get your stamina, sense of taste, and a sizable chunk of your disposable income back, and switch over.

--Dave

[MahrinSkel]

Just as a followup, I did a bunch more research and then spent way too much money at FastTech on gear.  I'm getting 4 tanks, an X10, another ProTank variant called the RG500 that has an insanely large 5mL glass-wall tank, and two RBA's (a Genesis variant called the Kraken and an all-steel Kayfun variant called the Aqua).

RBA's (Rebuildable Atomizers) are the new hotness, essentially I'm getting them as a hedge against any future regulatory stupidity.  They require fiddling with parts most people don't want to mess with and twiddly detail work rewinding and testing, although you can buy pre-wound coils and wicks for literally pennies a piece that take care of the worst part of it.  The insane nicotine addicts are making "sub-ohm" rigs this way (pushing 10+ amps through coils of less than 1 ohm).  I settled on these two because they seemed like simple, elegant designs with a minimum of parts that would be hard to replace (the glass on the Kraken is just a simple tube, the only other limited lifespan parts are o-rings and screws you could pick up at Home Depot).  They also both have adjustable airflow that isn't dependent on an air path through the power rig (this can cause wierd compatibility problems where a particular combination of rig and tank won't let you draw air) and dual-coil support (it's pretty much mandatory for the Aqua).

The big divide in tanks is between top coil (Vivi Nova, Genesis) and bottom coil (Protank, Kayfun).  Bottom coil are more vulnerable to minor flooding and leakage in ordinary use, top-coil have to be kept vertical at all times or they will spill all over the place (you can lay a bottom coil on its side, with a top coil you're going to be mopping up juice).  There's also an older type called a DCT that is a tank wrapped around a cartomizer with holes in it, it's comparatively idiot-proof but the cartomizers are more expensive than cores and not as long-lasting, I didn't get any (I figure that if portability is a major factor, I can just use a cartomizer).  There are versions of tanks that do not have replaceable cores, but I didn't get any of those either (the lifespan of a cartomizer and the cost of a tank, doesn't seem like good deal).

What I'm getting are actually knockoffs, the original Kraken costs $140 and the Aqua is $175 (I paid $13 and $20, respectively).  I should add, Variable Voltage/Wattage power rigs are pretty much a necessity for these type of tanks, although if you want to go the sub-ohm route you need a mechanical rig (and a note from your cardiologist), you want to dial the power up until it starts tasting scorched, then back down about a watt from that.

There's also a new thing called "Hybrid" rigs where the RBA screws directly onto the mechanical mod, I plan on checking that out down the line (the Aqua will do it with Origins), and "Kick" modules that tack onto mechanicals to give them variable wattage control (most mechanicals now come with an extension ring for precisely that purpose, adds another 18-20mm to the battery compartment, the alternative is dropping down a battery size).

I am considering getting a "Hammer" mechanical, it mounts the 510 connection on the side and would be much more more "stealth", especially with a cartomizer and an 18350 battery.  Schild wasn't kidding about the size, the SID with the Aqua or the RG300 would be close to 10 inches long, the Hammer in that minimal configuration would be a T about 2 inches in each dimension.  I'll update the thread with more info once I actually get them (they're coming from Malaysia by regular mail, so it may take a while).

--Dave

[schild]

Heh. Good luck with the clones. Apparently, most of them rust. Yay China.

Most VW mods won't fire a kayfun or kraken properly. And honestly, an unregulated mech mod is better for that stuff anyway unless you have a burning anecdotal reason to fuck with dna20 devices.

Edit: I suppose I can post more about the tech divide later. I love my aqua but the standard tank is too small.

[MahrinSkel]

Heh. Good luck with the clones. Apparently, most of them rust. Yay China.

Most VW mods won't fire a kayfun or kraken properly. And honestly, an unregulated mech mod is better for that stuff anyway unless you have a burning anecdotal reason to fuck with dna20 devices.

Edit: I suppose I can post more about the tech divide later. I love my aqua but the standard tank is too small.

