50 Shades of Vape

Went to the movies with my wife last night to see 50 Shades of Grey.  Having read the books, and I'm no spoiler, I'll just say that the movie was Spot On!  Perfect casting of Anastasia, innocence and sensuality, naiveté and personal strength.  I think they also cast Christian Grey very well, matched with an intense actor, but not overpowered for the role.  Nailed it.

Now if you'll forgive me for grabbing a shock title I'll get to the point, because there is one here.

If smoking cigarettes isn't both S&M, bondage and submission, I don't know what is.  Unfortunately it is playing both roles in a relationship where there is pleasure and pain, abuse, and high risk carried out by oneself upon oneself.  There are so many things wrong with that I don't know where to begin.  Hey if it's adventurous fetish play in sex that's one thing, but playing death roulette with smoking is all the downside without even one upside.  Nobody has an orgasm and everybody dies quicker as a result of the cigarette roulette game.

Most smokers cannot remember a moment in time when they decided "I'm going to be a smoker" I'm committing today to a habit that I'll keep for a lifetime, no matter what the consequences.  I never had that conversation with myself.  So why would a rational person of sound mind and healthy love of oneself choose to do something as harmful and self destructive, as to inhale 7,000 carcinogens with every puff?  And pay for the experience?  Voluntarily submit one's vital body systems to the abuse of smoking?  And accept the high risks and inevitable dangers which all cause or assist in death?

I invite some real thought on the subject.  Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point, has a chapter on the psychology of smoking and nicotine addiction in social terms.  Also Dr. Maxwell Maltz, in his book Psycho Cybernetics discusses breaking the addiction of smoking which holds only a short chemical/physical but a longer psychological grip on the mind.

And I arrive at my intended topic:  Vaping is an obsession for me and many folks I've met since dropping cigarettes and switching to vaping.  I have often wondered why I am so consumed with everything vape.  It's like a furious romance.  A compulsion to learn, and try, and collect, and hoard.  A self discovery often frustrating as hell to figure out how to make the pieces fit.  Just when I think that I've got my vaping going well something changes....the juice I loved to vape all day is now disgusting to me and OH NO I JUST BOUGHT 240ML OF IT.  Or that tank that was the Bees Knees when I bought it a week ago now just tastes horrible and metallic or burnt, no matter how many coils I change or how tenderly I treat it.  What a festering turd I wasted money on!  On to what's next and what's new.

I found my way to dripping after about 6 weeks of trial and error....mostly error.  Infuriating days of muscling through crappy unsatisfying vapes, juices that set off all the wrong signals in my taste buds while craving a cigarette, but loathing a cigarette at the same time.    ...and then it was nirvana.  Coil, wick, charge a battery, drip and then WOW!

Cut out the middleman of vaping I figured.  why mess with all the pre made stuff when all the stock coils and tanks and battery devices in the world were simply trying to do what dripping does...and yes, I can control exactly what goes in and comes out of my vape.

But the horizon of vaping really opens up once one begins to drip and sub ohm.  Now it's all about the batteries, the chargers, the wicking material, the wire,  the build, Ohms Law, and oh yes, the mod and the RDA....I never thought I'd need more than one power source and one tank, if I could just ever find the 'right one for me'.

Now I have plenty of the right ones....mech mods, box mods, regulated, unregulated, RDA's, RBA's sub tanks owned, and many more that I covet.

So why now, after I've found the way to a satisfying vape in my daily goal of not smoking cigarettes, am I intoxicated by vaping gear, juice, chat and community?

I suppose it's this:  years of sensory deprivation shackled to one brand, one taste, one self destructive form of masochism, I'm suddenly free and now can explore the things that I was missing...and also have honest reflections with myself about why and how I smoked, what guilt and torment I loaded on myself all those years.  Punishing myself for punishing myself.  Oh yes, how else would you describe a smoker's guilt while smoking?

Best line from the movie we watched last night:  'I'm 50 shades of fucked up'  and so it goes that smoking is a fucked up form of self abuse, vaping is 50 shades of freedom.

