Ask Baba / Tips from Baba.

[chinoy]

I spent 2 months after my heart attack reading up on all the forums.
What really gets my goat is that there is a total lack of key information out there.
And the info that is there is not all true.

So on this thread I am going to post tips that I have come up with or other Indian members. which I did not read anywhere else.
Try and keep it to questions or start your own tips thread. That way we can keep it condensed and full off info.

[chinoy]

How to build a Coil.

This is for Indian Members. Guys who struggle to get Bats, Chargers, coil etc. If your sitting in the USA enjoy and pass over.
This is for Genny , RBA, RBD etc.

Get your coil from BabaVapes. Tell us what tank your building for and we will supply the right coil.

Now cut off a length of coil say 4-5 inches.
Connect one end to one terminal. Tighten down the post.
Connect the other end to the other terminal. Screw loose.
Make sure there is not too much light in the room.

If your on a mech mod use a bat which is not fully charged. i.e. about 3.5 volts.
If your on VV / VW set it to the low side i.e. 3.2 volts.

Fire the coil. The coil should glow red in 1 second. i.e. Fire. say one thousand one and it should be cherry red.
First time you do it. It wont happen. So shorten the coil. It wont happen. Shorten again. This time it happens but after 3 seconds.
Shorten again. Now its happening. Mark it. Cut it. Measure it. Now you know with this gauge of wire and 3.2 volts your going cherry red in 1 second. Note it down. Now you can have the best smoke at the lowest voltage setting. Now you can have good smoke without draining out your bat.
This gives best smoke, best flavor, best bat life, best coil life.
What if I have a kanger tech tank no RBA. No problem. When you buy your coils from BV we will provide you with a number.
That is the length in MM to use to get the best results.

I wasted many hours fine tuning my coil builds till I came up with this system. Have not read it online anywhere.
Its simple. It works. No sub ohming BS. Talking to 90% of the Indian crowd who is on ego twist bat. Is very diffirent from guys who are sub ohming.
And for the record I think sub ohming is bullshit if you live in India. Where everything is a problem.
Even buying a VTC5 bat is a nightmare and you have to beg friends to carry it in.

I will do the sub ohm tips latter. For now we want the best bat life, the best coil life, the best flavor. The best bang for the buck.
Another option if you can afford it. Is buy pre-built wicks we will be stocking the fast tech stuff. But in my exp. These need to be tuned to work right. Also. Also I do not like the idea of smoking silica wick. And I prefer cotton.
Have found bits of silicon wick landing up in my mouth. Really dont want it in my lungs. Silicon wick is like glass wool. Tricky stuff to use.

Why cant we pre-cut this ?. Because every mod be it mechanical or be in electronic is different.
How much voltage drop. How efficient the circuit is. Changes from model to model. So you have to tune your own coil.

[ajithk]

Simple but very effective trick

[chinoy]

Buy a RBA.

Forget everything you have read.
Forget everything you think you know about tanks and e-cigs.

Simple truth is if you want to enjoy a flavor. RBA is the only way.

Because lets face it. You are going to want to try different flavors. And I have found that once you put a certain flavor in a tank. It will never allow you to taste another flavor clean ever again. You are allways going to get a hint of the old flavor.
And no its very hard to get out. Washing will not help much.

I used to think driper meant you add 1-2 drops smoke than add 1-2 drops. This is BS.
You build a good wick. And a dripper can hold more juice than your average tank.

It takes under 45 seconds to change out flavors on a RBA.
Pull out old wick. Dry Burn
Push in new wick.
Wet wick and smoke.

Dont know which one to get ?
Get the IGO W from fast tech under 10$ shipped to your door.

[simz]

Got my igo-l dual coil in the mail today. Right out the box vaping not recommended. It felt like I took a lick of a set of keys. Metallic and cold and not enjoyable at all. So took out one coil, rebuilt the other with cotton wick. Still no good. No idea where I'm going wrong. I even washed out the steel parts. Maybe just strip the whole thing and properly clean it again. Have a feeling the wire ft installs isn't too great. Metallic taste and not a whole lot of flavour even on strong flavour juices.

Anyone with an igo have the same problem?

