Electronic Cigarettes 101

The comprehensive guide to understanding electronic cigarettes.

You may have heard…

Electronic Cigarettes have become quite popular.

Interested in knowing more about e cigs? Throughout this article, we hope to give you insight and answers to some of your more basic and even advanced questions that you might have about e cigs and vaping.

It seems that it’s important to point out firstly that we, nor should anyone claim that e cigs are ‘safe’. The entire industry is still awaiting federal and state regulation. The article below strictly opinion based and while we have had positive results in switching to vapor from tobacco cigarettes, it’s still up in the air as to the ‘official’ health concerns associated with vapor products in general.

Quick Navigation:

• What’s an Electronic Cigarette

• Better Understanding Electronic Cigarette Batteries

• What’s Inside of E Liquid

• What’s an Electronic Cigarette Cartomizer

• What’s an Electronic Cigarette Atomizer

• Troubleshooting Common Electronic Cigarette Problems

• Why The Buzz Around Electronic Cigarettes

• Electronic Cigarettes VS Tobacco Cigarettes

• Why Do People Use Electronic Cigarettes

• Are Electronic Cigarettes Safe

• Addiction Capability of Electronic Cigarettes

• Top Factors to Consider When Purchasing Electronic Cigarettes

What’s an Electronic Cigarette

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Electronic cigarettes or e cigs is becoming an increasingly dynamic concept. At this point in time however, one can break e cigs down into a few different categories including disposable, compact, tank, hybrid and mod systems. To view the best type of electronic cigarette in each of our aforementioned categories, check out our Best E Cigs of 2016article.

Typically, those new to electronic cigarettes find themselves utilizing disposables that indeed produce vapor (like all the listed systems) but are of one time (or day) use, depending on the persons intake and overall consumption. Below are our top rated disposable electronic cigarettes for your consideration.

NJOY Daily Disposable

White Cloud Fling Disposable

After the user decides whether or not e cigarettes are ‘for them’ or not, the next typical progression is to purchase a rechargeable compact system in which the user buys cartridges or refills to replace used units and recharges the battery to be used over and over again. Users generally find disposables and compact e cig systems favorable because they are very similar in physical size to that of traditional tobacco cigarettes. Our top rated rechargeable or compact e cigs can be found below.

Halo G6 Rechargeable

NJOY Rechargeable

The next progression that many e cig users make is to slightly more advanced systems that we have coined ‘tank systems‘. Tank systems are designed to run from a tank in which the user pours e liquid into it, to ultimately be ‘vaped’ by the user. Tank systems are known to be a much more efficient and higher performing system as they feature more battery power and allow the user to purchase e liquid bottles in bulk (usually around $20 for 30 mL of e liquid as compared to $5 – $15 per day for a disposable unit or $15 – $20 per week for compact cartridges or refills). Check out our top rate tank systems below.

Vaporfi Edge

Vaporfi VOX Mini

Sort of an ‘in between’ hybrid systems are few and far between, but essentially they feature the physical size and shape sleekness of compact e cigs while still running from the efficiency of a tank system. View our top hybrid e cig or vaping systems below. Keep in mind that these are two of our all time favorites and we still use the Series 7 to this day.

V2 Cigs Pro Series 7

V2 Cigs Pro Series 3

Lastly, mod systems are designed for users who desire maximum vaping performance. The main reason that advanced vapor’s turn to mod systems is that they are looking for the highest possible performance, efficiency & cost effectiveness. It’s also worth noting that some ‘MOD’ systems require little to no ‘technical’ experience, ability or general know-how and some in fact do require a basic knowledge base of electronics. Advanced users find that by taking advantage of relatively basic scientific concepts surrounding simple electronics such as conductivity, wattage and voltage for example, they can produce very custom solutions to their personal vaping device. Our current favorite MODs can be found below. Note that they’re both extremely easy to use and the VOX 100 has the ability to be modified much more than the Reactor.

Halo Reactor MOD

Vaporfi VOX 100 TC MOD

While no category is ‘better’ than the other, each has it’s own role in producing the desired result for the given user.

