A beginners guide to Vaping DEVICES Ok, so now for the fun part. We get to talk about all the different types of E cigs and personal vaping devices that are on the market. I won't cover all of them, just a general overview and the ones I think that would apply to the beginner vaper. Before we get into the specifics lets talk about how I did some of the testing and a little bit about Ohm's Law. Ohms law is basically the relationship between voltage, wattage, resistance (ohms) and amps. I won't go into the math because there are a ton of ohms law calculators you can use that will do the math for you if you do a quick search for them. If you like doing math, you can google the equation if you wish. It quite simply states that when you change one parameter it effects the others, they are all linked. If you have X amount of voltage and Y amount of Ohms you will have a certain amount of Amps. If you change the values for either voltage or ohms it will change how much amperage you get. This is important to know since many of the tanks and cartomizers come in different resistances. And some of the devices have variable voltage and or wattage. This can effect how your over all vape will be, how much fluid you use and how long the battery will last between charges. So in my tests I had to make sure I was using the same voltage and resistance so the results were fairly accurate. My tests were done with a 3 ohm load and between 3.7 and 4 volts depending on what the battery could put out. Another thing I see a lot when people are talking about devices or batteries is that they tend to say it lasted X amount of hours based on their personal vaping habits. Um, since I don't know what your personal vaping habits are, what voltage you used or what the resistance of the load was that really doesn't tell me much. Other than one battery might have lasted you a bit longer than the other one. My solution to this was to use a constantly timed puff (4 seconds) and use a click counter to keep track of the amount of puffs. So by using a set amount of time for the puff, a set voltage and the same resistance this should give me a better idea of how they compare to one another. Since we need a base line, and you always hear the E cig companies saying how their device compares to a pack of cigarettes I used an analog cigarette as a baseline. I actually used to different cigarettes. One was a pallmall light, the blue box. And another was a hand rolled or rather injected cigarette. I had some tobacco, tubes and injector handy since my girlfriend still smokes so I tested one. The reason I did this is because I know for a fact brand name store bought cigarettes are designed to last longer and recently to go out if you stop inhaling on them. They do this by packing them tighter and adding chemicals to the paper and tobacco. The DIY injected cigarettes are more pure not packed as tight and tend to burn faster. I used the same 4 second puff and the click counter to see how many puffs I got from a cigarette then did the math to see how many puffs it would be per pack of cigs. The store bought cigarettes came out to 25 puffs per cig which equals 500 puffs per pack. The DIY cigarette lasted me 15 puffs which equals 300 puffs per pack. Keep in mind this was chain smoking them and not leaving them sit in the ash tray for any amount of time, just one drag after another. I have to admit that after vaping for 6 months this experience was HORRIBLE. I never want to smoke another analog cigarette again in my life. It tasted nasty, made me dizzy and my stomach upset. EWWWW. But hey, I took one for the team. And I know what some of your are thinking "But Paul, I only get 10 drags off a cigarette when I smoke one.". Well that is because you either take longer drags, or you leave it sit longer between puffs. It should not matter for my experiment since I set a baseline and stuck with the same procedure throughout the process. One pack is going to equal one pack regardless of how many puffs we each got off each cigarette. With ONE exception, if you are the type of person that lights a cigarette and leaves it lay in the ashtray an E cig will ways give you more time because it is not being used unless you are actually dragging on it or pushing the button. An E cig will not continue to fire when you set it down. At least it better not! Ok, now lets talk about the devices: STICK STYLE E CIGS AND STARTER KITS
These are what most people think about you say the word E cig. The little stick style E cigs that closely resemble an analog cigarette. You can get them in basic kits which come with a battery or two, some cartomizres, a USB charging device and a wall adapter. You can also get more advanced kits that come with more options like a PCC. Above and to the left you can see the BLU PCC. These are cases that hold one or two batteries and couple cartomizers and are about the same size as a pack of cigarettes. They can also be charged separately and can be used to charge your batteries while on the go. Keep one battery in the PCC while you are using the other one. When the battery drains simply swap them out for a fresh battery. This comes in handy when you consider the batteries are small and don't last very long. The BLU PCC's also have some social functions like buzzing when you get close to another BlU e cig user. Not sure why you would want this, but it is an option. Some PCC's can even charge other devices like a cell phone or ipad via a cord with a universal adapter set. You can also get disposable E cigs that you just pull out of the box, vape and throw a way when you are done. No filling cartridges or charging batteries.
