Over the last decade, vaping has become a very popular way of intaking nicotine. Vaping is the use of an e-cigarette that is seen as a stimulant for tobacco instead of smoking cigarettes. An e-cig is built up of an atomizer (which is more commonly known as a ‘coil’), a battery, and a tank (which is where the e-liquid goes).
It is very common for new beginners to make mistakes when it comes to vaping. From not knowing about the maintenance of the e-cig, to choosing the right e-cig system for you, we are here to give you advice on how to fix the mistakes that customers often make.
If you are new to vaping or are thinking about starting to vape, then this post will help you massively.
Not Keeping Up With the Maintenance:
Looking after your e-cig is important if you want to get a long lifespan out of the device you are using. There are a couple of factors that relate to maintaining the quality of your e-cig, one of them being e-cig fluid levels.
E-cig Fluid Levels – It is a smart idea to always keep the tank of your e-cig topped up with e-liquid at all times. This is so that your coil is always being saturated in your choice of fluid. If the coil doesn’t have enough liquid, it will burn out a lot quicker than expected.
Cleaning the Mouthpiece of your System – The mouthpiece should be cleaned on a regular basis. Sometimes when it hasn’t been cleaned in a while, it can create clogs within your e-cig. Small bits of dirt and dust may get stuck within the mouthpiece and this is what could potentially clog the mouthpiece.
If your mouthpiece isn’t clean, it will more than likely be full of bacteria. Although our mouths are full of different types of bacteria, there are germs everywhere so any type of bacteria could have touched the mouthpiece. This could be harmful to your health.
The best way to clean your mouthpiece is by using a cotton earbud. These are the perfect size and shape to clean your entire mouthpiece without any hassle. It is suggested that you use rubbing alcohol on your cotton bud to sterilize your mouthpiece. If you haven’t cleaned it for a while a deeper clean is probably the best option. To do this you should remove the mouthpiece from the system and place it in water or rubbing alcohol to soak for up to an hour after you have scrubbed it. Once you’ve done this you should run under flowing water to make sure any debris has been removed.
Keeping your Battery clean – Just as it is important that you keep your mouthpiece clean, it is just as important that you keep the battery clean otherwise the system won’t work. It will definitely affect the performance of the e-cig if you don’t keep it clean as the coil and battery won’t be able to connect correctly if there is any sort of dirt or liquid between the two items.
All you have to do is use a cotton bud. With the cotton bud, gently wipe around the part of the battery that connects to the tank of the e-cig. Be careful not to push any sensors or terminals that could affect the performance of the system. And that’s all you have to do to keep your battery clean. It’s rather simple.
The Lowdown on Coils:
The coil is used to heat up the e-liquid to produce the vapour that you inhale and exhale. It is the most important part of an e-cig as it filters the liquid as well as helps you create the vapour you desire. There are a few things you should know about e-cig coils.
Priming the Coil – When setting up a brand new coil into your system, it is important that you prime the coil with e-liquid. This is because it allows the cotton filter inside to gain some moisture and prepares it to be saturated by the liquid that you are going to be using. By doing this you are enabling a better lifespan for your coil. It reduces the likelihood of burning when you have a hit.
The best way to prime your coil is to add a drop or two of e-liquid into each hole in the coil where you can see the white cotton filter. This process doesn’t take long, yet it prolongs the use of that coil.
After priming the coil, you should always wait between 5-10 minutes to allow your liquid to submerge into the coil. The longer you leave the liquid before starting to vape, the better. It should be ready after 10 minutes at most.
Vaping at Low Wattage – It is recommended that when you are vaping, to preserve the life of your coil, you should vape at a lower wattage. This will stop your coil from burning out as it’s not needing to be as hot as it would if the wattage was higher. 10 watts is a solid wattage to start vaping at. It allows you to have a relatively good vaping experience and you will still be able to taste the flavour that is in the e-cig.
How Often You Should Change Your Coil – Changing the coil on your e-cig is vital to keep the flavours tasting the way that they should. Once a coil is beginning to come to the end of its life, you will begin to taste a burning flavour that won’t feel the best when it hits your throat. It can also smell burnt when the vapour is released. This is an indication that you should change your coil.
The recommended lifespan for an e-cig coil is roughly between 1-2 weeks. 2 weeks at most. This is because you will get the best experience out of the e -cig if you are regularly changing your coil. You shouldn’t have to experience the burning taste, and by remembering to change the coil as often as this, you will have amazing results from your e-cig and the flavours that you use.
Whenever you change your coil, it’s suggested that you should clean your system at the same time; refer to the tips above in the maintenance section.
E-liquids Vs. Coil – For beginners, the best types of liquids to use to get used to the coil and the system itself are 70% or 80% PG liquid. This formula is thinner than others and goes well with coils that are 1.5 ohm – 2.5 ohm. It’s great for being discreet as it doesn’t produce much vapour but gives you the throat hit like a cigarette would. This would be perfect for smokers trying to come off the cigarettes or ex-smokers that crave the throat hit. The 70% and 80% liquids are good for e-cig systems that don’t have variable wattage, you’re more likely to get the most flavour using these liquids.
The same coils as mentioned just above take a 50% PG liquid as well, however, they do produce more vapour but don’t work well with devices that aren’t variable wattage. 50/50 liquids have fabulous flavours when used on a high wattage but for someone that vapes at 10 watts, there wouldn’t be much flavour.
Breakdown on Different Coils – There are a couple of different types of coils that can be used in various e-cigs but vaped at different wattages. It is important to know what coil goes with the type of wattage.
- 0.2 Ohm coil can be vaped at 60-100 watts, depending on the size of the coil that fits into whatever tank your system has.
