The vaping community is rapidly growing and there are more newbies than ever before. If you’ve been thinking about giving vaping a try or have just ordered your first e-cigarette, our complete vaping guide is for you. In no time at all you’ll be using vaping lingo and offering out your own tips to fellow vapers.
What is vaping?
Vaping 101: How Do E-Cigarettes Work?
Let’s go right back to the basics.
Vapers use an e-cigarette to inhale and exhale the water vapor that’s produced from heating up e-liquid. E-liquids can contain nicotine but there are those without any trace of nicotine at all, giving you the freedom to select a level that suits you. The devices essentially work through a coil heating up the liquid that you choose – there’s a huge variety on the market to choose from – creating a vapor that you simply inhale through the mouthpiece.
Your vaping equipment
An Overview of Vaping Technology
When you get your e-cigarette, it can seem like there are too many parts and you have no idea what to do with it. But when broken down into the different components, it’s simple to understand what everything is and why it’s important.
The core parts of every e-cigarette are:
- Tank – Depending on the device you’ve picked this part of your e-cig might be referred to at a cartomizer or clearomizer. This is the section that holds the e-liquid and contains the part which will heat up to create vapor by connecting with your battery. You’ll need to replace the heated elements at some point, as well as the tank itself.
- Batteries – There are multiple batteries to choose from but they all have the same basic function – heating up the coil part of the e-cig. Some batteries have a greater voltage, allowing you to produce a thicker vapor, while others won’t need charging as frequently. If your batteries run dry you won’t be able to vape so it’s always good practice to have a spare to hand.
- Atomizer heads – An atomizer head includes a piece of cotton and the heating element or coil. Atomizer heads fit within the tank to heat up the e-liquid. They have a fairly short shelf-life and, in many cases, you’ll find that they need replacing every two to three weeks. You’ll know when you need to change the atomizer head because the flavour will lessen before a burnt taste comes through.
- E-liquid – There’s a huge range of e-liquids available on the market, including Blacknote’s traditional tobacco range. As well as the difference in flavour, the ratio of the base ingredients, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine, can vary to change the thickness of the vapour and you can select a level of nicotine to suit you.
How to use your e-cigarette
Once you’ve familiarised yourself with your device, it’s time to draw your first puff.
While it might look far more complicated than a traditional cigarette, they’re simple to use. All you need to do is hit the fire button and inhale. Enjoy the hit it delivers and the nicotine rush if you’ve chosen a liquid that contains the chemical. You can exhale either throw your mouth or nose. Remember, you won’t need to inhale as hard as you do with an analog cigarette.
The terms you need to know
Vape Culture Is Real
When you first join the vaping community, the terminology and phrases can sound confusing to say the least. Here are our top basic terms you need to know straight away:
- Vaping – You should know this one! Vaping is simply using an e-cigarette.
- Atomizer – Sometimes referred to as an atty, the atomizer is the part of e-cigarette that contains the battery and heating element to produce the vapor.
- Cartomizer – Combining the words cartridge and atomizer, a catomizer is just that.
- Tank – There’s more than one type of tank but it essentially means the part of the e-cig where the vaping liquid goes.
- Dripping – Dripping is a method of vaping where e-liquid is dripped directly on to the coil to deliver a different type of throat hit and intense flavour.
- Mods – Mod refers to modified e-cigarettes, most vaping devices on the market today, apart from cig-alike and e-go styles, can be considered mods.
- E-juice – This is another term for e-liquid.
- Throat hit – Describes the feeling in your throat when you inhale from your e-cigarette.