These are very basic devices consisting of a small battery and a cartomizer. The battery sizes vary from what would look like a “king” sized cigarette to something that would look like a “100”. They are between lets say 150 mah up to around 300 mah. Mah stands for Milli Amps per Hour, which is basically a rating of how many amps the battery will put out in one hour. So obviously the longer the battery and higher the mah rating the longer the battery will last. Most of these devices are what is called automatic, meaning there is no button to press. They use a vacuum operated switch inside that turns them on when you suck on it. The air flow through the battery will activate the switch and provide current to the cartomizer. Because of this some of them require a few “primer” puffs to activate the switch and warm up the coil. Basically you take a few short puffs then draw on it. You don't have to do this, but they seem to work better that way. There are a few styles of these smaller E cigs that do use a manual button though. These would have a small button on the battery that you press before you draw on it, then let it go when you are done.
I started
with one of these smaller kits that I purchased from a local smoke
shop. It was branded for their store, but most of them are pretty
much of the same design and all come from china. My kit came with one
short battery, a longer battery, a usb charger and wall adapter that
the usb charger can plug into. Also my choice of a pack of six pre
filled cartomizers, or a pack of blank cartos and a bottle of E
juice. I chose the blank cartos and the E juice because you can re
fill them. It is not as easy as simply screwing on a carto and
vaping, but it offers a bit longer use and more options or different
flavors if you want to get different E juices. The kit I purchased
was under 50 dollars and I did not get a PCC with it, just the
batteries, a charger and a pack of cartos. I also purchased an extra
short battery for around 12 dollars I think. Prices for these kits are between 30 dollars on the low end and can go up to over 100 dollars. The BLU kit in the above picture retails for nearly 100 dollars. The Green Smoke kit to the left of it is closer to around 40 or 50 dollars I think. I am sure you can find cheaper deals on the internet. The shorter batteries lasted for around 180 puffs before shutting off. One lasted 165 puffs, the other lasted 195 puffs. As I have discovered, not all batteries are equal regardless of their ratings. There was a noticeable drop in flavor and vapor after around 60 puffs. This would be do to the voltage starting to drop. After about 100 puffs it dropped off again and really was not very satisfying. So realistically they last about 100 puffs. The longer battery lasted me 300 puffs before it shut down. And went a good 100 puffs before I started to notice a performance drop off. By about 250 puffs it wasn't very impressive at all any more. They use a 3.7 volt battery with a 3 ohm carto. The 3 ohm carto helps with battery life, but as most experienced vapors will tell you 3.7 volts with a 3 ohm coil is not going to give you a real satisfying vape. However if you don't know any better, they work. So as we can see compared to a regular pack of cigarettes ( 500 puffs) I am getting between a third of a pack of cigs to around a half a pack of cigs depending on the battery I use. The cartos last about as long as the battery life. You might get slightly more than half a pack to maybe a pack of cigs out of a carto depending on how well its filled. Unless you over heat it and burn it, then you might as well toss it because it will never taste right again. The cartos can be refilled and/or topped up as you use them though. So it is not like you have to slap on a new cartomizer every time you change batteries. Cartomizers vary in price but I think the average is probably around 10 bucks for a pack of 5 or 6. And even the pre filled ones you can pop off the end cap and refill them if you really want to. I also picked up a disposable recently just to test. I wanted to compare it to the kits just to see how it worked and if they were worth it to the average person looking to start vaping. I went down to the local drug store and picked up a Blu disposable E cig with the traditional tabacco