How to Vape: Back to the Basics

Looking for a guide on how to vape? Back in our younger years, we were always reminded that there is no such thing as a stupid question. For the inquisitive mind, how true those words ring even well into adulthood! The essence of these words is that if you don’t know or are not sure of an answer, there is no shame in seeking clarification to build upon your understanding of the subject matter and ultimately, knowledge. When it comes to vaping, it might feel a little embarrassing asking someone how to vape. After all, isn’t it like smoking where you simply inhale and exhale the smoke, or vapour in this instance? Well, vaping might seem like something that requires little thought, more so for people who have smoked cigarettes before, but knowing how to vape an e-cigarette properly is a bit of a different ballgame. While vaping mimics the experience of smoking on a cigarette down to the t, at the end of the day, a vaporiser is not a cigarette. That perhaps explains why your first vaping experience might be somewhat disappointing. To enjoy that ‘throat hit’ so many smokers long for, it will take some tweaks and recalibration of your vaping technique.

How to Vape: The Inhalation Technique

Unbeknownst to many, the way you inhale a vape can make or break the whole experience. Inhaling incorrectly can result in heavy coughing, a harsh throat hit, or even a terrible rush of nicotine. Unfortunately, there are many people who suffer these first-time blips which end up putting them off, some for good. This is why it is important to understand the concept of vape inhaling before you pick up your first e-cig. It is nothing like quantum physics, but the reason you need to acquaint yourself with the basics is because the inhaling technique will usually vary depending on what type of vape device you are using at any one time. In other words, unlike combustible cigarettes, there is no universal method of inhaling vape devices. Vaping typically supports two types of inhalation styles under which all vape devices fall:

Mouth-to-Lung Vaping Style

Also known simply as MTL vaping, this style of vaping involves drawing vapour into your mouth, holding it in for a few seconds to savour the flavours, then inhaling it into your lungs before exhaling. Mouth-to-lung vaping is largely the same technique used to smoke regular cigarettes. For this reason, it tends to be the default style for most people, including new vapers and smokers making the switch to vaping. That doesn’t mean it is a preserve of newbies, though. A lot of experienced vapers also vape MTL as most of the earlier devices were adapted for this. And not just earlier devices. Today, virtually every higher-ohm device is mouth-to-lung. That means devices that utilise coils with a resistance of 1.0 ohms, which is basically the large majority of vape pens and pod vapes. These are low wattage devices that don’t run on much power. They are also devices that generally utilise higher ratio PG juices as opposed to VG (vegetable glycerine). MTL is an excellent style if you want a similar sensation to smoking cigarettes. It is smoother and mellower and a good pick for when you want to savour your juice’s flavour better.

Direct-Lung Vaping Style

The other technique on how to vape e-cigarettes, direct-lung (DL) vaping skips out on the middleman. When you draw vapour from your e-cig device, instead of holding it in your mouth momentarily, you inhale it directly into the lungs – that is, take a drag on your e-cig, draw the vapour directly into the lungs (like taking a deep breath), and exhale almost immediately. This creates a big throat hit that some vapers love but is not for everyone, as well as a huge amount of clouds. DL vaping is more powerful than MTL vaping. It is characterised by huge clouds and the throat hit is also more, er, hitting as a result of the high amount of vapour involved. Most sub-ohm devices and mods (high wattage devices with low-resistance atomisers) are direct-lung and make use of high VG juices.

Conclusion

Knowing how to vape properly is central to enjoying your vape experience, and something a lot of people overlook when venturing into vaping. From familiarising yourself with the proper way to inhale, to establishing the best e-liquid to match your needs, it never hurts to do some little digging around to make your vaping journey a more seamless one.