Quit Smoking? What to Look For Before Buying a Vape
By Jemma Wolfe
Published On: 19-05-23
Quit Smoking? What to Know Before Buying a Vape
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- E-cigarette Factors to Consider
- A quick recap of ecig basics
- Vape Battery Life
- Vape Kit Practicality
- E-Cigarette Portability and Ergonomics
- Vape Kit Lifespan
- Vape Kit Costs and Savings
- Choosing a Vape Kit: Our Recommendations
- E-cigarette Knowledge at myCigara
Choosing to quit smoking is an extremely difficult decision. So, if you’ve already made it this far: congratulations! Part of the difficulty is knowing what your options are moving forward.
The good news: Many people know that vaping is a great method to help smokers quit smoking for good. The bad news: vaping can seem intimidating to beginners. There are plenty of e-cigarette varieties available nowadays; you want to know what your options are, to make sure you’re getting started on the right path — and rightfully so.
As part of our ongoing commitment to vaping education here at myCigara, we’re consistently bringing out new vaping blogs, and updating old ones, in order to cover all facets of vaping, and thus provide a fully fleshed-out, holistic view of vaping in general.
To be clear, this blog is not a buyer’s guide. Instead, think of it as a pre-purchase checklist; it serves to give you a baseline to work from when considering your first buy.
We’ll provide a quick runthrough of how vapes work and the components of a vape kit, before looking at some of the factors that come into consideration, among them battery life, design, portability, and price.
So, without further ado: congratulations on your decision to quit smoking — let’s look at what to look for before considering a vape kit!
E-cigarette Factors to Consider
It’s well worth taking your time when choosing your first e-cigarette, for several reasons.
Firstly, you want to make sure that you get a device that — as much as possible — is suited to your personal preferences, wants, and needs. For a first-time user, a vape kit has a pretty important role to play; this is, ideally, the piece of kit that will stop you returning to cigarettes.
A second, interlinked reason, is that you want to find something that you feel happy using; yes, an e-cigarette has a specific purpose, as outlined above, but it should also be something that you feel comfortable reaching for and relying on whenever nicotine cravings strike.
A third reason, again following on from the previous two reasons, is that you may be using your first kit for a while. So, you want something that — again — you know you can rely on, not just to get the job done, but to do so over a longer period of time.
With this in mind, we’ve gathered up what we think are some of the key factors to think about ahead of selecting your first vape device; battery life, practicality, portability and ergonomics, product lifespan, and price.
A quick recap of ecig basics
All ecigs operate in the same basic manner, as we’ve detailed in our beginner pages, new to vaping, and a basic guide to vaping. We won’t go too in-depth here, but on a need-to-know basis, vape kits work by heating up liquid, which gets turned into vapour, and this vapour is then inhaled by the user.
All vape kits essentially work in the same way, and at base consist of three core components
● Battery — Vape coil — Vape tank
● So, the battery is connected to the coil, which is in turn set into the tank. The power from the battery heats the coil, which turns the eliquid in the tank into vapour.
Now that you have a handle on the general workings and construction of any given vape kit, let’s move onto what you should be thinking about before choosing your first ecig.
Vape Battery Life
The battery life of an e-cigarette is a pretty immediate consideration for most users — obviously, no one wants to be caught short when out and about. This is likely to hold especially true for newer users; someone who has very recently quit smoking will have more severe or sudden nicotine and cigarette cravings, so they’ll need a device that doesn’t suddenly die on them.
A very rough rule of thumb holds that the bigger a vape kit is, the larger its battery is, and the larger the battery, the larger its value in amp hours; i.e. bigger battery = longer time between charges.
However, larger devices with larger batteries also tend to consume a larger amount of power, so, in reality, you’re ending up with a battery uptime that’s pretty similar to a smaller device.
Overall, battery life is a crucial factor for most users, but—rest assured—hardware manufacturers have taken a lot of the legwork out for consumers. Most of the smaller, more pocket-friendly ecigs still have a battery that stands up to a full day’s worth of vaping.
On top of that, USB-C is quickly becoming the industry standard for most new kits; this opens up for fast-charge capabilities, meaning many devices can go from flat to 70-80% charged 6 in as little as half an hour.
Vape Kit Practicality
Relatively speaking, all vape kits are practical. After all, they were designed to be a viable alternative to smoking cigarettes — and their viability goes hand in hand with their practicality. Some types of vapes are more immediately practical than others, however.