flavor. Mainly just because they have so much hype around them. This E cig is all one piece so I could not measure the voltage, but the website says 3.7 which would make sense. I did cut it in half after it died and measured the coil and it was the same 3 ohms that my other ones were. The Blu is the same size as my longer battery in the above kit but it is rated at 400 puffs and from what I can find has a slightly higher mah rating. My other batteries also have the intake hole in the front where the little glowing tip is. The Blu has the intake hole towards the back where the filter would be. This seemed to give it a bit more air flow and less restrictive draw than my other E cigs. Especially the larger battery from above. That thing is like sucking on a milk shake. A few times I did accidentally cover the hole with my finger cutting off the air flow. The cost of the disposable was 10 dollars for one E cig. I pulled this thing out of the box and was honestly hoping to not like it just because they are so hyped up. I have to admit the first drag was pretty decent. I didn't really care for the taste, but it wasn't burnt or nasty, I just didn't care for that flavor. Even though it was tobacco, I can swear I tasted a very slight hint of mint to it. Vapor production was very impressive. My exacts words were “Wow, didn't expect that.”. The throat hit was hard, this thing kicked. I was NOT expecting that. Normally with these small E cigs using cartomizers and 3 ohms they tend to have muted flavors, not much throat hit and less vapor than a better device. I normally use between 6mg to 18mg of nicotine so that is what I am used to. After doing some checking I discovered the Blu's use 24mg of nicotine, which is pretty high for me. And they use E juice that is 100 percent VG from a very well known company. Well by now we know VG has better vapor, and 24mg of nic is going to give you a harder throat hit. I think that combined with the intake hole being in the back is what gave this such impressive vapor production and the hard throat hit. The battery lasted for 340 puffs before stopping. I would say it was a satisfying vape at least up to around 200 or more puffs before I noticed things starting to change. Around 270 to 300 puffs I could tell it was going to give up the ghost pretty soon. That comes up to about .7 of a pack of normal cigs. I have to admit, for something I thought was going to let me down, it didn't. As far as performance it was for sure better than my other little E cigs were. The nicotine level was a bit high for me though. After a few hundred puffs I was really hoping it would die so I could go back to my normal vaping set up. So what do I think of these types of E cigs? Honestly I would pass on them as a beginning vapor. I wish I would have known what I know now. I would not have wasted the time or money messing with them. Sure they look a lot like a regular cigarette, and with the disposables you can just pull it out and vape. No messing with batteries, cartomizers or E juice. However they don't feel or work like a regular cigarette. They are heavier and the balance is kind of odd compared to an analog. Then when you factor in the price compared to the battery life I am really not impressed. Some of these kits with the PCC's are fairly pricey. Even a basic kit at 40 dollars or so doesn't seem worth it to me after having tried other products. And the disposables, for the price no way. Maybe if they were 2 or 3 dollars, but not 10 bucks a piece. Some of these companies are claiming they equal a pack and a half to two packs of cigs. Some claim up to 2 and half packs!! Are they insane? Take my word for it, it is much closer to half a pack of cigs, maybe, just maybe some people might be able to eek out a full pack with the bigger batteries. And at 10 bucks that doesn't seem very cost effective, at least not where live. A pack of cigs is around 5 bucks or so. If I were a smoker I think I would have a hard time paying twice as much money for something that was not quite as satisfying or as easy as what I was currently using. Even if I did know it was more healthy. Granted with the kits once you pay the initial price the cost is lower over time. However I feel for not much more of an initial investment you can get a better product.
