To All the Vapes I've Loved Before

Okay, I have been promising for a minute to do this post. Now that it's been a year since I went cigarette-free, I thought it was a good time to sort of showcase my vape collection. Some of these devices I won (yay, me) or were gifted (because people were glad I quit cigs) or that I gifted myself (with money saved from not smoking). I have to say that I do NOT miss smoking even though I sometimes miss the smoking rituals. I do like vaping. I can vape without nicotine and I can vape without stinking. I dig it.

I know that there have been a lot of news reports of the dangers of vaping and, honestly, I agree with others who think the problems come from outside "normal" vaping. People who are using juices from any and everywhere might be getting bad additives in their eliquid. Also, a lot of folks are vaping weed and who knows what else. It's just like with the stories of people hurt by exploding devices. Usually, those are situations of people improperly using vapes or amateurs improperly using specialty devices meant only for the experienced. You will not soon - if ever - see me using something I had to build and set up myself. No thank you, ma'am. It took me a week to get comfortable just choosing juice to put into an easy-fill, off-the-shelf device.

These are the devices I love and what I think of them now that I have more experience vaping.

First, let me say that after I wrote this post, I realized that I forgot to mention the device that I tried and went back to cigarettes. This was probably 5 or 6 years ago when ecigs were getting to be really popular in Alaska. I wanted to quit (again) and a friend went to the corner cigarette store and bought me a Blu device. I was so hopeful. Then I tried it. Ugh. That was the worst ever experience of my life. I didn't understand why people preferred a "vape" over cigarettes. I stayed on cigarettes until I moved here to Iowa. I saw the friend of a friend vaping away on a tiny ecig. I asked if they really liked it and I told them about the Blu. They let me try their device (I think it was an Aspire or something similar). It was decent. It didn't make me cough or feel like I was inhaling sandpaper down my throat. That's when I knew that I could find an alternative to cigarettes. So...

The Juul was my first. I loved this thing. I was able to give up cigarettes with it. The vape was just as strong of a nicotine hit as the full-flavor cigarettes I smoked except the flavor and scent was Mango. How I loved the Mango pods. However...

Juul pods are so expensive that I wasn't saving any money. Also, eventually, Juul stopped selling the Mango pods. I rarely use the device anymore. The replacement and refillable pods I've found just are never as good as the original Juul pod.

Veneno

I had one or two other small cheapo devices like that amazing $9 Boulder that I eventually gave to my SIL. She loves and still uses it. I wanted something that gave me the flavor of the smaller pod Juul device. I was seriously over cigarettes at this point. Enter the Smok Veneno. Wow. This thing scared me a little at first. My nephew had to show me everything from how to fill it to how to change the coils. I still to this day never mess with changing the wattage except from up to down! I do love this though. It's a workhorse and it can handle being dropped (a couple of times) and tossed into purses and backpacks. I can also switch out tanks with the Caliber. I really do love this and will have til it quits on me.

After the Veneno, things get blurry as far as which device came next and when. Because I won or was given a couple of devices, I would pay it forward by giving them to someone else trying to quit cigs and wanting to try vaping. I at one time had at least 2 devices similar to the Boulder. Those went to friends and neighbors and I hope they helped them. As for the rest, here are some that I still have and I link to any reviews I might have written for them.

PockeX

This is the Aspire PockeX. I have learned that I'm not a huge fan of the smaller and less powerful mouth-to-lung devices out there. Even though MTL mimics smoking a cigarette, I have gotten used to direct to lung vaping since I don't use high nicotine (or, sometimes any nicotine) and like the clouds and flavor more than anything. I hope that made sense!

Overall, this PockeX is great for "ladylike" vaping. It a nice device for slipping into the purse or pocket for trips to the store or when you are around people who might not vape. I have literally vaped right in front of people who never noticed because this device is so discreet. However, I never got a lot of flavor with this. 

Pico Baby

 This little beauty is the Eleaf Istick Pico Baby 25W Kit. It's one of my favorites as far as how it looks. It's just cute and discreet and stylish. And it was under $15 believe it or not. It's a nice vape - much more powerful than you'd expect for such a tiny device. It didn't come with extra coils and I always burn through them quickly.

But when I say this device is tiny, I mean just that.




