Electronic Cigarette Guide

The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Cigarettes for New Vapors Updated 2021

All About Electronic Cigarettes

If you’re someone who’s been interested in electronic cigarettes, chances are if you walk in and try to find one, you’re going to be super confused. That’s because there’s a ton of information, a lot of terms, and a whole bundle of confusion. But, at the end of it, it’s actually quite simple when you know the basics.

Electronic Cigarette Guide for Vapors

Here, you’ll learn everything that you need to know about electronic cigarettes and vaping, and what you need to get started. There’s a table of contents below to help you go back to where you left off, because it’s a lot of work, and if you need to find an exact thing, you can do so by jumping around.

Table of Contents

The Health Benefits of Electronic Cigarette

If everyone stopped using cigarettes and started to use vapes and e-cigs, you’d save about 5 million deaths currently, in Britain alone. It would be the biggest health prize.

Chances are, if you gave up tobacco cigarettes, and chose electronic cigarettes, you’d stop most of the health problems. That’s because of what is contained in it.

About 99 percent of the problem with cigarettes isn’t the nicotine itself, but the combustion, what is in these cigarettes. Every time tobacco is burned, there are thousands of chemicals, tar, and carcinogens unleashed into the air.

With e-cigs, you’re letting out vapor from the liquid you put into it. instead of various combustants, you’ve got some nicotine in a vapor, and currently, there’s way fewer constituents that can cause cause harm when you look at the bigger picture.

Electronic Cigarette Health Benefits

Based on a journal published in August 2015, it concluded from this that e-cigarettes are much less harmful for those who use it compared to smoking cigarettes, and it does help smokers quit.

Currently, e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than tobacco kind. About half the population (44.8%) actually doesn’t realize this though, and currently, there isn’t any evidence that says that these e-cigarettes are a route into smoking for those that don’t smoke, meaning that people can have this, and they won’t turn to tobacco.

According to other research, about 63.9% of smokers noticed their cough was a lot better, with only about 2.9% being unchanged, and a half a percent worsening due to vaping. This is a sign that it’s a much better option.

How Much Do You Save on Vaping?

You can honestly save a lot, upwards of thousands of dollars a year. For those that love to chain smoke, you’ll be saving about 2600 dollars at least, and possibly more.

Look at the math. Cigarettes are about 4 dollars a pack, upwards of 30-40 bucks a carton when you buy those. Some can go through an entire carton in a week. That’s about 200 bucks in some cases each month, combine it by 12, you’ve got 2400 dollars. It’s a lot, and it’s an unhealthy habit.

Vaping is a fraction of the cost. It may have a costly setup, but it does cost so much less, with only needing to buy coils and the juices, which is something that costs way less money.

But What About Side Effects of Vaping?

There aren’t too many side effects honestly, but the biggest one that’s constantly giving trouble to people is the dry mouth that can happen with this. that’s because propylene glycol is in it, commonly known as PG, and this has been reported to cause such problems. Few people are allergic to it, but it’s something commonly used in foods and other products.

Sometimes, you may get allergy symptoms that can come happen after you quit smoking, and these often get confused in some cases. Some of the quitting smoking symptoms that you may see include the following:

  • Coughing
  • Respiratory issues
  • Mouth ulcers
  • Chest pains
  • Mood swings

If you notice these, go see a doctor.

Where to Use E-Cigs?

You can use them almost everywhere, but don’t use them on flights. Some hotels have a few issues with electronic cigarettes as well, and may ban the use of them. However, the best way to find out whether or not you can use it is to do a bit of research and check.

Some places don’t allow them inside either, but it’s much more welcoming than how people treat cigarettes, which have sanctions that demand you have to be away from a certain place to use them.

How Do Electronic Cigarettes Work

Currently, there is a little bit of variation between these, but this process applies to most of the devices.

Within the cartridge area of the e-cig is the atomizer, and this could be a separate part that screws itself in place into the e-cig.

Essentially, when you press a button, you activate the atomizer. You then breathe in. the atomizer will then heat up, but usually there is a limit to this. the nicotine in it then starts to evaporate, and that creates a vapor, similar to how water vapor is made. It does look like smoke, but you can see the difference because it ‘smore of a watery type of smoke, and much safer for you.

There is an absorbent padding in this too which pulls the liquid, and that’s how it gets to the atomizer itself.

Can you Quit Smoking with Electronic Cigarette?

