A little back story - Or Why I Vape and DIY.
Over the past 3 years My dad who was a smoker for 40 years, has had prostate cancer, COPD he is on oxygen 24hrs a day, open heart surgery, a colostomy and reversal, the exit of which stays infected inside the body cavity, and he will need another surgery, and at the moment two 9mm kidney stones, and a stent to keep them from passing till the kidney infection is gone. I stay at home and prepare his meals, take care of things related to his surgeries, and general care.
I smoked for about 20 years. I was up to a pack of Marlboro a day at age 16 and the equivalent of three packs a day at 37. The last 2 or 3 years I rolled my own. I rolled Bugler for a while, and when it went from $9.99 to $22.99 in one day I switched to, cigarette tobacco that was packaged as pipe tobacco. It was much harsher and had an ammonia after taste.
I tried nicotine gum that was given to me by a friend. It was 6mg and I was chewing 6 pieces a day. I made my mouth raw. I ran out of gum after about two weeks, and didn’t have enough money to continue my nicotine gum addiction. The next Day I was having withdrawal symptoms and bumming cigarettes off of friends.
I started vaping with a cig-alike my niece gave me, about 2008.I forget the numbers but it was a Trio. It wasn’t strong enough. I tried using it off and on for the next few years, and continued to smoke.
Fast-forward to about late 2014. I bought a pricey clearomizer (to me)with an ego type battery some extra coil heads, The quality was quite nice actually. I also bought 24mg juice.They did have taster clearos, and individually wrapped drip tip rubbers.It just wasn’t enough for me to quite smoking.
So, I searched the internet for “diy vape”. and found Ruby Roo, and Rip Trippers, videos rebuilding Kanger coil heads. I figured I could do that, and do that I did.
First I drilled out the air holes on the clearo. It was chrome plated brass, so I just used a pocket knife. I got some 28 and 30 gauge from the local vape shop. I know now that this was not a bright idea, but I kept building lower until the battery wouldn’t fire, then build a little higher. I got it down to .7 ohm. The shop I went to mixed their own juice. Most of it was shake and vape type flavors. I bought some 36 mg Sweet Cucumber, yummy, was my ADV.
Filled up my clearo and commenced a chucking some, what II like to call, “Red-Eyed Nose A Dripping I Think I’ll Go Lay Down A Minute Juice”, 36mg a 28 awg .8 ohm dual coil in a single coil head, hitting it so hard I think I saw a whirlpool forming in the tank. The flavor was good, all things considered. I Also I started mixing my own juice from flavorless 48mg nic from my local vape shop, and flavors and glycerin I got from Wall-mart. Mostly LorAnns and Watkins.
It was the best I thought there was, until I was introduced to Sub-Ohming, by my niece’s husband. Oh my, the flavor and vapor was so much better. So, I found out where I could get the cheapest mod and atomizer, Fastech:grin:. I bought the brass gpaps with the groove, a brass derringer with SS center post, and batteries from my local vape shop. Life was good. Good flavor and vapor at a price I could afford.
Over the next few months I got down to 6mg, where I’m at now. Since July I have, bought a velocity mini from Fastech, great flavor, but not as good as the Derringer, imo. I have built 3 box mods, two parallel one series. I’m currently using a diy, dual 18650, parallel, aluminium box mod , .25 ohm dual clapton in a SS Derringer. Also I am getting better at mixing juice. Just last month I joined ELR .
My nice buys juice that I have made from time to time. I made her a 50ml bottle of Andromeda, one of her favorites her favorite, for Christmas. I get $100 a month from my Mom, she’s a nurse at a doctor’s office. So I have keep everything diy and cheap If it hadn’t been for my niece’s encouragement, Fastech and diy, I would probably still be smoking.
November 1st 2014 was the last day I smoked. If I catch a whiff of cigarette smoke, I sometimes I say to myself, a cig would hit the spot right now. Then I remember how I was coughing up little balls of jello like goo every morning.
I told a friend that I had quite smoking, he said he already knew because I didn’t smell like a cigarette butt. We laughed. My breathing is much better and so is my singing at church. I don’t get out of breath going to the mailbox. My I don’t smell like cigarette smoke and my mouth isn’t raw from chewing nicotine gum.
I’ve probably said too much but, I think I may have took an extra dose of my anti-depressants on accident. So, I’m in “What, me worry” mode. I tend to say too much, regret it, and then never talk to that person again unless I have to. Please excuse grammar and sentence structure. Had to read this, too many times before I pulled the trigger on it.
The only negative effects have been the uneducated comments I have gotten from smokers and non-smokers. Like, I herd you could get pneumonia from vaping an e-cigarettes, or e-cigarettes can just blow up on their own. I blame The FDA for lack of research and education. I believe every point of contact a smoker has with healthcare should have information of, how vaping is a safer alternative to smoking.
If you have made it this far, thank you for your time. -Dave
I’m a bit long in the tooth too. Like Ken said, I too enjoy a good story on how someone beat their addiction; it’s inspiring and a major reason I read so much on theses forums 
