Extreme Dooty, to break it down for you, higher watts doesn't necessarily mean "better" vape. I vape a small MTL device at between 7--12 watts max. I like a cool vape, I like the fact that I'm not blowing vapor everywhere around me, for me the taste is better than a sub0hm device and insane clouds (started out on an Aspire Cleto, and almost nic poisoned m'self. It wasn't good.) Also, for me starting out I had to deal with detox from cigarettes, getting over very poor throat and lung health, and I personally prefer very restricted airflow and low power. TO COMPENSATE, I use higher nicotine in my vape, because I am using less vape during the course of a day. The "inefficiency" component comes in when you are vaping at such high wattage and low ohms that more vapor is produced that a person can absorb.... So if you see someone vaping at 100 watts with a sub0hm device, they are likely using MUCH less nicotine, and/or not absorbing all the nicotine they inhale, though it may be their preferred style of vape. My son used to vape high wattage and huge clouds and it satisfied *him* but he vaped quite a bit and produced huge clouds all the time. He used 3 mg nic e-juice while I use 15. He went through 250 ml of juice a month AT LEAST, and was charging batteries constantly.
The rule of thumb is, vape how you ENJOY, not some target wattage. If you are feeling happy, satisfied, and enjoying your vape there IS no magic number you have to get to in order to be satisfied, I quite often will vape BELOW a coil's "recommended" wattage if I desire. Also, each tank and mod are slightly different, for example I use a mod that outputs power very efficiently (I still haven't figured out why) so when I switched to that mod, I was lowering all my wattages. I like a cool, non-overwhelming vape, and I'm not even going to go into temperature control at this point, but (IMHO) keeping temps low by NOT running the coil "The highest I can possibly get it watts wise!" is probably a better option *as long as the vape satisfies you* and you aren't exceeding tolerances on your coil, your mod, your batteries, etc.
Heh. As a smoker I was a maximalist. As a vaper, I am a minimalist. I have no clue what that's about, but vaping isn't a competition unless you make it so.
Nothing against high watt and cloud producers, everyone should do what works *for them*.
Anna