Better Understanding E Cig Batteries

E Cig batteries come in many different shapes and sizes. Most importantly, we have found that battery life or duration can directly be measured by the individual battery’s mAh (milli Ampere hour).

Another important finding regarding e cig batteries is the direct correlation between battery life or longevity and physical size of the battery. It’s an obvious distinction but one that newcomers may easily overlook.

For example, disposable and compact e cigs are small in physical size as they are designed to look very similar to tobacco cigarettes. They therefore also feature ‘smaller’ batteries (some more small than others), in general, usually around 200 mAh (give or take 50 mAh).

On the other hand, typical hybrid class e cigs would be in the range of 400 mAh – 650 mAh. Furthermore, tank systems have a wide range of battery sizes, usually in the neighborhood of 650 mAh – 1800 mAh. MOD systems, (as you can imagine) have an even greater range of battery size and ultimately life, many times in the area of 1200 mAh to as much as 3500 mAh.

Again, the key distinction to make in discerning battery life is recognizing the fact that the larger the battery in mAh, the larger the battery is in physical size and ultimately the longer the battery will last upon being fully charged.

While it may seem ‘unimportant’ to newcomers, battery life is perhaps the biggest factor surrounding electronic cigarette performance. As you progress through disposable and compact systems you will no doubt understand the importance of battery life.

As most users don’t want to walk around with ‘giant e cigs’ just because they have amazing battery life and performance the key is to reach a happy medium in physical size and battery longevity. This is where we have delightfully pointed out and categorized the ‘hybrid system’.

As vapor’s become more advanced they begin to dive even further into the electronics of e cigs, including batteries, conductivity, wattage, voltage and even ohms. MOD users are interested in reaching maximum conductivity and thus performance to reach what is known as sub-ohm vaping (which basically produces huge amounts of vapor and performance).

What’s Inside E Liquid

E liquid from most reputable e cig brands consists of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerinand FDA approved food ingredients for a huge array of desired flavors.

E Liquid is obviously the liquid that is used in e cig systems to ultimately produce the vapor that is inhaled by the user.

Most electronic cigarette companies offer a range of nicotine levels from high, medium and low to zero nicotine added to the e liquid compound.

For those who are most curious, propylene glycol is an organic compound that is comprised of a colorless, nearly odorless, clear, viscous liquid with acetone and chloroform.

The overall toxicity of propylene glycol is very low and when consumed in small doses shows no sensitization or evidence of being a carcinogen or of being genotoxic.

The testing of the compound itself has been officially minimal however, so it is generally not recommended in use of fog machines or any other crowd or large application.

However, when consumed at a personal and reasonable level, (such as electronic cigarettes) the human body easily metabolizes it with no side-effects. The use of propylene glycol in electronic cigarettes is to reproduce the effect of smoking but in a cleaner way. In fact, the FDA has classified propylene glycol itself as ‘generally recognized as safe’ for use as a direct food additive.

What’s a Cartomizer

First and foremost, the word ‘cartomizer’ is not a scientific term. It was coined in the bringing together of the words cartridge and atomizer.

E cigs of old in fact labeled these two components separately as a cartridge and as an atomizer. At that time, they were in fact two separate components of the overall e cig design. However, as the e cig industry began to boom, e cig brands began to develop more efficient systems in which the atomizer and cartridge were one piece.

In easy terms, a cartomizer is a cartridge that generally contains e liquid and an atomizer to create vapor when supplied with battery power.

What’s an Atomizer

An atomizer is simply a heating element; most significantly in our terms (relating to electronic cigarettes), small in size but high in performance. Atomizer’s in electronic cigarettes are used to heat e liquid and again resemble the physics of smoking.

Recent advancements in the development of atomizers has helped to make the electronic cigarette more mainstream. As with anything, technology helps to design things smaller, better and more efficient. Specifically relating the the electronic cigarette, atomizer’s are designed smaller and more efficient to perfect the experience of puffing an electronic cigarette that is sleek and compact. This is of course compared to available atomizers for tank and mod systems that are far better in terms of performance but physically larger as well.

