From the outside looking in, vaping is an unnecessarily complicated collaboration of vaping juices, atomisers, coils, batteries. But truth be told it’s a lot simpler than that and we have put together this guide to help you choose your first vape.
For any first time or relatively inexperienced vaper, simplicity is the key. You are looking for a vape that is easy to use, easy to clean, easy to fill and easy to charge. Once you get the hang of all of the different variables at play you can then look to go a little more advanced and move up a few levels.
Basic Vape Pen. The simplest of vapes
I began my vaping journey with a cheap £10 vape pen bought from a supermarket. As a first time vaper, you may consider this to be the best way to go when considering vaping for the first time.
The pros – It’s absolute simplicity is best thing about using a vape pen. You buy them from a shop for very little money, they work fine and give you an experience of living with a vape from day to day. If you are switching from cigarettes to vaping, these work as a fantastic way to experience the sensation of going without cigarettes for the first time in potentially a long time.
They also require very little maintenance. Lots of the variable factors that come with more complicated vapes are quite simply just taken out of the equation. Once the coil goes, you just throw it away and buy a new one.
There is also something less intimidating about a vape pen. Many female vapers I know have chosen to stick with the vape pen as it is one of the lightest version of vapes you can buy. I understand why many would see pulling out a big machine just to have a vape as overkill, and I get that.
The cons – Once you have a feel for vaping and get an idea of the type of vaping experience you enjoy, you’ll quickly find that a vape pen just doesn’t have the level of options to get your vaping experience just right.
You’ll also find that as there are no replaceable parts, over a long enough period of time, they can actually work out more expensive. If you invest £50-£100 in a higher end piece of kit, the only replaceable parts you will need to update are the coil which are generally in the £2 region. If you keep paying £10 every time you burn out an old coil.
The battery life is also usually an issue for heavy vapers. If you have gone from smoking 20+ cigarettes a day and move down to the lowest level of vape, you may find your battery running short long before you make it home to recharge. Bear this in mind if considering making the switch.
If a fully customisation, high end vape is a cooker with grill, oven, hobs, a vape pen is a microwave. Quick, works, but after a while, you get bored of ready meals.
Refillable Starter Kit.
Once I’d had enough of my basic kid, I then moved onto a intermediate refillable starter kit. In hindsight, if I could go through the whole vaping journey from scratch again, I probably would have started with this.
As development and manufacturer of equipment moves towards being friendly to the first time user, I would have no hesitation on recommending kit such as these to someone looking to make the move for the first time.
Pros – As mentioned above, the main reason smokers dislike the transition from smoking to vaping is the sheer number of new variables they have to take into account. When you smoke, you pull out a cigarette, light, and smoke. Thankfully, first time user kits at this level make it very straightforward.
If you order online, a typical starter kit at this level will come with very easy instructions to put together and get vaping straight away. Some have even gone as far as putting together unboxing experiences for first time users so all you have to do is follow the video and enjoy your new vape.
At this level, this will also give you the opportunity to experience all of the different flavour options that exist with vaping and experiment with different strengths of e-liquid.
The overall sensation you get from vaping and the nicotine hit you receive will be a combination of both the wattage power and the vape juice strength.
I find on my early vaping experiences, I would look to get the numbers to multiply up to 150 in order to get the right experience for me.
If I racked it up to 30 watts, I would drop down to a 5mg or 6mg strength vape. This would produce a bigger cloud, but retain the overall nicotine experience of vaping at lower wattage.
Cons – For someone having a go at vaping for the first time, the kit can look a little complicated. If you happen to buy a kit that doesn’t have decent instructions, or you don’t like instructions, it can all be a little overwhelming to deal with a coil, atomiser, battery, liquid, etc etc.
Vaping Central UK 