Yeah, every indication is that they're using cheap steel rather than real stainless.  I couldn't begin to afford the genuine article, especially not knowing up front if I like it.  I expect to use the X10/RG500 most of the time, anyway, so I don't have to fiddle with the coils/wicks.  If I really do find I prefer dual-coil RBA's, then maybe I'll bite the bullet and buy one of the real deal, it's just a lot of money to spend on spec.  Ditto on the Hammer, $240 is a lot of money to drop for a backup "stealth" device.  Since all of this stuff is likely to be obsolete in another year or two, I'll roll the dice on cheap.  $40 on RBA's for an experiment that doesn't work out I can justify, although I think most of the people bitching about the tech rigs not firing RBA's are running low-resistance coils on cotton wicks.  I'm not trying to build a fog machine.

--Dave

[schild]

Wouldn't call the hammer stealth. I actually won a real one. Comes in this coming Friday if everything goes well.

I intensely dislike dual coil and build my Kraken single coil. I love my Kraken, mostly these days I'm using a By-Ka and Taifun GT.

[MahrinSkel]

Wouldn't call the hammer stealth. I actually won a real one. Comes in this coming Friday if everything goes well.

I intensely dislike dual coil and build my Kraken single coil. I love my Kraken, mostly these days I'm using a By-Ka and Taifun GT.

Compared to a SID or Vamo?  Or anything 18650?  I could easily conceal a Hammer in 18350 mode with a carto in my palm, admittedly I have large hands but it's about as stealth as "Big Batt" is going to get.  I could put together something flat-pack based that would be incredibly tiny in comparison while still giving good performance, but I don't want to dive down that rabbit hole again.

--Dave

[schild]

If you really want to stealth vape efficiently with a decent product:
Microstick: http://mini-ecig.com/battery_blocks/MicroStick
Optional Extender: http://mini-ecig.com/battery_blocks/MicroStick_18500_extender
Kayfun Mini: http://shop.vaperev.com/rebuildables/svoemesto/kayfun-mini.html

aaaaaaand a kayfun mini nano kit from somewhere

[MahrinSkel]

A little note on mixing your own liquid: I'm mildly allergic to certain artificial flavors, I can eat or drink things made with them and have nothing more than a little tingle on my tongue or numbness in my throat, but vaping them can set off a coughing fit and mimic (or even trigger) bronchial pneumonia.  Since this includes stuff that is very popular for flavoring (like artificial vanilla) and because I'm a cheap bastard that thinks spending as much on liquid as a smoker does on cigarettes is insane, I mix my own.

This really isn't hard, you can buy base 10% liquid from Nude Nicotine or Wizard Labs, plus VG and PG, and mix it together yourself with no more than rubber gloves, plastic funnel, and a dinner fork for equipment.  I like to go a little light on the Vegetable Glycerin, both because it is the primary cause of the crust that determines the life of a coil, and because I tend to run higher resistance (and therefore colder) rigs than is the current fashion.  I also run high on the Nicotine because my cooler coils produce less fog.  So I got 250ml of 10% (in a PG solution), 250ml of VG, and 500 ml of PG.  You can change around the proportions to get your desired Nic and VG level, the math is left as an excercise for the reader.  Anyway, $45 got me enough for 1 liter of 25mg strength liquid, which should last me at least a year.

You put on your gloves and pour your 10% into a bowl, carefully.  You pour your VG into the jar the 10% came from, then into the bowl, then do the same with your PG (you don't really have to, but since the 10% is the expensive bit, I like to get it all out).  You stir it gently with a fork or wire wisk until you're sure it is well mixed, then use a funnel to pour it into your storage bottle(s).  I have a high-grade plastic 1 liter for that, the bottles everything was shipped in may not be good for long-term cold storage so be prepared.  Smoked glass lab carboys are ideal, but expensive.

I also have a 150ml squeeze bottle, generally I keep my main stock in the big bottle refrigerated, and the 150 ml I use to fill 30ml eyedroppers, which is when it gets flavored.  However, I went the last year without refrigerating the main stock (which was already over 3 years old), it didn't seem to have any effect on strength or flavor.

There are two basic ways to flavor: Adding liquid flavorings, generally LorAnn artificial flavors (which does mean watering down your juice and introducing a rust-inducing element), or steeping it in dehydrated flavor sources; fill a jar with dehydrated fruit/cloves/tobacco/pot-pourri, then drown that in juice and letting it sit for days to weeks and straining it to remove the solids.  I haven't actually done that, so do more research before trying it.