In this context, we’re using practicality to refer to things like an e-cigarette being ready to use, or requiring very little prior knowledge and initial setup. To examine this, we’ll quickly break down some types of vape kits, specifically as they pertain to this idea of practicality.
● Disposable vapes: These are probably the most immediately practical type of vape; their “grab and go” design and function means you can use them straight out the packet. However, once a disposable vape is used up, the entire device needs to be disposed of and then replaced; there is no way to refill a disposable vape with e liquid or recharge its battery. This makes them less practical in the long run, as you’re constantly buying entirely new devices.
● Prefilled pod kits: We often think of prefilled pods kit as being the next step up from disposable vapes. Prefilled pods are vape pods that already have vape juice in them, so there’s no setup required — you simply plug the pod into the body of the vape kit.
When the pod is empty, you keep your kit and swap in a fresh vape pod. This means they’re not as immediately usable as disposables; you need to ensure the device is kept charged and that you have fresh pods. However, the loss in convenience is made up for by them being cheaper in the long run.
● Refillable pod kits: These function in the same way as prefilled pod kits. The key difference is of course that the vape pods here can be refilled. This means they’re a little trickier for beginners, but the payoff is that they are cheaper in the long run, you will get a longer product lifespan per pod, and you can choose yourself which vape juice to use with them.
● Other vape starter kits: Beginner vape kits that don’t use pods but instead use classic glass vape tanks also work in the same way as refillable pod kits. The difference here is that—being glass—they have an ever longer lifespan than vape pods.
A point to note for refillable vape pods and vape tanks is that you will need to eventually replace the vape coils. This is a fairly straightforward procedure in most cases, but does require some basic technical know-how.
To sum up then, disposable vapes are the easiest, but are kind of a short-term option. Refillable vape pods and vape tanks are the best value in the long run, but require more work and knowledge. Prefilled pod kits are a happy medium between the two; easier than refillable pods, but more long-lasting than disposables.
E-Cigarette Portability and Ergonomics
Now, vape portability might not seem like the biggest point to consider. After all, aren’t all vapes technically hand-held? Yes, but there are a range of variations: vape kits come in all shapes and sizes.
First off, the biggest and bulkiest vape kits are typically also the most advanced and powerful e-cigarette versions. If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely not already someone who’s vaping, so these won’t be of material interest to you.
Vape starter kits are beginner-friendly on multiple levels; in terms of ease of use, yes, but also in terms of design. Ideally, they should be small and portable enough to be carried around on your person; after all, those new to vaping require quick and easy access to their vape for effective relief from nicotine cravings.
One of the most classic designs for vape starter kits — the kind with glass vape tanks — is the vape pen, sometimes also referred to as a pen-style vape kit. These are a classic cylindrical shape, which many automatically associate with the term “vape pen.”
Vape pod kits come in a variety of shapes; they are often shorter or stubbier than vape pens, but may have a chunkier or more squared shape and design. Other vape pod kits still will have a longer, thinner design, but may still be flat and rectangular, rather than cylindrical.
Another design choice to consider is buttons. Some ecigs have a firing button which turns the device on and off, and needs to be held down while vaping. Other vape kits are instead draw-activated; this means that they are fitted with a sensor which allows them to automatically turn on when you inhale on the mouthpiece.
Which type you prefer is really up to you; some vape fans enjoy the seamless experience of an auto-draw, while others prefer the reliability and control of button operation.
Overall, there’s no “best” or “correct” design for a vape kit — it really does depend on your personal preference. Long or short; stubby or slim; cylindrical or rectangular; vape kits come in a range of styles, so you should always be able to find something that works for you!
Vape Kit Lifespan
Another factor you may want to consider is how long your product will last for. We touched on this in passing in the ‘Practicality’ section above, but let’s revisit it for the main types of vape starter kits:
● Disposable vapes: These are the shortest-lasting types of ecig, because they cannot be reused. You cannot refill the eliquid in a disposable, and you cannot recharge the battery.
A common question around these devices is “how long does a disposable vape last?” — the answer to this is usually given as an estimated puff count. A typical disposable vape lasts for around 500 puffs. How long this lasts will depend on how heavy a smoker you are; on average, we count 500 puffs as being equivalent to about 35 cigarettes.
