Last updated: January 8, 2024

Choosing your vape kit

Vape Kits come in many different styles and designs, some are specifically designed for creating large clouds of vapour while others are made with flavour in mind. Choosing the right vape kit can seem like a daunting task especially when you’re not familiar with the jargon, that’s why we’ve created this comprehensive guide to help you learn the important differences in vape kits. So sit back, relax, and let us do the hard work so you can enjoy your favourite E Liquids safe in the knowledge you made the right choice.

Categorising the multitude of available devices has been a struggle for every Vape Shop, with a lot of crossovers and hybrid features blurring the lines between the definitions. Essentially there are 5 types of ecigs; Starter Kits, Vape Pens, POD Systems, Sub Ohm kits and Rebuildable kits. Read on to find out what kind of device suits your vaping style.

Starter Kits Pens

Starter Kits

Starter Kits are usually pen-style e cigs that come with everything you need to get vaping straight away. These e cigs will have a built-in battery that cannot be removed and usually only have one type of coil to choose from. These devices are MTL (Mouth to Lung), meaning you draw the vapour into your mouth before inhaling like most people do when smoking regular tobacco. You’ll still be required to change the coils every so often, but they usually only use one kind of coil meaning you don’t need to worry about resistances and ohms.

Because of this, Starter Kits should only be used with High PG or 50/50 E Liquid (including Nic Salts). 70/30 E Liquids are too thick for coils above 1ohm and as such, will cause your coil to burn out much faster than usual (if it works at all). Starter Kits usually have a fixed voltage too so all you need to do is fill it up with E Liquid and vape away!

Vape Pen Kits

Vape Pens

Vape Pens are often confused with Starter Kits, mainly because they’re both shaped like pens. Vape Pens however aren’t as limited and usually offer a fair amount of customisation. With changeable coils and sometimes even variable voltages, Vape Pens can be used as an MTL (Mouth to Lung) or DTL (Direct to Lung) depending on which coil you choose.

Usually, you’ll be given a Sub Ohm coil and a standard coil. Sub Ohm coils work best with 70/30 E Liquids while the standard coils (above 1ohm) are able to handle pretty much anything else. This makes Vape Pens one of the most popular choices as you can use whatever E Liquid you fancy at the time, instead of needing a completely new device to enjoy all the flavours and E Liquid mixes on offer.

PPD Systems

POD Systems

POD Systems/POD Kits are the newest type of electronic cigarettes. These compact devices were designed around the same time 50/50 E Liquids were introduced, specifically for use with E Liquids in a 50/50 mix. After the advent of Nic Salts, POD Kit manufacturers adapted their designs further to create the ultimate companions for Salt Nic. They’re also some of the most ingenious e cigs available, instead of filling up a tank like regular Vape Kits you simply eject the Pod with the easy-to-use release mechanism, fill up the Pod itself and pop it back into the device. This means you can have multiple Pods with different flavours and swap them as you please instead of waiting for the E Liquid to be finished.

The Pods themselves are refillable but will need to be replaced eventually. This is because the wicking material and coil are conveniently packed within the Pod and, just like your regular coils, will need to be replaced once they’ve worn out. Some Pod kits come with changeable coils so you can refine your vaping experience, however the coils use a simple ‘push and click’ mechanism so they’re as easy to change as the Pods themselves.

Sub Ohm Kits

Sub Ohm

Sub Ohm vape kits are designed for advanced users who want total control over their vaping experience. They’re also ideal for the vaping enthusiasts out there (cloud chasers) so they can produce massive amounts of vapour on exhale. As the name suggests, Sub Ohm kits use coils below 1ohm. These coils allow E Liquids to be vaporised at lower temperatures which is how Sub Ohm vapers can intake large amounts of vapour with no issues. 

Sub Ohm mods (the bottom part of the device in which the batteries are placed) are advanced pieces of technology and usually have screens which display important information such as the current wattage. Due to the high wattage of Sub Ohm kits can achieve (sometimes as high as 220W!), they’re paired with 2 powerful 18650 batteries. Because of this, it’s extremely important to understand battery safety and another reason why Sub Ohm kits are designated as Advanced Vape Kits.

Squonk

Squonk Mods

Squonkers (yes, this is a real term) are bottom feeder mods (that’s real too) which are used with Rebuildable Dripping Atomiser Tanks. RDA tanks are extremely advanced, they require you to add your own wicking material and coils each time the current coil expires. RDA tanks in particular are used by ‘dripping’ E Liquid directly onto the coil. Squonk mods were invented to get around the annoyance of re-applying E Liquid every few puffs, utilising a squeezable rubber tube which is filled with E Liquid. Squeezing the rubber tube ‘feeds’ the E Liquid from the bottom of the mod into the tank.

There are also RTA Tanks (Rebuildable Tank Atomisers) which also require you to add your own wicking material and coils, but are filled up in the regular way your usual vape tanks are by squeezing the E Liquid directly into the tank. RTA tanks utilise Sub Ohm mods so while they usually come with their own powerful mods, you can use them with most Sub Ohm mods.

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