They aren’t actually marketed to quit smoking, but lots of people do use this an alternative to smoking, which is much better for you. besides, if it helps curb the addiction, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

However, there are studies to back up that smokers might have the ability to quit or even switch to a lower amount of nicotine usage. It’s addictive, but at least you’re not breathing in carcinogens and carbon monoxide right?

There are a few studies, and here are a couple of them:

  • There was an online survey done, and it was discovered that about 70 percent of those who used e-cigs ended up quitting the tobacco and they noticed they were less additive.
  • Professor Polosa did a study over six months, and it was discovered that about 55% of the committed smokers out there actually were able to stop or reduce their tobacco use period
  • Professor Siegal actually discovered that the e-cigs were about double as effective in helping those people quit when compared to other nicotine replacement products.
  • There was an informal study done in South Africa that showcased about 45% of the doctors that used the e-cig themselves were able to quit.

The ability to smell and Taste

This is a cool benefit, because most vapers will say that after a few days or weeks, they can suddenly smell things again! Cigarettes do dull the senses, but, when there was a survey done of vapers in 2009 by University of Alberta, about 79.8% of these people did say their senses of smell were much better after they switched.

How does Electronic Cigarette Compare to Regular Cigarettes?

There are a few comparison tools to keep in mind when switching, and here’s how they weigh in.

Weight

The biggest difference you’ll notice is the weight. Disposable or electronic cigarettes don’t weight a lot, but you’ll notice them. However, after a few days, you’ll get used to it, and people tend to like to go heavier, since these tanks are refillable, and you can control the voltage.

Throat Hit

This is a big discussion, and this can be varied on all fronts. This is when the feeling hits your throat after you inhale the vapor. This feels like when you get that little throat tickle from cigarettes, and some like it more, some like it less. It’s virtually up to the person.

Taste

You can get a ton more flavors with e-cigs compared to tobacco ones. Some who begin with these tend to use the tobacco flavors, but often, as you get more familiar with these, you may move towards the dessert or fruit flavors, and if you just like to blow clouds, you may shy more towards these as well.

Glossary of Terms

Here are a few terms that you should know a bit about before you begin. There is a full guide of terminology, but for the purpose of continuing on, here are a few terms to know:

  • Atomizer: the part that heats up your liquid in an e-cig
  • The sub ohm: this is a coil that contains a resistance value less than 1.0 ohms, and it can increase the power and produce a whole lot more vapor
  • E-juice: the juice you put into your vape that’s got nicotine in it
  • Vape: electronic cigarette
  • Vaper: person who uses one of these

Avoiding e-Cigarettes Scams

However just like any other industry, there are scams there, and they do tiptoe the legal lines.

Typically, the most common one is a free e-cig offer, and you have to pay shipping and handling. However, they make you sign one of those terms of agreements, you’ll spot a term that demands you pay for the monthly refills, which can be quite pricy. You shouldn’t pay for an agreement period when it comes to these It’s hard to cancel, and you won’t get the money back. The purpose of these companies isn’t building a good relationship with the customers, or the marketplace themselves, but instead they’re just in it for the money. They also sell really poor quality e-cigarettes too.

Types of e-Cigs

If you’ve been wondering what types of e-cigs you should get, you’ve come to the right place. Here we will go over a few of the different options you have

Cigalikes

These are the electronic cigarettes that you probably know, which have three parts to them. They are a battery, the cartridge, and the atomizer. You put the atomizer into your batter, and then the cartridges are either pushed on or screwed over to the atomizer. They’re a good improvement when it comes to smoking, but they tend to fail. The atomizers tend to be disposable when it comes to cartridges, and often, they’re more reliable, and they don’t fiddle around as much. If the atomizer ever is wrong, you’re not losing much, just the cartridge.

Using a Cigalike

Beginning with the atomizer

You want to, when you begin with this, is to plug it up and charge it. There is a bit of charge already, but it’s good to give it a longer charge. From there, you screw the cartridge in, put it to the lips, and then inhale the nicotine.

How to hold it

Hold it like a cigarette, but keep it slightly more horizontal. If you fear you might get hot juice on yourself, hold it like this. you’ll be thankful of that later.

Changing Cartridges

Now, these cartridges don’t have an indicator to inform you of when the liquid is almost gone. This is more up to your discretion, and you may notice a few things when the liquid is close to running out. You may notice in many cases that the vapor isn’t coming out as much in the e-cigarette compared to before.

Sometimes though, you may wait too long, and then you get this godawful burnt taste to it. that means often, if that hits you, you burnt out the coil, you got to get another one, and that costs money.

