Tag: flavors

Michelina’s are more affordable than Weight Watchers

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Noom, Weight3 Comments

michelinas zap ems

I have lost a total of 70lbs over the last 6 months with Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners and Noom.  Money is tight and I can no longer afford the luxury of paying $2 for the WW meals, so instead I had to do some research and find some other cheaper alternative with the same calories, fat and sodium as the Weight Watchers.

My partner of 19 years told me that we should buy the Michelina’s because they were half the price, but I insisted on the Weight Watchers for several reasons.  The first reason is because the Weight Watchers has the name Weight Watchers.  It’s psychological.  If you see it is a product for losing weight, you put it in your mind that if you ate that or Lean Cuisine that you are doing good.  Another reason was because they weighed more than the Michelina’s, so naturally you want more food, even if it was only 1-2oz difference.  My final reason is that the Weight Watchers show up as green in the Noom app while the Michelina’s show up as yellow.  Although, the pizza snacks show up as red.

So since times are tough and we don’t have the luxury anymore, I decided to start buying the Michelina’s.  They are $1.49 at Albertson’s, but they are currently on sale for 10 for $10.  I could be paying .97 cents at Food Maxx, but what’s 3 cents?  I also have coupons for $1 off 5, so if I use 2 coupons then I am really getting 10 for $8.  Not bad.  Although, I printed the coupons and went to the store without them.  Ooops.

michelinas lean gourmet I wrote a post about how the Weight Watchers are better than the Michelina’s Lean Gourmet which I still stand by.  The reason I don’t like the Lean Gourmet is because the sodium is really high and the calories aren’t that much lower than the Zap ‘ems.  They have more flavors in the Lean Gourmet too like the meat and potatoes, which is what I miss from the Weight Watchers.  The Lean Gourmet meals are good, but I have a huge issue with the sodium content.  The Lean Gourmet also show up as yellow in the Noom app, so they aren’t any better than the Zap ‘ems in that regard.

Not all of the Zap ‘ems have vegetables in them so what I’ll do is I will buy some frozen vegetables and when I open the Zap ‘ems, I will pour 1 cup worth on the top and then microwave it for double the amount of time suggested to make sure the frozen vegetables will have time to cook.  My favorite is spinach.  I’ve added broccoli and brussel sprouts too.  I would like to also buy some carrots and put those in there.  It just makes it that much more healthier in my mind and it gives me more food.

I don’t have that much more weight to lose to get down to my goal weight of 170lbs.  Last night I weighed myself at 192.8lbs, but today it went back up to 195 for some odd reason.  Last week on my weigh in day I was 193.6 so I would love to be 191 or 192 tomorrow, but we will see how it goes.  I just hope the switch from Weight Watchers to Michelina’s hasn’t made much of a difference, but I will find out tomorrow.

I am trying to buy a bicycle so I can exercise to help me lose weight, but the only way I can is if people help me out by buying a keychain, my hemp choker or bracelet or some earrings on my Etsy store.  You can use the coupon code NODOMA for 25% off.  It would really help me.  The keychains are cheap at $2 and the earrings are also cheap (inexpensive, not cheap) at $5.  It’s only a couple bucks, and they literally take hours to make each and I’m not asking for much for them.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Lean Gourmet vs Smart Ones

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Food, Noom, Weight1 Comment

lean gourmet smart ones

I have been eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners for lunch and dinner everyday since January 3rd or 4th 2013 and have lost a lot of weight.  The reason we started eating the Smart Ones is because we saw them at Food Maxx for only $1.88 and one of the packages had a coupon for $3 off 10, so we couldn’t resist considering they are around $5 at Albertson’s.

Diet food to me is a state of mind.  If you are eating food that you know isn’t good for you like say fried chicken, then you know you are eating crap and you end up making other bad choices because you don’t really care what you eat.  If you are buying a product that you know is a diet product, like Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine, then you know you are eating healthy so you end up making better choices with other foods you eat.  I mean, that is just how I feel, you may not think the same way that I do.

It was that first batch of Weight Watchers Smart Ones that lead me to downloading Noom on my android phone which has helped me to lose more than 66lbs since January.  I have wanted to buy the Smart Ones, but I never could afford Albertson’s prices.  The decision to start using Noom also lead me to start eating fruits and vegetables, so it was literally a domino effect for me.  And like I said in the previous paragraph, it’s a state of mind.  I knew I was eating healthier, which lead me to eating more healthy foods and here we are.

