Greetings  my friends and and readers of my Up in Vape column.  As y’all might know by now, I have had several health issues that have prevented me from giving you a solid weekly column, something I thought I could do when I began this new journey. As it is, it’s been more like every ‘two weeks’ that I have been able to get a column out to you.  For the time being any way it will have to remain as such, for I have had yet another medical setback.

This medical setback involves my right elbow and it swelling to abnormally large size.  Such is life, I suppose, I had my 59th birthday just 9 days ago….and I’m falling apart lol.  That is not what I am here to write about, I just wanted to bring y’all up to date on what is going on in the Timblin household.  That and to get a column out before the cold my wife handed over to me really starts to kick my ass.

So….what to write about, what to write about, thus is the quandary that I find myself in.  I wracked my brain, and wracked my brain, at least what little brain I have left trying to come up with a theme to write about.  Then it came to me just a short while ago as I was sitting here sucking on my iPV3 Li with a Crown 2 on top going through 40 some odd emails.  “How about the state of our vape gear“, I thought.

The State of Vape Gear in 2016

So guys and gals, I know I’m probably gonna ramble a bit as my body is flush with the 30 mgs of morphine I took, but we shall overcome…. shan’t we?  What about our vape gear, and where vaping is, in general, over the past 3 short years and a couple months that I’ve been vaping?

I just saw an ad for the new iPV6….iPV6!  I remember when the iPV2 came out; 50 watts of pure vaping power. No temperature control back then, just 50 watts of power.  I had to have one. Way back then I was still using clearomizers, namely Protank clones, or the occasional purchase of newer clearomizers like the Aspire Nautilus, (which I thought was simply heaven) using 1.6Ω coils instead of the standard 1.8Ω coils.  I loved that Nautilus, I still have it, and my old iPV2.

I wouldn’t claim the iPV2 is in stellar condition because it isn’t.  The battery cover screws stripped after only 6 months. They were cheap screws to begin with, but hey thems’ the chances ya take, ya know?  I held it together with rubber bands and only used one of my RDA’s on it.  Someone said something about how putting magnets on the cover instead of screws, so I did, but one magnet sits a bit higher than the other so the battery cover doesn’t sit flush…. I still use rubber bands on it, mostly to hold odds and ends more than to keep it together.

The New(er) Mods

How about other new mods that have come out in just the past 6 months? Honestly, over the past 6 months we’ve had like a bazillion new mods come out.  Yeah…. I’m exaggerating of course, but there have been a lot of new mods that have been launched to entice both new and advanced vapers to choose their product over the competition.  For me personally I have purchased, or have been gifted, several new mods, including the Sigelei 213. I also have the Sigelei 150, the 150 TC and the Sigelei 75-Watt TC mod as well.  There is the iPV2, the iPV3 Li, and my newest iPV5, which is an extremely nice mod.  I have well over twenty mods, ranging from the eLeaf 50-Watt, 60-Watt TC, 100-watt, 100-watt TC, and the 200-watt TC. I also have several mech mods as well, nothing compared to my regulated mods, but I have them and will keep them just in case.

Those Deeming Regulations

Y’all know about the “just in case”, right? The new “deeming regulations” that went into effect just about a month ago.  That’s the “just in case”, I’m referring to, and I want to have a generous supply of coils for ALL my sub tanks, even the ones I’m not so thrilled with. I also want to have a generous supply of good 18650 and 26650 batteries (not that the FDA would ban the sale of batteries), and finally, when funds permit, I want to expand my large collection of regulated mods.

I want to have a large supply of juice on hand, perhaps even learn how to make my own ejuice.  One of my readers was kind enough to share his ingredients list and a bit of how to. I want to publically thank you for that, I have not forgotten you and you will receive an email shortly…. I hope.

I don’t want to harp on the Deeming Regulations though, I don’t need to raise my blood pressure or get any more pissed off than I already am about what I think is a ridiculous set of rules about this thing we call vaping.  It’s Bullshit is what it is and I’m not going to say anything more about it, the subject is closed as of now. (There goes that blood pressure!)

