Saturday, September 17, 2011

A Bad Vape


Vaping has been very up and down for me lately, but it is starting to even out again. When you have just a little e-cig style PV and some pre-filled cartomizerss, life is easy and good. Screw on the carto, vape it till it goes dry, do it again. That works for the vast majority of people, most likely, and it has a pretty darn big appeal.

Not really for me, though. To be perfectly honest, I like hype. I like The Next Big Thing. I like being excited about new products and new things. Anyone that knows me will tell you I'm far from being terribly materialistic. (Some would even say the opposite... as in "stingy old bastard." Ahem.) But when I get into something, I don't like to do it half-assed, and I want and expect the best.

When it comes to vaping, I like trying the latest cool atomizer, or the neatest new tank or carto system. It's fun to try out the hottest juices and get caught up in the hobby aspect of the thing. That's part of the reward and what keeps it interesting.

The problem with this perspective, however, is constantly having to fiddle with stuff (which is good) and having periods where it seems like nothing is working out right (which is, of course, bad).

For me, the last couple of months the difficulties have been in bringing all the right elements together at the same time. It started when all three of the atomizers I had on hand burned up within a couple of days of each other. that left me with some generic XL 808s, one LR 510, a pile of CE2s I hate, and the last of my Vortex cartos that just never worked right.


Right about then I started running out of the Good Juice. Oh, I've got piles of juice, so really wasn't in any danger of running back to cigs. Actually, that's a long shot now-a-days. Those things are nasty. But still, when you want to vape good you want to vape good and not having the good juice on hand is a problem.

Just order up some new juice and attys, right? Well, some automotive difficulties made that not particularly financially viable, so I got caught in make do mode. I was able to order up a small amount of juice, but the juice I like these days doesn't do well in cartomizers. (And it was, as expected, a wretched experience in CE2s.)  I really needed some attys.

Then the Buzz Pro arrives and I'm vaping like a fool and cleaning cartos as best I can and bam I'm out of juice again! 
You know it's good juice when you burn through 150ml.

Finally, I get some awesome atomizers from IkenVape... but most of the juice vendors I prefer are not filling orders because they're overloaded.  Wait...

What?

Yah, I want to buy your product, but you don't have it. And not just like one out of stock, but either completely shut down or only one IN stock.  Sorry, but I can't afford to order one juice at a time. Unless y'all are going to go to free shipping? Probably not.

Now I'm using this amazing PV with some amazing atomizers, but with crap juice. Gah!

Finally, one of the vendors goes back live and order like 120ml of juice. I've got the PV, I've got the attys, and the juice is on the way! Woot! I'm good right?

Of course not!

Somehow I managed to break the Buzz Pro and now it's got to go back to the Buzz hospital. I ship it out the same day all the good juice arrives. Oh my dear Lord in heaven.

The Vape-O-Matic! Catchy name. :)

Now my Vaporessence Vape-O-Matic tank has arrived and it vapes nicely, but alas, no Buzz to try it on.

I now understand why people have like 20 atomizers, 100 cartos, 5 tanks, and half a dozen $150+ PVs laying around. You just never know.

I've got the tank, I've got the attys, I've got the juice. As soon as the BP is back, I'll be in business. It's looking good but it took too long to get there.

Some days, I think I might just grab one of those little Volt kits from Smokeless Image and vape. Going back to the simple days can be a Good Thing.

Do you stock pile? Do you ever have bad vape days?

I'm going to yes on the first question so that I don't have to answer yes on the second.

Angel's Luck,
Capt