- 0.3 Ohm can be vaped at 70-80 watts. You can vape on lower wattage but anything less than 40 watts probably won’t be satisfactory.
- 0.4 Ohm coil can be vaped at 40-50 watts. This is great for if you’re wanting a 50/50 liquid but don’t want to vape at a higher wattage, you’ll still receive great flavour from the vape.
- 0.5 Ohm coil can be vaped at 15-50 watts. 70/30 E-liquids would be best for this type of coil as you’ll get the best flavours out of it.
- 0.6 Ohm coils should be vaped between 12-25 watts. These coils are great for a direct lung hit from the vapour. Again 70/30 liquids are best for this coil.
- 0.8 Ohm coils can typically be vaped at 20-35 watts. 50/50 liquids will work with this coil but 70/30 are the best.
- 1.0 Ohm coil is best vaped at 14-22 watts and will be best with a 70% E-liquid.
- 1.5 Ohm would best be vaped at 8-13 watts.
- 2.5 Ohm has the best outcome when vaped at 3-5 watts. It’s a very low wattage so 70% juice should be used for this coil.
A common misconception with coils is that the higher the Ohm, the higher wattage you can vape at. As just proven, that is not the case.
How to Prolong the Life of Your E-cig:
Pricing of the System You’re Buying- When buying your first e-cig system, the pricing can be a little confusing for beginners. You won’t understand why one E-cig system is £60 and another is £15. Don’t worry, we are here to help you.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on your first system, however, it is a good idea not to just go for the cheapest option as it might be a waste of money anyway. As a beginner, you just need a system that is sturdy and will produce a regular amount of vapour. Especially if you are using your new e-cig to stop you from smoking cigarettes, you will need a decent device.
One of our best sellers and a great beginner’s e-cig that we sell is the; Innokin-T18 E Kit.
As you can see, it is a pen system. The design is very slick and simple. We have four different colours in the T18 E; Mint, Pink, Silver and Black.
It has a 2ml tank that can last a full day, depending on how much you vape throughout the day. It is a very inexpensive e-cig system yet not the cheapest. Even experienced Vapers still use this system because although it is basic, it does the job. We sell this system for £17.99 and it includes; a tank, a battery that has a 14-watt power output, a charging cable, a spare coil as well as a coil to go into the system when first purchased and a drip tip (mouthpiece).
The Innokin T18 E e-cig is the best starter kit for beginners as well as being a great device for experienced Vapers. As well as the system being a reasonable price, the replacement coils are also inexpensive.
For a single T18 E coil, it is £2.99
For a pack of 5 T18 E coils, it costs £7.99
For 2 packs of 5 T18 E coils, the price is £14.99
Batteries – It is recommended that if you use a system that has an external battery, that you have a spare battery. This is so that if the battery you are using dies whilst on the go, you have a spare that you can just put into the system and continue to vape. Having a spare battery is also a good idea in case your main battery stops working and won’t recharge.
We have reasonably priced batteries; click the link to check it out.
For systems that have an internal battery, it is a good idea to always keep your device charged. Try not to let your e-cig fully run out of charge. This is because it can have lasting damage to the battery and reduce the life of the battery. If you do this, there is a chance you will have to replace your system a lot sooner than you would have thought.
30% is a low enough charge to plug the charger into your battery. Any lower than this and you can risk damaging your batteries life. To gain a good battery life don’t overcharge your battery either. 2-3 hours at most should be enough for your e-cig to be fully recharged. Don’t leave your e-cig on charge overnight, as some chargers don’t stop charging once the system has reached full charge potential. This can be dangerous as it can be a fire hazard as well as damaging your e-cig completely.
When using a USB charger, you should only use a 1amp plug or lower if possible. Any plug amp higher than that will charge your battery too fast. By charging your battery too fast you are reducing its life and could even damage the battery completely.
Tips for Beginners:
Hits/Pulls on your E-cig – When you’re using your e-cig try to remember as much as they sort of resemble a cigarette, you pull on an e-cig differently. With a cigarette, you take long, tight pulls, whereas with an e-cig, most of the time you only need a short puff to get the hit you want.
By taking long puffs on a system that isn’t designed for that, you will burn out your coils a lot faster than you should be and also there’s a possibility of the system spitting out e-liquid. The reason it will burn your e-cig out is that the cotton filter hasn’t got enough time to submerge itself in liquid before the next puff.
If you want to change the way your e-cig pulls, most systems have an airflow. On most devices, you can alter the airflow to have a loose or tighter pull to make it match the way you want to vape.
Nicotine – Be careful with the different strengths of nicotine. This is a subject that beginners definitely struggle with. If you are an ex-smoker, you are used to taking in a certain amount of nicotine and that is what you will be used to. Having different strengths of nicotine, allows you to choose your nicotine intake.
A cigarette is equivalent to 10-12mg of nicotine. That is per cigarette. The usual strengths that e-liquids come in are:
18mg of nicotine; this is usually aimed at customers that smoke 20+ cigarettes a day. At this point, you would be classed as a heavy smoker.
12mg of nicotine; for average smokers that smoke around 10-20 cigarettes a day.
3mg-6mg of nicotine; used for non-cigarette smokers or very light smokers that would have less than 10 cigarettes a day.
The majority of vapers smoke 3mg because they choose to get the 100ml bottles that you can only add 2 nicotine shots to make it 3mg. You can’t add more than 2 as it will disrupt the flavour.
Once you know all this information you will be an experienced Vaper in no time at all.
Want to know more?
Why not check out our ‘New to Vaping’ section on our website
Contact us via telephone –
Monday-Sunday: 0777 376 5417
Monday-Wednesday: 07763 207171
Thursday-Sunday: 0749 343 7514
