From the outside, vape devices can seem quite complex with all the various bits and pieces involved. However, once you get your head around the different components and what they do, vapes become a lot less scary and a lot more interesting!
You don’t need to know all the ins and outs of your device as a beginner, but it’s a good idea to understand the basic parts as you may want to tailor the settings once you gain more experience. Different vape devices have slightly different components, but every device will contain a battery, an atomiser, a tank or cartridge, and will need e-liquid to run.
1. The Battery
The battery has the all-important job of powering the vape device. A vape will either have an internal battery or an external battery depending on the device style. Those with rechargeable internal batteries generally contain lithium batteries as these perform best. With internal batteries, there will eventually come a day when the battery fails and the entire device needs to be replaced, whereas with external battery devices you can just swap out the old batteries for new ones.
2. The Vape Coil
The coil—also known as a vape atomiser—is the real star of any device, as it creates the vapour. When you fire up a vape, the coil heats up. The e-liquid then comes into contact with the hot coil and turns into the flavourful vapour that comes out of the mouthpiece. Additionally, an essential component in the coil is cotton. The cotton holds the liquid and works as a seal, so your juice doesn’t leak out.
3. The Vape Tank
The vape tank holds the e-liquid until it goes through the coil. Some vapes have refillable tanks that can be topped up when the juice gets low. Other devices take prefilled pods, which come with a cartridge containing e-liquid and a coil. The lingo around tanks can get confusing, with cartomisers and clearomisers also on offer. Cartomisers simply have a coil built into the tank, while clearomisers are clear tanks that allow you to see the remaining e-liquid, so you know when you are getting low.
4. The E-Liquid
E-liquid is the substance you put into your vape device that holds the nicotine and flavouring, although you can get nicotine-free e-liquid. E-liquid has many names including vape juice, e-juice, and vape liquid, but it all means the same thing. Every vape juice will have a base made of vegetable glycerine (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). Depending on the ratio of these two substances, you will either get massive, dense vapour production or thinner clouds with more throat hit.