Vaping has enjoyed rapid and abundant success in the last ten years, and this alternative to smoking shows no signs of slowing down. However, if you’re someone who is yet to dip your toe in the vaping waters, it can be very daunting. Even something as simple as knowing how to vape. Fortunately, we’re here to help!
In this post, we’ll provide a quick and easy-to-digest guide for vaping — from getting your first vape kit to how to inhale vape.
How to vape: Getting a vape kit
The first step of vaping is to get yourself a beginner’s vape kit. These kits start from as little as £20 and provide you with a straightforward way to get to know more about vaping and how to vape. Most vape kits will come with a user manual of some sort, including basic advice and specific instructions for the particular vape pen or kit you choose.
Unless you have a prefilled kit, you will also need to buy vape juice. Vape juice comes in a variety of flavours and nicotine strengths, so for the optimal vaping experience, it’s essential to choose a flavour that appeals to you and the nicotine strength you are used to. While many companies will suggest certain nicotine strengths to get the best use out of their devices, the following is a general rule of thumb for vape juices:
3mg e liquids: For light smokers such as social smokers or those who are very close to quitting smoking. It will give you a light nicotine buzz and is best suited to those who only smoke a few cigarettes a day.
6mg e liquids: This is also considered a ‘low’ concentration of nicotine but is noticeably stronger than 3mg and will give you the nicotine buzz you need. This strength is often best suited to people who smoke around ten cigarettes a day, but if you feel that this is too strong, you can easily drop down to 3mg.
12mg e liquids: For average smokers, people who smoke up to or around a pack a day. With 12mg, you’ll get an appropriate amount of nicotine to get used to vaping but also to fight off any pesky cravings.
18mg e liquids+: Vape juice that’s 18mg or more is best suited to heavy smokers (more than a pack a day) who are transitioning over to vaping. This strength will ensure that you get a sufficient amount of nicotine and prevent any cravings.
How to inhale vape
Although smoking and vaping have many differences, the inhaling part is very much the same — as this provides a smoking experience you are used to and is a crucial reason why many people successfully quit smoking with a transition to vaping. Therefore, if you are or were a smoker, you will already know how to inhale vape. However, it’s essential to get it right as inhaling vape incorrectly can be an unpleasant experience due to coughing and a sudden rush of nicotine.
With that said, because there are varying vape kits and vape juice strengths, your ideal inhalation technique will vary. So, if you want to know how to inhale vape, the two most common techniques are as follows.
Mouth to lung
Mouth to lung inhaling is a simple technique where you:
- Draw vapour into your mouth slowly (for a few seconds)
- Hold the vapour in your mouth briefly
- Open your mouth and inhale the vapour into your lungs. Not to be confused with swallowing.
- Exhale!
This technique is better suited to smaller vape devices with high resistance coils when using high nicotine. Regardless of the device’s size, vaping with this technique will provide a similar feeling to regular smoking, which helps with transitioning over to vaping and improves your chances of satisfying cravings.
Direct lung
A ‘direct lung’ inhale tends to be better suited for large vapes with low resistance coils that use low nicotine. Although this type of draw does produce the most vapour, it’s easy to handle and smooth because it’s used primarily with zero or low nicotine. All you have to do is:
- Quickly draw the vapour directly into your lungs
- Exhale immediately
Should I start vaping?
Whether you want to vape or not is entirely up to you and a personal choice for adults to make. While vaping has helped many people successfully quit smoking, it’s important to recognise that vaping is not without its flaws, and it’s not a harmless activity. Vaping is considered to be less harmful than smoking, which of course, is excellent, but it’s best to look at it as a stepping stone to a healthier, smoke-free future.
If you want to know more about vaping, check out the wide range of posts on our blog. Looking to buy vape devices and kits? Check out our online store!