When you’re stepping into the world of vaping for the first time, it can seem a bit intimidating before you get a handle on things. Whether it’s doing the basics like turning on your new e-cig device, selecting e-liquids compatible with your tank, or dealing with the technical nuts and bolts like coil swaps, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But that’s the thing with vaping: nothing is the same, and everything seems to behave differently from the other, whether it’s device performance or the experience you get from the various e-liquids on offer. Instruction manuals do help, but those can only take you so far. Luckily, we live in the age of information accessibility, thanks to the Internet. Any vaping questions you may have you will get answers for, and by regularly reading vaping blogs like this one, you can get the skinny on all things vaping. For this particular post, we went ahead and compiled a list of vaping tips that newbies and mildly experienced vapers should find useful in the course of racking up miles as far as their vaping journey is concerned. The tips cut across a myriad vaping aspects, and you can bet you’ll unearth some useful nuggets that can take your vape game to the next level.
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Know your PG/VG ratios
As a vaper, the importance of getting the basics right cannot be emphasised enough. One of the essentials you need to grasp well involves the composition of e-liquids. Vegetable glycerine (VG) and propylene glycol (PG) are the two main constituents of vape juice. If you’re a smoker switching to vaping, you want to go with e-liquids that don’t have the VG overriding the PG. E-liquids high in VG – known as sub-ohm e-liquids – produce thicker clouds and their hits are smoother. If you want a juice with good throat hit, you should opt for regular e-liquids, aka 50/50 juices. Overlooking these fundamentals can result in an underwhelming (or overwhelming) vape experience depending on what you’re looking to achieve.
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Invest in premium e-liquids
It’s normal to want to save a quid here and a quid there, but when it comes to vape juice, trust us, it’s worth throwing a little extra on a high-quality product. The problem with low-quality e-liquids is that some contain impurities. With others, you are not exactly sure what has gone into their creation, and overall, the taste just won’t do it for you with most. As a vaper, it’s important to prioritise your health above all else, which is why you should stick to a reputable UK e-liquid manufacturer like us who makes use of food-grade ingredients, pure, medical-grade nicotine and have a remarkable reputation. Besides, there are always plenty of ways you can save on your e-liquid bill.
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Dark setting = Richer flavour
Just like wine, it is possible to enhance your vape juice flavour using ultra-simple methods. One of these is storing your juices in a dark room or cabinet and allowing it to sit for a couple of weeks. Known as e-liquid steeping, this process allows the flavours to marinate nicely together and is especially recommended for newly purchased bottles of e-juice.
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Swap the plastic
Most e-liquids are sold in plastic bottles, but worth noting is that some flavours – acidic flavours to be exact – don’t do too well in plastic. They eat away at the plastic which can put your health at risk with extended use. Therefore, for acidic flavours that you’ve purchased in plastic bottles – citrus, menthols, cinnamon and essential oils – make it a point of switching them into glass bottles instead, especially if you intend to store them before use. Likewise, some vape tanks – more so those used in vape starter kits – are made from plastic. If you have a thing for acidic flavours, you might want to invest in a glass or Pyrex tank just to be on the safe side.
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Change your coils
Beginners often overlook the importance of regular coil change and wait until it’s too late and then start experiencing problems with their vape. Your coils have a direct effect on your vape, and they need changing every once in a while depending on your vaping frequency and type of juice you’re using. Usually, you’ll know a coil change is due when your vape starts giving off a burnt or repulsive taste.
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Clean your tank regularly
Make sure to do this at least on a weekly basis. A clean vape tank will not only give you the best vape experience, but also ensure you avoid some vape problems such as mentioned in #5 above. Unwashed tanks and coils encourage build-up, which is one of the reasons you might be getting the repulsive taste that seems to have come out of nowhere.
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Multiple flavours, multiple tanks
Vape flavours taste amazing, and it’s normal to have more than a couple of favourites. That in mind, it’s a good idea to invest in an extra tank in order to get the most out of your flavours. This will also save you the time and effort of cleaning your device each time you want to switch to the next flavour. Using the same setup for all e-liquid flavours without cleaning could lead to what’s known as ‘flavour ghosting’.
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Avoid vaper’s tongue
Vaper’s tongue is what you get when you vape one flavour for too long. It dulls out your taste buds, but it’s nothing to go running to the doctor about or make you suspect that you contradicted a late case of COVID-19. In fact, it’s common in vaping circles. You can avoid vaper’s tongue by switching to a different flavour for a little while before reverting to your usual go-to. Hydrating and drinking plenty of water helps too.
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Perfect your inhalation technique
Unlike combustible cigarettes, drawing on a vape device requires some technique. The default style for most people is the mouth-to-lung (MTL) style, which is what you do when smoking a regular cigarette. Not every device is made for that, though. Some e-cigs are direct-to-lung devices, so it’s important to orient yourself with these two vaping styles from the onset. More than that, irrespective of the approach you’re using, proper e-cig inhalation can help you avoid
common vape problems with your device such as e-cig leakage.
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Keep extra batteries handy
Nobody wants to reach for their e-cig only to find they cannot vape because the battery has run out. Having an extra battery on hand for your most commonly-used vaporisers can help you avoid moments like these. Carry it with you when you’re going out of the house if you know your choice of device can’t sustain for the length of time you’ll be out. Even when at home, some batteries take a while to recharge, so plugging in and waiting it out can be a minor inconvenience when you want a quick vape.
Conclusion
Despite the number of things you’re required to understand when you make the switch to vaping, don’t view it as a chore. With time, all these things become second-nature to you the more experienced you become. These beginner tips should help fast-track your way there, but feel free to have fun and experiment to figure out what works best for you.