[chinoy]

Next Baba Tip:

By all means use cotton for your wicks. That is till we figure out how to get the silica wick for cheap in India.
BUT PLEASE BOIL THE COTTON FIRST.
I fill a pan with water add cotton. Boil for 2min. Strain off water. Boil again. Keep repeating this till there is no smell. 3rd time is normally a charm. Then leave the cotton to dry.

India is famous for re-using cotton from hospitals. They just clean and bleach it. Which causes a very bad taste.

Simz: Wrong place to post this you should have started a new thread.
Bring it over I will fix it for you.
Yes I don't use the wire and wick FT sells. I only use the American stuff.

Any new tanks you must wash them in warm water and soap.
Then you must wash them in IPA. And then again wash in warm water and soap. (No IPA then use Vodka).

You should burn your coil on the gas stove and clean boil your cotton.
The other possibility is that on the IGO you are finally getting to taste what the juice really tastes like.

Summary: Just washing in hot water and soap will leave a soap taste in the tank. Best is to use hot water / soap / Alcohol / Plain water hot in that order.
2: If at first you dont like the taste of cotton even after boiling dont give up. Just buy from another source and try again.
You will find good cotton in India. Trust me.

[chinoy]

Best way to store your e-juice.

I am dead against the use of Plastics. Plastics is the number 1 reason for Juices going off. Changes in taste etc.
The reason plastics is used is because it is easy to transport. I would strongly recommend you store any juice you plan on using in glass bottles.

The glass bottles should be boiled in water. Standard practices as used in the storing and making of jams should be used.
i.e. boiling water. Heat over naked flame etc.

If you plan to use up the juice then plastic is ok. But if its say 20+ML and your not going to finish it please move it to a glass bottle.

[chinoy]

Cap on or Cap off for Steeping.

Sometimes we get a perfume smell from Juice which have not steeped enough.
So do you store it with the cap on or off.

The right answer depends on your climate and the humidity.
If its a dry low humidity climate cap off or on.

If humidity is high. Cap on only. Why ? Because VG and PG is hydroscopic i.e. it absorbs moisture very easy.
And once that moisture is absorbed its very hard to get it out.

To understand what this means. Take a few drops of juice. Or add some water to your near empty tank. Now try smoking it.
Or try smoking after you fill a tank with a wet wick. You get the picture.

I keep all my Juices in a drawer. With a large packet of SIlica Jel. Just to keep moisture out.

[chinoy]

Why should one be obsessed about boiling stuff. Washing it 10 times.
Only using distilled water ?
Its not like germs can be vaped into your body.

Ans:
My reason for getting anal about being clean only using glass. Washing and boiling glass etc. Has got nothing to do with germs.
The reason I do it is because we do not want anything to change the taste. It has nothing to do with Germs.

I suspect others are doing it for the same reason.

[chinoy]

Evolve fast.
Evolve to testing various Juices fast.

There are two types of people.
a. Those that use the e-cig as a means to stop smoking and then stop the e-cig also.
These guys are normally light smokers. Who never smoked more than one or two analogues. They also tend to be non addictive personalities.
b. Those that make vaping their new smoking. They have no plans to wish to stop.

For the second group it makes sense to jump in the deep end and just get what you know you will land up on using.
Every Vaper evolves. From the time they start with the Carto the to time when they move to tanks. And then to RDA and RBA.

By spending a little more to start with you land up getting the best setup the fastest.
If your the kind of person who will never rebuild your coils go for a known good tank. And coil pack.
I would recommend the iclear 30s or the Kanger tech pro tanks. Keep backup coils on hand.
If your the kind who can re-wrap coils. Then jump direct to IGO-W dripper or Kayfun.
Give the Gennies a miss. To start with.
Get a mechanical mod. Which one is not critical. Get the segeli Kick. Get 18650 bats.

One easy way around the 20 Mg limit in India is to just smoke from a larger tank. When you do that even 18 MG is too much.
If you cant get the strong nic (Which we all know in India is available to any number you want). Just increase the amount of juice you consume.

The other evolution is one off picking the right kind of Juice which agrees with you.
If your super fit / young. Smoking the wrong juice you may not even realize.
But if our middle aged. Not very fit. If you smoke the wrong stuff. It will make you sick.