It’s essentially a good thing to look at the little indicator on there, and if you see it’s at a low point, get rid of it.

What About the Vape MOD Battery?

Typically, the standard battery lasts about an hour or two if you use it a lot. When it needs to get some charge, the tip of it will flash to warn, and then stop activating. Put the charger into the battery and connect it, and then let it charge.

Disposable

These are the most readily available ones, and they’re quite easy to use. It’s like a regular cigarette where you hold it, inhale, and you’re done. However, they are something you should be careful about, and often the quality is quite poor on them. You can use these to try out e-cigs to see if you like them, but they do end up racking a bit of a price, and they’re not as good. They’re kind of the gateway ones for those who don’t like to commit immediately.

Variable voltage and wattage cigarettes

These allow you to have different voltages. They used to be rare, but this is now a normal thing. You simply use different settings to get some different voltages.

Some like this because you can use a low strength nicotine and get a super nice throat hit and taste. Some also like this because you may want to kick the wattage up. The cool thing about these is that you can adjust this as needed.

However, don’t use these unless you know what you’re doing, because there are plenty of times where people get these, and then they end up burning the coil or getting a burnt taste when using this type of system.

  • instead inhaled

E-Cig MODS

These are different little boxes and kits you can get that in essence allow you to control what you put into your vape. They include a wealth of different factors, from menus that you can toggle to even having some security locks on there. The temperature control and wattage elements are actually a part of these ecig mods.

Ideally, you shouldn’t invest in an ecig mod if you’re not going to know how to use it at least at a basic level. These are left many times for more of the experienced sort of vapers, so keep that in mind when you’re looking to try it.

The Tank Systems

Tanks are the most popular, and these are usually what the ones who are interested in getting into vaping do. They are a bit more complicated, but they’re worth using, since they cost way less, and you usually can modify these way more.

They are consistent of the following:

  • Battery: this is anywhere from 500-13000 mAH and it can be recharged
  • The tank: this is where the atomizer is, and it’s refillable
  • Charger: the batteries are recharged via the USB adapter, and it can be recharged by a computer or outlet, and it needs to have 5 volts 1 amp on it to work
  • Liquid: the bottle of liquid that goes into it, most of the time free for the first time

You can switch the flavors and the strengths of these as well, and it allows for some super cool mods, so if you want to start using more unique juices in this, and you feel like you’re sold on vaping, this is the way to go.

There are a couple of differences from these compared to the other types of electronic cigarettes like cigalike, and they are:

  • The throat hit is difference. Since the battery have more power, and vapor, and a throat hit that’s bigger. You can use different nicotine strengths though, and adjust as necessary
  • Longer battery, and while it’s heavier, they last about several times longer
  • More flavors, some of which involve tobacco flavors, fruit, or even dessert ones
  • Has a system that doesn’t look like a cigarettes.

Some love to start with these, but most of the time, if you’re looking to try, you try a cigalike or a disposable. However, the tank contains more power, strength, and flavors, and it’s a good alternative to those that do use e-cigarettes, and it’s a much more immersive experience.

Temperature controlled devices

You use temperature to control this, and this allows you to use wire in a safe manner, and honestly prevents overheating. It’s a safer way to really use a more controlled type of modification.

When the button is pressed, the mod will monitor what the temperature is, and adjusts the settings to take the coil to the temperature. This gives a few advantages, including the following:

  • Can prevent the coil from drying up, causing a throat hit that’s dry
  • Having a correct temperature to give consistency of the flavors
  • A safer experience, since a dry hit leads to chemicals not being taken out of the juice itself and Sub ohm vaping

This is a vaping extreme that uses a coil that has a resistance that’s less than an ohm. This creates a lot of vapor, but it does put a lot of force on the tank and the battery. Typically, this uses a lot of amps to push through the lower levels of resistance. This is not a way to make it feel like the drag of a cigarette, since the vaping does directly to the lungs, and you’ll breathe in a lot of vapor and make a big cloud. It’s usually not just blowing a huge cloud though, but the vapor does cover your taste buds as it is healed, and you’ll notice the flavor is so much greater.

You can even turn the power up on this to make it warmer, which is great for custard flavors. You might find out however that you won’t be vaping as frequently since the intake is a lot bigger. It’s nice if you’re looking to wean yourself off smoking period, but you go through the juices faster.

You should ideally get a 40 watt I stick since this has the power to start the vaping. You should choose both the sub ohm tank, and a sub tank, and a top that works for you.

