I remember the coughing and "harshness" when I first started vaping (on the Ice Menthol, too). I described this to Volties on the Smokeless Image vendor board here. They all said what I experienced was perfectly normal in the beginning, in fact it would take me a week or so for my body to adapt to the "different smoke" or vapor. I also was trying to inhale like I would an analog, a quick hard hit straight to the lungs. For a day or two I had to concentrate on the proper technique to inhale vapor. Suck into my mouth slow and long as if I was sucking on a straw, then slowly inhale and exhale thru my nose, but with mouth open.
The above technique on vaping is important. The way it was explained to me is the nicotine in vapor is mostly absorbed via mouth and throat, not so much the lungs. The feeling of "smoke" or vapor in the lungs is still important though, to simulate the behavior of smoking an analog.
Keeping the mouth open while exhaling the vapor through the nose is important. This is because our sense of "taste" of flavor is strongly influenced by the aroma in the vapor. Try it yourself: vape both ways by exhaling thru the nose and then only through your mouth; you'll likely "taste" the flavor more if you exhale through your nose. Also remember that a smoker's taste buds are dulled from years of smoking, and over weeks time will return to be able to detect subtle flavors again.
If this is explained to your friend, she may not feel so discouraged. Explain that the unpleasant harshness and coughing is soon replaced with satisfying hits. I guarantee she experienced the same thing when she started on the analogs.
Maybe introduce her to the message board at Smokeless Image. It's one of the busiest boards on ECF, seems more geared towards beginning vapors, with a ton of friendly people willing to give helpful information, advice, and encouragement in a non-judgemental way. I know they really helped me.
