Welcome back dear readers, before we begin there are a few things I wish to clarify and disclose. First and foremost all information in these postings is either my personal experiences or based on research that I did in an attempt to educate myself. My personal opinions will be present in much of my writings and while I don’t want to offend any of you, I won’t sugar coat anything. I also won’t try to bull.... you. I will present any and all relevant information as clearly as I can. I will also link my research sources as often as possible. Secondly I apologize if any of my writings confound or offend due to the language I use, I will try to keep the swearing to a minimum and also attempt to keep the abbreviations consistent.
We need to discuss some terms and abbreviations that I will be using here and in future articles. First is “throat hit”, this is the sensation of the vaporized nicotine on the entrance to the throat. Some describe it as a “thump”, others as a tingle. It is closely related to the strength of your juice, the resistance of your atomizer coil, and other factors to be discussed later. For now we will abbreviate it as TH. The second item is a shortening of the term atomizer, for now I will spell it out, but in future discussions I will refer to it as an atty. We will discuss them in great detail later. Third is the nicotine suspension liquid, there are many terms used for this; ejuice, eliquid, juice, liquid, and as one blogger put it “the good stuff”. I just call it juice, call it what you will, it’s what gets us away from traditional tobacco. And now on to the story.
In my last installment we recounted my walk down the path of tobaccos, now is where we will begin my path of vapor. I started out my trip into the clouds with a simple Ego-C kit and a couple of bottles of juice. I like the simplicity of this kit, fill the plastic tanks with juice and pop them in the cone. Many of you who are currently vapers probably started with a similar kit. Others started with cigalikes like the Blue or Njoy King. For those who are wondering, a cigalike very closely resembles a real cigarette. In both length and breadth, and many have a small LED light on the end to replicate the glowing of the combusting tobacco. For many they are an excellent way to start vaping as they have a similar feel and weight in the hand, some are also very close in flavor to a real cigarette. But they were not for me in the beginning. I tried a number of juices at the vape shop, and settled on two Halo juices and one from NicQuid. I will discuss the juices in further detail at a later date, but for now I will say that they were in line with my tastes at the time.
Now for those not familiar with the Ego style ecig I will attempt to explain it, they consist of 4 parts. First is the battery, a small tubular battery ranging from 350mah to 1300mah. The different numbers represent the power of the battery, and while I will go deeper into battery makeup and properties, you can think of it as the fuel source of the ecig. The lower the number the shorter the time you can vape on it before having to recharge it.
Second is the atomizer. This is a small coil of resistance wire wrapped around a wicking material, usually a silica rope, and encased in a metal housing. The coil will heat the liquid in the wick to the point of evaporation, which is then inhaled. This part will have a very large impact on how any device performs, if you have a good wick and coil working in conjunction with a good battery the device will perform well. The resistance will be an important factor in battery life, vapor production and “throat hit”. We will explore resistance in a much greater detail in its own article later.
The Third part of an ego setup is the cone. This part houses the atomizer in its base and holds the tank in place above it. The cone is threaded onto the battery and makes the electrical connections to allow operation.
The fourth and final part is the tank. On the ego it is a combination juice holder and mouthpiece. They hold a small amount of juice and feed it into the atty while allowing the resulting vapor to be inhaled. The tanks along with the atomizer are meant to be disposable. You use them for a time and when they wear out, toss them.
This setup is fine for beginning vapers and some veterans too. Simple construction and fairly inexpensive, it does have its drawbacks. The draw, the force with which you pull the vapor from the device, is fairly tight. This is in part due to how the air channels are laid out, and in part the size of the airflow inlet holes on the cone. It is much more difficult to pull on than a regular cigarette, and could be a turnoff for some. For me, at that point in time I liked it, that would change but I’m getting ahead of myself. It did its job well enough for me to not need a dip. And after only one night I put my last can in the freezer and made the final decision to vape.
In the following days I puffed away on my new setup and chuckled at myself, mainly for being so worried that I was going to fail, but in that for my first setup I dropped roughly the equivalent of an entire month’s supply of dip for two little ecigs and a couple bottles of juice. After the initial sticker shock wore off I warmed up to the idea of this being cheaper in the long run. Little did I know that I was now on a new path, one littered with pitfalls and incredible new experiences, Cloud chasing and the perfect vape, now I was entering a new chapter of my life and you, dear readers, will walk with me.