Everything else is just a matter of finding the flavors you like and don't make you choke, then playing around with proportions.  AVOID CINNAMON OIL.  Stuff will kill you.  In general, actual oils should be used extremely sparingly as they clog atomizers, and citrus flavors are generally hard on equipment (the distinctive tang comes from citric acid).  I tend to use 3-7% fruity base like watermelon, raspberry, peach or blueberry, then add single drops of something with a stronger aftertaste like wintergreen, clove, or amaretto.  When you're experimenting you'll want to make smaller amounts (like 5-10ml) so that you don't feel bad about flushing something that doesn't work.  In general, a 'drop' is about 1/10th of a ml, but if you want to get really exact you'll need needle-less syringes from the drugstore.

LorAnn flavors are generally available from stores that specialize in candy-making equipment, but can also be ordered directly from the company website ($75 minimum for free shipping).  I went almost 5 years on my first $78 order plus some dram-sized bottles from a restaurant supply store for the more potent stuff.

Handling consumption-grade liquid doesn't need much preparation besides paper towels and great care about wiping your eyes, although rubber gloves and eye protection are never a bad idea, especially if cleaning large spills.  Keep away from children, pets, and idiots, clean spills immediately, and slap big poison warnings on everything containing nicotine.  I am not a doctor, pharmacist, chemical engineer, or any other kind of expert, and take no responsibility for anything that happens if you follow my advice.  If you're not comfortable handling poison so directly, buy your liquid pre-mixed and consider the markup a safety tax.

--Dave

EDIT: I should add, any time you get nicotine solution on your skin you should wash it off promptly, as it can soak in through there.  My basic point is that although nicotine is a potent poison, in low percentages it's not inherently more dangerous than bug spray or rat baits (organic gardeners use it as an insecticide, in fact it was agricultural workers in China that discovered that standing in the fog was a substitute for smoking), reasonable caution and care are sufficient.

[rattran]

LorAnn Oils flavorings can be ordered through Amazon. When they have the 12 packs in stock prime, it's awfully cheap, otherwise $3-$5 for 3.7ml bottles

[MahrinSkel]

$1.40 for drams (3.74ml), $4.50-6.00 for 1 Fl Oz, and $14.50 to $17 for 4 oz bottles from LorAnn directly.  I'd avoid buying anything from Amazon unless it's being sold or fulfilled by Amazon, "counterfeit food flavors" is an actual thing.  And you want the "LorAnn Oils" or "Super Strength Flavors" for candy-making, not the Bakery Emulsions (which are much weaker) or the natural flavor extracts (which are all over the place in terms of potency and more likely to include something equipment-killing).

--Dave

EDIT: 1 dram is enough for one, maybe two 30ml batches of most flavors, okay for testing a flavor out but if you know you're going to be using it a lot you'll want the bigger bottles.  I just ordered 5 4oz bottles, a 1 ounce bottle, and 4 dram bottles (you'll need the eyedropper caps for anything potent enough you're deliberately ordering drams), that will probably leave me set for another 5-6 years.

[Furiously]

I got a kayfun lite clone from Fasttech. The adjustable airflow, the wicking method and the weight of it are all pretty darn amazing. The throat hits from it took some getting used to. It also changes the flavor profile of stuff a bit (Just like any setup will.)

Also Schild, thanks for mentioning that the higher nicotine stuff tastes peppery. Now all I can taste in everything is peppers.

[MahrinSkel]

I wound up ordering a Hammer clone from FastTech, the version with silver-plated contacts they just listed.  The Hammer is unique, the tube for the 18350 main body portion is mounted inside a square housing, this whole portion of the tube is "hot" (connected to the positive pin of the battery) and there's a plastic mounting jacket to insulate it from the rest of the mod (which is at ground when the switch is closed, which is normal).  The square outer profile makes it the only mechanical mod you can set on a table with the 510 connection pointed straight up (and therefore not leaking from top-coil tanks) and have it be stable, rather than balanced precariously on the firing button (and yes, most of them are heavy enough that this will have it firing constantly, unless you have and set a locking ring to 'safe' the button).

The design does have some weak points, the "top cap" (which is actually on the side for the Hammer) with the 510 connection is "floating pin", you get the center pin into contact with the hot battery tube by pushing it in with the center contact of your atomizer (this means that some tanks just won't work, and Protanks may or may not depending completely on the vagaries of the dimensions of that screw in that batch of cores).  Since this is a critical element of the current path, it causes...issues, each and every time you remove the atomizer.  It also means that fluid leaking through the bottom of your atomizer can wind up inside the housing where it can accelerate corrosion, and which is nearly impossible to dis-assemble and clean.  The top cap on the Hammer is not compatible with Ego connections, it has *no* allowance for airflow, and it puts all of the strain of the connection directly onto the 510 connector (it's not unusual for these to snap right off if not snugged up to an Ego connector and a "beauty ring", and the Hammer's right-angle design makes this even worse).  

