Really pleased I got over my snobbery and tried out some pods !

[ChrisLikesCoffee]

Well... in some ways I really hate to admit it, but in pure terms of reducing the number of fags I smoke; my recent (1 month ago) switch to 2 Lost Vape and 2 Vaporesso pods (100 quidish) has proved an awful lot more effective than the multiple grands I've spent on RTAs, RBAs, mods (some DNA), tools, chargers, batteries, wire, cotton etc etc.

While I enjoy the hobby side of building; the main idea of this whole vaping lark was to replace some (maybe even all... who knows) of the job of satisfying my horrific nic addition with something a bit less harmful than the good old ciggies, as well as to reduce the cost of my habit (though ironically, it's actually cheaper to smoke here... vape kit and ciggy/baccy brand depending... but for sure not in the UK when I started vaping !!)

I guess I hate to admit it partially because I'd always been rather snobbish about pods not being 'proper' vapes, and that I could get far superior flavour from the more purist kit; which I guess used to be true, but it's certainly no longer the case.

The other reason I hate to, is that even in the last few months, having taken up vaping again after 2 years off, I've bought 2 DNA mods, 2 non-DNA ones, probably a dozen RDAs and a shitload of wire, and rather regret going a bit mad now !

Aside from the fact that the flavour from the pods really is pretty damn good, I think the main thing is the convenience and lack of worry about leaking/falling over.

I have a lost vape elite tucked down the side of the sofa cushion, and another in my day-carry bag, and a Luxe X Pro in the garden where I go to watch squirrels, shoot arrows (be assured, 2 entirely distinct activities, though if they don't stop eating all my bloomin' papaya before they're ripe I might reconsider... ) and smoke fags; and a Luxe XR Max that I drop in a pocket and carry around with me.

The thing is, I never worry about it falling over and spooging juice, it doesn't have to stay upright, it can be upside down in my pocket or bag etc. - and in the end, if I drop it or it gets broken, hey, I just buy another - it's not like a DNA mod where I'm paranoid about 'my precious' getting scratched, which is a bit of a revelation for me.

So now when we settle in for a movie, I have a toot on the sofa vape and find that I don't sneak out to the garden for a smoke 2 or 3 times as I used to, why this is any different to me having a mod sat on the coffee table in front of me I'm not entirely clear about, but I just didn't !

When I'm out in town I'll have an occasional chuff on the pod in my pocket rather than stopping to have a ciggy (which usually means buying a coffee somewhere, so I'll probably have 3 ciggies !). Even at my desk where I used to have 3 or 4.. or 7... mod/rda setups lined up, I seem to be happy with just the one pod (and a bunch of coil/tank things in a little drawer for quick flavour changes).

Sorry if this all seems obvious to some of you - but I'd strayed quite far from the whole point of the exercise and vaping had become a very purist (maybe even obsessive) thing that had to be 'done properly' rather than something that I just did without much thinking about it, without any great preparation or ceremony as with lugging a mod and bottle of juice (or 2) around, being careful my bag was always upright, or that I'd vaped the juice well dry etc.

...and again, the flavour really is damned good, and consistently so.

Maintenance-wise, every day or three I spend 5 minutes topping up the dozen or so tank/pods I have, one or two per flavour that I have on the go, and that's it - my 'vape desk', festooned with tools, atty stands and drawers full of wire, cotton, decks etc. is gathering dust and I'm liking that I'm not mildly concerned that if I just rewicked this particular build with rayon, or moved the coils up or apart a tad to catch the vents a little better the flavour would improve by a smidge - which is probably obsessive but an easy mindset to get into.

Happily over here there's zero danger of any vape kit being outlawed, so I don't even feel the need to buy in a stupid amount of the pre-built coils 'just in case' - and if the worst happens, I have a shitload of the more hobbyist kit stashed away.

So, maybe I'll resume playing with the (at least currently) unused stack of vape kit I have at some point but for now, I'm really pleased I got off my purist high horse and tried out some pods

 

[JohnNada]

I hear you. I've mostly avoided pods but I'm currently using a Vaporesso XROS 3 pod that I've been sent for review, and without saying too much before I post said review... I'm enjoying vaping it just as much as any boro bridge or RTA I have. I still won't be in any rush to fully switch over to pods, but they certainly have their place.