Once you choose these, you want the liquid that you feel would best work. lots like the higher VG in this case since it’s much smoother when it goes down, producing less of a throat hit, and a much bigger cloud

You won’t need to have a super high VG though if you don’t want to. This is a preference thing, and you can still use a high PG flavor in order to get a dry throat hit, but if you’re a newbie, do play it on the safer side and use a higher VG.

When it comes to the amount of nicotine, you should lower the strength. This is because you’ll feel a high nicotine rush, which can give a very uncomfortable throat hit if it’s too high. Around 6 mg is ideal.

Dripping

This is a bit of a more complicated than just your average filling of the vape. However, this can give you a super strong flavor. You’ll need a rebuildable atomizer, along with the liquid, and you’ll want to make your own coils.

First, make the coils and have your materials there.

From there, the coils are made, and then put through the holes of these posts, and then cotton is put through the middle. From there, the liquid is then dripped to the boils and cotton, and the cap is put back on.

This does involve more handiwork though, since you’ve got to make your own, and you need to make sure there’s enough liquid within the cotton itself, since this can cause dry hits.

Some people like it because it has a better flavor and performance to it in a sense. There is a much stronger flavor, even when compared to clearomizer technology. It also allows you to sample various flavors so that you can choose what’s good and not good.

Refilling your Vape

How to Refill Vape Tank

You in essence want to take the cotton and make sure it’s damp. Not oversaturated, not dry, but damp. You want to drip this onto there, and then let it sit for a few minutes before it gets absorbed. This is a huge part of it, and if you’re not a fan of waiting, you can skip an extended period of time, but ideally, give it a few minutes because it’s important and prevents burnt coils.

You put the tip between the metal side of the cartridge itself and then push it in to the deepest portion it could go. From there, you squeeze the bottle in a slower manner, while you pull the needle away. It takes a bit, but it fills the cartridge from the bottom area all the way up, making sure there aren’t any dry areas.

If you refill tanks that can’t be refilled, you’ll void the warranty. But, if you’re going to be filling tanks, read in the next section how to do this.

There are a couple of important things to consider though. The first, is to avoid getting the liquid all the way down the center tube. This is where the airflow is, and filling it could mess with the performance, so don’t overfill. If there are measurements, you should make sure to fill only to the top marking,

Types of Refills

There are some refills that you should watch out for.

For blank cartridges, they need to have e-juice.

For the filled cartridge, these are pre-filled, and you should check to make sure that they are able to be refilled, or else you’ll void out the warranty if you do. Typically, these have an atomizer that’s separate that you’ve got to put on, but they’re rarer.

For a cartomizer, this has an inbuilt atomizer, and it can be both empty and filled.

A clearomizer is like a cartomizer, and has clear sides so you can see how much you’ve got left

A tank is a larger clearomizer that often has a modded cartridge in it. This can hold a larger amount, reducing the refills.

Top filling tanks

There are top filling tanks that have recently been brought forward, and while you don’t need to remove the tank completely to fill it, it’s much easier to fill up. Typically, they can have a twist off cap at the top, and to fill it, you do this:

  1. Take the cap off
  2. Put the liquid down to the side area of the glass, not the coil
  3. Fill it till it’s almost at the top
  4. Put the cap back on

Sometimes there is a dial underneath these, and you can put it into two modes. How you fill them up is simple:

  1. Take the cap off
  2. Turn it to refill if not already done. You’ll see holes start to appear on the top
  3. Put the liquid into there
  4. Turn the dial to vape, and you’ll see that the hole is now gone, and the liquid will saturate the cotton within

If the dial isn’t turned back to vape however, the chamber will be closed. The liquid won’t be in the coil area, and the hit will be dry

Changing coils in this is similar in a sense. The top gets twisted off from the bottom, and you will notice there isn’t access to fill this from the bottom area, so it reduces the chance of spilling the liquid when you change this.

Troubleshooting Tank Filling

Flooding

This is usually what happens when you’ve got too much liquid in it. It makes a gurgling sound, the vapors produced look poor, and you may taste the liquid in your mouth.

You can resolve this issue with a few draws in a sense, or taking out the cartomizer and flicking it a bit. You may also need to leave the atomizer out, so it can drain.

You should remove the cartridge itself and then push air through a paper towel to clear out the liquid in excess.

Coils Burnt Out

Typically, the atomizers do burn out. When you breathe in, you may notice I’s either burnt, or there’s no vapor. The only solution is to put a new cartridge or clearomizer head on it. If you have it under warranty, you contact the place you got it from to get a replacement vape coil.

