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Also see:
Part 1: Why?

Part 3: Modern Vapor – My Second Kit

Part 4: The Flavor Challenge

Part 5: Traceable Costs

While doing all this research into electronic cigarettes, I had identified one online store that seemed to always come up in e-cig conversations.  Everyone seemed to praise their customer service, satisfaction, and quality of products, and their prices was actually a little cheaper than most places.  This place is Modern Vapor. I decided on Oct 24, 2011 to place my order.  I ordered the largest sidesho kit they offered, because I only do the best.  I also ordered a bottle of e-juice and some prefilled cartridges.  My total order cost me roughly $150 with shipping.

I didn’t really know what I was ordering, I just figured since it cost the most, it must be the best.  But to be honest, I quickly found out I didn’t really need all that stuff.  When the kit came in, i began using it right away and within the first 24 hours of ownership I went from smoking approx 20 – 40 cigarettes to only smoking 9.

My only complaint with the sidesho kit, was that the battery didn’t last long enough.  Since I worked at a desk all day and had access to a usb power source on my laptop, I came to LOVE the usb atomizer cord that came in the kit.  Matter of fact, knowing what I know now, I would have only needed 2 manual batteries, 2 atomizers, 10 prefilled cartridges, a bottle of e-juice, an ac wall adapter, and that usb cord.

The battery though is that e-cigs  downfall.  Its good for about 3 hours.  Once while driving down the road the first week I owned it, the battery went dead.  The spare battery was already dead.  I didn’t have the car charger with me.  Within an hour, I was stopping at a gas station to purchase a pack of regular cigarettes.  However, that single pack of cigarettes lasted me nearly two months.

This was what was included in the first kit:

Items Ordered:	Price:	Status:
1 of : A/C Battery Wall Charger	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Cartridge Filler	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : SIDESHO Atomizer – Matte Black/ Red Logo	$0.00	Shipped
2 of : SIDESHO Atomizer – Matte Black/Silver Logo	$0.00	Shipped
2 of : Sidesho Auto Battery – Matte Black – Red LED	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Blank Carts – Black	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Cartridge Caps	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Manual Passthrough – Matte Black	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Metal Case – Black	$0.00	Shipped
2 of : Sidesho Prefilled Tobacco – Black – 16mg – Regular	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Smart PCC – Red	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Sidesho Supreme Kit – Matte Black/Red-Red PCC – Red LED – Auto Battery – Tobacco	$129.95	Shipped
1 of : SS Kit Box	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : USA MIX – 10ml – 18mg – Med	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : USA MIX – 20ml – 18mg – Med	$12.95	Shipped
1 of : USA RED MIX – 10ml – 18mg – Regular	$6.95	Shipped
1 of : USB Battery Charger	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : USB CAR ADAPTER	$0.00	Shipped
1 of : Wall Adapter	$0.00	Shipped

When I ordered the kit, again not knowing what I needed, I ordered both automatic batteries.  I didn’t realize these were not sealed units so if you spilled a little ejuice or overfilled your cartridge that you could damage the battery.  Hence, I november 6th I got to test modern vapors customer service.  One of my batteries stopped working and I went to their website and filled out an online form thinking the unit was defective.  However, the customer service people told me the unit was likely damaged by me when I over filled the cartridge.  They not only recommended me to switch to the manual batteries if I was going to fill my own cartridges, they also replaced mine FOR FREE!

So, modern vapors customer service rating…..150% helpful.

By the time I had overfilled the cartridge, I could already tell that a bottle of ejuice was going to last me at least a month, maybe more, maybe less.  I then was able to realize that not only was I going to be using a healthier form of nicotine, that I was going to save money too.

Lets face it, smoking cost a lot of money just for the cost of cigarettes.  I bought mine by the carton, roughly $50 a week….sometimes more, sometimes less depending on stress and other factors.  I pretty much consistently smoked a pack a day, sometimes under stress I would smoke two packs in a single day so it probably equaled 10 packs a week easily…..$50 a week for marlboro reds in kentucky.  Once I realized that first, it was working because I wasn’t smoking unless the battery went dead and I didnt have a spare or it was dead too and second that I was going to save a lot of money using e-cigs, then it made sense to me to try to find a solution to the batteries not lasting long enough.

See part three of this article to continue….

In the Feb 2012 article, I will have a tally of what I have spent on ecigs since I started and what I would have spent on regular cigarettes.