Trouble Shooting Common Electronic Cigarette Issues

The truth of the matter is, not all e cigs are created equally. Over 70% of the e cig market in America is comprised of start-up businesses who simply slap their fancy logo on devices and e liquids imported from China. Even more alarming, well known brands such as Blu Cigs have been known to produce sub par products. Our blu cig not working article covers our extensive analysis of their starter kit and overall battery problems. While some e cigs are beyond simple fixes, a large number of systems just need to be properly maintained or cleaned of residue over time.

For example, it’s typical for those new to vaping to run into performance issues after roughly a month of use. Most of the time, vapor’s complain about a difficulty to ‘take a hit’ from their device, almost as if they unit is clogged. Others complain of a burnt like taste when vaping and can’t figure out why. However, both of these issues are almost certainly because the coil and or wicks have become over saturated and over used. When using a tank e cig system, you’ll need to replace the tank every month or so depending on how much you use it and they usually cost under $15. If you’re using a rebuildable tank or mod system, you can purchase wicks and coils and rebuild the over used pieces yourself rather than replacing the entire tank. Having these issues with a compact system usually just means the cartomizer or cartridge is done and can be thrown away. Although, as stated above, many times the battery needs to be cleaned of residue build up.

Why The Buzz Around E Cigs

E Cigs are designed to simulate the experience of smoking tobacco cigarettes. The keyword is simulate. While e cigs have been available in one form or another on the marketplace for a long time, it hasn’t been until the last couple of years that the e cig industry has begun to really take flight.

The biggest reason for this spike in popularity is perhaps the physical and performance appeal of the e cig itself. It so happens that e cigs of the past have been bulky and totally unappealing to the mainstream and typically consumed only by the few who did so in the comfort of their own home.

Again, e cigs of past were bulky and not even the slightest bit fashionable. Frankly, if you walked around the streets or busted out your e cig of old, most people would have thought that it was a medical device.

However, e cigs of new are built in a much more appealing and marketable way. E cigs of new are sleek, high performing and easily marketable. It’s becoming more and more acceptable every single day to be seen ‘vaping’ rather than smoking a traditional tobacco cigarette, which has resulted in an increasingly huge leap forward for the entire industry.

In fact, e cigs of today are so appealing that they are making believers out of even the most heavy of tobacco consumers. This is because e cigs of today not only look cool, sleek and stylish, but they also deliver a quality smoking/vaping experience.

Similar to a real tobacco cigarettes smoke, one exhales a thick vapor which almost exactly replicates the real thing, only it’s much cleaner and leaves the consumer feeling not as unhealthy and covered with odor.

The vapor itself is produced by what is known as an atomizer, which heats a small portion of the e liquid, creating vapor. Also, there is absolutely no need for an ignition (lighter) iterating the points that fire hazards and second hand smoke become relatively less of an issue.

Electronic Cigarettes VS Tobacco Cigarettes

We’ve been vaping since 2013 and can’t even begin to tell you the amount of times that we’ve been asked questions from totally random people curious about how e cigs work.

As everyone knows, ‘cigarettes are bad for you’. So, it’s not ironic for a person to want to quit. However, us ‘smokers’ don’t start in the first place for our health. We smoke or ‘smoked’ because it became a bit of relief throughout our day. A minuscule of an escape for mundane days or just general stress which quickly snowballs into an addiction.

Smoking for those of us who have been doing it for awhile invokes and holds certain emotions. It’s not only to grab a general break or to take a timeout from life for 5 minutes, but it’s a notorious stress escape. It’s a terrible thing that something so satisfying can be so detrimental to your health.

Enter electronic cigarettes. Like many e cig users, our first experience with e cigs were disposables. They are perfect for testing out e cigs in general and to see if electronic cigarettes are really be a viable option for me to transition to. As it turned out, we quickly understood that e cigs would work because we could still get nicotine into our systems, which as we all know is the main reason we love smoking so much.

