In our Ultimate Guide for Vaping Beginners, we discussed the basics of vaping such as what it is and what its benefits are. If you’ve read that guide and decided that you’re ready to get started with vaping, you’re in the right place. Your first purchase will be an e-cigarette starter kit, and there are a great many starter kits from which to choose. No single starter kit is perfect for every person. In this guide, we’re going to help you find the one that’s right for you. Read this guide to learn what you should expect to receive in your first e-cigarette starter kit and which type of e-cigarette is best for your needs.
The Innokin Endura T20-S reaches a maximum output of 18 watts using its 1,500 mAh internal battery. With a coil resistance of 0.8 ohm, the Endura T20-S can meet your expectations whether you’re looking for a device for mouth-to-lung or direct-to-lung inhaling. To top it all off, the device is available with a smooth or rubberized finish depending on the colour you select.
The Aspire PockeX is currently one of the most popular devices for vaping beginners. It has the perfect air resistance for mouth-to-lung inhaling, so it’s a great fit for a current smoker who’d like to switch to vaping. With a coil resistance of 0.6 ohm, the PockeX has the vapour production necessary to keep any smoker satisfied. If you’d rather try the PockeX with a different tank, you’re free to do so; the device works with coil resistances ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 ohms.
An e-cigarette starter kit is a bundle that includes most or all of what you need to get started with vaping. By purchasing your vaping equipment as a bundle rather than separately, you’ll save money. More importantly, you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues; you’ll know that the kit’s components will all work together. When you’re ready to make the switch from smoking to vaping, an e-cigarette starter kit is the first product that you should buy.
The two things that you may need to buy with your e-cigarette starter kit are batteries and e-liquid. Many people who buy vaping devices with removable batteries want to choose the battery cells they use. A device that uses removable batteries, therefore, rarely includes the batteries. E-liquid preferences, likewise, vary greatly depending on personal taste. Unless a vaping device uses pre-filled disposable e-liquid cartridges, it generally won’t include e-liquid.
To summarize, if you want your first e-cigarette to include everything that you need to begin vaping immediately, you’ll need to add the following to your order:
If you buy a vape pen or an advanced mod, you’ll need to choose whether you want a device with a permanent battery or removable batteries. The choice will affect your vaping experience in subtle ways. Since the decision may not be an easy one for someone who hasn’t purchased a vaping device before, we’ll provide a few pointers that can help you decide.
A device with a built-in battery is often smaller than a device with removable batteries. While a device with removable batteries needs a door or cover to give you access to the battery compartment, the battery in a fixed-battery mod is soldered directly to the main circuit board. Having a less complicated internal structure also means that a fixed-battery device generally costs less than a device with removable batteries. Choosing an e-cigarette starter kit with a fixed battery device also means that the total cost of your first e-cigarette purchase will be lower because you won’t need to buy batteries separately.
If a device with a fixed battery is the sleeker and less expensive vaping option, why would anyone choose a device with removable batteries? As it turns out, removable-battery devices have several benefits of their own. The first is that with a spare set of batteries and an external charger, you can continue vaping while one set of batteries charges. The second benefit is that when you buy your own batteries, you can choose the cells with the exact characteristics you want.
Although buying a vaping device with removable batteries requires a higher initial investment, the total long-term cost of the device may be lower than that of owning a device with a fixed battery. Unless you’re handy with a screwdriver and a soldering iron, a device with a fixed battery needs to be recycled when the battery stops holding a charge. Charged daily – sometimes more than once per day – you generally can’t expect a vaping battery to last more than a year. If your device uses removable batteries, though, that isn’t a problem; you can just buy new batteries.
People who vape use the term "cigalike" to describe any e-cigarette with the same general shape and size as a tobacco cigarette – and a disposable cigalike is the most basic type of e-cigarette that you can buy. They’re fairly inexpensive and come one to a package. After using a disposable e-cigarette for about 100-200 puffs, it's time to recycle it and buy another one. Buying a disposable e-cigarette is the easiest and cheapest way to get an idea of what vaping is like. However, we don’t recommend disposable e-cigarettes for long-term vaping for two reasons.
During the first several years of the vaping industry, rechargeable cigalikes with pre-filled disposable cartridges were what many people used when switching from smoking to vaping. Since a rechargeable cigalike includes a rechargeable battery – you only need to buy the disposable cartridges – it has a long-term cost much lower than that of disposable cigalikes. It is also an excellent vehicle for replacing the hand-to-mouth ritual of smoking. Despite their benefits, though, rechargeable cigalikes are not as popular within the vaping community as they once were. Rechargeable cigalikes have decreased in popularity for three reasons.
Pod vaping systems have largely replaced rechargeable cigalikes among beginning vapers. A pod system is a bit larger and some pod systems even have teardrop, badge and other shapes that don’t resemble tobacco cigarettes at all. Pod vapes use a plastic pod that holds around 1-2 ml of e-liquid and pod systems produce more vapour than rechargeable cigalikes. People also tend to find pod systems more satisfying because the most popular type of e-liquid for pod systems is a nicotine salt e-liquid. Nicotine salt e-liquid contains a form of nicotine more like the nicotine in tobacco leaves, and many people report that nicotine salt makes the switch from smoking to vaping easier. Pod vapes do, however, have a few drawbacks.
A vape pen represents perhaps the best compromise for a current smoker who wants to switch to vaping in a way that’s cost effective and doesn’t limit flavour selection. Vape pens have excellent vapour production and battery life. All vape pens are refillable and can work with the e-liquid of your choice. Many even work well with nicotine salt e-liquids. The cost of owning a vape pen is low; you’ll just need to replace the tank’s atomizer coil every several days. For beginning vapers, vape pens have very few drawbacks. There are, however, two potential drawbacks that you should know about before buying a vape pen.
TIP: If you’d like to know whether a vape pen will work well with nicotine salt e-liquids, check the resistance of the device’s atomizer coils. If a vape pen has an atomizer coil resistance of 1.0 ohm or higher, it’ll probably work well with nicotine salts. If the coil resistance is under 1.0 ohm, it’ll probably work best with lower-nicotine e-liquids. A lower coil resistance generally means that a vaping device will generate a higher volume of vapour.
Advanced mods – usually called box mods due to their box-like shape – are the most powerful and feature-filled vaping devices on the market. An advanced mod often uses two or more batteries to provide the ability to vape all day. An advanced mod provides adjustable power and temperature settings and may reach a top power of 200 watts or more. An advanced mod will work with virtually any tank or atomizer that you’d like to use. While box mods are the best vaping devices on the market in many ways, a box mod may not be the best choice for you if you’re new to vaping. Box mods have two key drawbacks.