To Evolve as a Vapers. Learning to spot the quality juices becomes critical. The only way for you to figure this out is to test as many products as you can. From as many vendors as you can.

Its funny how some guys have only ever tasted juice form one vendor. For ages. Mix it up. learn to understand and feel what your Vaping. And the effect its having on your body. THe only good news in all this is that. No matter what you vape. Nothing comes as close to the danger you do smoking.

[chinoy]

Isnt this e-cig supposed to be cheaper than smoking.

A lot of guys starting out are frustrated by the prices. I have maxed out my credit card a few times on this e-cig trip. And Im the kind of guy who never uses a credit car for anything. In my 20 years of owning a card the only item on my statement is the hosting fees for RDD.

Here is my take on e-cig being more costly than regular cigs.
1. We are only looking at the cost of our monthly bill on cigies. vs that on e-cig. My monthly bill for 3 packs a day for 30 days was 6750/- In the 2-3 months since I have stopped I have blown over 40 grand easy. Much of the stuff I have purchased has been a total waste. There was a time when I was buying 4-5 types of VG for testing. Having one smoke and throwing the rest out.
There have been complete batches of flavors with imported flavors that I have poured down the sink. Because they did not work.
Ive blown over 250$ on just two mods and the bat + charger. i.e. the itaste and the segeli 20 watt. Not to count all the ego twists I purchased. Have blown over 250$ on flavors alone. And now I have to spend another 20-22 K on nicotine.
So there is no way in hell this shit is cheaper than regular cigies form any angle.

So how do you justify the fact that your spending more. And you will. At least initially till you find your setup.

For it was simple. I just think about my health. Can you put a price on your health. Well I guess you can. If you factor in your health then it becomes cheap again.

A simple 3 day stay in the hospital if you go in complaining of chest pain is about 1 Lakh. My bill was 85K to be exact.
If they find you need a stent then its 1 Lakh per stent. Typically if you need a stent its very rarely a single stent. You get a range of stents. The stuff made in India is cheap. The fancy ones cost 1.5 - 2 Lakhs per stent. The US made budget ones are about a lakh each. My old smoker buddy Ravi N. Just got two. His bill was 2.5 Lakhs.

Lets say you have good medical coverage and this is not a problem for you. Well then you have to deal with the pain and discomfort for the rest of your life. I got off lucky. With zero stents. Zero plaque or narrowing of any arteries. It was a wake up call. For most people its the final call.

Im not going to even get started on the pain and discomfort of having a heat attack. Lets just say it very painful.

2. How do you fix a price on how much better you feel when you stop smoking. The benefits from better taste, to stronger erections, better sex. Less bad smell. Less harm to your family from your smoke. All these things have a value. Decide on it. And then do the math.

There is no price you can fix on helping somebody stop smoking. Be it your self or somebody else.

In my trip. Even after the e-cig I have had days and time of strong strong craving. About the only thing that kept me from going back to smoking was the thought that I have spent so much money on e-cig and if I where to go back to smoking now what a waste it would be.

I have too much experience with drug addicts and addiction. So never for a second did I try to fool my self with the whats the harm with having one smoke. If you have one. You will have two. And before you know it your back smoking at full steam.

Dont kid your self. Smoking is a serious drug addiction. In my life I have experimented with tons and tons of drugs. Every kind under the sun. And if I where to pick the strongest drug. / Worst drug I would say its Cigarettes.

Some will say whats the big deal. You haven't achieved anything from going from regular smokes to e-cig. Your getting your nicotine. Im ok with that. Nicotine never killed anybody or caused any cancers by it self.

I may land up on the e-cig trip for the rest of my life. Or it could be just a passing phase. One thing I know for sure. I am never going to go back to regular smokes. Unless they ban e-cig in India. If they do that I will get friends to smuggle my nic into the country or I will figure out how to make it my self.

So in summary when you add up how much your spending on your e-cig consider the fact that medical bills, and health have no price.