So now it is mid June 2013 and I have to start making some choices.  The Smart Ones are going up in price.  Most of them went up to $1.98 and the rest have shot up even higher in price.  There are literally only 3 or 4 flavors that I actually like that are still $1.98, so my choices are now very limited.  When you only have 3 or 4 different choices, you become bored with your diet and end up branching out to eating well, crap.  So before I get to that point, I need to make a new plan of action.

We went to buy more Smart Ones the other day, but my partner found that right next to the Smart Ones were the Michelina’s Lean Gourmet for only .97 cents.  Holy crap!  That is cheap!  So, rather than buy 20 of the Smart Ones, we only bought 10 and 10 Lean Gourmet.

smart ones nutritional facts The Weight Watchers Smart Ones nutrition label shows you exactly how many calories you are eating.  I didn’t buy the same flavor in the Lean Gourmet that I also bought in the Smart Ones because I wanted all new flavors, so I couldn’t exactly compare the same meal.

This Smart Ones is the Lasagna Bake with Meat Sauce, which by the way is very good.  There are many things you want to look for when you read the nutritional facts when you are buying food.  The 3 most important things are calories, fat and sodium.  Although the sodium is pretty high in this particular meal, it does show up as green in the Noom app.  The fat content is fairly low and it doesn’t have any trans fats.  I didn’t take a picture of the ingredients, but the Smart Ones use wheat pasta.

lean gourmet nutritional facts

This particular Lean Gourmet is Creamy Rigatoni with Broccoli and Chicken.  I have had the Smart Ones version plenty of times over the months, and I have to say that this one from Lean Gourmet is way too salty.  I don’t know how much sodium is in the Smart Ones version, but this one is really high at 680.  It’s only 270 calories and the fat is pretty low, but the salt is (I’m assuming) what makes it yellow in Noom instead of Green.  I would assume that the regular Michelina’s meals are probably red.

The chicken in the Lean Gourmet has a different taste than the Smart Ones, they are also smaller than Smart Ones.  The Lean Gourmet chicken tastes like the chicken in Chicken Soup, very salty, the Smart Ones chicken tastes like actual chicken and isn’t too salty.

I have been eating the Lean Gourmet for lunch every day and the Smart Ones for dinner.  My partner doesn’t want to buy the Smart Ones anymore if these are a dollar cheaper, but I would personally rather have the Smart Ones because they just taste better.  The Lean Gourmet ones are an excellent price and around the same calories as the Smart Ones, but they are way too salty.  I would rather keep buying Smart Ones and pay that extra dollar even if it means I only have 3 or 4 choices.  But honestly, they only went up maybe .10 or .20 cents or more, so it’s not that much more expensive.  I have lots of choices, it just raises my grocery bill.

In my personal opinion, the Weight Watchers Smart Ones are the better deal because your sodium is lower and the taste is 10 times better and you are actually getting 1oz more food.  Quality wins over quantity.

Is coffee with creamer going to prevent weight loss?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom3 Comments

coffee bean frame top

Coffee_cream

I have been drinking coffee since I was homeless at age 17.  I didn’t like it black back then, and I don’t like it black today.  I have always had it with cream and sugar.  Although, I quit using actual sugar when I started getting fat after I quit smoking.  I have been using a sweetener like Sweet N Low or Equal.  I have been hearing about how horrible those sweeteners are for you and how you should use Splenda (gives me horrible stomach cramps) or Truvia (gives me the worst gas along with explosive diarrhea), but I simply can’t use those.  Beside being more expensive, they have caused painful health problems for me.

I used to only use liquid creamers like International Delight or Coffee-Mate, which taste way better than the powder, but I find that I end up using more than I should and go through them much faster than I do with powder.  Even though Coffee-Mate powdered creamer tastes good, it’s not as good as the liquid because it’s bland and doesn’t have the awesome flavors like Dulce De Leche, Hazelnut or French Vanilla.  They do make the powdered ones with flavors, but I can’t afford them.  The plain is more in my price range.

