The Simple Guide to Buying Your First Vape Pen
If you’re thinking about getting into vaping for the first time, you’ve probably done a bit of research by reading vape pen reviews online. It’s always useful to read the opinions of experts, but the secret about most vaping review sites is that the site owners earn affiliate commissions by steering people toward certain products. Some reviewers may, therefore, act as if you’ll have a terrible vaping experience if you buy anything other than a recommended product.
Has reading vape pen reviews left you feeling more stressed about buying your first e-cigarette than you were before you began your research? If so, we have a bit of good news for you. The truth is that all modern vaping devices actually do their job exceptionally well, and you’re likely to be happy regardless of which vape pen you buy.
Here at Premium Vape, we stock a variety of vape pens in our New Zealand warehouse, and we’re ready to ship them to buyers in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere in the world. We only carry the vape pens that we’re happy to use ourselves, and we think that you’ll be very pleased with any of them. With that being said, some vape pens may be better for your needs than others, and you’ll be happiest if your first vape pen is a perfect fit. In this article, we’ll explain how to choose the vape pen that’s right for you.
Portability or Power?
The lithium ion battery is dense in energy and offers efficient power delivery in a small package. You can only get so much power out of a tiny battery cell, though, so choosing a vape pen based on its size means that you’ll have to compromise in another area. The smallest vape pens are so tiny that you can wrap your entire hand around them. They offer the ability to vape discreetly wherever you go. You can carry a small vape pen easily in your pocket, allowing you to vape anywhere regulations allow without calling attention to yourself.
The smallest vape pens do have one problem, though; they’re often lacking in battery capacity. A small vape pen may only have a battery capacity of about 200 mAh, which probably won’t be enough to get you through a full day of vaping even if you’re a light user. If you don’t want to spend so much time keeping your device’s battery charged, you’ll probably be happier if you buy a larger vape pen. A vape pen with a refillable tank may have a battery capacity of 1,000 mAh or more while only being about as large as a pocket flashlight. That’s still very small, but it isn’t so small that you can conceal the entire device in your hand.
Convenience or Flexibility?
The most convenient type of vape pen is a pod system. Pod vapes use pre-filled e-liquid pods that you buy in packs. The pods are filled with e-liquid and ready to use; you can simply drop a pod into your device and begin vaping. When a pod is empty, you’ll just throw it away. Vaping doesn’t get any simpler than that. It’s the convenience and simplicity of pod systems that make them ideal for new vapers.
While they are incredibly easy to use, pre-filled pod systems do have two drawbacks that you should consider before buying. The first is that a vaping device with pre-filled pods is more expensive over the long term than one that uses bottled e-liquid. That’s because a bottle of e-liquid costs only slightly more than a pack of pre-filled pods while containing significantly more vape juice than the pods.
The second drawback of using a pre-filled vaping device is the fact that pre-filled devices – also known as closed vaping systems – are proprietary and aren’t designed to work with other companies’ pods. In the refill pods section of our website, you will find third-party pods – both pre-filled and refillable – compatible with the JUUL® vaping system. The JUUL®, however, is unique in that respect. Other pre-filled pod vaping systems do not have third-party pods available.
While a refillable JUUL® pod does exist, it’s better to buy a vape pen designed for refilling if you want to use your device with bottled e-liquid. The Uwell Caliburn, for example, is designed to work with bottled e-liquids and will give you a much better experience if you’re filling your own pods.
So, do you prefer convenience or flexibility? Buying a pod system with pre-filled pods is, by far, the easiest way to vape. Just charge the battery, drop in a pod and go. The pre-filled pods, however, limit your potential flavour selection. There are hundreds of different bottled e-liquids in the world, but only a handful of flavours are available for any pre-filled pod vaping system.
Smooth Flavour or Cigarette-Like Throat Hit?
One of the most important things that you’ll need to do before buying your first vape pen is decide what type of vaping experience you want to have. All vaping devices and e-liquids exist along a spectrum.
- If you use a vape pen with lower vapour production, you’ll want to use a higher-nicotine e-liquid. You’ll experience a cigarette-like throat hit when you inhale the vapour and will feel the nicotine affect your body much more quickly.
- If you use a vape pen with higher vapour production, you’ll want to use a lower-nicotine e-liquid. You’ll experience little throat hit when you inhale the vapour. The flavours that you taste will be much more vivid because you’ll be inhaling more e-liquid.
The important thing to remember is that using a higher-output vape pen and a lower-nicotine e-liquid doesn’t mean that you won’t get enough nicotine because a device with greater vapour production offsets an e-liquid with a lower nicotine strength. The difference is that an e-liquid with a lower nicotine strength will produce less of a throat hit and will not cause the same quick blood-nicotine spikes that a higher-nicotine e-liquid will.
Devices that fall on the side of lower vapour production and higher throat hit include:
Devices that fall on the side of higher vapour production and smoother flavour include:
Disposable or Rechargeable?
Currency Premium Vape offers one disposable pen called the Jewel Mint Pod Stick. That means it arrives charged, filled and ready to use immediately. When a disposable vape pen runs out of e-liquid, it’s time to throw it away.
Here’s what you need to know about disposable vape pens. If you’re a full-time smoker and want to become a full-time vaper, you probably don’t want to use disposable vaping devices unless your needs for convenience are so great that you do not ever want to bother with recharging batteries or replacing pods. For everyday use, disposable vape pens are just too costly. They’re much more expensive than rechargeable devices.
So, if disposable vape pens are too expensive for everyday use, why should anyone buy them? The answer is that buying a disposable vape pen is the perfect option if either of these statements apply to you.
- You’re not an everyday smoker, but you do smoke socially. You like smoking at work to break up the monotony, or you can’t resist lighting up during the weekend when you go to the bar or the club.
- You’re an everyday smoker, but you’re not ready to commit to vaping. You’re looking for the cheapest possible option that allows you to find out what vaping is all about and decide whether switching is the right decision for you.
If you’re looking for a long-term solution for replacing a daily smoking habit and are definitely sure that you want to stop smoking and start vaping, a rechargeable vape pen is what you want. Otherwise, a disposable vape pen is a perfect and inexpensive introduction to vaping.
Learn More
If you are new to vaping check out the Premium Vape articles in our New to Vaping news category.
At Premium Vape, we are committed to helping adult smokers transition to the reduced-harm alternative of vaping and to furthering New Zealand’s goal of becoming smoke free by 2025.
Vaping products contain nicotine which is addictive, adult smokers and vapers over 18 years of age only.
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If you have any questions please get in contact with the friendly team at Premium Vape, we’re here to help.