However, I also quickly realized how much cleaner smoking electronic cigarettes was as compared to traditional tobacco cigarettes. After about 2 weeks of hacking up tar and paper from quitting traditional tobacco cigarettes, (while ‘vaping’ cleaner electronic cigarettes) we never looked back and have since just been discovering more efficient and quality e cig systems to use and share with you.

Why Do People Use Electronic Cigarettes

It’s funny, for those of us who have already made the switch to vapor from traditional tobacco cigarettes, the reasons are very simple and straight forward. However, for those age old hardened smokers who are still on the fence about electronic cigarettes or vaping rather than smoking, they just might be curious about what all the hoopla is about.

Without further ado, below you will find the top reasons why vapors love to vape and what you can expect when finally taking the plunge yourself.

• Vaping is Less Unhealthy Than Smoking – Tobacco cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals. Vapor is literally flavored water vapor with nicotine (although zero nicotine options are available).

• Vaping Doesn’t Stink – Long time cigarette smoker? Newsflash, you stink. Chances are that you’ve grown immune to your own stank. Do us all a favor and make the switch.

• Vaping Is Cheaper Than Tobacco Cigarettes – If you utilize a tank, hybrid or mod system, vaping will in-fact save you tons of money as compared to tobacco cigarettes. Probably around 70% to 90% (monthly) for typical pack-a-day smokers.

• Vaping Conveys Independence – Still smoking tobacco cigarettes? Have you been in a hole for the last decade or do you just love lining the pockets of giant tobacco corporations? The year is nearly 2015, there are better ways to ingest your nicotine cravings.

• Vaping Is Innovative – Tobacco cigarettes are out of style. They stink, there expensive and they haven’t been able to be innovative in a globally booming industry. Electronic cigarettes on the other hand are the opposite of all of those things.

• Vaping Is Free of Second Hand Smoke – Second hand smoke is a real thing. All that smoke your exhausting out of your face is not safe. Let water vapor push out of your mouth instead and do your peers a huge favor.

• Vaping Gives You The Chance To Quit Nicotine – Okay, you got hooked in ‘the war’ or ‘in college’, we get it, nicotine is an addictive stimulant. It’s next to impossible to officially quit nicotine using any method that doesn’t involve weening yourself down via e cigs (in our experience).

• Vaping Offers a Ton of Flavors – I’m not huge on crazy fruity flavors or anything, but hey if you want to vape a dessert, you have that ability. If you want something that tastes like your favorite cigarette of old, you have that ability too.

Maybe the more important question to ask is, ‘why don’t people use electronic cigarettes’?

Don’t get me wrong, I fully support freedom and for people to have the ability to choose whether or not they want to ingest tons of unknown harmful chemicals into their own body or not. For those lifetime smokers out there who stand behind this way of thinking, I would propose a more acute question or rational.

First off, this line of thinking stems from the idea of freedom. However, you are anything but free as a lifetime smoker. Sure, you may have had a period of time when smoking tobacco cigarettes was shear pleasure, but after years of smoking, your completely addicted and jailed by incredibly harmful chemicals that you don’t even know the names of.

To me, freedom in tobacco cigarettes would be having the backbone to quit, not the right as a citizen of the United States to ingest crazy chemicals.

I like to think about the future and how our generations will be viewed. I have a feeling that we’re going to be looked at as stupid when it comes to cigarettes.

Want freedom in tobacco cigarettes? Unleash yourself from multi-million dollar cigarette companies. Want to quit, but just can’t? The number of people who have made the switch (whether it be labeled officially safe by Washington or not) is increasing by the thousands every single day.

If, after quitting smoking and switching to vapor, you still like the taste or flavor of vaping, you can always use e liquids that contains zero nicotine.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Safe

As with any new and growing industry or even ‘hot’ product, the electronic cigarette has been under intense scrutiny as of late.

Concerns over it’s overall safety to it’s users and second hand vapees is intensifying as e cigs in general continue to grow in popularity.