[chinoy]

On building coils. And getting the air flow vs the Juice flow right.
Lets face it some people have a knack for this. Lets face it practice makes perfect. But I do see some people are never going to get this right. For you guys the best bet is to just stick to the non rebuildables. Or get somebody to build your coils. Or spend some time with somebody who is good at building them and ask them for tips. On what your doing wrong.

I think the most common error people make is winding the coil too tight around the wicking material be it cotton or silica. Keep in mind two things a. The media will swell up when it gets wet. & b. The juice needs to flow thru the coil.

My tip would be to start with less than you think is idle and then keep adding more.

The next thing you need to keep in mind is the thickness of the juice when building a coil. All bottom coils work in the same way be it a Kayfun / Russian / Taifun / Kanger Tech tank etc. There is a hole thru which the juice must pass. The wick media is normally blocking this hole. Thick juices need less media blocking the hole. And thin juices need more densely packed wick media to prevent over flowing of the juice. If you have gurgling it means you need to cover more of that hole / entry of the juice point. If your getting dry hits it means you have too much media covering the hole and you need to reduce it.

[chinoy]

A quick way to tell the quality of your VG is to smoke it without any flavor.
Good quality VG is defined by the material left behind after it is burnt. The really high quality stuff should as per what I have read leave behind under 0.1% on the coil.
Flavors are another matter. Some leave a lot some leave less. Natural flavors leave more. Sent based ones less.

[simz]

If you're starting in the world of vaping and finding it's just not doing it for you physically, what you could try is getting into it more. Watch some videos from guys like PBusardo, RipTrippers, IndoorSmokers etc. Once it starts as a hobby you automatically get invested in it (no, that doesn't mean pots of money necessarily) and smoking cigarettes seem like the kind of thing you would do when you were young and didn't know any better.

There's a lot of good tips, with a lot of truth in them, right here to keep you on the smoke-free road.

[chinoy]

Best way to store your e-juice.
Glass is the best way to store your e-juice. If you plan on keeping it for more than a week move it to glass.
Nicotine and various flavors react with anything but SS and glass.

As a vendor I only use Borosil or borosilicate. As a regular user you can use regular glass.
The process to use glass is the same as that which is used in making jams and pickles.

This is how I do it.
First wast the glass in water and soap.
Then wash the glass in IPA or Alcohol to remove the fats left behind by the soap.
Then boil in hot water for 3 min.
Then heat over open flame.
Then leave in the sun for 2 days.

This is the method I use.
You must use IPA else the smell of soap will get into everything you use.

[chinoy]

Q: I have only 1 tank how do i use different flavors.
Ans: You cant. Its not recommended. Because some of the flavor will remain in the tank. So no matter what your smoking you will get the taste of the previous flavors. The solution is

First you grade your flavors on strength. Some flavors are stronger than others. So you do not vape these first. You vape the mild flavors first and then you can move from mild to stronger and the stronger flavor hides the milder flavor.

Strong flavors taste the best though.

So for example Ill classify flavors into different categories. Strong, Mild and light.
A strong can hide the mild and weak and the strong can replace another strong.
The strong flavors are
1. Coffee Choclate. (Coffee taste remains).
2. Pann
3. Mellon Madness
4. Black Currant.

Mild would be
Honey do
RY4
China Flavors

Light would be
Cigar cuban.
Irish cream
etc.

Second point is you clean tanks between changing flavors.
1. Use hot water avoid soap unless your really must use it.
2. If you use soap you must use alcohol / vodka to remove the soap smell else it will give you a soap taste. Water does not remove soap taste only alcohol. How ever you wash it you must use water as the last step. So soap - alcohol - water.
3. Stip down your tank as much as you can. Flavors get into o-rings, threads, etc
4. Do a dry burn. (If you have cotton you will need to replace it. )

How I have it now is I have a dripper for the strong flavors. Worst case I have separate coils for strong flavors.
They are easy to change out.

[chinoy]

Q: Does VG contain pig fat or animal fat.
I knew this one was going to crop up. And to be honest I can tell you anything and another vendor can tell you anything.
The best bet if you want to play it safe with a mild hit to your health. Ask for Synthetic VG. Yes I believe Natural VG is healthier.
And we use Vegetable based Glycerin. The truth be told as long as the chemical property is right there is no difference between them.