So, there's the cute, tiny Pico Baby and then there's the big brother...

Squeeze2

The Pico Squeeze is a squonk device. Listen, I had zero business getting this thing! I didn't understand what a "squonk" was. Now I know. Thank goodness I have a young (young adult, so don't freak out) nephew who was once so into vaping that he built his own devices (whatever that means). He came over and set everything up for me and told me to call him whenever I need to do anything more complicated than filling the juice reservoir.

I don't use this one often - because of my nephew's instructions - but when I do, it is awesome. I can't really describe how much more smooth and defined flavors are when using a squonk. Just freaking superb.

Now, believe it or not, between winning devices, getting them as gifts, and finding sales, I don't spend nearly as much money on vapes as I did on cigarettes. With cigarettes, I was sometimes going through over a pack of cigarettes a day. At the time I was in Alaska, a pack cost over 9 dollars and sometimes as much as 10 and change. Crazy habit. Now that I vape, a $7 bottle of
ejuice can last me 2 weeks or more. Of course, I don't use fancy juice. I also have found places like the Dollar eJuice Club. Mostly, I use VapeWild juice that I can find at Electronic Tobacconist (and skip the crazy shipping or club fees). So I do like finding devices that are no longer brand new on the market. Once the new device craze wears off, I can snatch up a 40- or 50-dollar device for 15 to 20 dollars. Don't believe me? Go back and look at what I paid for some of the devices compared to what they cost several months before my review.

Anyway, it did take me a while to learn what kind of vape experience I like. I'm not into a lot of bling-bling or alterable parts and stuff. I just want something that's decent-looking and gives a nice flavor. Okay, I do like my vapor too! Once I settled into my vape groove, I was more careful about falling for all the hype every time something new came out. And I was really happy with what I already had in my collection.


Then, because I remembered the joys of the Juul, I wanted to see if there was anything just as good. I especially wanted a more "able" device than the Juul - more affordable and definitely refillable. And along came the Uwell Caliburn.


I didn't immediately love the way it looks. The Caliburn is so much fatter than the Juul. As soon as I vaped the device I forgot all about the Juul. The one and only thing that Juul has on the Caliburn are those high-nicotine pods. I think that's what attracts newly-quit smokers. You get such a good taste and a super-hit of nicotine with Juul. But then you start to learn about things like salt nic and refillable pods. Yeah, no need to spend all that money on Juul pods.

Finic 20

I am now best friends with the Caliburn. Like the Pico Baby, it's small and discreet.  Because it's narrow and flat, it's nice to have when you don't want to carry a purse. This is a good pocket vape.

Another device that I wasn't immediately thrilled with is the Finic 20 from Voopoo. Since I won it in a giveaway, I was willing to get used to it. And I have to admit, it's a cute little device. When I was given a choice of 3 devices, I chose to wait a month for this one mainly because of the colors and design.

I had to use this for a few days and figure out that I could not only vape cigarette-style but also do DTL vaping. Then I was happy. I don't use this all the time but I like it.



I can't believe that I'm just now mentioning one of my fave devices. Well, it's my sort-of-fave. The first one I got went wonky and I had to fight my way through getting it replaced. Tedious. But so worth it because this thing is AHmazing. Behold the Voopoo Caliber.

Oh my my my! How I love this thing. It's beautiful and a vape- monster (if that's a thing). The one reason I use this mostly at home and don't pack it around is that it's freaking solid. It's too fat to tuck in a pant or skirt pocket and too heavy for a shirt pocket. I don't mean to say that it's crazy-heavy, but it's just a bit much for tucking away anywhere, in my opinion.

Uwell Whirl 22

No worries though. Just like the Pico Baby is the kid sister to the Pico Squeeze, I did find the adopted kid sibling to the Caliber. Adopted because it's got a different mother.

That's the Uwell Whirl 22. How cute is it? For a $20 device... I'll say that if I could, I would have paid twice that. It's not as powerful as the Caliber, of course, but it's a nice substitute for taking around on the go. It's smaller and much lighter in weight.


 Look at them together. Just kind of amazing that I found something like the Whirl. It's one of the devices that I liked the minute I got it.



I'm just now discovering that, for some reason, I never did a review of the Smok Priv V8. Huh. Well, I will have to do that. For now, here is what it looks like and I can tell you that it's another device I was a little slow to fall in love with.