The opponents of electronic cigarettes take the stance of enforcing regulation as soon as humanly possible. However, under current law, the electronic cigarette does not fall into the same category as traditional cigarettes as they don’t contain tobacco, which is currently (and for a long time) regulated by the FDA.

The common sense solution to regulating electronic cigarettes in our opinion is to create a law that regulates nicotine itself, which is the prime addictive ingredient and health factor concerning both traditional cigarettes and electronic.

Many people also fail to recognize that the reputable and trusted electronic cigarette companies themselves are open and encouraging federal regulation on their products. Any electronic cigarette company that is not open to regulation should frankly not be in the industry. After all, this is a booming space with consumers health at stake. Reputable electronic cigarette companies at least in the United States understand this and want to provide a clear and verified product to consumers, not to mention officially producing reports to the general public on concepts such as second hand ‘vapor’ and safety risks associated with nicotine.

Unfortunately, until the FDA officially produces studies related to all aspects of electronic cigarettes, all regulation or sanctions will be mostly opinion based. One can however certainly draw very strong conclusions when presented with the current facts about electronic cigarettes.

The direct question as to whether or not electronic cigarettes are safe has may different levels to it as you have probably learned.

However, the primary answer is again probably found in the substance of nicotine itself. Is nicotine safe, is a more worthy question, and the answer to that is overwhelmingly, no. Should a person who does not smoke tobacco cigarettes or anything else for that matter take up ‘vaping’ or using electronic cigarettes? No.

However, at the very least, electronic cigarettes are less unhealthy than smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. The answer to whether or not electronic cigarettes are safer than traditional real tobacco cigarettes is overwhelming, yes.

In summary, electronic cigarettes will be under public, state and federal scrutiny for the coming years until the FDA officially releases data to help governmental agencies and judicial systems in every state to enforce regulation. From all of the available fact however, electronic cigarettes are a phenomenal way to at the very least be less unhealthy if you are a tobacco smoker. It should also be echoed to current tobacco smokers that begin vaping, that most e cig brands offer e liquid with nicotine levels ranging from zero to 4%. Thus, starting with a high level of nicotine in your electronic cigarette and slowly weening yourself down to zero nicotine, is an incredible way to rid yourself of your nicotine addiction all together.

Addiction Capability of Electronic Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular among both traditional tobacco smokers and people who have never smoked a single cigarette in their life.

As the e cig industy gains more traction in competing with the wallets of 18 to 34 year olds, many if not every question regarding the overall health and safety surrounding e cigs is still awaiting official responses from appropriate US governmental agencies, most particularly, the FDA.

While simple statements or frankly anything regarding the overall safety concerns looming around the electronic cigarette industry would be nice, it is very evident that the FDA is, for whatever reason, taking their sweet time in releasing information pertaining to the safety risks of using electronic cigarettes.

However, even though ‘big brother’ or our ‘watch dog’ agencies are pleading the fifth at this time, most common sense and popular public opinion suggests that electronic cigarettes are at the very least, ‘less unhealthy’ than traditional tobacco cigarettes.

While we all wait around for the official position that academia will take concerning health related issues in using electronic cigarettes, as ex cigarette smokers and current ‘vapors’, we can certainly draw a few basic conclusions relative to the overall safety of e cigs, in particular, the addiction capability of electronic cigarettes.

Unfortunately for many e cig ‘fear mongers’, the answer is no, it is not appropriate to say that e cigs themselves are addictive.

For starters, an e cig is simply an electronic device designed to mimic the process of smoking. E Cigs themselves are just electronic devices, like your cell phone, watch or any other gadget that you give attention to all day long.

It would be completely wrong to suggest that e cigs are addictive as they can in fact function without the use or inhalation of any known addictive substances via the commonly know e liquid ingredients of water vapor, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin.

Conversely, it is appropriate to ask if traditional tobacco cigarettes are addictive because they cannot function without being burned with the user essentially inhaling smoke. However, more appropriate topics relating to whether or not electronic cigarettes are addictive are the roles of physical addiction and chemical addiction subject to the human mind and body.