IOW, in the effort to make a sleek, flush, pretty connector, they made something that sucks in every functional way.  The bottom cap isn't quite as bad, but again a design goal of "sleek" means it has a locking ring that is difficult to grab and turn, and is not reverse thread (so in screwing it out to lock the button, you can wind up unscrewing the bottom cap, then unlocking it when you're trying to screw the cap back down, and so on).  The button is also smaller than most, and since you really have to put some pressure on to make a good connection in a mechanical, this can be hard on your fingers or thumb.

However, the same person who developed the Hammer also designed the "Astro" mod, a traditional tube mod with compatible threading, and this was in turn copied for the "Chi You" and "King" mods...and all of these have been cloned and are for sale from FastTech.  These have top-caps with a "Telescoping" center pin (the battery side of the pin screws in and out of the housing, allowing you to fine-tune the length), an Ego-compatible connector with flush "beauty ring", and support for airflow through the connector (they even have airflow control, you can screw a ring up and down to set the tightness of the draw).  They also have a bottom cap with a larger firing button and a reverse-threaded locking ring.

These caps are much larger and chunkier than the original Hammer caps, but they will fit onto the Hammer seamlessly and give a lot of advantages (the telescoping center pin requires finicky precision to get set properly on a Hammer, but once it is set that connection never has to be made again, which is much better than the corrosion-inviting and constantly flaking floating pin).  I got the "Liberty" version of the King clone, because it's also polished stainless steel with silver-plated contacts and there are no logos on the parts I could move to the Hammer (the Statue of Liberty laser etching is on the main body, everything else is completely blank).  As a bonus I get extension rings compatible with the Hammer so that I can run it in 18500 or 18650 mode (or even 18650 with a Kick module), and I can put the Hammer's caps onto the King body for yet another backup device.  Total cost $48 (genuine article retail price: $470).

--Dave

[Pennilenko]

I come back to this thread and I end up feeling inadequate for being happy with my simple $60 kit.

[MahrinSkel]

Don't be.  The main goal is to quit smoking, and there's nothing wrong with picking out a set of gear that is adequate for that purpose and calling it good.  After I quit messing with homebrew, that's essentially what I did for the last 4 years.  Each winter I'd catch up with the state of ecigs, pick out a new rig, and just run with that until the next year.  It's just that this year, there was a lot more to catch up with, and a lot of things that were impractical (in my judgement) matured into usable widgets.

What I've picked out this time was a combination of my normal new yearly rig, and a 'hedge' mechanical set that I can have for years and keep using no matter what regulatory restrictions might appear.  Schild is much more hardcore than I am, but I definitely understand the temptation to geek out on the gear and juice.  It's just too damned expensive, if he hadn't pointed me at FastTech (which is kind of a Grand Bazarre of clone gear) I would have picked out the SID and X10 and gone back to autopilot for another year.  I spent probably an extra $100-120 because of that (for stuff where the authentic article would have cost close to a grand).

It's like Golf or PC gaming, you can spend endless hours and ridiculous amounts of money on it as a hobby, you can get nearly the same effective results just going through a regular upgrade cycle, or you can buy a set of adequate gear and coast on that for years.  Your $60 kit is the equivalent of a $500 prebuilt Dell 'gaming PC', your geek friends may look down on you but it gets the job done.

--Dave

EDIT: In this metaphor, I'm the guy who upgrades his mobo, CPU and video card every tax refund, and Schild is the guy with 3 gaming computers, one so bleeding edge it has parts that aren't even in stores yet, rebuilds one of them every week, and has enough parts lying around to build another 10 adequate systems.

