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What is vaping? Discover more about e-cigarettes and how they work.

What is vaping? Discover more about e-cigarettes and how they work.

Vaping is still a new concept for many people.

Vaping is as popular as ever. Everyone probably knows at least one person who vapes. But not everyone knows what vaping is, which is perfectly understandable given its relative infancy. This article will help give you a good knowledge of vaping and how vaping devices work.

Vaping – the basics.

E-cigarettes, or vapes as they are more commonly known, are battery-powered devices that replicate the sensation of smoking. Like cigarettes, they still contain nicotine, but they don’t produce the harmful toxins tar and carbon monoxide.

There are two main components required to vape: firstly, the e-liquid and secondly, the hardware or device.

What is vaping e-liquid?

E-liquids contain four main ingredients: nicotine, propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerine (VG) and flavourings. The quality of which varies between brands. In our e-liquids, we only use pharmaceutical grade nicotine, PG and VG, and food grade flavourings.

The nicotine strength in the e-liquids typically varies from 3 to 20mg/ml. If you are a smoker or ex-smoker, you can select a level of nicotine that’s reflective of the number of cigarettes you smoke (or used to smoke). The other thing that varies is the ratio of PG and VG. As a general rule the higher the PG level, the greater the flavour. And the higher the VG level, the thicker the plume of vapour.

What is vaping hardware?

A vaping device typically consists of a mouthpiece, battery and cartridge or tank containing e-liquid. Basically, it vaporises the e-liquid, providing the nicotine to inhale with the vapour. Here’s how it works in a bit more detail:

  1. You fill the tank with e-liquid.
  2. The e-liquid is absorbed by a wick (cotton, ceramic), which brings it to the surface of a heating element or atomiser.
  3. The battery powers the atomiser, and electrical resistance causes the coil in the atomiser to become warm, vaporising the e-liquid in contact with its surface.
  4. As you pull air through the atomiser, it brings vapour up for you to inhale.

The first commercially available vape device was developed in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik, following the death of his father from lung cancer. Today, they come in all shapes and sizes, from discreet to customisable.

The benefits of vaping over smoking.

The growing popularity of vaping is as a result of them being demonstrated to be considerably less harmful than cigarettes. They are also around 80% cheaper than smoking cigarettes. Two very compelling factors that make vaping a viable alternative if you are a smoker. In England alone, Public Health England estimates there are up to 57,000 ‘additional’ quitters every year from smoking as a result of vaping.

That’s not all…

Hopefully, this has given you a better insight into the world of vaping. There’s so much more to discover – we haven’t even touched on the huge array of e-liquid flavours available. For more detailed information about vaping products, you can visit our website.

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