The Ninja Report: Lite E-Liquids

So a few days ago, my dear friend Carlo (aka. Kablooie of PVF, one of the admins of the prominent vaping buy and sell groups on Facebook) hooked me up with an emerging e-juice line- the Lite E-Liquids by FD Mark, who most oldschoolers would know as Kram Cole.

As most of you know, I’m one of the few who chase flavor more than I chase clouds. Having been a bit active in the local channels of vaping in social media, I’ve been reading raves about this juice line’s flavor profile so when I realized that I was having a chance to experience this myself, I was psyched.

So after a very stressful day at work, I was so relieved to come home to a vape mail with the following flavors:

• Deepthroat - Minty bubblegum
• Overload - Minty watermelon
• Valkyrie - Strawberry daiquiri
• Abstract - Rootbeer float
• Starbucks - Vanilla Coffee doughnut
• Aphrodisiac - Roasted Peanut
• Melon Madness - Melon mint
• Mystery - Salted caramel

With what I’ve read, there was another juice flavor – Mango Deluxe which was a ripe mango flavor. Too bad my package didn’t come with it because my girlfriend and I really love ripe mangoes. But I digress.

As discussed with FD Mark, he mentioned that the juices were on a 70:30 VG/PG ratio and was at 3mg. Being the old school 50/50 6mg vaper that I am, I just shrugged it off and carried on with life.

On my initial run, I tested the whole juice line by dripping on my Immo+ RBA, built with 5 loops 0.40mm kanthal wire on 3mm guide at 0.85 ohms. Fired on my Sigelei 75W mod at 40-45 watts. Flavor was exceptional and lasting. Every inhale had that burst of flavor which stayed even after the exhale. 

I was so psyched about the flavor profile that I next used it on my Smok-E Mountain Airmaster, built with 5 loops twisted 0.40mm wire on 3mm guide at 0.35 ohms with dual coil setting. Fired on my Smok-E Mountain V-Rex 26650 mech mod. Vaping this juice line on this setup was heaven. The flavor was so solid, I managed to down the whole 10ml bottle tester of Starbucks on the first day. It was that good!

Driven by the earlier successful runs with the single and dual coil builds, I decided to use the juices on my daily workhorse setup: my Immo+ tank, built at 0.17 ohms with Ni200 for temperature control. It was set at 45 watts, set at a maximum of 450F. Sadly, things went downhill from there.

This juice line didn't seem to be temperature control-tank friendly. On my TC setup in my tank, it was mute city. I tried filling it with the all the flavors, I even tried dripping it directly from time to time on the coils but the flavor was gone. I was using an Immo+ tank for God's sake! Flavor should be all over the place but sadly, the only flavors I were able taste were VG and menthol. And it bummed me out. Big time.

I tried to find ways on how to make this work on my tank but I terribly failed to do so. I even thought it was because I configured my setup poorly. I tried different juices from other juice lines but all of them were good in my tank. So from there I deduced that the Immo+ tank didn't go well with the whole juice line. (Disclaimer: I really think it's something about the Immo+ tank on temperature control and thick juices that don't mix well. 50/50 juices work wonderfully on it and high VG juices are oftentimes muted as well.)

Bummed out by the results with the tank setup, I decided to reconfigure my Immo+ tank back to the RBA. Flavor was still missing so I cranked the temperature limit to 550F and there it started to appear again. 550 to 600F seemed to be the sweet spot of this juice for flavor to appear (on my setup at least) but with that being too much of a battery drainer on my setup, I decided to just let it go and not use the juice line for my daily workhorse.

So in summary, the Lite E-liquids are a good bunch of juice to vape on high wattages and temperatures, but sadly disappoints on lower wattages and temparatures. I really love the line's no non-sense flavor profiles where you really do get the flavor they say. The flavors are not too complicated, like the ones that are flooding the markets today and it was a very refreshing experience to vape. And at 150 pesos per 30ml, I'm not one to complain. :)

I would very much recommend this juice line to those who prefer vaping at high wattages and multiple coils but I would discourage anyone who vape at a mellow level since the juice lacks flavor when vaped cool.

TL;DR - Lite E-Liquids are good, cheap, and flavorful on high wattages. They don't work for me on my TC setup but I highly recommend them if you prefer to cloudchase.

Cheers and keep on vaping!