[Signe]

Absolutely.  I'm still using my first $60 kit (with two tanks!) and it's one of my favs.  In fact, I'm using it right now all filled up with Huntsman and a touch of Mocha Java, both from Heathers Heavenly Vapes.  I like several of their flavours, in particular Crackberry (it's Blueberry but it's not sweet) and Pirate Booty.  I usually get it in 60/40.  I recommend their purity blends and you can get 100% organic, too.  They're PG free so you can pick your strength and the fruity ones don't taste like candy.  So far, everyone else makes flavours I like better than my own!  :(

[Engels]

The truth of the matter is that an e cig is a heated coil with a wick of some sort. It can be as gadgety as you want, but that's the long and the short of it. Its a bit like coffee. You can have a Mr. Coffee drip machine from KMart for $25 or you can have a $5k Italian espresso machine.

[Signe]

I have one with no coil at all.  I'm not entirely sure yet what to do with it.  It came with a sample of different sorts.  Unfortunately the sample pack didn't come with destructions so I might have to use the Google.

[schild]

I come back to this thread and I end up feeling inadequate for being happy with my simple $60 kit.

It's all about quitting smoking. Don't feel inadequate.

[schild]

EDIT: In this metaphor, I'm the guy who upgrades his mobo, CPU and video card every tax refund, and Schild is the guy with 3 gaming computers, one so bleeding edge it has parts that aren't even in stores yet, rebuilds one of them every week, and has enough parts lying around to build another 10 adequate systems.

Shhhhhhhh.

[Pennilenko]

Out of curiosity, what do those type of rigs provide that makes them appealing to some people? I only ask because at my local shop there is another customer that tries to talk me into something that produces more vapor (the dude practically lives there). My argument with him is that your lungs can only provide so much absorption and that the big huge cloud of exhaled vapor is just a waste of perfectly good juice.

I mean, if those more expensive kits produce cleaner, cooler, tastier hits, then I might look into something nicer. However, I would be disinterested in making a purchase just to make bigger clouds.

[MahrinSkel]

It's called "Cloud Chasing", and you're pretty much right.  It all comes down to watts and temperature, at around 8-10 watts of 18-24mg you're in the same range as cigarettes for nicotine delivery (the state of the art hit that with the Ego and the Dual Coil Cartomizer).  More watts, more vapor, lower resistance means more residual heat in that vapor (compared to the same wattage at higher resistance).  Some flavors tolerate heat better than others, on the flip side higher temperature can do a better job of boiling the flavor (because my flavors are water-based, I actually have to occasionally 'blow out' accumulated flavor).

Carapella has some food flavorings that are actually PG based, as I understand it these are much better in high-power rigs, and don't have the accumulation problem.

Some of the more extreme rigs are hitting 40+ watts, which is just insane.  In comparison, the 801's and 901's me and Nerf were using back in the day produced 4 watts, the original 510's were 6 watts.

--Dave

EDIT: If the stuff in that picture is all authentic, that's about 2 grand worth of stuff just in what he's got sitting around ready to go.  Which totally makes me feel better about what I've spent.

EDIT2: On the issue of cooler and tastier, I prefer cooler vapor with less 'throat hit' myself.  Where the current fashion is for low resistance coils, I prefer higher resistance in parallel.  A single 1.5 ohm coil and two 3.0 ohm coils will take the same amount of power and produce roughly the same amount of vapor, but the LR single coil will be running at a much higher temperature and the vapor will be hotter.  I bought pre-wound 2.4 ohm coils for my RBA's, because hand-wrapping anything more than 1.5 is nearly impossible, and I don't want more than 12 watts worth of vapor.

[schild]

Having used every Silica atty except the Rose, and probably 50-60% of the gennies out there. And divers, and all that shit.

1. Kayfun Lite Plus is easiest to setup.
2. The Taifun GT is the best atty on the market. And a monstrous pain in the ass to build right.

[MahrinSkel]

Yeah, I decided against the Taifun GT because it was just too damned finicky compared to the Kraken (which is supposed to be one of the easiest dual-coil RBA's to build) and has this wierd polycarb/steel tank that would be impossible to replace.

You ever get that Hammer?  I've read that you can actually build it backwards (swap the caps) and make it a tube mod with a side-mounted switch.  I'll probably do that if I can, the reason I always avoided tube mods is that there's no non-awkward way to hold them (edit: 1-handed).

--Dave

[schild]

I build my Kraken as single coil. The GT is finicky, but i've been using the same coil for _weeks_. So once you get a good one, whoooo. Hammers haven't been delivered yet. This industry is abysmally goddamn slow. Except China. They're fast.

[Furiously]

I dunno... It's pretty amazing all the choices a user has. I'd hate to be starting out now. I'd be totally confused. It's like picking a motherboard and cpu.

