welp I'm about a week without an "analog" (as they call it) cigarette

trying to quit smoking the smelly nasty ones. started vaping instead

tried to start vaping a long while back when ecigs first came out, but back then they all came directly from china, were very expensive, and there was no standardization so cartridges for one type wouldn't fit another type, etc..

so the atomizer died on my first one and couldn't get another because that model was discontinued and I had all these extra cartridges so I said eff it and gave up on it...

then they came out in recent years with the ones that you could refill the tanks with "e-juice" and at that point ecigs exploded with different juices, tanks, batteries, etc. but one important thing happened! Standardization!!! there are now two connector types and almost all batteries have both on them! the eGo and the 510 connection.

So I had another rough start when I bought a starter kit. it had a kanger 4 tank or whatever those throwaway tanks are... it leaked and it leaked often. i'd get through maybe 1/8th tank and the rest would leak out on its own.

so gave up for another year... finally tried again but got one of my current tanks. the Aspire BDC. first coil unit leaked. was kinda pissed. but it came with 2 replacement coils. tried the second. it leaked too! WTF!

finally tried the 3rd coil and success! no leaks but a kinda mediocre vape. I then learned that dual coil tanks require a bit more power to run them and got my first variable voltage battery. the eGo-twist.

after cranking the voltage up on it: shes a fog machine! now we're talkin!

so at that point I stopped buying cigarettes and smoked both till I ran out of cigs.

I then got another tank cause I wanted to try something else. went into a vape shop and saw all the choices. the guy in there pointed me to the iclear 30S tank and said it gave great flavor and produced a lot of vapor.

so I got it and tried it out. the taste was horrible and I was NOT impressed...

my aspire was producing twice as much! and the taste was metallic and ick..

more reading online later I found out that the iclears need to be cleaned in an alcohol bath right out of the gate. they said 2hrs soaking in vodka or rubbing alcohol, then rinse them off in running water and let them dry a few minutes, put back together and give the wick a dry burn to help push the rest of the water/alcohol out, then fill with juice again.

worked to get rid of the bad taste, but still wasn't vaping worth a darn. talked to the guys at a vape shop and they said I need a bigger battery to fire that tank because it has larger dual coils with more resistance. (different shop than where I bought it)

so I did research on a bigger better battery, watched all the reviews and decided on my latest battery.

got a Vamo V5 variable voltage/variable wattage battery. after trying this battery...holy eff! this iclear is a damn cloud generator!!! and the flavor! omg so much flavor! but holy crap this thing can burn through a tank of juice fast


I see how people go through so much juice now.. these bigger badder tanks really burn through it, but the vape is much thicker, much smoother and very tasty.

so far both my aspire BDC and my iclear 30S are doing great with no leaks.

I use my ego twist battery on the aspire and the vamo on the iclear.

vaping menthol 3 in the aspire, and spearmint in the iclear. I swear the spearmint juice makes me feel like I just got done chewing wrigleys spearmint gum lol. exact same taste. not even the slightest hint of tobacco taste in that one. just that gum taste lol.

so far so good! after my last cig a week ago, I haven't relapsed. my gf still smokes cigs and I go outside with her and vape while she smokes, but haven't fallen off the wagon yet.

hopefully my investment pays off and I stay off of "analogs"


here's my two tanks and batteries:

vamo v5 + iclear 30s on the left, eGo-c twist + aspire bdc on the right


vamo taken apart. supports 3 battery configs: single 18350, dual 18350 (doubles input voltage but the mod is designed to handle it) or single 18650



the grey batteries are the 18350's and the red is one of the 18650's from my 1W laser.


btw since I quit smoking I can smell so many more things now! amazing how dull your senses get when you smoke cigs...

 

^^ Go big or go home.

 

so the vamo v5 with the iclear 30 works well?

 

thats like a 11 incher there.. i thought you said go BIG...

 

I'm trying to QUIT smoking tobacco, not smoke tobacco with jelly all over it.

iclear 30S* (they are different as there is an iclear 30 model as well)


I have heard the iclear 30 works great too, but yes, my vamo V5 works great with the iclear 30S. these iclear dual coil tanks do burn through a lot of juice though!

also I have heard that the vamo's will wear out their 510 threads rather quickly, so I have considered getting an airflow adjuster to use as a thread protector. Then again I may just get another vamo straight from china later on since I can order one from china for $29. Just takes about a month to ship from there because it has to go through customs twice and cross the ocean. might buy a couple when the time comes and then if my 510 threads wear out, switch to the ego tanks for the vamo with the worn out threads (ego is the outter threads, 510 is the inner threads) and use the new one for more 510 tanks lol.


these things are all going to wear out and break eventually tanks/batteries, etc. but I'm still gonna be money ahead over paying $7+ a pack for cigs that only lasts a couple days....

juice costs about $5 a bottle and lasts weeks! can fill the tank several times with a bottle and a tank lasts a couple days or longer depending on which tank I use... nothing to do with capacity of the tank though...just how fast that particular tank burns through the juice.

my bigger tank may hold more juice, but it burns through it 3x as fast too... flavor is worth it though. and I know it's not leaking...just produces that much more vapor lol.

If you get serious about it, avoid kanger tanks.. they leak. the throw away tanks have horrible taste, and are prone to leaking, dry/burnt hits, flooding/gurgling, etc.

should never flood or gurgle (means it's pulling too much juice with the wick usually due to poor tank air flow or sucking too hard on it) and should not have dry or burnt taste either (not pulling enough juice with the wick usually caused by too much airflow)

had great luck with these two tanks so far. even bought 5 more replacement coils for my aspire, and probably going to buy a couple more coils for the iclear now that it works great and now that I know how to eliminate the fowl taste (give your wicks/coils an alcohol bath before you start using them) so my new coils will all get a soak in cheap everclear before I swap them out.

haven't had a coil on these tanks fail on me yet, but some heavy vapors said they last a few weeks to a month or so before they start not working so well, then swap the coil out which is very easy to do on these tanks, slap the new one in and enjoy. new coils are like $2.50 and a 1 month life for $2.50 is still tons of money ahead of cigs...

 

I figure you could put about 2 quarts of your E-cig juice in that thing to keep you going all day!!

 

im going crazy! can it be winter again?!?! i want to buy my mustang!

 

lol 5ml of that juice would go all day long!

I go through 3ml in like 2 days on the iclear.

the aspire only holds 2.3ml or something like that and its still 3/4 full after 2 days lol. even being a dual coil. but the flavor isn't near as strong.


now all I need is some THC juice instead of nicotine juice lol I'm sure its available somewhere around here!

 

I have one of the simple eco pens but wanted to upgrade. I do like the vamo v5 a lot!

 

if you get yourself a dual coil tank, then definitely upgrade.

if you are using cheap throw away tanks, then no need to.

btw if you get a v5 make sure you put it in RMS mode. the instructions don't tell you how to, but you hold down the left button for 20 seconds and it will toggle from mean mode to rms mode...

will keep you from frying coils. mean mode fires coils too hard at just 3v the lowest setting..

oh yeah: get the stainless one if you get one. the others will wear their finish off very quickly and easily.