Someone lectured me recently about how I’m never going to lose any weight until I quit drinking coffee with creamer, but if I have to drink it black then I’d rather not drink it at all, so I quit for the week as an experiment.  I was told that if I quit drinking coffee that I would start going through withdrawal symptoms, like headaches.  Well, that never happened.  I went almost a full week and I didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms at all.  In fact, I was perfectly fine.  Although I did notice that I haven’t been going to the bathroom as much (number 2 of course lol) so that has worried me.  My weight loss didn’t increase by quitting coffee with creamer, so that theory of how I’m never going to lose weight if I don’t quit drinking coffee with creamer failed.

I wondered if there were any studies suggesting that coffee was bad for me, but I found quite the opposite.  Popular Science gives me 7 Reasons Why Coffee Is Good For You.  WebMD gives me The potential health benefits — and drawbacks –- of coffee.  Forbes tells me to Have another cup of coffee – it’s good for you!  And finally MayoClinic says What does the research say about coffee and health? Is coffee good or bad for me?  Spoiler alert, it’s good.

Of course coffee does have caffeine which is addictive, but I think I have proven by my non-side effects that it isn’t, for me anyway.  In fact, I have quit drinking many times in my life, not because I wanted to but simply because I couldn’t afford it and I never went through withdrawal symptoms before.  I only drink coffee because I like the taste.  I don’t like that it gives me bad breath or that it coats my tongue, but that’s what brushing your teeth and tongue is for, right?

I have been on my diet, or as I prefer to call it my new healthy lifestyle, for 9 weeks, and I have been drinking coffee this whole time up until last week and I had lost 28.4lbs.  The amount of weight that I lost today on the beginning of my 10th week, which by the way was 3lbs, proves to me that I haven’t lost any more or any less than I have been losing in those 9 weeks.  My goal is 2lbs per week and in those 9 weeks I have lost 3 to 4lbs per week.  Nothing changed by cutting out coffee, so screw it, I’m drinking coffee again.

coffee bean frame bottom

I Need New Coils Already

On By Michel McDonaldIn VapingLeave a comment

ecigs_red_black

I got my new Clearomizers almost a week ago.  They arrived on a Tuesday and today is Sunday and the coil in the red clearomizer is already starting to go bad.  I can still vape it, I still blow out a lot of vapor, so it’s not that it stopped working, it’s just that I’m not getting as much flavor out of it anymore.  I still get some flavor, but not as much as when it was new.  It’s starting to taste burned.

I thought they were supposed to last a lot longer, like a month.  And the thing is, I barely even use it, so it shouldn’t be going bad so quickly.  I feel sorry for anyone who vapes full-time, like every 5 minutes or whatever.  I can’t imagine having to go through so many coils in one week.

The black clearomizer is still doing good.  I don’t vape it as much as the red one because the black one is Gingerbread which I don’t mind, but I don’t love, and the red one has Banana Nut Bread which is way better.

My red clearomizer only has 1ML left inside of it and the bottle is empty so I’m going to try to finish it before the new coils come on Tuesday.  I wouldn’t want to waste it.  I have 1ML left of the Pumpkin Pie flavor, but I don’t want to use that with a brand new coil, I’d rather start a new flavor.  I loved the Pumpkin Pie, but I don’t think it’s any good anymore anyway, so I’m just going to chuck it.  I have a box with 15 5ML bottles so I have plenty of flavors to choose from.

I have to say that I have been very careful whenever I had to unscrew the tip to add more e-liquid to the clearomizer.  My blue clearomizer got messed up because I tightened the tip too much and it made the rubber seal come out and I had to pull it all the way out which ruined the whole thing.  I’ve had these new ones for less than a week and haven’t ruined either of them… yet lol.  I think I’m doing pretty good.

So Tuesday I will get the new coils so I can start vaping a new flavor.  I don’t have any idea which one I will pick, but whatever it is, it’s going to be what I’m going to be vaping for the next week until the 5ML bottle is empty.  I usually tweet what I’m vaping every day and I have what I’m vaping in the Vaping page, not that anyone really cares lol.

Brand New Clearomizers

On By Michel McDonaldIn VapingLeave a comment

ecigs_red_black

WOW where to start?  Let’s see, I’m sure people don’t read every blog post so I will summarize everything lol.  A Twitter friend (@destinblue) told me that her and her husband have an online store (@ZeusEJuice) where they sell e-liquid for e-cigarettes.  I don’t smoke, but it got me thinking, and long story short I decided that it was for me lol.  I figured the sweet tastes would help me stop snacking.  I bought a kit with 2 batteries, 2 atomizers, the charger and cartridges.  It took like 6 weeks to get to me and I already had the e-liquid from Zeus e-Juice waiting to be used.