EGO STYLE DEVICES
Now lets move away from the wanna be cigarette style and up the food chain a bit. Next in line is the Ego style batteries and kits. These are manual style batteries with a button to activate them. They have 510 threads on the inside and Ego style threads on the outside so they fit a variety of different atomizers, cartomizers and tanks. As you can see they come in a variety of sizes and colors. They are normally a half inch in diameter and between 3 and 5 inches long depending on the mah ratings. The norm you are going to see is between 650mah for the standard Ego batteries and up to 1100mah for the longer ones. So these are about the size of a cigar maybe. You can buy a battery, charger and tank separate if you wish, or they also come in starter kits as well. Most will come with a battery or two, a charger, a clearomizer tank and a bottle of E liquid in your choice of flavor. These are sealed units, meaning the battery, the switch and the connector are one part not serviceable by the consumer. When the battery will no longer take a charge you get rid of it and purchase a new one. Batteries are between maybe 10 and 20 dollars depending on the size and how fancy they are. Some models also come with what is called a "pass thru". You can see one in the upper left picture. This lets you plug a mini USB cable into your device and the other end into the USB port on your computer. So you can charge the battery while you use it. Pretty convenient if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer. With most of these pass thru devices you also get a constant 3.7 or 4 volts while its plugged in. So the quality of your vape will not change over time as long as it is connected to your computer. These batteries also run at 3.7 volts, but are closer to 4.1 or 4 volts directly off the charger. And being that they are larger they last quite a bit longer before needing to be recharged. They also go quite a bit longer before the performance starts to drop off. They have a small built in chip with a few features. One being an auto shut off when the voltage gets too low (the stick style e cigs also flash when they need charged). When it gets low the button will flash at you telling you it needs to be charged. They also have a shut off. If you click the button a set amount of times it will turn the battery off so you can put it in your pocket or purse and it won't fire if the button gets pushed. Click it the same amount of times and it will turn back on again. Some even have short circuit protection as well. And most seem to have a 10 second cut off. Which means if you hold the button down longer than 10 seconds it will stop firing until your press the button again. Unfortunately I don't have any of the smaller 650mah batteries to test and give you an accurate puff count. They all died on me and got replaced with larger 1000mah ones instead. I tested my 1000mah ego style battery with the USB pass through with a 3 ohm clearomizer tank, which is the same resistance as the cartos used for the stick style E cigs. I got 870 puffs before it died and it went to about 850 puffs before I could tell the performance was dropping off. And using a test meter I confirmed this is where the voltage started to drop below 3.7 volts. These are unregulated devices, so the performance will drop off over time, but it kept a pretty constant voltage for an amazing amount of time. Did we read that correctly, 870 puffs! Yes we did, That is almost 2 packs of cigs before needing a recharge. Keep in mind this will vary depending on what the resistance is of the atomizer you are using. I used a 3 ohm in all of these tests so I could keep it on par with the smaller stick style E cigs. If you use a 2.8 ohm or lower atomizer the battery life will not be as long. We will talk more about Ohms law again later. Obviously these devices work better than the smaller cigarette style ones do. They offer more options for tanks/atomizers and the battery life is much better. And surprisingly the prices are about the same. They range from a simple kit with one battery, a tank and charger for around 30 bucks, up to nicer kits close to 100 dollars. I had a basic kit and I had an Ego T kit. The Ego T came with batteries, two atomizers, 5 cartridges and a charger. It also has pass thru capability. It cost me around 80 bucks after tax from a local shop. As I stated before, I am not overly impressed with the Ego T style atomizer/tank system but the batteries work just fine and since they are ego style just about any tank will screw onto it. While these are a step up for sure, I still think you can do better for the money. If you want a cheap kit just to check vaping out I guess one of the 30 dollar Ego kits would be a good start. I would certainly suggest that over the smaller stick style kits. SIMPLE VARIABLE VOLTAGE DEVICES
