Hello everyone!

Things have been stagnant on this blog – a bit more than usual, I suppose. But this time, I have a good reason, I swear!

My wife and I, as of today, have not smoked a cigarette in almost a month! On a Friday, about oh, 27 days ago, we made a brash decision to head to a local vapor shop, instead of heading to pick up some cartons of smokes. That was probably the best decision we ever made. We bought some kits, some liquid and never looked back.

Now, my wife was perfectly fine with her eLeaf iStick 30W mod (just like the 3D printing industry, vaping has got a TON of their own buzzwords: mod, atty [atomizer], RDA, RTA, RDTA…the list goes on – I’ll dive into more technical details in a later post) and I was, too – for a very short time. 

After the first week, I started burning out coils every 3 days or so. There’s still a possibility that my own mod isn’t regulating the wattage correctly (software / hardware fault), but one of the main reasons it was happening was because I was already outgrowing it. MTL (mouth-to-lung) hits just weren’t doing it for me anymore. I tried out a few direct-to-lung tanks at my local shop, and again found my groove. But then after less than a week, I was still burning out coils. So, at this point, either I’m going at it too hard, or my mod is toast. I could definitely believe I’m going too hard, based on the fact my lungs feel like they’ve opened up again. 

When I was 19, I had a chest x-ray done. The doctor came into the room and told me they’d need to take another round of pictures. When I asked why, he said “Because I can’t fit your lungs / chest on one shot! I’ve never seen such massive lungs!”. Ha! That explains a lot (I’m a talker and always did well holding my breath; when I was younger, before I smoked, I could run a lot further than most kids and take many flights of stairs without running out of breath). So perhaps I’m just drawing in TOO MUCH vapor, drying the coil out (I love juices higher in VG than PG content – 80/20 usually…more on that some other time)?

Armed with the two possible culprits, I set out to resolve them. First, I started researching a new mod. I’ve decided on the Smok Alien 220W kit /w the Baby Beast tank, 2 LG HG2 18650 3000 mAH batteries and a Nitecore 2 Intellicharger.

Next, provided the Baby Beast can’t keep up with me and my chaining (I’m hoping, given it’s name and it’s “parent’s” reputation, it will), I’ll move onto pursuing a tank that can – more likely a RDTA, like Geek Vape’s Avocado 24. It’s been getting glowing reviews from all the YouTube vapers, all across reddit vaping subreddits and from the few local vapers I know at work – the problem is finding a place that has one in stock – preferably locally, but they seem to be sold out almost everywhere! 

The idea is with a RDTA, I can at least just yank out the wicks if they burn, rather than swapping whole coil heads every 3 days. Not saying it’ll be the solution, but I’d rather deal with swapping out wick than spending $20 every 18 days for a new 5-pack of coils. I got into this to MAINLY to be healthy, but additionally to save money, too (but now that I’m diving into the world of vape tech, I doubt savings will be reaped for a while!). 

The problem, however, is that I’ve already spent waaay too much cash on tanks, coils and juice (because any time the coil gets burnt, the juice typically is toast, at least for me), so even with glowing reviews I want to be absolutely certain before I drop more cheese down for yet another tank (I love you my wonderfully patient wife!). Maybe I should reach out to Geek Vape to confirm if it can keep up – the reviews focus on the wicking channels so fingers crossed.

I’ve not given up on 3D printing, it’s just taken a bit of a back seat while I feel this new area of interest out for a bit (plus, to be up front – Final Fantasy XV has also really taken a bite out of my time – I’m a gamer, too of course!). It’s a great feeling knowing that my health has drastically improved (I feel amazing in the morning now – no more hacking – and my energy levels are up significantly!) already in that short amount of time, AND all the while fueling my nerdy love for gadgets. It’s a match made in heaven, for me, personally. I can’t freaking wait to try out some coil building myself. I’ve got my eyes set on some clapton or staple frame clapton builds. Dig that ability to just soak up the juice, awww yeah!

 

I hope to update soon – no promises though. Take care everyone, keep on printing – and for those printers that are also vapers – keep on vaping!

– E