I faced several issues.  1 the atomizers weren’t giving me any flavor and 2 I bought 50/50 strength e-liquid, which I later found out doesn’t matter.  I bought a “Changeable Coil Clearomizer” from Smoktek and all was great with the world until I overtightened the tip and snapped the rubber seal and could then only taste burnt flavor.  I didn’t know that that was why I was tasting burnt flavors and I bought 5 new coils which still tasted burnt so I bought 5 more coils and wasted 2 of them for nothing.  The first 5 were the right type of coils, but the second 5 weren’t, they had a cone near the threads so I had to return those to get the right ones.

Fast forward to now…  LOL

When I got the new coils that were the right fit, they still tasted burned and I finally came to the realization that the problem wasn’t the coils, the problem was that rubber seal that snapped and was removed from the clearomizer, so I bought 2 new clearomizers in red and black (pictured above).  The only problem is, the coils in them are the same wrong ones that I returned, so now I have 8 wrong coils for these new clearomizers lol.

I had been without my e-cigarette for over a month because of this whole snapped rubber seal and didn’t even realize that it was the seal and not the coils.  I guess something in me just snapped and made my eyes open to the fact that the clearomizer is dead and I needed another one.  I am so happy with the new ones because not only do I now have 2, but they work and I can vape 2 different flavors whenever I want to instead of being stuck with 1 flavor.

Another thing that I love about them is that they screw on the battery all the way, the other one and the atomizers that came in the kit didn’t, and they wobbled.  These new ones have 2 holes at the bottom for air flow, so that’s why it can screw them on all the way.  Also, the black one has a round tip and not a flat tip which I found out is actually better because it makes pressing the button less awkward if the flat tip isn’t lined up with the placement of the button.

As far as the 8 wrong coils are concerned, SmokTek was very understanding.  It wasn’t their error in sending the wrong coils, they were sent the wrong coils and the new clearomizers that I got that had the wrong coils, well technically it was their fault, but they didn’t even notice that they weren’t the right ones when they shipped them to me.  It was such an odd coincidence that a screw up would happen to me twice, but I laughed it off.  As long as I get 8 new coils that fit these new clearomizers I’m happy.  Those things cost money you know, they are $2.50 each, so I had $20 worth of coils, $25 if you count the ones that I thought were burnt out and I threw in the garbage.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, I basically threw $5 in the trash.

So the new clearomizers rock.  I’ve been vaping Banana Nut Bread in the red one and Gingerbread in the black one.  I’ll take a few hits off of one, then switch to the other.

As always, for some reason I feel that I have to state that I do not get paid to blog about SmokTek and/or Zeus e-Juice.  I have seen videos on YouTube where they state in their video that they are not getting paid and so I feel I should also state that just in case.

Candy Corn e-Liquid from Zeus E-Juice

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, Halloween, Vaping4 Comments

When I say that I have a sweet tooth, I’m not joking.  I look forward to October every year for the Candy Corn.  It is one of my guilty pleasures in life.  Some people think that Candy Corn is awful because it’s sickeningly sweet.  Everyone has different taste buds so one person might hate it, while someone else might love it.  I am the one that loves it.

Vaping was one of the ways that was supposed to allow me to indulge my sweet tooth without actually having to buy candy or any other junk food, and still be able to maintain my diet and not gain any weight.  It has worked so far.  This Candy Corn flavored e-liquid from Zeus e-Juice taste almost exactly like Candy Corn, but without the guilt.  You get a lot of flavor in your throat when you vape it.  You actually get flavor on your tongue when your tongue touches the tip, and when your tongue is near the tip as you are taking a drag.  You get the best of both worlds with every hit, without any of the sugar, calories and fat that comes with it.

I would definitely recommend this flavor to anyone who loves Candy Corn.  Just for October 2012, Zeus E-Juice is offering this and 3 other flavors in the 10ML sized bottle for only $3.99 while supplies last.  Don’t forget, if you are a new user, enter the coupon code “iget20” and you get 20% off your first order.  Also, when you are checking out, make sure you let them know that Mike McDonald aka @xanapus sent you.