There are some pros and cons with this one and I promise to do a short review soon.



The Innokin Endura is one that I started out liking and then... things have been going downhill. I listed the pros and cons when I reviewed the device but those negatives have become very annoying. The other day, it tipped over again and then started leaking. When I tried to see what was up, the whole top part fell apart. So... yeah. That thing was too much trouble to fill and then, with the constantly tipping over, it just went into a drawer somewhere. At least I got an extra drip tip that fits a couple of the other small devices...



You can probably tell that I tend to like Smok devices - even though I don't know if I'm pronouncing Smok correctly. I say "Smock" but some other people say "Smoke". Whatever. Maybe because a Smok was my first serious device after the Juul, I feel comfortable with them. I will say one thing though: When Smok gets it right, they nail it, but when they get it wrong...

The Smok Infinix was a device I raved about for a long time. Then, recently, I could hear light hissing after I finished taking a hit. I changed to a new, clean pod and the same thing happened. I'm going to have my brother or nephew take a look at it the next time they are over. Ugh

By the way, in a battle between the Infinix and the Caliburn, the Infinix gets its butt kicked. For flavor, vapor, and reliable hits, the Caliburn is the champ. Also, next to the Caliburn, the Infinix looks and feels a little cheap.  I have to admit right now that Uwell and Eleaf are becoming my favorites. Sorry, Smok.

Looking at this list, I'm thinking that I have a lot of devices! In reality, it has been a year since I quit cigarettes and with contests, giveaways, and sales, I haven't done too badly. If you didn't believe me when I told you how long juice lasts me, just look at how much I accumulated over a 4 month period. I won't be buying juice again for a very long minute...

I took this photo 6 months ago for a post and I still have about 5 full or nearly full 30ml bottles and I think I still have all of those 10ml bottles.



So, if you didn't doze off somewhere before this, I might as well tell you about a fun app I've signed up with called Vaffle. It's social media for vape enthusiasts. I am not that into it yet because it's not very user-friendly. However, it is an awesome place to look at very cool and unusual devices. I love that part.

By the way, here is a post I did about some of the shops I frequent. And remember, I am a broke cheapskate so...

I hope you had fun looking at the different vapes and, hopefully, reading some of the linked reviews. And remember, as a vaper, be cool, not annoying.

Peace
--Free

I think this young man in underappreciated

**REVIEW** Uwell Whirl 22 Starter Kit

This is a post about vaping. If you are not the legal smoking/vaping age in your area, this post is NOT for you. I don't encourage or approve of underage use of adult products.

Since it's been (almost) exactly  1 year since I gave up cigarettes...

Yay me

...I was just thinking the other day that I needed to do a total recap of all the vapes I've used. First, though, I decided to do this review of the latest device.

I put in for a money card giveaway so long ago that I forgot about it. Instead of being sensible and buying vitamins or something, I got this from over at Breazy:

That is the Whirl 22 25W Starter Kit by Uwell. Let me tell you something. This thing... man, is it good. I cannot believe that this is a $20 device. And I'm a little mad too because I have other devices that cost two and three times and they aren't as decent. The starter kit came with the usual extra coil and a replacement tank glass (a bubble style).

Something I want to mention immediately is that most shops are lauding this as basically (or only) a mouth-to-lung device. That's so wrong. This can be used as both MTL or DTL. As a matter of fact, I use it primarily direct-to-lung. But anyway... Here are the pros and cons.

What's to like:

1. By shopping around, you can find it priced affordably. This was $19.99 (with a free shipping code) at Breazy.com. They were sold out of most of the colors but, at the time I shopped, I got one of the last rainbow/iridescent shades. (NOTE: when I checked yesterday, they were down to the black shade. Just now I checked and they are sold out. You can request an email notification for when they are back in stock.)
2. It's a really beautiful and shiny device. "Whirl" is embossed along the side. At least, I think that's what it says... 
3. It's extremely lightweight and easy to hold onto, but it doesn't look or feel cheap. It's small enough to fit into a pocket and it won't weigh down fabric.
4. It is a top fill device.
5. The device charged fairly quickly out of the box (where it might have been partially charged) and took about 15 minutes to get to full charge.
6. You do get a bubble tank in addition to the pre-installed straight one.
7. I love that this has a smaller/narrower drip tip. (I found that my Smok Priv V8 tip fit the Whirl.)
8. This has nice airflow adjustment levels. I like being able to open the flow for direct-to-lung vaping. For people who like mouth-to-lung (like with a cigarette), the flow narrows down very nicely for that.
9. I don't vape constantly and the fully-charged battery on the device lasted an entire day (about 10 hours) and was only getting low enough to matter a couple of hours into the following day. It does vape well at mid-battery level, but the very best is when it's fully charged. And for a 25-watt device, it vapes beautifully.
10. The flavor with the new coil was marvelous. I tend to use sweet dessert-flavored juices in all my vapes. The Vape Wild "Snickerdoodle" juice in the Whirl was probably the best it's tasted so far. That surprised me.

What might bother some folk:

1. Can be as much as $40-50+ if you don't shop around.
2. It's a fingerprint magnet. These are very shiny devices. That matters to some people (not me). I suggest choosing a color that doesn't show prints so much. On this rainbow shade, I have to look close to see prints that would show up a lot on a solid color. Also, the "Whirl" that's embossed on the device is really shallow and kind of hard to read. I don't know, it could read "Idiot" for all I can tell.
3. Some people like heavier devices because they think it makes them feel more expensive. Personally, I like the size and weight.
4. The fill holes are small and a couple of my bottle tips were too fat. I think I will prefer using a needle top dispenser to keep things clean.
5. The charging port is on the bottom. I hate that. Also, you cannot use the vape while it's charging.
6. The base and tank cannot be used with any other device. They are made for each other. If the top breaks, you can't use the battery base. I haven't even swapped to the bubble tank because the installed one is on very, very tight and I don't want to break it. Also...
7. The Whirl 20 has an outer metal cage protecting the glass tank. Smart. This Whirl 22 has the metal cage inside the glass tank. Why? No clue.
8. With a sweet juice (the kind I like) the coil flavor started to wane after a couple of days. It still worked well but it's not going to be like the one in the Voopoo Caliber that lasts really well for at least a week before the quality goes down. This might last longer with a less sugary juice. I don't know.

One other thing I had trouble with initially was opening the tank to fill it. The lid was extremely tight and as you can see, it's quite narrow and can be hard to get a grip on.

Yeah, you have to unscrew the
skinny piece there

After the first couple of times, that got easier but I still wish the top was one of the roll-open kinds like the ones on the Voopoo Caliber, Smok Priv V8 and Smok Veneno. Sometimes, it's the little things.

All in all, the Whirl has too many positives (especially at the $20 price) for the negatives to matter much. And it comes in a nice range of colors.

sapphire blue, silver, black, gold, rainbow/iridescent,  purple

 Because I'm no expert on product specifications, I copied this from Breazy for you:

Product Features:  (w/highlights)

Dimensions: 22.2mm x 117.5mm 

Tank Capacity: 2ml

Integrated Rechargeable Battery: 1600mAh

Construction: High-Quality Stainless Steel 

Unibody Design

Quartz Glass Reinforcement

***Maximum Wattage: 25W***

Voltage Output Range: 3.0V - 3.8V

Resistance Range: 0.5ohm - 0.7ohm

Single Button Mechanism 

LED Indication Light

NiChrome Element: 0.6ohm Whirl Coil 

MicroUSB Charging Port 

Package Includes:  

1 x Whirl 22 Starter Kit By Uwell 

1 x Replacement Quartz Glass

2 x 0.6ohm Whirl Coils

1 x Pack Of O-Rings

1 x Drip Tip Cover

1 x Micro USB Charging Cord

1 x Instructional Manual

Because size does often matter with vape devices, I compared this to the Caliber (which is heavier and longer):

Can you tell I have a color preference?

I watched a couple of videos that compare the Whirl 22 against the Whirl 20. From what I understand, the main differences are in the tank cage (Whirl 20 has more protection) and fill methods (Whirl 20 is a more cumbersome bottom fill device). Two reviewers said that there was zero difference in the flavor. Of course, the Whirl 22 has a bigger battery so it will last longer.