For those incredibly dense readers out there, let’s first point the obvious fact that not all liquids (the man made substance that one vaporizes in an e cig) contain nicotine.

In fact, one of the biggest benefits that e cig or vapor users (particularly ex traditional tobacco smokers) have when consuming e liquid is that they can wean themselves from their ‘nicotine addiction’ all together by slowly but gradually using a lesser percentage of nicotine in their e liquid.

Without beating around the bush any longer, it’s clear that the only addictive property externally associated with e cigs is nicotine and the need for consumers to be ‘puffing’ on or have something in their hands throughout the day (physical addiction). With that being said, are electronic cigarettes completely safe or something that even non smokers should take up as a ‘hobby’ or past time?

To those who are actually looking for an answer to this question, the answer is certainly no.

Electronic cigarettes could in fact be a gateway for non smokers to enter and find themselves attached to a new nicotine craving. For a non smoker, e cigs can be an easy way into the realm of oral fixation and inhalation for pleasure that can easily lead to a physical or even worse chemical addiction to nicotine.

Literally all that it would take for a non smoker to become addicted to nicotine through an e cig is one mishaps regarding their e liquid. As vaping in general is booming, so to are the amount of users walking around with their favorite e cig device and e liquid full of nicotine, maybe even as high as 4%. As people talk and share vaping favorites, non smokers have the unfortunate easy possibility of accidentally consuming someone else’s nicotine through ‘trying’ their new device or even trying the e liquid itself, perhaps not thinking about the potential impact of nicotine.

In conclusion, e cigs themselves are not addictive, but we all know that nicotine is, which is of course found in many e liquids. Therefore, it is our opinion that only current or soon to be ex smokers should consider using e cigs in an effort to wean themselves from their chemical addiction to nicotine all together. There will never be a label stating that e cigs are safe or healthy or anything similar.

At the very best, ‘big tobacco’ won’t play too much of a role in constructing the oversight of electronic cigarettes and the FDA and or other significant government agencies will simply label electronic cigarettes similarly to nicotine patches, gum and the like.

At this time, most physicians steer their curious patients towards nicotine patches and gum that have been given oversight approval. It’s our understanding that e cigs will one day have the same sort of well known label.

10 Factors To Consider When Purchasing E Cigs

If you haven’t already heard, ‘vape’ is the Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2014. Vape is kind of a big deal and frankly e cigs as a whole are making their presence ever-more known as more and more traditional tobacco cigarette smokers finally take the plunge and make the ‘switch’.

However, the e cig industry is still in it’s infancy and many unknowing consumers are at risk of being taken advantage of by less than proper electronic cigarette brands, systems and e liquids.

Below you will find a list of what we think are the top 10 things that newbies to e cigs should know. It is our aim to steer you in the right direction and for you to have a pleasant experience with e cigs. We’ve tested and extensively researched the top 5-10 e cig brands in the industry and have a complete understand of things to avoid and things to look for.

• E Cig Size – When it comes to e cigs, size matters! There are literally hundreds of different e cigs to choose from in the market today and you can bet that they come in many shapes and sizes. However, you can break down the majority of e cigs into two main categories. Those two main categories are compact and full size. While most e cig devices can be interchanged or modified to operate in different ways, it is most common for compact e cigs to run off from cartridges and for full size e cigs to run from a tank system. If a small or sleek sized is important to you and you’d like to use your e cig while in the general public, we strongly recommend using a compact or hybrid e cig system as it is roughly the same size as a traditional cigarette.

• E Cig Battery Life – The ‘x-factor’ in the world of e cigs is battery life. Just as cell phones took a few years to develop reliable and long lasting batteries in a relatively small unit, it seems as though e cigs are on the same course. Most compact e cigs have rather short lasting batteries. Blu Cigs for example are notoriously bad on battery life. It’s not surprising to only have a brand new fully charged Blu Cig to only last 30 minutes from regular use. This is mostly because of an overall poor design. However, there are plenty of compact e cigs that perform as they should and we reference 5 them in our best compact e cigarticle.