Ok, this is where the fun starts. These are regulated devices that let you adjust the voltage up and down to suite your needs or taste. The obove pictures from left to right show the Ego V, Ego Twist, itaste VV3 and the itaste mvp. There are others on the market as well, but most are pretty simalar to these. The Ego twist style devises are pretty much an ego battery with a knob on the bottom that lets you adjust voltage from 3.2 volts to 4.8 volts. The others have digital displays with buttons to adjust the voltage up and down. Most of these go from 3 to 6 volts. They are actually 3.7 volt batteries but they run a booster circuit to increase the voltage above 3.7. Don't ask me how it works. I have an idea, but not a good enough idea to explain it to you or trust that what I was saying was accurate. Like I said I am not an electrical engineer. By "regulated" I mean that once you set the voltage, the device holds that voltage. With a normal battery it will start out around 4.1 volts right off the charger and gradually decrease in voltage as the battery drains. I think think they cut out and tell you to recharge them around 3.2 or 3.4 volts. With a regulated device if you set it to 4.3 volts it will deliver 4.3 volts almost right up until the end of the charge. Some might fall off a bit right at the very end but most tend to do a VERY good job regulating the voltage. What this means is you get the same vape from your first puff until your last puff before it needs to be charged. This is quite an advantage over the previous devices. But the really cool part is the adjustable voltage. This lets you tailor the voltage output to match your vaping needs, the fluid you are using and the tank you are using. For some 3.7 or in most cases on a half charged battery 3.5 volts on a 3 ohm carto or a tank really isn't that satisfying. The taste and vapor just seems to be lacking. Imagine what it would be with a 4 ohm carto? Pretty anemic right. Or lets go the other way and say you slap on a dual coil 1.5 ohm carto. Well on your unregulated device that might be a bit too much, and possibly even result in dry hits and a burnt carto. With the variable voltage you can fine tune the device to get that perfect vape that YOU enjoy. Either bump up the voltage until you like it ( don't go too far or you will get a burnt taste) or bump it down a bit if what you are using is a bit too strong for you. The trade off, and there are always trade offs. Your battery life will not last as long between charges. Since ohms law tells us that if all other things remain constant and you increase the voltage you will pull more amps out of your device. For example, your standard device running at 3.7 volts with a 3 ohm tank would draw 1.2 amps. If you used the same tank and increased your voltage to 4.5 volts you would be drawing 1.5 amps. Since we know the batteries are rated in mah (Milli amps per hour) we can figure the battery is not going to last as long with a higher voltage and drawing more amps. It also seems the circuitry used to regulate the devices uses some of the battery charge in order to operate. Even when set to 3.7 volts with a 3 ohm tank my Ego twist battery did not last as long as the normal Ego battery. Set at 3.7-3.8 volts I got 530 puffs out of the Ego twist. When I bumped it up to 4.5 volts which gave me a much more satisfying vape it lasted for 460 puffs. One thing to keep in mind here though is that with the battery set to 3.7 volts it is holding that 3.7 volts the entire time, not gradually dropping off. This also could play a part in the decreased charge time. So in either case we are still talking the equivalent to one pack of cigarettes before it needs re charging. Well nothing in life is free my friends. Me personally I will deal with the slightly decreased battery time for the advantage of being able to tailor my vape to my tastes. When I stepped up from a normal Ego style system to the Ego Twist the experience was dramatic. I went to my local vape shop and tried the Ego Twist with some different tanks and different E juices. Once I did that I hit that "Ah HA!" moment. I was like "ok, this is what vaping SHOULD be". I tried a juice that was a french toast blend called "heavens nectar" in an Aspire BDC tank on the Ego Twist and I was truly in heaven. It blew me a way. I picked up an Ego Twist Kit that came with 2 batteries, two tanks, a charger and my choice of liquid for 70 dollars. So as we can see the price points are very close to older styles that simply don't perform as well or offer you as many features. I can without a doubt say this is where I would suggest the beginning vaper start their journey. For basically the price of a carton of cigarettes you can get a kit that will give you a very satisfying vape. And over time the kit will pay for itself because all you really need to do is get more E juice and possibly replacement coils for the tanks when they go bad. Replacement coils are around 3 bucks or so depending on the brand of tank you have. Or you can get cartomizers, they run around 3 dollars as well. These devices are sealed units as well, so when they quit taking a charge you will have to chuck them and replace the device ( power source) itself. But the tanks should you last quite a while as long as you don't break one. And I think the Ego twist batteries alone are around 26-30 dollars each. So not bad, really they are not much more than a regular 1000mah Ego battery that is unregulated. I am not sure about he Ego V and the itaste models, I really didn't price them. I do know the itaste mvp kits are around 60 to 70 dollars as well. Again, this is MY pick for a beginning vaper to start. I just don't see how you could go wrong with one of these kits. When you compare the features, price point and battery life to the others they just don't hold up in my opinion. ADVANCE PV'S, MODS AND VARIABLE VOLTAGE/VARIABLE WATTAGE DEVICES