This is a great device and had I known about it, I would have gotten one long ago. I would even have been willing to pay a little more than I did because it's such a good vape.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Uwell Caliburn Starter Kit

(With the loss of Google Plus, I am struggling to get visibility for these reviews back up. I'm working on finding replacement platforms. In the meantime, on I go.)

STOP: this post is ONLY for those of legal age for nicotine use.

See the guide for state-by-state regulations

state-by-state regulations

This review is for the newest (and most talked about) pod system. The Uwell Caliburn is raved about as big competition for the Juul. I'm using it for the first time today and the raving is warranted. Right off the bat, the $27-$35 Caliburn is cheaper than the $35-$50 Juul. Make sure that you shop around though because prices right now are varying wildly (and this is why I'm not linking to any specific shop, including where I got this one.)

I'll back up right now to say that Juul not only has competition but serious competition. Most people first coming off cigarettes want something to sate the nic craving and soothe their budget. After all, one of the benefits of quitting smoking is saving money. It's ridiculous to go broke when switching to vaping.

Came fully charged, by the way

PROS:

1. One of the things a lot of people like about the Caliburn is that it can be button-fired or just mouth-drawn. I find that there is more of a flavor release when using the button. Also, I think most vapers are just used to that method.

2. In comparing this to the Juul, I like that you can hit this mouth-to-lung or direct-to-lung. With the Juul, DTL is not as easy or nice, in my opinion. That leads to the next point.

3. The draw (or airflow) on the Caliburn is the perfect balance between tight and airy. I found the Juul to be tight which is why it was not a decent DTL device. And I get it, a lot of people reserve DTL for sub ohm devices and not pod systems. I like to switch between the two styles. MTL reminds me of smoking cigarettes, but DTL seems to give me a bigger nicotine hit when I am just doing one or hits.

4. One of my favorite things about this system is the top-fill design. You basically pop off the top of the pod and use one of the two holes underneath. I had no spills and leaking like with some of the side fill devices.

5. The device is extremely light and comfortable to hold. Again, more so than any other pod device I've used this is akin to the Juul. The Infinx, for instance, feels bigger and heavier.

6. Even with salt nic, the cloud vapor was better on this than with the Juul. One of my peeves with using the Juul right after giving up cigarettes was the lack of vapor. That was a big deal for me because I really wanted to recreate the experience of having an actual cigarette. Since then, I find that I love the vapor more than the nicotine - which I often go without. I'm not a cloud fanatic, but vapor is part of the satisfaction for me.

6. Uwell did a great job with the appearance of this device. It's sleek and comes in some nice colors. The blue looked a lot more like teal out of the box. There's not much difference in hue from seeing the product photo on screen but... I do like the color though. (I haven't received the pink one yet.) Also, although the finish has a slight shine to it, it's matte and isn't a fingerprint magnet.

7. Probably the biggest pro is that this uses refillable pods. With the kit, you get a spare so you can switch between flavors if you want or not freak out about losing one. And the pods hold 2ml of liquid (versus 0.7ml in standard Juul pods).

CONS:

The one and only real negative I want to point out is that the top is so freaking hard to remove. Other reviews mention that this gets easier with some. That makes sense but I damn near erased my fingerprints trying to remove the cap for the first fill.

The minor negative is that the view window for the liquid level is useless. In the right light, I could kind of see the liquid level but it's easier to just pop out the pod for a glance. Like I said, minor.

Overall, I agree that this is one of the best pod systems out there. I think it's a better alternative than the Juul for people getting away from cigarettes. The lower price combined with the refillable pods puts this so far above the Juul that I see no reason to bother with the other device.

Since I started using sub ohm (and squonk) devices, I found that I liked them more than I did the pod systems. This Caliburn is the one pod system I can see myself often choosing over the sub ohms. I like it a lot and it's going to be my on-the-go when I don't want to lug the heavier sub ohms around.

By the way, in some forums, people are asking if it's feasible to use anything other than salt nic in the Caliburn. A few people have mentioned that they use 50/50 pg/vg juice and I've seen one person say that they have used 70/30 juice. The Caliburn coil is designed for nic salt so that's what I plan to stick with. I've thought about testing the spare pod using some 50/50 juice but don't want to ruin it. If I take the chance, I will update this review with the results.

Peace
-- Free