My Stuff Your Stuff My Stuff Your Stuff

Let’s see, we covered a bit about the new mods that have come out in the past 6 months, what about the new tanks that have come out? I have both the Crown and Crown 2, and I like both of them. I’m not reviewing them here, just talking about them. I have a Kanger Sub Tank 6 ml version, a Sub Tank Mini, and I have the Kanger Nebox, a device I really, really like. The Nebox is great for driving the hour up and hour back to the VA clinic or the hour and a half drive to Orlando.  The Nebox holds enough juice for me, at a wattage I am comfortable with.

Speaking of wattage, these new tanks that have come out, and even some of the old ones that have been revamped or new coils for them, are definitely expanding the number of choices we have. I prefer to use the Ni200 (Pure Nickel) coils in most of my tanks. The flavor, in my opinion, is so much better with Nickel.

Y’all know by now, or should know, that I am a flavor junkie. I am more about flavor than clouds.  Not that I don’t blow some decent clouds from time to time, but I would much rather have great flavor over great clouds.  So these new tanks and coils have low resistances…. very low resistances, as in 0.10Ω or 0.005Ω low.  WAY too low for me anyway, I used to prefer my coils around 0.5 to 0.8 tops.  Now, I can tolerate a 0.5Ω coil, most Kanthal coils at 0.5Ω are pretty damn good at flavor production.  However, I do like some coils at the 0.4Ω range down to 0.25Ω, Kanthal coils. Temperature Control coils? Well, I like 0.25Ω down to 0.12-0.15Ω.  After that I lose pretty much all flavor and it’s just a cloud trip then… not that I’m opposed to that, but….

So now I have a couple new tanks, the Steam Engine is a nice tank, as is the OBS ACE sub tank I bought a couple months prior to my getting the Crown 2. For the Crown 2 you have 3 choices in coils, same for the Steam Engine, the OBS tank also has a couple of options, I choose the 0.45Ω coils and have not been disappointed them.

Up until a few short weeks ago, as in 3-5 weeks ago, I was blissfully happy using wattages from 32.5-watts up to about 40-watts, with very few exceptions, maybe 50 watts.  Now, mostly I vape at wattages from 35 up to 50 watts with a good portion of my tanks sitting at the 38-42-watt range.  By a lot of folks, I’m probably vaping at ELW, or Extremely Low Wattage, but hey…. that’s me, I like vaping at these wattages and I know that my wattage range will go up further than it is right now.  For now, I’m happy where I’m at with everything in my vaping arsenal.  It doesn’t matter where you are with vaping be it a beginner, or have been vaping for ten years, where ever and whatever you are using, if you like it and don’t want to go any higher or you want to stay with an eGo battery and a clearomizer, so be it, if that’s what you prefer.  You may go on to the next step when you are ready and not before, or maybe not.

These days there are all manner of new and improved ‘this, that, and the other’.  So many new starter kits out there that it boggles the mind. 

I wasn’t necessarily wanting to quit smoking, I had done that years before, but I needed the nicotine rush I got whenever I popped a new dip in between my cheek and gum, I was on 36 mg or 34 mg nicotine it was the strongest you can get.  Now most B & M stores don’t carry much more than 24 mg. That’s OK, I don’t need it any stronger these days.

For you ‘new’ folks out there who are just starting or are thinking of starting vaping and throwing those coffin nails…. wow there is so much that is new, and the nice thing is a some new stuff on the market tries mimic smoking. They might be a tad larger than a cigarette but the good thing is you can use it until you are ready to quit, or quit shortly after you start.

So many options now, way more than when I started.  I urge those of you who are on the fence or those of you who already vape and have loved ones or friends that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that friend or loved one is ready to quit…. take him/her to your favorite vape shop get them set up with a new starter kit and help them on their journey to a healthier life.

If I reach just one person from today’s column, then I feel thankful that there is one more life that has been saved from the death rattle that comes with dying from smoking related causes. Naturally, more would be better, but I’ll take the win, even its just one smoker.

Thank y’all ever so much for tagging along on my ramblings today.  I would love to bring y’all a new column every week, however at this time, and until my health improves a bit more it will be a hit and miss kinda thing. I will write what I can, when I can, and I thank you my readers….my friends and fellow vapers for joining me on this adventure.

Hope y’all had a great holiday weekend, Labor Day was yesterday here in the states, so I know I’m gonna labor at…. HA …not gonna labor at anything this weekend, gonna sit back nurse this cold so it doesn’t get any worse.  Until next time, auf Wiedersehen, be well, stay safe, God bless, and….VAPE ON!

Tim Timblin