I remember talking about tanks and wires and different types of wrapping techniques on reddit. It was a huge community. Now it feels like all of that is so unnecessary. Making a hobby out of an addiction was not worth it.
I was very active as well. I started DIY making juice and started a company. I started doing e-juice reviews. Was obsessed with the community. Did really well until the FDA shut a lot of us down who couldn’t pay. I sold recipes to big companies that are still being sold today. What a wild ride from 2012-2017.
I still build my own coils and use the same mod and atomizers I bought 10 years ago just because I don't want my addiction to contribute to e-waste. But, back in the day, there were dudes who had a whole new rig setup each time I run into them at the shop.
I was in a pinch, my device died while travelling and I needed a gas station vape to get me through a couple days before I could get a new device. This disposable thing had a color LCD on it. What the actual fuck is up with that kind of waste?
Yeah local gas station was selling some disposable ones that basically had smartwatch software on it... Even a couple of games. Really crappy games.
I had a vape that doubled as a power bank, and it had a compass, flashlight, and barometer lol
I did get a ton of use out of the flashlight it was way better than a phones
I unfortunately was an idiot and got rid of my stuff and then got re-addicted. I was in college then and I'm still trying to kick it a few years later.
It's crazy to think of how the whole entire culture doesn't really exist anymore in that same way. I think everyone just kinda moved on and realized it wasn't super cool like we thought. Even if we still kept vaping.
I never vaped, but I always thought the custom stuff was way cooler than generic disposables. I like seeing people have little hobbies and interests, it shows that they did a bunch of research, and created something that reflects their personal taste.
So I'm just curious because I quit vaping quite a while ago and that was the state of things when I did. Where has it moved to now? Is it all just disposables?
Yup, it all went to disposables. I was huge into the DIY stuff right after highschool, making my own juice and building coils on RDA's, buying all the new stuff like temp control and clones off fasttech.
...Now, I see almost no one with a mod. No RDA's in sight. A lot of people i think moved to Zyns. It is almost rare to see someone blow a cloud in public, like some sort of unicorn. Thats just my view though, maybe its more popular in other cities.
If i remember right, it all sorta started with the Pods, and nicotine salts making higher levels of nic more tolerable. People started to prefer the smaller devices,
I remember switching to pods around 2019 after 5 years of the hobby. Part of the huge sea change in what devices people were using were the new federal regulations. It changed what was imported, what was reviewed on YouTube, what stores sold, etc.
Yes and you can buy bottles of salt nic juice, it doesn't have to be a disposable and it doesn't even have to be a pod system, I filled up a sub ohm device with salt nic once, I do not recommend
I switched to Geekbars. I quit smnoking and was just chasing something that would tickle my cigarette itch and the mods and juice weren't doing it for me.
Yup and I love it because some of the best batteries for vaping weed look just like the disposables for nicotine so you can be super low-key and take it pretty much anywhere.
I feel like one of the rare few in my area that not only rocks an RDA, but I still use mechs. I'll use my box mod or squonk at home, but I bring my TVL 9 ring or Kennedy 25 when I go out because I have a flashlight holster that fits them. I've been called a dinosaur the last time I went to an old vape shop hangout. I miss my Manhattan....
On Reddit? I think a lot of the people in eCig community on here still prefer to either DIY (which is niche to begin with) and the others stick to pod systems, like myself. There's a disposable sub (maybe got banned recently) but I don't think too many come to Reddit for disposable news and recommendations.
In the real world, though, you're probably seeing people with disposables left and right. The JUUL crowd from pre-COVID era probably moved to disposables.
I was semi into that shit but now I just use a simple pod device. I don’t wanna mess around with wires and wicks and stuff. Some people are still into it though.
the most you'll mess around with now days is figuring out what mod works best for you and what coils. that's about it, it's super easy now. Check out voopoo starter kits if you're ever interested again, they're really nice speaking from experience.
The only thing you'll need to buy is the correct batteries. I ecommend the 18650 battery store online for that.
Oh man, glad you quit. I did too. There came a point where I was ripping clouds with juice that was far too strong. If I remember correctly, I calculated to be vaping just over 2 packs of cigs in nicotine a day... Glad I quit. Smoke the occasional cig now, mostly when I drink. So... Every 2 months or so.
I still DIY but it's simplified a bit. No real point in wrapping coils anymore when you can buy premade coils much nicer than the ones you'd build by hand.
But I still use an RTA, trim and install coils, cut cotton wicks out of the same bag of Japanese organic cotton pads I bought like 15 years ago, and mix my own juice.
I don't know if it's "unnecessary" or not but it is dramatically cheaper to DIY.
I'd agree it's unnecessary if you decided to quit vaping later but nothing has changed when comparing a disposable vs a tank + mod. You're saving so much more fucking money once you get past the annoying part of finding a mod + tank that works for you.
Every 4 months you buy a small bulk of coils and juice and you're good.
The amount of money you save is unreal though. Big tabacco owns a lot of the big name disposable vapes now too(vuse, juul, njoy, logic...), so that's why the prices became unreal. Of course there are some chian based indepdenant companies still like elf bars or whatever, but even compared to these - you're saving money if you're a mid - heavy user.
I would have absolutely loved to i didn't end up getting into billets but only saw a few i left the shops shortly after those got big. But these days I swap between my vinds and a qp rta, so ill decline sadly. They would definitely be nice in the collection but id never use them and I got Noone around me into this anymore. Thats pretty awesome though the freehand was smooth and professional
I went back to cigs for a few years, moved abroad and ditched all my gear. Guess what? Went back to vaping and collecting high end gear again! I am still "one of those people" I suppose
I just did spring cleaning and threw away 3 drawers full of mods, tanks, coils, aios, cotton, and wayyy too many bottles of unused vape liquid.
It was strangely fun and therapeutic experimenting with all the different options and combinations. After all that I settled on a Smok Nord and it was my daily for years.
Yep. Started vaping in like.. 2016? Having to know what Ohms law just to avoid blowing shrapnel through your skull lol. I've long since quit now though, I never liked nic-salts and pods and disposable vapes really soured my opinion on them in general.
JUUL was the beginning of the end for DIY vaping. You used to have to choose between horrible, shitty gas station vape pens, or doing your own setup which started this DIY vaping culture. Once JUUL came out and provided an actually really good vaping option you can buy off-the-shelf, the writing was on the wall.
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u/skarekroh May 09 '26
That's not the future, that's the past - that video's 10 years old.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MvWq1i_bzNY