Finally we get to the big boys toys, Mods and Advanced Personal Vaping devices. Where does the word "Mod" come from? Well it is because the first devices of this type were Modified or home build versions. For some the technology was there to push things farther, but not the products. So they said "screw it" and made their own. They were either tubes or boxes that held batteries and some wiring. As they became more popular they started producing more to sell and eventually large companies started designing them and mass producing them. These babies really run the gambit. From very simple mechanical devices up to high tech models with computer chips and complicated menu systems. Sizes can range from something small that you can hide in your hand to something that resembles a light saber from a star wars movie. Some even look like a walki talki. So if you want to mess with someone start talking into it. Most of the tube styles are going to be about 5 inches long and about the diameter of a C battery. So about the same length of an Ego 1000Mah battery but maybe twice as thick. Build quality ranges from cheap imported junk with shoddy quality control up to top notch master machined pieces of art. And of course the prices are all over the place too. From 50 bucks or so up to hundreds ( and I mean 300+ in some cases) depending on build quality and availability. Some of these are only made in limited quantities and made VERY well so they are highly sought after by collectors. Most of your current APV's (Advance Personal vaping Device) are going to be variable voltage, variable wattage, have a menu system and have replaceable batteries. They come with a host of functions like being able read the resistance of your tank or carto, switching between wattage and voltage, changing what the lcd will display when the button is pressed, showing the current battery life and being able to power on and off the device. And most will have lots of protection features as well. Like reverse battery protection, low load protection, short circuit protection, under and over voltage protection and over heating protection. Some even have puff counters on them. Features will vary with models as will performance. And don't let price fool you, just because it cost a lot doesn't always mean its the best device for you. Take for example the Provari (pictured on the far left in the above picture). For a long time it was the cream of the crop and the standard by which all others were compared to. It is pricey, 150 ish dollars or more just for the device but it is solid and built very well. However the provari has been out a while and is getting a bit long in the tooth. It has an older led screen and only has adjustable voltage and doesn't have ego threading, you need an adapter. It will read the resistance of your device though. And like I said it is made very well, it is far from junk. just a bit pricey for what it is compared to other stuff on the market currently. Some of these devices will have different tubes that let you use different length batteries. Some are telescoping, meaning they have a barrel you can thread in and out to accommodate different battery sizes. The advantage of using removable batteries of various sizes is you can use better quality batteries and batteries with a higher Mah rating. My current mod uses a 18650 battery rated at 2600Mah. I didn't bother checking to see how many puffs it gives me, because it is a LOT and I didn't want to use the click counter for that long. And obviously your battery charge time is going to depend on your atomizer and your settings. Just like the Ego Twist, if you crank the voltage up to 4.8 volts don't expect the battery to last as long as it would on 3.2 volts.Also when your battery runs dead you just slip another one in. Providing you have one of course. And when they won't charge anymore you just buy a new battery, not a new device. I can also use a 18350 battery which is about half the size, which in turn makes my PV smaller. This comes in handy if I want something more compact if I am out and about. Down side is my smaller batteries are only 900Mah ( only, compared to the 150Mah e cig batteries that seems like a joke). So if I have variable voltage what is the big deal about variable wattage and why would I want it? Well with variable voltage you can tune your voltage each time you change tanks or cartos depending on the resistance or the E juice you are using. BUT, you have to adjust that voltage every time you switch. Lets say you use a 2.6 ohm carto or tank and decide to swap it out for a 3 ohm or higher carto or tank. You will obviously want to bump up that voltage to get the same vape out of it. Now lets say you are tired of that set up and slap on a 1.8 or 1.5 ohm dual coil carto or tank. Your voltage is going to be way too high and you are going to get a burnt taste or possibly even pop your coil. You have to remember to turn that voltage down first. With variable wattage it will automatically read your resistance and adjust the voltage for that wattage setting. It is not always exact, but it will get you pretty close. Most devices range from 3 to 15 watts. Some of the newer models will go to 20 watts. For example: Lets say after some experimenting I like 8 watts of power (which I do). If I my device is in wattage mode set to 8 watts and I screw on a 3 ohm tank it will set my output voltage to 4.8-.9 volts. Now if I leave the wattage setting at 8 watts and change that tank out for a 1.8 ohm tank it will automatically adjust my output voltage to 3.8. Giving me a fairly consistent vape from tank to tank without having to fiddle with anything. If its a little off I can adjust my wattage up or down in .5 increments. If I were to bump it up to to 8.5 watts I would get 3.9 volts. Ok, I know what some of you are thinking here. Since if you are using a 3 ohm tank at 8 watts it puts out almost 5 volts. So if I use a 1.8 ohm tank and leave it at 8 watts it only puts out 4 volts, so my battery will last longer