Buying your first vape? Let’s see if we can make the transition from Tobacco a little easier.

The transition from smoking tobacco to vaping electronic cigarettes (e-cigs/vapes) can be a little daunting for most. An abundance of equipment is available and deciding on what to buy can be very difficult especially if you really have no idea what you are looking at or the difference in everything available.

Where do you go to buy your first kit?

There are many places an e-cig can be purchased, online, supermarkets and even your local newsagent. But by far the best place you can purchase an e-cig is in a proper dedicated vape shop.

Why should you go to a vape shop?

The staff in a vape shop should have all the knowledge to advise on which equipment best suits you for the style you want to vape. They will also be able to give you in depth information about the products and their proper use, matching your smoking level with the right kit.  Unfortunately supermarkets and the like just do not poses this kind of knowledge and understanding of the devices and associated equipment.

Here at EcigZoo we have a combined vaping experience of around 30 years between our members of staff with most staff having vaped for between 5-8 years. That experience really does help us help you find exactly the right equipment which will best suit you and the way you want to vape.  We set the kit up for you, the right e-liquid and show you how it all works and needs to be maintained.

 What do you need to get started?

It’s important to get a device that will be suited to your needs. As someone who is quitting traditional tobacco you will want what we consider a starter kit. These come in many shapes and forms but some we recommend due to their high success rate with our customers are, the Aspire Pockex, the Innokin T18II and the Innokin T20s for the tube style. Then you have the box types with larger batteries and more functions, like the Innokin Kroma kit, the Aspire Rover kit and the Aspire Zelos kit.

All of these kits are more than adequate for the beginner vaper and will certainly be very good to help in the transition from tobacco to vaping.

What’s the difference between tube types and box types?

Tube types in general are a lot simpler with just the basic controls and functions. The Aspire pockex for example has no airflow or power adjustment making it one of the simplest devices to use. Whereas the Innokin T18II has airflow adjustment and selectable power settings giving you the opportunity to dial in the vape to exactly how you like it.

Box types generally have much more in the way of settings and adjustments. They typically have a screen that displays information like the power being used and a battery level indicator along with some other information. They have much more adjustability for the power settings meaning the vape delivery can be truly fine-tuned to your preference. Along with the ability to adjust the airflow this makes for a truly customisable vape.

Why have power adjustability?

The simple answer to this is more power more vapor produced. 99% of coils have recommended power ratings making it easier for you to know where to start and where not to go with your power settings.

How does adjustable airflow work?

Simply put, the more your airflow is open the looser the draw will be and the more your airflow is closed the tighter the draw becomes. A good analogy for this is that it’s a bit like the difference between a loosely rolled cigarette and a tightly rolled cigarette. It’s much harder to draw on a tightly rolled cigarette than a loosely rolled one.

What’s a coil? And what do they do?

Most modern tanks have a coil that is replaceable, the coil is a heating element that turns your e-liquid into a vapour. When you press the fire button on your device it sends a surge of electricity to the coil which causes it to heat up rapidly and vaporises the liquid around it. Think of your coil as a tiny kettle element rapidly heating the water around it, this is a similar process happening inside your tank.

Is e-liquid all the same?

E-liquid is all made up of four basic components.

1. Propylene Glycol (PG)
2. Vegetable Glycerine (VG)
3. Food Grade flavouring
4. Nicotine base

But and this is a big but! There are several ratios of PG VG available and getting the right one for your device is very important. PG is the thinner of the two liquids and is the one that is very good at carrying the flavour. At the same time PG also affects the throat hit, too much and it can make your liquid very harsh on the throat.

VG is the thicker of the two liquids and is the one that creates more vapor or cloud. It is also naturally sweet and in VG heavy liquids can lead to extra sweetness with the juice.

In general, most starter kits will require you to use a relatively thinner liquid due to the nature of the coils and as a result of this we would normally recommend using a liquid that has no more than 60% VG. This will give you good flavour and vapor production as well as helping to prolong the life of your coils.

VG heavy liquids are designed for bigger more advanced systems that’s something we discussed quite heavily in a previous blog. For more info on this subject why not have a read of our blog which gives some great in-depth details of the difference between MTL and DTL vaping.

I hope you all found this helpful. For any further help or advice please don’t hesitate to contact us and ask. We are always here to help in anyway we can. Remember there is no such thing as a stupid question so however trivial you think it may be, we will always listen and advise in the best way we can.

As always until next time, Vape safe readers and have an absolutely amazing rest of your day or evening.