If however, a compact or sleek size is not that big of a deal to you, we strongly recommend using a tank system or even a mod system (for those savvy with basic electronics). You can check out both our best tank systems and best mod systems articles for more information.

• E Liquid Tobacco Taste – One of the biggest misconceptions about e cigs (e liquid particularly) is that all of it taste fruity or that it can’t mimic that age old hearty tobacco taste you get in real cigarettes. Frankly, it is different from traditional cigarettes, but in an incredibly good way. From the very first puff, everything about consuming nicotine is cleaner and flat out more fresh. There are in-fact tons of great e liquid flavors available in every single range of taste that you can image. Check out our best e liquid flavors article for more information.

• E Cig Price – With such a wide array of e cigs systems available on the market today it’s hard for the e cig newbie to know a truly fair price. Granted, e liquid itself is all priced in the same general ballpark, but e cig systems can vary greatly. Most of the time the difference in e cig system pricing is purely speculation on the sellers part, as they determine what consumers are actually willing to pay. In fact, don’t be surprised if you see some e cig systems for sale around the web and in retail stores for well over $200. However, we are here to let you know that you should never have to pay more than $100 for a quality e cig system. Sure, incredibly new and innovative technology can warrant such high prices. But, for e cig newbies around the world, heed our advise, go with the quality of of a basic compact, hybrid or tank system.

• E Cig Battery Charge Time – As stated previously in this article, when it comes to e cigs, it’s all about the batteries! Not only is battery life duration important, but perhaps equally important is battery charge time. The fact of the matter is that not all of us have perfect schedules and often times we forget to charge our e cigs or get in a bind and can’t afford a full charge allotment for our e cig batteries. The general rule of thumb to keep in mind regarding charging your e cig batteries is that the bigger the battery the longer it will take to be fully charged.

• E Cig Durability – E cigs are phenomenal in so many ways! However, they are also another electronic device for us to care for. All of us have fumbled around with our cell phones enough to make our heads explode and the last thing we need is a flimsy e cig system that we have to worry about breaking if it hits the pavement when we step out of our car. The thing to keep in mind regarding e cig durability is fairly obvious, if’s a full size tank system, you must of course be careful to not drop the tank itself as it is usually made from glass or plastic and can be broken fairly easily. However, one of the major benefits of using a compact e cig, is that it is 100% drop proof. You can literally chuck most compact e cigs across the parking lot 100 times and pick it up and vape with it just fine.

• E Cig Ease of Use – If you’re new to electronic cigarettes, you need something that is very similar to traditional cigarettes. Something that looks and feels like a real cigarette, not something that feels completely alien. Thus, we recommend using a compact system when first starting with e cigs and then eventually graduating a hybrid or tank system for a more efficient vape. The last thing you need as a new e cig user is to be fumbling around trying to fill your tank with e liquid while in your car or out and about.

• E Liquid Flavor Consistency – Equally important to an e cig system is the e liquid itself. Thousands of tons of e liquid are being imported into the United States from China every single day. The problem is, most imported e liquid is of low quality. This means that when you take a drag of your e liquid it will often be inconsistent, not produce enough vapor and often times not provide a decent throat hit or nicotine punch to quench our appetites. Quality American made e liquid is becoming ever more important as more e cig consumers begin to notice the difference in quality.

• Overall E Cig System Simplicity – As an e cig newbie you need systems that are easy to use. Far too many e cig devices are being sold online and in retail stores across the United States that are entirely too complex and unnecessarily difficult to use for the average person. Again, we find the simplicity of compact systems to be the best of breed in the entire industry for newbies.

• Overall E Cig Brand Website Simplicity & Navigation – E cigs are sweeping the nation and e cig e-commerce websites are popping up all over the place. The sad truth however, is that 99% of these e cig e-commerce websites are incredibly poorly designed without the user in mind. In fact, most e cig websites are run by over-zealous a-holes who want nothing more than to import as much trash from China as possible and throw it on a webpage for sale. When choosing you’re e cig system bare in mind that you’ll most likely be dealing with that brand or company again, so it’s important that you have a good experience and can understand their website.