I personally like 80%PG and 20%VG, the PG gives you more flavor.  I would get 100%PG, but I’ve heard of throat burn from that, so I’d just rather not have to experience that every time I vape.

Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesperson for Zeus E-Juice, although the owners of the company are Twitter friends of mine and they have given me some of their e-liquid samples to taste.  I review them and tweet about them because I want to, not because they are paying me to.

Disclaimer: I don’t encourage smoking and/or vaping with nicotine, I vape with no nicotine so I am not addicted to anything.  Do not start smoking and do not start vaping if you are under the age of 18 as it is against the law.

If you are a smoker already and want to quit or you want to stop smoking poison and start vaping a healthier substitute, might I suggest heading over to www.Smoktek.com and buying a eGo battery, charger (that is compatible with the battery) and a Changeable Coil Clearomizer in your choice of color with some extra replacement coils.  These flavors are so much better in a Clearomizer than an atomizer with a cartridge.  I suggest you use Zeus E-Juice for all your e-liquids because they are simply the best because they add more flavor than their competitors and it’s the least expensive you can buy anywhere else.

My Blue 1.6ml Changeable Coil Clearomizer Came

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, Vaping1 Comment

I am a very happy camper today because my blue 1.6ml Long Wick Changeable Coil Clearomizer came in the mail.  I was actually surprised at how fast it came, but thrilled that I can finally taste the e-liquids.

When I first bought my PV starter kit, all I had was 2 batteries, 2 atomizers and a few cartridges.  I had some 50/50 flavors from Zeus E-Juice which I could barely taste.  I was happy with the flavor that I was able to taste, and I tasted all of them, but just barely.  I wasn’t happy at all that I couldn’t taste them very well and at first I blamed it on the fact that I got 50/50 strength.  The PG is supposed to give you more flavor than the VG, so I just convinced myself that that was the problem, but now I’m starting to wonder if strength had anything to do with it.

I got the Clearomizer and immediately poured some of the 70/30 Banana Nut Bread flavor and let it soak into the wick for a few minutes before I vaped any of it.  When I did vape it, I tasted it immediately and every time I take a puff I taste it and I get vapor every time.  When I was using the atomizer, I was having to take many long slow drags to get any flavor, but with this clearomizer, I just took 1 short slow drag and I got immediate flavor.  Oh and the throat hit isn’t too strong with the 70/30.  I was told that 100% PG would be too strong and would actually burn which is why I ordered 70/30, but my next order is all 80/20’s.  I am very satisfied with the 70/30 and can’t wait for the 80/20.  I don’t want throat burn lol.

So here is my recommendation.  If you are going to buy an e-cigarette as a replacement to smoking, to quit smoking or to buy with no nicotine for flavor to help you quit snacking, go ahead and buy any eGo battery with the charger.  Don’t waste your time with the atomizer and cartridges, just buy an any color 1.6ml long wick changeable coil clearomizer.  You can buy the regular clearomizer for $5, or you could buy the changeable coil clearomizer for the same price.  You can buy the replacement coils for $2.49 each.  I prefer to change the coil for half the price.  And I read that these last a month, so if you buy 6 new coils, you have enough to last you for half a year.

Now I am going to enjoy my Banana Nut Bread flavor for the rest of the day.

Banana Nut Bread E-Liquid from Zeus E-Juice

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, VapingLeave a comment

I am on a taste crusade to see if I can finally replace eating junk foods that I crave with vaping them instead. I have found the exact thing that has finally gotten me to stop snacking. It’s called Vaping, and this is one of my new favorite flavors to vape with.

Never in my life did I ever think that I would get the taste of banana nut bread, without actually eating banana nut bread, but here we are.  I bought this fabulous flavor from the Zeus E-Juice website in the Delicious Desserts category in a 5ML bottle for a mere $2.49, which is probably about the same amount of money that you would pay for the box at the grocery store to make actual banana nut bread.  The thing is, I have been vaping this flavor the whole day and I don’t feel the least bit guilty because it has absolutely no calories, sugar or guilt.

The amazing part of that is that I only used a few drops for the whole day.  I didn’t use the whole bottle, so there is plenty more where that came from.  In fact, you can’t even tell that I used any from looking at the bottle.  I can have more whenever I want to and I don’t have to keep baking and cleaning pans and plates and forks, and I don’t have to worry about spoilage.  I think that is the most awesome part about vaping to replace food cravings.