Once your disposable is no longer producing vapour when you inhale on it, it’s finished, and needs to be replaced entirely.
● Prefilled pod vapes: The prefilled pods for these vape kits are equivalent to a typical disposable, so around 500 puffs. Similarly, once your pod is no longer producing vapour, it will need to be replaced.
In this sense, prefilled pod systems are similar to disposables. However, the battery can be recharged hundreds if not thousands of times. Like any other lithium-ion battery (as with other electronic devices, such as phones), the battery will eventually no longer hold a charge — but this will take a substantial amount of time.
As such, the device body itself in a prefilled pod kit lasts as long as any other reusable kit — you just need to replace the pods regularly, a process you can read more about in our prefilled pods guide.
● Refillable pod vapes: You can keep the whole system here for quite a long time; the battery lifespan is as noted above for prefilled devices. Theoretically, the pod itself will last an indefinite amount of time — barring material damage such as cracks.
You will, however, need to change coils occasionally. There’s a full breakdown on our guide to refillable pods, but you will need to change them at least once a month.
The above information regarding refillable pod vapes also applies to classic vape pens with glass vape tanks.
Vape Kit Costs and Savings
Of course, one of the best things about switching from smoking to vaping — besides how good it is for your health — is how much money you can save. We won’t go into too much depth here, as we have a full savings calculator dedicated to this topic, including a breakdown of disposables vs cigarettes and prefilled pods vs cigarettes.
The general outline of it, though, would be as follows:
● Disposable vapes: Lowest upfront cost, more expensive in the long run.
● Refillable vape devices: Higher initial cost, much cheaper over time.
Of course, any type of vape will be cheaper than the upfront cost of a packet of cigarettes (or rolling tobacco). In that sense, there’s no “wrong” option; and starting out with disposable vapes in order to dip your toe into the waters of vaping is totally valid and reasonable.
However, if you find you’re serious about sticking to vaping to help you quit smoking, you’ll likely find that prefilled pods or refillable kits save you a chunk of change over time.
Choosing a Vape Kit: Our Recommendations
Now that you have a handle on what to think about when it comes to browsing vape kits, we can point you in the direction of some of our fresh content covering exactly this topic. Our content team has whipped up a new guide on how to choose your first vape kit, as well as a handy roundup of some of the best vape starter kits for 2023.
For the purposes of helping new readers get started in the right direction, we’ve got three recommendations for you from each of the main vape starter kit categories.
● Disposable vapes: You can’t go wrong with a disposable vape pen from Dinner Lady, especially their new Vape Pen Pro range. Dinner Lady are renowned in the world of vaping for their delicious eliquid flavours, and this handy, pocket-friendly disposable makes them accessible to users of all levels.
● Prefilled pods: Vuse are one of the leading brands in this segment. The Vuse ePod delivers effective nicotine relief in a stylish, premium device; their pods are available in a variety of flavours, including reliable classics like Tobacco and Menthol alongside fresh, fruity blends.
● Refillable pod kits: The Uwell Popreel N1 is an ideal vape starter kit. Fantastic value for money, this sleek, soft-touch device delivers an effortless vaping experience that’s sure to curb nicotine cravings. Plus, order from our webstore and we’ll throw in 3 free eliquids!
Choosing an e-cigarette shouldn’t feel daunting; you should instead experience a sense of relief — you’ve made the excellent decision to quit smoking, and this is the first step toward a new lifestyle.
It’s important that you find a vape kit setup that is comfortable for you personally; we are always on hand to provide our customers with the best possible knowledge and guidance. At the end of the day, we’re here for you; this is about you, and your personal journey toward freedom from smoking.
E-cigarette Knowledge at myCigara
At myCigara, we exist to make the UK smoke-free. We believe that vaping can be a viable alternative to help people who are seeking to quit smoking for good.
It is to that end that we aim to provide leading blog content and vaping guides, to help customers make an informed decision about whether vaping can help them. After reading this blog, you may want to check out some other helpful guides for beginners, such as What is an E-Liquid? and our guide to what you can expect when you switch to vaping.
Beyond our online database of blogs, guides, and reviews, we have a host of brick & mortar stores all across the UK, ranging from Dumfries all the way down to the heart of London.
Our expert store staff are passionate and knowledgeable about vaping, so why not head into your nearest myCigara vape shop for some friendly, expert advice? If you’ve got any burning questions, you can also get in touch with us directly, and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.