In the next few discussions we will delve into what makes ecigs work, what you should know about batteries, the importance of resistance and an old man named Ohm, juice and what’s in it, and the myriad of other devices out there. Buckle up folks, it’s gonna be a wild ride!
Until next time, good day and good vape.
We need to discuss some terms and abbreviations that I will be using here and in future articles. First is “throat hit”, this is the sensation of the vaporized nicotine on the entrance to the throat. Some describe it as a “thump”, others as a tingle. It is closely related to the strength of your juice, the resistance of your atomizer coil, and other factors to be discussed later. For now we will abbreviate it as TH. The second item is a shortening of the term atomizer, for now I will spell it out, but in future discussions I will refer to it as an atty. We will discuss them in great detail later. Third is the nicotine suspension liquid, there are many terms used for this; ejuice, eliquid, juice, liquid, and as one blogger put it “the good stuff”. I just call it juice, call it what you will, it’s what gets us away from traditional tobacco. And now on to the story.
In my last installment we recounted my walk down the path of tobaccos, now is where we will begin my path of vapor. I started out my trip into the clouds with a simple Ego-C kit and a couple of bottles of juice. I like the simplicity of this kit, fill the plastic tanks with juice and pop them in the cone. Many of you who are currently vapers probably started with a similar kit. Others started with cigalikes like the Blue or Njoy King. For those who are wondering, a cigalike very closely resembles a real cigarette. In both length and breadth, and many have a small LED light on the end to replicate the glowing of the combusting tobacco. For many they are an excellent way to start vaping as they have a similar feel and weight in the hand, some are also very close in flavor to a real cigarette. But they were not for me in the beginning. I tried a number of juices at the vape shop, and settled on two Halo juices and one from NicQuid. I will discuss the juices in further detail at a later date, but for now I will say that they were in line with my tastes at the time.
Now for those not familiar with the Ego style ecig I will attempt to explain it, they consist of 4 parts. First is the battery, a small tubular battery ranging from 350mah to 1300mah. The different numbers represent the power of the battery, and while I will go deeper into battery makeup and properties, you can think of it as the fuel source of the ecig. The lower the number the shorter the time you can vape on it before having to recharge it.
Second is the atomizer. This is a small coil of resistance wire wrapped around a wicking material, usually a silica rope, and encased in a metal housing. The coil will heat the liquid in the wick to the point of evaporation, which is then inhaled. This part will have a very large impact on how any device performs, if you have a good wick and coil working in conjunction with a good battery the device will perform well. The resistance will be an important factor in battery life, vapor production and “throat hit”. We will explore resistance in a much greater detail in its own article later.
The Third part of an ego setup is the cone. This part houses the atomizer in its base and holds the tank in place above it. The cone is threaded onto the battery and makes the electrical connections to allow operation.
The fourth and final part is the tank. On the ego it is a combination juice holder and mouthpiece. They hold a small amount of juice and feed it into the atty while allowing the resulting vapor to be inhaled. The tanks along with the atomizer are meant to be disposable. You use them for a time and when they wear out, toss them.
This setup is fine for beginning vapers and some veterans too. Simple construction and fairly inexpensive, it does have its drawbacks. The draw, the force with which you pull the vapor from the device, is fairly tight. This is in part due to how the air channels are laid out, and in part the size of the airflow inlet holes on the cone. It is much more difficult to pull on than a regular cigarette, and could be a turnoff for some. For me, at that point in time I liked it, that would change but I’m getting ahead of myself. It did its job well enough for me to not need a dip. And after only one night I put my last can in the freezer and made the final decision to vape.
In the following days I puffed away on my new setup and chuckled at myself, mainly for being so worried that I was going to fail, but in that for my first setup I dropped roughly the equivalent of an entire month’s supply of dip for two little ecigs and a couple bottles of juice. After the initial sticker shock wore off I warmed up to the idea of this being cheaper in the long run. Little did I know that I was now on a new path, one littered with pitfalls and incredible new experiences, Cloud chasing and the perfect vape, now I was entering a new chapter of my life and you, dear readers, will walk with me.
In the next few discussions we will delve into what makes ecigs work, what you should know about batteries, the importance of resistance and an old man named Ohm, juice and what’s in it, and the myriad of other devices out there. Buckle up folks, it’s gonna be a wild ride!
Until next time, good day and good vape.