 

[Netvaper]

Pods have come a long way though I'm not sure I'd say an advantage is they don't leak though I use a Puremax for out and about and it hasn't. The main thing is to vape what you enjoy and what gets you and keeps you off the fags. I just prefer the draw and flavour from rtas.

 

[ChrisLikesCoffee]

Pods have come a long way though I'm not sure I'd say an advantage is they don't leak though I use a Puremax for out and about and it hasn't. The main thing is to vape what you enjoy and what gets you and keeps you off the fags. I just prefer the draw and flavour from rtas.

Fair enough, not had mine long enough to see if the seals degrade and start oozing but if one does, I chuck it away and buy another, not had any leaks at all yet with these and I'm almost challenging them to leak by chucking them around and dumping them in pocket/bag any way up.

I think for me it's a lot about removing the hobby element from it, at least for now. I wasn't looking for a new hobby in the beginning, just wanted to not spend a fortune on fags in the UK and do like the general concept of vaping a lot and really like the flavours; but it became a hobby, which is perhaps one too many these days.

Funny, I never saw smoking fags as a hobby, and wouldn't join an online group to compare ciggy-rolling techniques or different baccy brands or filters etc - it's just something I do, and think at least for now I want my vaping to be more like that.

...though there is a slight niggle in the back of my head that what I'm saying is heretical somehow

 

[ripe_plantain]

I use a boro device with an mtl/rdl rba as my pod device. There are bridges for most coils if I didn't want to spend the extra time of building my own. Whatever it takes to keep us off fags.

 

[DMAN]

I know what you mean about getting away from the collecting 'hobby' side of vaping. I used to be into diy, but have stopped buying gear i don't need. I'm happy now with one make of mod and stock coil tank, and a couple of pods for carrying outdoors.
I think all us ex-smokers must have an addictive personality though.
Just in case flavours get banned, i thought i would get back into making a few juices for future peace of mind.
My addictive personality has kicked in though, and i now have boxes of concentrates! I'm enjoying mixing though!

 

[zouzounaki]

aye, folk easily lose the heid with this stuff. used to baffle me when folk on here would talk about their arrays of tiny household appliances for cleaning their devices and mixing their liquid. seems mental.

 

[Mutley1]

Well... in some ways I really hate to admit it, but in pure terms of reducing the number of fags I smoke; my recent (1 month ago) switch to 2 Lost Vape and 2 Vaporesso pods (100 quidish) has proved an awful lot more effective than the multiple grands I've spent on RTAs, RBAs, mods (some DNA), tools, chargers, batteries, wire, cotton etc etc.

While I enjoy the hobby side of building; the main idea of this whole vaping lark was to replace some (maybe even all... who knows) of the job of satisfying my horrific nic addition with something a bit less harmful than the good old ciggies, as well as to reduce the cost of my habit (though ironically, it's actually cheaper to smoke here... vape kit and ciggy/baccy brand depending... but for sure not in the UK when I started vaping !!)

I guess I hate to admit it partially because I'd always been rather snobbish about pods not being 'proper' vapes, and that I could get far superior flavour from the more purist kit; which I guess used to be true, but it's certainly no longer the case.

The other reason I hate to, is that even in the last few months, having taken up vaping again after 2 years off, I've bought 2 DNA mods, 2 non-DNA ones, probably a dozen RDAs and a shitload of wire, and rather regret going a bit mad now !

Aside from the fact that the flavour from the pods really is pretty damn good, I think the main thing is the convenience and lack of worry about leaking/falling over.

I have a lost vape elite tucked down the side of the sofa cushion, and another in my day-carry bag, and a Luxe X Pro in the garden where I go to watch squirrels, shoot arrows (be assured, 2 entirely distinct activities, though if they don't stop eating all my bloomin' papaya before they're ripe I might reconsider... ) and smoke fags; and a Luxe XR Max that I drop in a pocket and carry around with me.

