Start Vaping - What You Need To Know

First of all, if you have reached the point in your life where you are ready to give up cigarettes and start vaping instead, congratulations. Your health and your wealth will thank you for it. We look at what you need to know about vaping, what kit you need and offer a few top tips to get you going in the right direction.

Why Giving Up Smoking is a Great Idea

If you’re already ready to throw away your lighters, matches and walk away from tobacco smoking you probably already know a fair bit about why it’s a good idea. To be brief, smoking kills. Short, sweet and to the point. The World Health Organisation has been very clear on the damage that can result from smoking, including premature death.

Health reasons aside, smoking is a costly habit and these costs look set to continue to rise annually. Vaping has been shown to be significantly cheaper over a period of time, despite the start-up costs being slightly higher. These are two very good reasons why giving up smoking is a very good idea.

What is Vaping?

To get started with vaping you need to have a basic knowledge of what vaping is and how it differs from smoking. When you smoke you burn chemical-laden tobacco and inhale the smoke. Many of these chemicals have been classified as toxic by the WHO. By comparison, when using an e cigarette nothing is burnt. An e cig works by using a lithium battery to heat up an e liquid to produce a flavoured vapour that may be inhaled and exhaled.

The e liquids used within the tank of an e cigarette includes a base liquid, a mix of propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG), flavourings and nicotine. There are different ratios of VG to PG and different strengths of nicotine available, including zero nicotine e liquids. None of the ingredients used with e liquids causes issues like those in tobacco cigs do.

Start Vaping With The Right Kit

When you first start vaping you really don’t need all of the bells and whistles. What you need is a basic starter kit and a handful of e liquids. A starter kit will have everything you need apart from e liquids (some do though) for around £20 - £25. Slightly more expensive than a packet of twenty cigarettes but it’ll last much longer.

Once you’ve received your kit make sure that you read all of the instructions included. That way you can be sure that you set your ecig up the right way and get the most out of your first vaping experience.

Starter E Liquids

There are so many e liquid flavours to choose from, not to mention different strengths and base types. Don’t let this overwhelm you though. Don’t feel like you need to buy in a hundred and one e liquids. You only need a handful. Choose flavours that you know or suspect you will like with something a bit different for variety. Menthol and tobacco flavoured e juice tend to be popular choices. Perhaps add something fun and fruity, a dessert-like vape if you have a sweet-tooth and consider the drink flavours too.

Choose your nicotine level with care. Match up the amount of nicotine you would usually have in your tobacco cigarette or go lower. It is very important not to increase the amount of nicotine you use suddenly. If you do you will find yourself experiencing nausea (maybe even vomiting), headaches and feeling really quite ropey. If you are unsure, start lower and work up until you find a level that works for you.

What about base type? You’ll see that there are different types of e liquid to choose from. Those that have more VG (Vegetable Glycerin) in them are called high VG e liquids. These are smoother and offer a thicker, fuller vapour. If you are someone who likes the idea of flavour filled big vape clouds it might be worth starting with these ones. PG (Propylene Glycol) is thinner, known for clarity of flavour and also tends to be slightly harsher which offers a firmer throat hit, something that those just starting with vaping tend to value.

If you’re still no clearer on which of these e liquids are the best choice for you mix and match. When you start vaping half of the fun is in the experimentation.

Connect With The Vaping Community

If you are ready to start vaping one of the best pieces of advice we can give you is to connect with the vaping community. There are social media pages and groups, forums and more, all full of vaping enthusiasts. We’ve always found the community to be very welcome to vapers at all stages of their e cig adventure, whether you are a new starter or someone who enjoys advanced vaping. These types of contacts are perfect for those who are looking to broaden their understanding of how everything works and to enjoy getting to know like-minded people.

Start Vaping - What You Need To Know

If you’ve reached this point you will know pretty much all that you need to know about the basics of vaping. There will no doubt still be some lingo to learn but you’ll get there. Our top two tips for enjoying your vaping experience is to maintain your e cigarette properly and regularly and to not be afraid to mix it up a little, be that with different e liquid types or eventually by branching out into more advanced kit and vaping methods. For now though, just enjoy getting to know your device, experimenting with new flavours and discovering all the things that vaping is that smoking wasn’t.