[Signe]

Every time I get a little money, I sock away a wee bit for hobbies or fun.  I'm pretty poor so it's never very much.  I saw an awesome looking setup online not long ago but it was really pricey.  I had just enough cash socked away for the kit, but I reckoned if I hold out and save another few months, I can indulge my other hobby... ink.  I love my vaping hobby but it can't compare to my tattoo hobby.  :)  Now, don't forget, I don't smoke anymore but I vape because I like it so much.  I use 0 nic.  It's all about the flavour for me and those ever awesome throat hits.  What it's done is to stop my strong craving for cigs which I continued to have although it's been ages since I smoked tobacco.  The tattoo hobby makes me feel incredible in a completely different way.  It's more intense and it's there forever.  I want to see how many I can get before I die.     Once reefer is legal here, and maybe cheaper because I SO qualify for medical kush, I'll probably vape that, too.  It's my future hobby.  Every one should have a future hobby.

[MahrinSkel]

If you really want to maximize your throat hit and flavor, you want one of these, a quad-coil dripping atomizer.  You'll need an 18650 mechanical mod with an IMR battery and silver (or gold) contacts, and the patience to reload the silly thing after every other puff.  Put any nicotine in that and you're a heart attack waiting to happen, and pretty impatient about it.

--Dave

Edit: I've figured out what the issue with RBA's and VV/Kicks is: The VV/VW circuit has a 4 amp/15 watt limit.  You run the numbers on that, and you would think that you could fire atomizers down to around 1 ohm, but there's a catch.  The circuit works by first boosting the voltage to 6v, then pulsing it to reduce the effective voltage.  The 4 amp limit applies to the 6v working voltage, if your resistance in less than 1.5 ohms, it's going to hit the current limit and the circuit will cut out.  I'll be fine with my X10 and RG500, and my pre-wound coils will be fine in the RBA's in single-coil.  But my DCC's are iffy (they're right at 1.5), and dual-coil RBA will only work on the mechanical.

[Nerf]

Yeah, I decided against the Taifun GT because it was just too damned finicky compared to the Kraken (which is supposed to be one of the easiest dual-coil RBA's to build) and has this wierd polycarb/steel tank that would be impossible to replace.

You ever get that Hammer?  I've read that you can actually build it backwards (swap the caps) and make it a tube mod with a side-mounted switch.  I'll probably do that if I can, the reason I always avoided tube mods is that there's no non-awkward way to hold them (edit: 1-handed).

--Dave

I'm back on the ecigs and running a Tesla w/ a protank 3 right now, and it has a side mounted switch.  It's not amaaaaazing, but I dig the variable power w/ 18650s it's pretty rare that I'll have to swap batteries throughout the day.  I haven't bought any cigs this year, so at ~$8 a day for american spirits I've already saved $150+ after buying juice and whatnot.  Yay.

[schild]

You ever get that Hammer?  

Yes, along with a shitload of stuff in one giant shipment.



The Hammer is stupid and costs too much but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. The Templar, on the other hand, is amazing.

[MahrinSkel]

I debated whether to share this link, just because it would be so easy to drop a lot of money there.  But in the end, you're grownups and if you drop the rent on a shiny toy, it's not my fault.  Some of these really show how, now that the technical engineering is a solved problem, mechanical mods are moving towards more aesthetic drivien designs that don't look like the bastard offspring of a light saber and a pipe bomb:

Hyperion Vape Shop.

The Rook is my favorite.

--Dave (or do, but really pretty light sabers and pipe bombs)

[Signe]

Kinda hate you right now. 

[MahrinSkel]

Kinda hate you right now. 

I take it you're not getting that tattoo?

--Dave

[schild]

Dave, Hyperion Vape shop got a sample of a juice called Nightfall from a company from Teleos recently. If you visit there a lot, ask to try it. They have the sample in 5mg.

[Engels]

Great, now they look like -gourmet- lightsabers. Seriously, how anyone's dropping 200 bucks on what's a fancy maglight with a voltage regulator is beyond me. Unless the art on it is gorgeous or something. Then I can dig it, but seriously folks, its a tube with technology from the 1860s doing basic electrical stuff.

[Signe]

Well, I can't afford anything at that place right now.  I'm still dropping my change into my tattoo money bucket.  (okay, it's not a bucket, it's really just a Talenti Ice Cream container.)