Sub Ohm Vaping and builds

Getting bored with basic dual coil builds, I've been getting more creative and taking on more technical builds.  Also ever since I got my unregulated series box from Smoke Stack Modz (Josh Ketterman) I build low sub ohm for mech mods and above .5 ohms for unregulated.  Also I have a 260watt SMY box mod and have been experimenting with builds that will allow higher watt vaping.

Here are some recent feathers in my cap:

Onslaught 3 coil

Freakshow quad verticals - now it's flavor AND clouds, especially with the chuff cap

Dark Horse quad stacked coils 

28 mm Plume Veil quad stack

Cerebus 6 verticals.  

Big Ugly,  a 15 wrap 24 gauge wrapped around a fairly large diameter screwdriver to get lots of metal and .8 ohm build on my box mod.  It's big, it's ugly, it can handle the 7+ volts that sizzle out of this box on a fresh charge.  

Stillare RDA Stacked quad 8wrap 24g kanthal

A Master at work.  Hey you don't have to be Harry Houdini to build your RDA, and with some practice you can make some very cool builds.  Mods are not an appliance.  They are a custom made build for your own personal use.  Personalize your experience as much as you can, take ownership of your equipment and learn to build, advance your building and learning how ohms law works.  Al may build some crazy stuff, but he also tells you 'this is not safe'  and 'don't do this because you see me doing it'.  Just because high wire performers at the circus dazzle you with their performance doesn't mean you should try that.  Much practice and much risk come with the show you see.  Same here in vaping.  I'm sharing this video because I admire the man who builds a deck like this, isn't trying to be a celebrity, and has a true and genuine authentic love for vaping and dripping.  Thank you Al T Banana vape for showing how you build.

The Quest4Vape

It's a hobby, it's an obsession, it's an addiction, it's a journey.  Where did it start, why do we do it, what so fanatical?  And where is this going?

For most of us vapers we smoked for years and could not quit.  Then one day we picked up some type of vaporizer and took a hit and something profound occurred.  The chains broke and the bars fell down.  The guard station was empty, and the security doors were open.  We walked tentatively out of our cell and then ran back for fear of punishment.  No alarms.  No flailing nightsticks.  So we walked out of the cell, down the hallway, out of the cellblock and then across the yard, each step waiting for the Sirens and the rubber bullets.  Bullhorns screeching "PRISONER GET BACK IN YOUR CELL"

Nicotine is an addiction.  Let's not sugar coat it.  Addicts are addicts.  This just happens to be a legal and socially acceptable narcotic.  Does it get you high and impair judgement and motor function?  No.  However the withdrawal from Nicotine can be extremely severe, and the compulsion to use is every bit as strong as other drugs.  Kicking the habit is in every way akin to breaking the cycle of any other drug addiction.

So let's not fool ourselves.  We smoked and we did it despite the long term health risks, smell, coughs, phlegm, bad breath, short endurance, lower resistance to illness, colds, bronchitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia every winter, etc. etc. etc.  Commercials on TV and warning labels never made anybody quit.  But at least they began the movement to view smoking as harmful and not acceptable.

Enough said for now about that.
Let's begin at the beginning of the Vaper's Journey.

We switched from smoking to vaping, and now begins the long road of discovery, delving into all things vape.  'The Way Of The Vape".

Batteries, Tanks, Coils, Juice, Wicks, Ohms, Volts, Watts.  Brands, Authentics, Clones, China.
Wow.....what train did I get on?!?

Local B&M (Brick and Mortar Store) and the dynamic of price, purchase, relationship, community
Online web retailers...wait I can buy stuff for less money online?  omg I've been cheated!!!

Facebook groups...Huh?  I can chat with or just lurk and watch while people talk about vaping?  It's not just me and my Ego futzing around with juice and coils?  Hey wait a second, some of these people have bad potty mouth!!! Some of these people like to argue and be mean!  Mamma help me I got my feelings hurt just for daring to join a conversation.

E-cigarette Forum, and other forums...oh there's people who answer questions?

Casaa and regulation...Uh Oh!  I just found vaping and now they're going to shut it down?  No fair!  I'm going back to jail and I didn't even do anything!  Who is 'THEY' and 'THEM'.  It's all a conspiracy!  Are we just sheep?

Some of my gear, and the collection grows.