Q: Why this move in the vaping scene to move from PG to VG. Is it cost. ?
Ans: For me personally it was an issue of health.
Smoking the high PG China juice where making me feel sick.
When I started to smoke VG. I found I felt fine by the end of the day if I had the vape in my mouth.

I will admit that the PG I have can be smoked without feeling sick. But PG is by its nature very nasty.
Look it up. The throat hit they all tak about is your skin burning in reaction to the nasty stuff in PG.
The bottle says wash off if it comes in contact with the skin. Do you really want to inhale something like this ?

It would make very easy for the business if one where to use PG. Here is why
1. Nicotine disolves in PG very easy.
2. Flavors disolve in PG very easy.
3. No need to steep mix and sell.
4. Works ok on cartos because they needed think liquid to work and not much nicotine or vapour was being deliverd. When tank technology took off. The consumption of PG shoot thru the roof. I feel that body cant handle PG in anything but cartos.

People have no idea about the challenges of blending VG. Here are some of the steps. Some left out because we dont wish to share.
1. You must use more flavor. Which costs more than VG or PG.
2. You must heat the mixture to get the blending started.
3. You must shake every day for at least 7-10 days.
4. You must expose the glass jars to direct sunlight.
5. You must run the juice in the Ultra Sonic cleaner and the microwave to get the flavors to transfer.

PG on the other hand just sucks the flavors in. No blending. Heck 90 per cent of the flavors are PG based. How easy is that.
Mix shake and your done. Any wonder large scale boys cant use VG.

There have been medical reports that have clearly advocated shifting from PG to VG.

I dont think anybody can argue with a straight face that PG is something you should have in your lungs.
It may be ok for the stomach.

If you dont like the taste off one type of VG try the other.

In my book working with VG is very very hard. And unless the flavor is also VG based (Very very rare you cant make 100% Vg juice).

Im also not convinced that nicotine mixes well with VG. And its critical that the nicotine blends. So VG may have to be used here again. Finally I believe just listen to your body. Speak to older vapers like 45+ their bodies are more sensitive. Anybody who switches to VG will just feel better. If all you ever vape is a few pulls on a carto ignore my complete post. This post is only for guys who use tanks. And who are consuming more than 1 ML of juice a day. Carto guys can vape pretty much anything. It hardly matters. The 150 Mah bat just cant make serious vapour. Which works for a lot of people. In face they want to keep people on the Cartos. Because that is the biggest money spinner in the e-cig world.
The first time you try a real tank you will throw away your carto.
Always remember to shake your bottle PG or VG each time before use.

[chinoy]

Here are some things you must know as an e-cig user.

If a juice vendor wants you to like a particular flavor all they have to do is put in more nic.
You may not detect the nic. But your brain does and it latches onto the higher nic flavors and you start to like them.

Another way to get users hooked onto a juice is to just use some tobacco absolute. Or WTA. Again here the brain detects it in minutest qty and seeks it out.
I am 99% sure that this is how Hallo Is doing it. As well as any other preimum brands.

[chinoy]

Q: What are the implications of steeping my juice with the lid off ?. Good or bad. Why do people do it. Do you do it ?.

Ans:
It works and helps under two situations.
First situation is when the flavor used is more perfumey and les taste based. Your typical example would be the Dekang and hangsen flavors from FT.
These smell like over powering chemical perfume when you get them. And take about 2 months to mature if at all. These benefit from leaving the cover open.
The second situation is when the juice is very thick. Leaving the cover open allows the juice to absorb moisture from the air. So you now have water in your juice. Water dissolves nicotine. And the PG / VG both absorb that. Im not sure which is the most hydroscopic of the bunch. But Id assume that absorbs the water first. I know for sure all 3 are hydroscopic. Just not sure on the numbers.
But long story short it helps thin down your juice.
Also leaving it open exposes your nic to oxidation. They say it has zero effect on the strength of the nicotine but it can lead to a slight color change.

I personally do not steep anything but the ready made China stuff with the cover open. Because I leave you loose flavors and nic with the cover open. ANd the customer will spend enough time with the cover off anyway.

[atulchadha]

really great tips.