So, you want to become a master vaper? Learning how to have the vaping experience that’s ideal for you can be a lengthy process of trial and error, asking questions and reading about vaping online. It’s a process that can take years, especially given that what you think of as the ideal vaping experience can change over time. A new vaper, for instance, probably prefers a device designed for mouth-to-lung vaping and will generally use a high-nicotine e-liquid. Over time, though, your preferences might evolve until your vaping setup is almost the exact opposite of what it was in the beginning. In that sense, your ultimate goal is actually always changing.
There are, however, a few vaping secrets that are universal – and knowing those secrets can provide massive improvements to your vaping experience, regardless of what your hardware and e-liquid preferences might be. What are the vaping secrets that you wish someone had told you before you started vaping? These are the nuggets of knowledge that can go a long way to improve anyone’s vaping experience.
You Don’t Have to Inhale So Hard
This one tip is the absolute most important thing that every new vaper must know: The air pressure that you use when smoking a cigarette is much greater than the air pressure you should use when vaping. The thing about a tobacco cigarette is that its airflow and burning characteristics are absolutely foolproof. The “gunpowder rings” embedded in the paper of a cigarette ensure that, no matter what you do, the cigarette will burn down evenly and consistently. You can puff any way you like, even to the point of sucking as hard as you possibly can. The paper will just burn down more quickly.
Vaping, on the other hand, is entirely different because the air pressure that you use when inhaling has nothing to do with the volume of vapor your device will produce. Instead, the vapor production is determined by the efficiency of your atomizer coil and the power level of your device. If you inhale harder, your device won’t produce a bigger vapor cloud. What will happen, though, is that you’ll end up getting e-liquid in your mouth. The way to get the biggest clouds when vaping is by inhaling with gentle, steady air pressure.
Sweet E-Liquids Cost More in the Long Run
When you begin to explore the world of e-liquid, one of the first things you’ll learn is that the vast majority of e-liquids that are really popular with mainstream vapers are generously sweetened with sucralose. The use of sucralose in e-liquid has two benefits. The first benefit is that sucralose tastes great; it’s almost as sweet as candy. The second benefit is that sucralose can really improve the flavor of an e-liquid with less expensive ingredients. Therefore, the sweetest vape juices are also often some of the least expensive ones.
The thing about heavily sweetened vape juice, though, is that it creates coil gunk that causes your coils to burn out quickly. Did you know that it’s possible for a vape coil to last several days – sometimes even weeks – before it begins to produce the telltale burned flavor that tells you it’s time for a new coil? You can only get that kind of coil life if you use an unsweetened e-liquid because sucralose doesn’t turn to vapor when it’s heated; it leaves a layer of caramel on your vape coil that slowly grows thicker until it finally starts to burn.
Do you find yourself replacing your coil almost every day because the e-liquid you’re using is heavily sweetened? You can save a lot of money on coil replacements if you use an unsweetened e-liquid instead. Sweetened e-liquid might cost less up front, but it makes vaping significantly more expensive in the long run.
Try These Coil-Friendly E-Liquids Today
If you're tired of spending too much money on replacement vape coils, it's time to try a more coil-friendly vape juice that doesn't cover your coils in sticky gunk. These plainer e-liquids still pack a satisfying punch, but they're not loaded with sweeteners and will help you save a huge amount of money in the long run.
- Clear Sapphire by Pod Juice: If you've never tried a plain unflavored menthol vape juice, you'll be surprised by how incredibly satisfying the experience can be. The cold rush of menthol soothes your throat and leaves you feeling refreshed, and the mild sweetness of the vegetable glycerin adds just a touch of flavor that pairs beautifully with the menthol. This is a perfectly pleasing and neutral vape juice that anyone will be able to vape all day long.
- Crystal Clear by Glas Basix: If you're not a fan of cold menthol and prefer a slightly warmer vaping experience, you'll probably really like Crystal Clear by Glas Basix. There are plenty of unflavored e-liquids on the market today, but they're not all created equal because some are a bit lackluster in terms of vapor production. Crystal Clear has a 70/30 VG/PG ratio to ensure satisfying cloud production and compatibility with a wide variety of small and large vaping devices.