The Ninja Report: Royal Mist Premium E-Liquid

If you’ve been active in the PVF Facebook group, you would have definitely have seen me post quite a few rants about the local juices that gets released nowadays. As I’ve mentioned on my old posts, I’ve been out and about trying the new juices but most, if not all, were met with utter disappointment. Most of what I’ve tasted lately had weak flavors because they were designed to cater to the cloud chasers more than the tank users- they were good on multi-coiled atomizer builds but almost had no taste when placed in single coil tanks or atomizers. Some juices were good at first, but as days go by and as they steeped, they lost their flavor. Other juices had weak nicotine strength that even their 11mg didn't even have throat hit that could match a proper 3mg juice. So with those repeated experiences, I was afraid of trying new juices because the failure rate was so high that I limited myself to the old juices that I have proven to be good in the past.

But as fate would have it, I was approached by my dear friend Carlo, who you might know as the admin of the Box Mod PH group admin. He told me that he’ll be hooking me up with a fairly new local juice line that has been garnering positive reviews. I was a skeptic at first but in the spirit of fairness, I gave it a shot.

Enter the Royal Mist Premium E-Liquid juice line.

I met up with brother Dom of Dreadtac Vaping Rigs, the connoisseur, who gave me samples for me to experience. I was given a bottle of each flavors which I will be going into further detail in this review. The juices given to me were a 50/50 PG/VG mix in 6mg strength, vaped an average of 3 days per flavor on the Kanger Subtank Mini built at 0.60 to 0.75 ohms and was fired at 25 to 30W using the Cloupor Mini.

First up is the Rameses. As it is described, it’s a creamy butternut tobacco blend. It is reminiscent of the RY4 blends that we have all grown up with. But their twist is it’s a bit sweeter and more butternut than tobacco. It’s a 3/5 for me because I personally prefer a leafy tobacco blend, even on the RY4 variants.

Next is the Horus which is a nutty pastry that is roasted to perfection; and the description cannot be more spot-on. It’s as roasted as any properly roasted peanuts are and is damn good! It’s nuttier albeit less sweet than the other local juice that is also known in our community. It’s a 4/5  and it’s a pleasant all-day vape for me.

Third on the list is the Amon-Ra, which is a sweet, minty chocolate blend. This juice is my favorite of the whole juice line and I managed to run through the whole bottle in just 3 days. It is very reminiscent of the US-made juice that is normally associated with the Irish and leprechauns and whose brand is named after the rings on the heads of angels and saints. The flavor on the drag is of a fairly sweet chocolate where you taste and feel the minty chocolatey goodness on the exhale. And with me being the lactose-intolerant ninja that I am, I indulged myself in this sweet, sweet chocolatey goodness without fear and guilt. It’s a perfect 5 in my books and I will henceforth be keeping a bottle of this goodness in my stash at all times.

Fourth is the Pharaoh. It is a refreshingly sweet mixed fruit blend. Its taste profile can be compared to that of a certain local blend that’s named after the concoction used to remedy snake bites. However, Royal Mist’s mix has a stronger, more intense, flavor in it and is a more tank-friendly blend. The most dominant fruit flavor in this mix is the watermelon but some would contest it and say that it’s more toothpaste than watermelon. But whatever it is they say, it’s a strong 3.5/5 in my books.

And last on the list is the Cleopatra. It’s a sweet berry and taro pudding. An explosion of flavors which has a dominant strawberry taste to it. It is very much like the old strawberry-filled Rebisco cracker sandwich but sweeter and in e-juice form. It is too sweet for my taste and is too much for me to be able to chain vape, even so to be an all-day vape. It’s a 2.5/5 for me but other people will definitely appreciate it more than me.

So to summarize all this, the flavor profile of the Royal Mist juice line is more on the sweet side. Its flavor is intense but unlike most new juices in the market, its flavor didn’t fade over time but even improved as it steeped. It tastes good on any setup your atomizer is on and will not fail you. The throat hit and nicotine hit of the 6mg was spot on and very satisfying. I can say this with confidence – this juice is at par with the 2011-2012 quality of juices and it left me feeling nostalgic of the time that once was.

However, as with all things, the Royal Mist line also has a few flaws: namely the gunk build up on the coils. This is a common flaw on juices that have a sweet profile and also on the dark-colored juices so I don’t believe it to be a fatal flaw.

But all in all, the Royal Mist juice line is exceptional and went beyond as I expected it to be. It is a high quality juice line that I would very much recommend to anyone who’s looking for something old, yet something new. And oh, did I mention that it’s only 250 per 30ml and is available almost everywhere? Yeah, you read that right.

TL;DR: Quit your slacking and get yourself some Royal Mist juices. It’s damn well worth it.

Parents Consulting Their Underage Children to Vape?

