A Beginners Guide to Vaping

Wed 18 Nov 2020

Just take a look at any e-liquid or vape accessory store, online or otherwise, and you’ll be overwhelmed by the amount of products, gadgets, tech know-hows, and seemingly bizarre terms and sayings that have arisen out of the vaping community. 

For a beginning, it could be off-putting, so we’ve put together a short guide to vaping which hopefully covers all of your basic questions. We’ve already created a Simple Guide to Vaping Terminology which is worth a read for a more in-depth look at the language of vaping.

So What’s the Deal?

Put simply, vaping is an alternative to traditional smoking. It arose as a method to help long-term smokers finally ditch the habit and make the transition from habitual living to smoking-free that little bit easier.

However, as the industry caught wind and began to grow, vaping became much more than a smoker’s replacement, and has helped more and more people make the healthier choice by offering more variety, better technology, and a less stigmatised name.

Vaping works by heating the vape component, a liquid usually called e-liquid or e-juice, which is converted into vapour. E-liquids can come in a variety of flavours, effects, and smells as well as nicotine strengths, allowing users to slowly reduce their nicotine intake before (hopefully) ditching it for good.

So What’s on Offer?

There’s a great deal of variety on the market regarding vaping tools but the big four include: Disposables, Mechanicals, Pen-style Mods, and Box-style Mods. 

Both Pen-style and Box-style Mods offer a more bespoke experience, allowing the user to change far more than just the liquid, including the heating tank, coil and/or tip. Whereas the Box style is larger to accommodate more components, like a small LED screen, their interior function is largely the same.

Disposables, as the name suggests, don’t offer any method of recharging and are intended to be thrown away as soon as the power is depleted. They are largely inexpensive and a good choice for first-times. Similarly, Mechanicals don’t offer any means of editing so are great for regular vapers but can be difficult to use for those unfamiliar with the mechanics of vaping.

E-liquid and What’s What

There’s an almost endless amount of e-liquid flavours to choose from. Fruit, coffee, and desserts, e-liquid mixologists are daring and innovative when it comes to their craft - but what’s it all made of?

E-liquids are rarely composed of more than four ingredients, nicotine, vegetable glycerine (VG), propylene glycol (PG) and of course flavouring. As mentioned, some e-liquids don’t contain nicotine at all; all of this info will be clearly displayed on the label - but what exactly are VG and PG?

Both VG and PG can be found in many foods, drinks, and pharmaceuticals that we’re already familiar with. When if comes to vaping, the higher ratio of VG will increase the amount of vapour produced and a higher ratio of PG will increase the concentration of flavour. As such, you’ll want to experiment with different ratios to find the viscosity and concentration that works for you.

ELFC

Ultimately, any move you make towards vaping and away from traditional smoking is great. Vaping is a large and complex industry with a lot to offer, so take your time and always ask if you’re unsure.

ELFC was founded to provide DIY vapers with a convenient and easy to use online shop supplying high quality flavour concentrates from some of the best e-liquid producers and flavour houses in the world.

For more information on the products we offer, take a look at our range of DIY Kits, Drop Shots, Flavour Shots, Bottles and Supplies. For information on anything else, Contact Us today or give us a call on 01924 792217.