Vaping 101: Introduction

Yesterday, May 6th, was my 2 year mark since I quit smoking and started vaping full time! I started at 18mg nic, and 2 years later I'm at 5mg nic. Hopefully, this day next year I'll drop vaping too, or at least I'll be vaping nic-free! I've been vaping on and off since 2011 though.

To celebrate this occasion, I decided to write a series of articles about vaping, that may help everyone in some way.

The second part is available!

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What's the difference between smoking & vaping?

Cigarettes contain a lot of ingredients. According to various sources there are between 500 to 700 ingredients in a cigarette, including nicotine, tar, caffeine, ethyl alcohol, etc. The actual amount depends on the type of the smoke. Is it menthol? Other flavor? More ingredients for you sir! [1]

On the other hand, vaping juices (ejuice) contain a lot less ingredients. A non-flavored ejuice contains 2-4: Water, Vegetable Glycerin (VG), Propylene Glycol (PG), Nicotine.
VG is used as a preservative in various foods, and is also a low-glycemic sweetener. PG on the other hand a tasteless, odourless & colourless alcohol (not as in beer :P ). [2]

Manufacturers add water to high VG ejuices, because VG is very viscous and can cause dry hits (like burning hair).

Full PG ejuices do not contain any water, but PG is an allergen for many people out there. However, if you are not allergic to PG, you could vape PG base without nicotine.

If you choose an ejuice with flavoring, things can easily get out of hand. The more flavors in an ejuice (for example Banana with Chocolate and a hint of Strawberry), the more ingredients in the juice.

All ejuice ingredients have a minimum quality standard, unless you use whatever you find in front of you. USP food grade PG/VG and certain food flavorings are used to make your favorite vape! Hint: you can make your own ejuice! More on this at a later part

Also, vaping is just steam. Smoking works by BURNING paper and tobacco. In vaping, there's no burning - unless your atomiser is empty and you keep vaping. In this case you burn the cotton of your coil :P

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Is Vaping 100% safe?

No. 100%, categorically, NO. If someone tells you that, consider hitting him in their head. Nothing is as safe as breathing the air mixture we are supposed to. However, when comparing Smoking with Vaping, it is much safer to vape than to smoke. Keep in mind though, that we do not know 100% what happens to someone that vapes for a long time. Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot. Only time (and studies) will tell the whole truth. [3]

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Why vape? I prefer to quit it altogether!

If you can do this, good for you. You are an idol in my eyes! And no, "if I can quit smoking, everyone can" is not a serious argument. You don't know what everyone else is going through, or how addicted they are to nicotine. If you can just quit smoking then, by all means, do it! Do not start vaping ;)

This is a mechanical mod

How it works?

There are a lot of parts in vaping:

• Mod: Your battery. You can either have a mechanical mod or an electronic (aka regulated) mod.
• • Mechanical mods are giving as much power as the battery can give. A full charge means your vaping experience is great. But as you vape and your battery is discharging, you are not getting the same pleasure.
• • Electronic/Regulated mods have the ability to give you a steady influx of power, unless your battery is almost discharged, which results in a better vaping experience. Electronic mods usually have a small screen that allows you to see your wattage/voltage, battery level and ohm meter.
• • Mechanical mods are better for drippers and cloud chasing. Electronic mods are better for casual vapers.
• Atomiser: Your liquid holder. This provides your coil with the needed juice. There is, however, a type of atomiser called "Dripper" that has no tank - you just drip the juice directly to the cotton (hence the name)
• Coil: This is where the "magic" happens. A coil is made of wire (usually Kanthal A1, Nickel, Titanium or Stainless Steel) and cotton.
• • 90% (rough estimate) of the ready made coils out there are Kanthal A1, because of various benefits (such as, no deterioration while chain vaping which means no potentially carcinogen substances arrive to your lungs unless you go way up in voltage/wattage)
• • The other coils are used mostly in Temperature control.

We'll learn more about coils, at a next part.

This is an electronic/regulated mod

So, now that I explained all the different components of this contraption, here's the theory:
You press the button, power is burning the wire of the coil, which heats up the -saturated with juice- cotton, and you get your vape!

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This concludes the first Vaping article. Leave a comment below if you want to learn something in particular, or just tell me know if you have any questions on things I wrote in this part. Although all these are part of my personal research I've done years ago, here are a few links for further reading:

[1] What's In a Cigarette?
[2] The Safety Of E-Liquid, What We Know Now
[3] Is Vaping Safe: What you need to know

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You can read the next part here!

Images taken from pixabay, free for commercial usage with no atttribution required