I strongly disgree to parents who consent their children to vape, even if they are smoking. It's definitely reponsiblity that's needed in this area but let's face it, not everyone is responsible and parents are included in those "everyone". Vaping is a form nicotine replacement therapy, not a hobby, not anything else. There is a line where anything beneficial becomes bad; and in vaping, we all know where that line is drawn.

So who is this hypocrite, you ask? He has the guts to say this but he's someone who has a lot of mods and consumes unreasonable quantities of juice. I admit it, I'm already addicted to the culture of vaping- collecting mods, trying different juices and spending time and money improving my vaping experience. But the question is- if you're a parent, would you consent your child to share the same fate as this dude? We all know that it's going to be the most likely path that one who ventures into vaping will tread. Especially when you become deeply immensed in the community, right?

So there is no grey area here - vaping is and will always be a negative vice. And if ever I'll be having children (for some reason), I'll never introduce or promote to them any kind of vice, even the one that I'm doing. And anything that you spend serious money on that isn't a necessity is a vice. And if ever I catch my child smoking, screw him and I won't be giving him more allowance to spend on vaping so he'll have no choice but to smoke until he's of legal age. By then, he can apporach me and then we can talk about the alternative of vaping for nicotine delivery.

FAQ: Battery Amperage Limit?

Electronics Review Class: Batteries 101

Amperage limits of the commonly used batteries:
source: ecf and candlepowerforums

AW IMR 18650 (Li-Mn) - 10A
EFEST IMR 18650 2250mah (Li-Mn) - 10A
Panasonic CGR18650 2250mah (Li-Mn/Li-Ion hybrid) - 10A
Panasonic NCR18650 2900mah (Li-Ion) - 5.8A *common type of laptop battery*
EFEST 2600 mah (Li-Ion) - 4.2A

Pag mas maiksi ang batteries (18500, 18350, 14500, etc), mas mababa ang amperage limits nun. Which means that in theory based on chemistry, the batteries were designed to have a certain discharge limit which could cause it to malfunction.

Sample equations: you can check via http://ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms_law_calculator.php
Let battery charge = 4.2v (fresh off the charger)
10A minimum resistance is 0.42 ohm
5.8A minimum resistance is 0.72 ohm
4.2A minimum resistance is 1 ohm

When the mod gets shorted, the resistance becomes very close to 0, if not 0. If we put it even at 0.01, the amperage drain becomes 420A (on 4.2v charge) which is way off the charts for any battery to handle. And explosions or violent gas discharge percentage is greater when your batteries do not have safe chemistry (not Li-Mn batts. source - ecf and candlepowerforums).

What does this mean on lay man's terms? May certain resistances lang na kaya ang mga baterya. Going beyond this amperage limit can and will damage your batteries and could cause it to die or worse, explode.

This friendly reminder is brought to you by your fellow vapers. Safely keep on vaping!

FAQ: What are the Common Vaping Terminologies?

Credits to Sky Provape Sagcal of the Pinoy Vapers Forum for the compilation of the terminologies.

• PV/Mod - "Personal Vaporizer" or "Mod" (slang) is a term that we use for our electronic cigarettes
• APV - "Advanced Personal Vaporizer" a term that we use for more advanced ecigs w/c usually encorporates different features such as variable voltage/variable wattage
• HYBRID - a term for when an APV has the atomizer as a part of the unit and there is no way to seperate the two. An example of this is the Orion.
• Full Mechanical/Full Mech - A type of PV wherein there are no wires needed to power up the device. Usually consists of positive and negative contacts, a firing trigger and a firing lock.
• Brass Mods - PVs made mostly out of brass for example, the Pipebomb V3
• Wood Mods - PVs wherein the unit is made out of wood for example, the ATB.
• Custom Mods - PVs wherein the unit is customized and built from different casings, parts and accessories for example, the Smint Mod. 
• SS - Stainless STEEL not STEAL
• Bottom Fire - a PV wherein the firing mechanism is installed on the bottom of the device for example, the Torpedo.
• Side Fire/ Side Switch - a PV wherein the firing mechanism is installed on the side usually near the bottom base of the device for example, the HRT, GGTS. 
• Atty - slang for Atomizer
• RA/RBA - slang for Rebuildable Atomizer
• E-juice/Juice/E-liquid - the liquid that is dripped on our atomizers
• Wick - the part of our atomizer that absorbs our e-juice
• Wire - the part of our atomizer that vaporizes our e-juice
• Telescopic - A PV's feature wherein it can be adjusted in order to fit the battery size that you will load into them.
• VV - Slang for variable voltage. An APV's feature wherein it's voltage can be adjusted to match the resistance of your build. For example, the Provari.
• VW- Slang for variable wattage. Same as vv but instead of adjusting the voltage, you adjust it by wattage. For example, the Darwin.
• VV/VW Mods - an APV wherein it can be adjusted using either it's VV or VW settings for example, the Zmax
• AFC - Slang for Air Flow Control. A feature on a rebuildable atomizer wherein the airhole/s in the topcap is regulated usually by a ring attached to it for example, the Fatty v2 RA.
• VD - Slang for Voltage Drop. The number, usually measured in volts is derived from the difference between the readings of a battery's current voltage and it's voltage when inserted and used into a PV. 