right. Umm, nope sorry doesn't work that way. At 8 watts and 3 ohms you are drawing 1.6 amps off the battery. At 8 watts and 1.8 ohms you are pulling 2 amps from the battery, even though it shifted the voltage down. In order to draw the same amount of current from a 1.8 ohm load you would need to turn it down to 5 watts or 3 volts. Now if you went the opposite way this would be true. If you liked a 1.5 ohm carto at 3.7 volts it would pull about 2.5 amps. If you used a 3 ohm carto or tank and turned your wattage up to 10, or 5.5 volts it would give you a similar vape and only pull about 1.8 amps. The difference is the 1.5 ohm coil is probably going to heat up faster and give you a warmer vape. Ya, I know confusing huh. Trust me, just find a setting you like and stick with it. Here is a color coded Vaping Power Chart that compares the voltage, resistance and wattage to what the average vaper would enjoy. Obviously you want to be in the green somewhere. keep in mind not everyone is the same, some might like more power some might like less.
Something to take note of here is that even though these variable devices have adjustments from 3 to 6 volts and 3 to 15 watts or so that doesn't mean they will hit them in every situation. A lot of these devices have amp limits on the switches or the chip sets. One of the upsides to the 20 watt DNA 20 devices is they have a higher amp limit. The DNA20 chip set has a 6 amp limit. I think some of the other tube mods have a 5 amp limit, like the Zmax and vamo. I think, if I am wrong someone please correct me. However at least in the zmax (which I own) you need to stack two 18350 batteries to get 7 volts or it won't do it. They simply won't pull that many amps from a single 3.7 battery. And I really wouldn't suggest a beginning vaper run stacked batteries since they have to be in matched sets and you should monitor their charge states regularly with a volt meter to make sure they are staying even with each other. That is a bit much to mess with for a beginner that just wants to hit a button and vape. Also most of these devices will not fire a load under a certain resistance. I think most are around 1.2 or 1.3 ohms. So they will not drive a high performance sub ohm RDA or RBA. Ok, what the heck does all that mean? What that means is if you think you are going to screw a 1.5 ohm dual coil cartomizer onto your regulated device and crank it up to 6 volts or 15 watts good luck. It will fire, but it will only fire at around 4.4 volts max. Same thing with a 2.1 ohm tank or carto, it will only fire at around 5 volts. So the device is limiting it to around 2-2 1/2 amps. With a 3 ohm or higher resistance coil it will reach its maximum setting. Now if you take a device that lets you stack batteries it will reach the full 6 volts with any atomizer it will fire. Remember it still won't fire anything under say 1.3 ohms. So with dual batteries the amp limit is raised closer to 4 amps. That being said, if you take a look at the chart above no one in their right mind would want to fire a 1.5 dual ohm coil above 4 volts anyway. And at 6 volts I assure you that you will hit the button, hear a pop and that will be the end of it. You can just throw that carto or atomizer away because the coil is ruined. So the limitations really don't hurt you at all since you really don't need to fire an atomizer at those levels anyway. And one of the reasons they limit you to 1.2 or 1.3 ohms is because the lower the resistance the harder the draw or drain on your battery. Some batteries can handle it, some can't. So since they don't know what kind of cheap generic batteries you are using they limit it inside the device so you don't ruin a battery or possibly make one explode. A 18650 battery can range between 3 amps and 20 amps depending on how its made and where you get it. If you know your battery can handle it, fine and dandy. But if you are not sure do you really want to screw on a .6 ohm coil and turn it up to 6 volts? That would be a 10 amp draw on your battery. If you have one of those nice 20 amp rated batteries I guess your good to go. Now if you have one of those crappy 3 amp batteries you better hope its the 4th of July or New Years because there may be some fire works. At the very least a warm hand and some smoke. So would I recommend one of these APV's to a beginning vaper? Sure if you could get a good deal on one and felt comfortable using it. Some of the prices are low enough you can get a kit for around the same price as the Ego Twist kit, and it has more features. I got my Segelie Vmax V3 at the same shop I got the twist at. It came with the device, a 18350 battery, a 18650 battery ( one short one, one long one) a Pro tank, a charger and my choice of fluid. I think it was around 80 bucks before tax. And I love it. I am thinking about getting an iTaste VTR next. Or maybe a Mech? Would I say to go drop 200 dollars on one of the really nice ones? Nope, some are worth it just for the build quality, others you are just paying for a name, gimmick or hype. You should be able to get a pretty nice set up for under 100 dollars if you shop around. Now if you get into it and enjoy it, then sure later on down the road treat yourself to something nice if you can afford it. Nobody says you have stop at just one right? Well your better half might I guess. But just tell them how much money your saving by not buying cigarettes and how much better you feel. I mean really, figure up how much money you spend on cigarettes in a month and compare it. Lets talk briefly about Mechanical devices, or Mechs as most people call them.