This whole experiment has been successful so far.  I haven’t been snacking at all lately.  I may look into the fridge every once in a while and I may take a swig from the milk, but then I come back to the room and take a few hits off of the PV with this wonderful flavor, and my cravings are gone.  I don’t even have the hunger pangs anymore.  I think that this might actually be making my stomach shrink because I haven’t been eating as much food.  I still haven’t lost any weight, but as I’ve said many times before, I can’t expect to lose any weight without proper diet and exercise.  This is not a diet tool, this is just an experiment to see if I can cheat the sweet tooth cravings so I don’t snack.  It seems to be working so far, but it has still only been a week and a half, so I’m not counting any chickens before they hatch just yet.

Tomorrow I will be vaping Demeter’s Harvest and I will blog about it later.

Oh, I feel I should put in a disclaimer.  I am not getting paid to blog for anyone, I am just very excited about this whole adventure that I am on and I want to share my experiences and my opinions on the matter of vaping for weight loss.  The e-liquids that I buy have absolutely no nicotine in them, so I have no risk of addiction and I advise anyone who is reading this to not buy any e-liquid or e-cigarettes with the intentions of getting addicted.  You must be 18 years or older to buy any products with nicotine in them.

My First Week of Vaping

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, VapingLeave a comment

I bought my eGo-T e-cigarette, or as I like to call it, my personal vaping device (PVD), last month and got it about 8 days ago.

When I bought the flavors from Zeus Juice, I wasn’t sure what strength I would be happy with since I had never vaped before, so I chose to buy 50PG/50VG.  They smelled so wonderful, but once I finally got to taste them with my PVD, they didn’t taste nearly as good as they smelled because I could barely taste them at all.  Most people prefer the vegetable glycerin because they want more vapor, but I would rather have flavor over vapor, so I bought more e-liquid with less VG and more PG.  I actually bought 2 strengths, 100%PG and 70/30.  I will find out which is better when they finally arrive (hopefully on Monday) before I buy any more.

I am actually not quite sure if the fault is in the strength, or if the fault is in the PVD that I bought.  I saw a video on YouTube of a guy who said that the eGo-T was the worst.  Naturally it was the only one I could afford.  I can taste the flavor a little bit, but it does take a lot of puffing to get any flavor at all.  I am not going to judge the PVD or the flavor until I get the new e-juices in the mail.

Here are my findings so far in the 8 days that I have had my PVD and have been vaping.  Although, my study is really inconclusive until I get more flavor, but I do have to say that I haven’t been feeling as hungry as I normally do.  I am getting a little tiny bit of flavor, not as much as I had hoped, but it is something.  I am not sure if it is the ingredients in the e-liquid since there isn’t any nicotine (which is an appetite suppressant), or if it’s the flavor or the actual hand to mouth habit that is causing this lack of appetite.  I have gone from eating out of boredom, to only eating when I am hungry.

I haven’t actually lost any weight yet, but I can’t expect to lose anything without proper diet and exercise.  My eating habits have not really changed, besides less snacking, but only time will tell if it actually does help.  I will keep at it a bit longer to see if this is really even worth continuing.  For now I actually enjoy vaping.

The flavor that I mentioned earlier that is coming in 100% PG is the same flavor that I already have, Strawberry.  I chose to get that so that if the 70/30 mixture is strong enough, then I will mix the 50/50 strawberry with the 100% strawberry so I have a 75/25 mixture.  I have high hopes that I will find the right percentages so I can enjoy the flavors.  After all, I am only doing this to help suppress my sweet tooth so I don’t eat sweet foods.

One of the flavors that I mentioned that is coming in the 70/30 mixture is Pumpkin Pie.  That is one of the flavors that I am really looking forward to vaping because I just love pumpkin pie.  I bought the small 5ML bottle so that I can test out the strength, so when I discover what strength I do prefer, I will buy a 30ML bottle to last me for a very long time.  I will be enjoying this flavor from now (tomorrow hopefully) until the end of Christmas.

I am especially looking forward to the Egg Nog flavor.  Again, when I discover the strength that I am happy with, I will be buying a 30ML bottle of the Egg Nog to last me until the end of the holidays.  I might even have to buy more after that just in case they stop making it so I will have enough to last me at least until June LOL.  What can I say, I am very addicted to the flavor.