You Don’t Have to Throw Gunky Coils Away
When that telltale burned flavor tells you that it’s time to replace the coil in your tank, you don’t necessarily have to throw your old coil away. Under all of that gunk, the actual components that make the coil work are still perfectly good. If you remove the gunk, you’ll have a coil that’s almost as good as new.
So, how do you remove the gunk from a coil? You clean the coil – and the easiest way to do that is with an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. An ultrasonic cleaner uses water and gentle ultrasonic vibrations to remove dirt and tarnish from jewelry, and it works just a well on vape coils. Just add water to the cleaner, drop in your dirty coils and turn the cleaner on. After a few minutes, you’ll probably see dark flecks in the water. When the cleaner is done working its magic, leave the coils out to dry for a day before you resume using them. That’s it!
If you love sweetened e-liquid, coil cleaning absolutely needs to be part of your vaping routine because it’s going to save you a massive amount of money.
Speaking of saving money…
Building Coils Isn’t as Difficult as You Think
If you’ve been vaping for a while, chances are that you’ve seen your share of rebuildable atomizers – and if you’ve read anything online about coil building, you’ve seen one warning after another about how coil building is for vaping experts and could even potentially be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here are the facts about coil building.
- It’s incredibly cheap. If you buy your wire and cotton in bulk, new coils can cost just a few cents each. Coils do take time to build, and your time is worth something – but the coil building process will get faster as you gain experience.
- Coil building is perfectly safe if you use a regulated mod. People who use mechanical mods have cause for concern because mechanical mods don’t check for short circuits and unsafe loads. If you have a regulated mod, your device is checking safety parameters for you. To make coil building even safer, purchase a standalone resistance checker and test the resistance of your coils before using them.
- Coil building isn’t as difficult as some people make it sound. A coil winder makes it easy to build a perfect coil – and if you aren’t comfortable building coils from scratch, you can also buy pre-made coils that are ready to install. Just insert the leads into your rebuildable atomizer and trim the excess wire.
Coil building isn’t for everyone, but if you think of vaping as a hobby or a passion and want to get everything out of it that you can, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. It’s quite a rush to build a coil from scratch and see that it actually works.
USB Ports Are Flimsy
As you likely already know, the world’s vape mods fall into two categories. There are mods with removable batteries, and there are mods with permanent built-in batteries. You’re probably already familiar with the basic benefits and drawbacks of both types of devices.
- Mods with built-in batteries tend to be smaller and cheaper. They’re cheaper because the batteries are included, and they’re smaller because they don’t need to have the battery doors and other extra hardware that removable-battery mods require.
- Mods with removable batteries tend to be larger and heavier. They also usually cost more than fixed-battery mods because they don’t include the batteries. However, mods with removable batteries are often more powerful and usually operate at higher wattages.
Here’s the thing, though, that no one ever thinks about when they’re trying to decide what type of mod to buy. When you buy a mod with a fixed internal battery, you have only one way to charge it: the built-in USB port. Micro USB ports are notoriously flimsy, and they can break at the most inopportune times. If you have a mod with a built-in battery – and its USB port breaks off – you’ll have no way to charge the device and will have to buy an entirely new mod. If you buy new mods several times a year, you might not be too worried about that – but it’s something to consider if you plan to keep your next vaping device for a while. If the device has removable batteries, then you can charge the batteries via USB or with a standalone charger.
When Choosing Your Nicotine Strength, Error on the High Side
If you’re buying a vaping device for the first time, your choice of hardware isn’t terribly important. You’ll most likely buy a pod-based device with refillable pods because that’s the most popular type of vaping device among beginners. You’ll most likely have a great experience with that device because the vaping industry is very mature at this point. Every device works well. Your choice of e-liquid is much more important than your choice of hardware. Make sure that you choose a sufficiently high nicotine strength because that’s going to make it easier for you to switch successfully from smoking to vaping. Once you’ve made the switch, you can start buying lower-nicotine e-liquids and reducing your nicotine consumption at whatever pace you like.