Mechs from a technical standpoint are as simple as you can get. They really are just basically a flashlight. They are a container with a battery and a switch. No high tech electronics, no adjustments, no read outs and in many cases not even any wires! Just a battery a switch and a connector. On the down side they have no protection circuits, no adjustable voltage, absolutely no voltage or current regulation and they are just as expensive, if not more. If you want to slap a cheap battery in one and screw on your home made .5 dual ohm coil atomizer one of these babies will fire it. It might explode in your hand, but by God it will fire it! Is this a beginners device, nope not at all in my opinion. So why would you want one of these antiquated low tech potentially dangerous things? Umm, for one did you see them? They look bad ass. Look at the one that looks like a 50 cal. bullet, what guy wouldn't want that on their shelf? Ok, maybe an anti gun nut or a PETA member. But if that isn't your thing they have lots of "pretty" ones too. On some of these devices the craftsman ship is second to none, they are just stunning to see and hold. And some are made in very limited quantities and have a waiting list to even get them. These are not just vaping devices, they are collectors items and works of art. That doesn't mean they are all expensive. Some of them are 40 or 50 bucks, especially the knock offs and clones. And some of them can be regulated using a device called a Kick that sits between the top cap and the battery. You can also get small fuses for under the battery for some added protection. Another reason someone might want one of these is because they actually want to run a low ohm set up. Some people are into tinkering and like building their own coils and chasing clouds. ( chasing clouds means blowing abnormally huge clouds of vapor.) If you know what you are doing, choose the correct battery for your resistance it is perfectly safe. You just have to do a little research or ask for some help. Putting a 14 year old kid behind the wheel of a car is dangerous, but most of us have cars and had to learn sometime right? Lets say I went out and got an AW IMR 18650 that was 1600Mah. I know for a fact this battery has an amp limit of 24 amps. It has been tested, reviewed and comes from a reputable company. I could build a .5 ohm dual coil for it and at 4 volts right off the charger it would only draw 8 amps off the battery. Well within the 24 amp rating for that battery. Heck I could probably go to the 2250mah version with a 10 amp rating and still be safe. I think with that one I would want to ask someone with more experience than me though, that is getting kind of close. For me I think I would want to stay to around half the rated amp limit just to play it safe. This is after all a beginners guide so don't take any of the info I say about mechs and building coils as gospel. By all means if you want to mess with it do some research and ask questions from someone with much more knowledge than I have. I am simply using it as an example so you can get an idea of the theory behind it. I have a rebuildable atomizer and am thinking of getting a mech soon. You can bet your ass I will ask questions and research it to make sure I am getting a battery that works with the coil I plan on building first. I am a tad crazy but I am not stupid. So should a new vaper run out and grab one of these for his first device? Hell no! I would rather see you with a disposable E cig. But for what these cost you can get much more advanced and safer devices. In my opinion these are for people that are making vaping a hobby. They serve a purpose, but it sure isn't attracting the beginning vaper. Get some time under your belt, try out a few other devices and see how like the scene. If your into it and want to make the jump after a while then go for it. Just make sure you do your homework and be safe. Ok, so next up the conclusion and my opinions