I will keep posting updates on the flavors when I get them.

My Electronic Cigarette Arrived Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette1 Comment

Well after 15 days, my eGo-T electronic cigarette finally arrived.  I bought it directly from the wholesaler for $32.75 from a website called DHgate which looks very similar to eBay which is where I got the link from.  The e-cig came from China which is why it took so long to get to me.  By the way, the price keeps changing, so you may not find it for the same price that I bought mine for.  The other day it went up to $38 and now (as of this posting) it has gone down to $36.

I have seen a review of this model and found what a piece of crap it is because you don’t get a strong hit from it at all which I find to be so true.  I taste the flavors, which was the main reason for buying it in the first place, but not as well as I had hoped.  I even shook it the way he does in the video and it’s still underwhelming.  For this review, search YouTube for “THE EGO-T FAIL” by user GrimmGreen.

When it arrived, I took it out of the box and looked at the cartridges that came with it.  They all exploded so there was e-liquid inside the plastic of each individually wrapped cartridge.  The smell was beyond nauseating.  They sent me 5 cartridges filled with what they call Marlboro flavored e-liquid  They also sent me 2 empty cartridges, but without caps.  What good were those without the cap?  As I was rinsing the first one out, I dropped the cap and guess where it went?  Go ahead… guess.  Yep, you guessed it, right down the drain.  UGH!

After rinsing out all the cartridges, I smelled them and they still smelled like the e-liquid that they came with.  I took one of the clean and empty cartridges and used one of the caps and you could still taste the gross “Marlboro” flavor instead of the sweet flavor I bought.  I was told that sometimes it takes a few hits to get rid of the gross flavor before you get the taste of the new flavor.  That ended up being true when I switched from the Zeus Juice to chocolate.  When I switched it from chocolate to strawberry, I still tasted chocolate.  I think the best thing to do is to get clean cartridges and dedicate it to that one flavor, which I did.  I bought a pack of 10 empty cartridges from Amazon over the weekend and it shipped out on Monday, so hopefully they will come soon.

Earlier tonight I vaped some of the chocolate and took a sip of my iced tea and the chocolate flavor really came out more.  I think that I will get a lot more out of it if I vape while drinking (before or after, not during).  I know that sounds nuts, but so does a non-smoker buying an e-cigarette lol.  I think that if I switched over to iced water while vaping, I might get more out of it than just vaping it alone.  I’ll be drinking what I should be drinking all this time, water, while still getting the flavor benefit which is what I wanted to begin with.

Even though this turned out to be more disappointing for me as a non-smoker trying to use it for the flavor, I still think it’s an awesome idea for those smokers who want to quit smoking or just to make the switch.

I still recommend Zeus eJuice as opposed to buying the e-liquid at the cigarette store.  My cousin Tabitha told me tonight that she saw a sign that said e-liquid was $8 for 10ML.  Most would think that’s not a bad price, but you could get a 30ML bottle from Zeus eJuice for $10.49.  Now you tell me which is the better price.  They also claim to have more flavor than other places that sell the flavors, so you get the taste and you save a ton of money.  I think it’s worth it.

I only just got my eGo-T today, so I’m going to try to use it as much as I can to get as much out of it as I can before I decide whether I want to continue with this or not.  Perhaps I might find that a better model will suit my needs more.  These batteries only last for so long before they stop working, and I have 2 so I have a long time with it before I will need to buy a new one.  Perhaps maybe I need a new atomizer that will work with this.  Who knows, but I will keep trying with what I have and see where it takes me.  Maybe I might get used to it.  Maybe…

Oh and for those interested, the LCD display shows me the battery and it shows a number.  I found out that every time I press the button, the number goes up.  I read the manual and it said that the battery is capable of 800 puffs a day, so I guess that will show you how many hits you took, but there is no way of resetting the number back down to 0 so you can start over the next day.  I can only assume that you just keep going until it resets itself back to 0, then start over lol.  My question is, who is that addicted to smoking that they would take 800 puffs a day?  I mean, you would have to be a chain smoker who is just sitting there with it in your mouth all day long taking puff after puff.  I’m getting dizzy just thinking about it.  I have only taken 28 puffs today so I think I’m doing pretty good lol.