There are a few ways to avoid this from burning out, and they are:

  1. Before you use the head for the initial use, put a few drops of the liquid onto the wick area itself
  2. After the clearomizer is filled, let it stand for a few minutes before you use it
  3. Always make sure that the e-cigs are off before they’re in the pocket or bag of anything. If you have a powerful box mod, this is very important. Some things, you may notice that you fire it up, and you notice that the wattage is at the highest level, and that makes the coil burn out.

Lots of times though, the clearomizers these days involve heads that are replaced, so that instead of just the unit, you’ve just got to swap it off for a new head itself. Typically, it involves a few steps.

First, you get rid of the excess liquid. Unscrew the uncap of the clearomizer to take the replaceable head off like a cartomizer. Put the replacement head on her and put the clearomizer back on. from there, you treat it just like a unit that’s rebuilt.

MOD Battery Troubleshooting

This is the most common issue, and often it’s because the terminals aren’t cleaned. Doing this regularly with a cotton swab or bud with alcohol on there makes the performance better.

You may also notice that the terminal is pushed into the battery, so it doesn’t make the contact point with the clearomizer. The best way to resolve this is to get tweezers and pull the terminal back out. If the light is on, tap it and it will resolve it.

Cleaning the Tanks and Clearomizers.

Cleaning out the tank gets the gunk from sugary juices out of there and preserves the vape. You’ve got a few different steps to do this, and you can read them below:

Flush the tank with warmer water, let it dry, and then re-use it again

Put the coil into a white alcohol to soak. Keep it pure grain and avoid rubbing alcohol

If you want to really clean it, use one of those jewelry cleaners with water and alcohol

You should clean the head as much as you can to make sure they last long. You can do this by taking the battery out, breaking down the tank, and then removing the head. Clean it using the methods that were discussed above. Let it soak for about 24-48 hours before they’re reassembled. The first couple draws might be watery, but it works itself out.

Typically, the cartomizers that are regular are cleaned in similar manners, but often the results aren’t as good. The cartridges are made to be disposable. Clearomizers and tanks do benefit from this, and some tanks do have replacement coils. Typically, it’s easier to use put the head on with a new one if it’s goo too much stuff on it.

However, some people like to clean these out, and making sure that it’s clean prevents juices from mixing, and stops the sugar buildup on the device as well.

e-liquid

Correct Strength

You’ll need to test, but you should keep it around 1.2-12.4 percent. If you have weak cigarettes, you go with 1.2, and 2.4 if you smoke strong. 1..8 is usually for regular.

Because there’s less nicotine when you vape, you might want to get a stronger level than what you smoked. It does take a moment to adjust, but usually it happens fast.

You’ll start to notice you’ll require less and you might drop down to 0% nicotine liquid. If you intend to sub ohm though, you’ll want to keep the liquid levels very low, at .6% maximum.

Is It Safe?

The answer is yes if you buy from a seller that’s reputable. However, you should keep it away from pets and children, and luckily, these come with child-proof caps, but you should keep them out of reach.

However, some dodgy companies make the nicotine way too high, and there are some that mi their own. Concentrated nicotine is dangerous, so don’t mess with it, and don’t try to make your own.

What’s Best for You In Terms of PG//VG

Typically, these come in the 60/40 ratio, with PG and VG respectively. However, what you chooses affects the following:

  • The flavor
  • The throat hit
  • The production of vapor

A higher PG level will make it stronger and much more complex, but you won’t have much vapor for clouds

Since PG is very thin, you can use high PG in virtually any tank, but if it goes below 50% in some cases, the coils might not wick as much. That’s because VG is thicker, and takes longer for saturation, which means dry hits and a burnt coil.

If you want higher VG, but you want to have a good mouth to lung inhalation, you can buy some that wick up to 70% VG in terms of coils.

The higher the VG, the smoother it is, and you can get more vapor, but the flavors lessen. VG is often a whole lot sweeter than PG, so high VG means sweeter flavors.

The higher VG liquids are great for the sub ohm tanks because they’re smoother when it hits the back of your throat, and gives more vapor. Because the coils are bigger in sub ohm tanks, the holes to wick are larger, which helps the VG saturate to the cotton faster.

However, it’s up to you. You can use half and half, more PG, more VG, and you can choose the nicotine strength as well.

And that’s it! That’s all you need to know about electronic cigarettes, and a good guide to begin with.
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