The thing is, I never worry about it falling over and spooging juice, it doesn't have to stay upright, it can be upside down in my pocket or bag etc. - and in the end, if I drop it or it gets broken, hey, I just buy another - it's not like a DNA mod where I'm paranoid about 'my precious' getting scratched, which is a bit of a revelation for me.

So now when we settle in for a movie, I have a toot on the sofa vape and find that I don't sneak out to the garden for a smoke 2 or 3 times as I used to, why this is any different to me having a mod sat on the coffee table in front of me I'm not entirely clear about, but I just didn't !

When I'm out in town I'll have an occasional chuff on the pod in my pocket rather than stopping to have a ciggy (which usually means buying a coffee somewhere, so I'll probably have 3 ciggies !). Even at my desk where I used to have 3 or 4.. or 7... mod/rda setups lined up, I seem to be happy with just the one pod (and a bunch of coil/tank things in a little drawer for quick flavour changes).

Sorry if this all seems obvious to some of you - but I'd strayed quite far from the whole point of the exercise and vaping had become a very purist (maybe even obsessive) thing that had to be 'done properly' rather than something that I just did without much thinking about it, without any great preparation or ceremony as with lugging a mod and bottle of juice (or 2) around, being careful my bag was always upright, or that I'd vaped the juice well dry etc.

...and again, the flavour really is damned good, and consistently so.

Maintenance-wise, every day or three I spend 5 minutes topping up the dozen or so tank/pods I have, one or two per flavour that I have on the go, and that's it - my 'vape desk', festooned with tools, atty stands and drawers full of wire, cotton, decks etc. is gathering dust and I'm liking that I'm not mildly concerned that if I just rewicked this particular build with rayon, or moved the coils up or apart a tad to catch the vents a little better the flavour would improve by a smidge - which is probably obsessive but an easy mindset to get into.

Happily over here there's zero danger of any vape kit being outlawed, so I don't even feel the need to buy in a stupid amount of the pre-built coils 'just in case' - and if the worst happens, I have a shitload of the more hobbyist kit stashed away.

So, maybe I'll resume playing with the (at least currently) unused stack of vape kit I have at some point but for now, I'm really pleased I got off my purist high horse and tried out some pods

I've never got the point of vape snobbery, after all we are all here for the same reason we are ex smokers, so who cares what you use as long as it works for you, I've got loads of big mods & most still get used, but I admit I use my pods more just lately they are pocket friendly & the coils have gotten better recently & are on par with the mesh I use.

 

[ChrisLikesCoffee]

I've never got the point of vape snobbery, after all we are all here for the same reason we are ex smokers, so who cares what you use as long as it works for you, I've got loads of big mods & most still get used, but I admit I use my pods more just lately they are pocket friendly & the coils have gotten better recently & are on par with the mesh I use.

There isn't a point to it, like a lot of not-entirely-positive-but-fairly-harmless emotions they just come about - I mean I didn't berate folk in shops for their choice of kit but admit to having being a little snooty about it in my head.

I guess there's a sort of pride in having put the effort into learning the craft and tweaking and fettling etc. that can easily become just a tad obsessive and with that the temptation to consider oneself somehow more devout to the cult than those who don't learn the rituals and just want to enjoy the end product; like firing up a ready meal rather than cooking from scratch I suppose - but the analogy falls down as in this case the ready meal is just about as tasty as the home made.

There is a good dose of self-criticism in this, it's not an admirable quality in me and in any case I'm just not as keen on the endless fettling these days; thus my recent 'just vape the juice like you smoke a tab, and get on with life' approach, and it's working well for me.

Having said that, I can see the fettling instinct trying to sneak back into my psyche with my recent order of a GTX RBA.... but at least with that I'm limited to very simple single coils, no TC etc.

 

[JohnNada]

GTX RBA

I have one of these and they're not bad, if a little bit fiddly. I'll be honest with you though, it's nowhere near as good as the stock GTX coils.

I'm not sure what kind of witch-craft Vaporesso have going on but their stock coils/pods (GTI, GTX, XROS) provide just as good flavour as any RTA that I've tried.

It's mostly a cost thing for me though. I can buy a few months supply of mesh strips, pre-made coils and cotton for the price of a 5 packs of stock coils or pods.