FAQ: What is a Mechanical APV?

To hopefully shed light to the issue and to help our newbies in deciding which unit to purchase, here's one issue I would like to raise: Full Mechanical Mods VS Wired Mechanical Mods (aka. Semi Mechanical).

A unit being full mechanical does not automatically mean that it gives off better voltage output/ lesser voltage drop. Case and point: voltage drop difference between the Silver Bullet and the GGTS. The Silver Bullet wins by kilometers. (Source: online reviews of credible reviewers, first hand experience and actual voltmeter checking)

On the plus side, Full Mechanical Mods (FMM) win hands-down in terms of durability and "flexibility". Since there are no wires on FMM, it can withstand the beating of a low ohm (less than 1 ohm builds) RBA without anything breaking down (except for the battery stress, of course). But if you are a casual vaper who uses commercial atomizers and enjoy using safe builds on your RBA (1.4+ ohms on a single battery), then you can safely use Wired Mechanical Mods (WMM).

However, there is a kind of "secret issue" when it comes to FMM that not everyone is aware of: contacts. Yes, all brand-new FMM hits hard as hell but in time, the contact points (the threads of the mod) accumulate dirt and/or oxidization (like the green material that forms on our good old Family Computer cartridges). When that happens, the performance of the mod greatly diminishes thus affecting the voltage output, which means less vapor production and heat. When that does occur, there are various ways on how to properly clean your mod and what materials to put on your mod's threads (ie. Noalox, Vaseline, Petroleum Jelly, etc). Do take note that this issue is more commonly experienced on telescopic FMM. (Source: first hand experience. I'll refrain from citing the mods I used to prevent the misconception of attacking the products.)

So the bottom line is, a FMM is not automatically better than a WMM. It greatly depends on how you are going to use it, the aesthetics, and of course; your budget.

FAQ: What are the common rebuildable atomizer builds?

Here are the common and dependable builds on common wicking materials for everyone asking: (do note that these builds were done with balance on juice retention, vapor and flavor production in mind)

Let strands = strips of wick, and loops = 1 full turn of wire on the wick
-5 strands (4 folds) 1mm wick, 4 loops gauge 32 (0.20mm) kanthal
-3 strands (2 folds) 2mm wick, 4 loops gauge 32 kanthal
-2 strands (1 fold) 3mm wick, 4 loops gauge 32 kanthal
-2mm diameter SS mesh roll, 4 loops gauge 32 kanthal
-3mm diameter SS mesh roll, 3 loops gauge 32 kanthal

Reducing the coil spacing generates more vapor heat and throat hit (?), while more distant spacing ensures better juice burning and promotes flavor.
You do not need to wrap the wire on the wick tightly; just tight enough for it to hold on properly and make good contact with the wick.

The ideal coil spacing is about 0.5mm apart. If you can build them closer together, without making contact to other wires, it would be better.
 
Do note that all these builds can be used on any rebuildable atomizer and is rated roughly around 1.2-1.4 ohms. These builds can be used on any unit; be it mech, semi mech, variable voltage or even on the eGo. If you prefer more vapor, reduce wire loops or use a thicker wire material. If you want better juice retention, add more folds of wick.

Using a dual coil setup doesn't ensure more vapor production but it does ensure more stress on the battery, greater throat hit, warmer vapor, more juice consumption, and more frustrations if building it without experience. They key to a good dual coil setup is making sure that both coils glow at the same time when you dry-fire it. Not making them glow at the same time would render the build inefficient, thus wasting only ejuice on the setup instead of achieving the desired output.
 
With these basic setups in mind, you can tweak and experiment on them to fit your preference. Don't get disheartened when you don't get the build properly the first time. It's way better to spend on wicks and wires rather than medical bills because of lung cancer.
 
Everything takes practice and in time, you'll get the hang of building quickly and flawlessly.
 
Cheers and keep on vaping! :)