Quick Start Guide To Vaping E Cigs
We know at first this can be a bit confusing, so we created this as a fast start guide to clarify some basics about electronic cigarettes.
What Do You Need For Bare Essentials?
You need a battery and flavor cartridge refills (these put together resemble an actual cigarette), with a charger to recharge the battery.
Pictured to the right are the absolute bare essentials – a battery with a cartridge next to it, 5 flavor cartridges, and a USB charger.
There are other options for e cigs, but most people when starting out want the closest thing to an actual cigarette, and e cigs with cartridges (also known as cartomizers) are the closest.
Try one out to see if you like it, and then you may want to look into more advanced things like refilling your own, or e cigarette mods etc.
Most Affordable Way To Get Out Of The Gate:
Look at a starter kit, and we recommend getting 2 batteries. If you like it and the battery dies, that sucks!
How Does An E Cig Work?
With the basic models, there is a heating filament inside the cartridge that heats up the nicotine vapor. This is activated by just inhaling through some models (automatic batteries), or when inhaling you need to hold down a button with manual batteries.
What About Modded E Cigs and APVs (Advanced Personal Vaporizers)?
If you’re looking for an upgraded battery, variable voltage device, or tank systems and clearomizers, check out VaporZone.
They have an awesome line of APVs, and they also carry a ridiculous amount of e-juice to choose from.
To the right are a couple of their models, which go from the basic tank system all the way to the maxed out Rebel, which is for those who want an APV with all the bells and whistles – essentially its own computer.
Which Brands Are Closest To An Actual Tobacco Cigarette?
Just like with the analogue predecessors (another name for regular butts), everyone has their own taste. You may want to try more than one.
Here Are Our Top Choices For The Closest To The Real Thing:
For Marlboro Red – V2 Cigs Red 18 – Available at: http://v2cigs.com
Nice tobacco flavors – Halo Tribeca, South Beach Smoke, Green Smoke and Bull Smoke Tobacco flavors
Menthol – South Beach Smoke Menthol
Each Listed Is Available For Purchase Direct From The Company:
If you purchase your e cigs from any of the above companies we have coupon codes here to save you some money on your online purchase.
We hope that clarified some of your basic questions with electronic cigarettes.
An Introduction To E Cigarettes
How’s it going? Welcome to our site.
We’ll be going over various e cigarettes that we’ve tried, and giving our reviews. Myself and my friend Greg created this site because we both love e cigs, and decided to share our experience and findings with electronic cigarette brands to help you figure out which will be best for you.
As for me, I’m Martin (the guy to the left sitting in a car), and I have smoked for a while now, over 10 years. Now this sounds like a 12 step meeting lol.
Anyways, I guess that reference could be fitting since I am pretty addictive with most anything I do. Maybe you can relate.
As a smoker, I’m the type of person who likes my Marlboros, and I like it that way. They are one of those loyal companions, and if it ain’t broke, why fix it, right?
That brings me to electronic cigarettes…
I suddenly heard of a few people around me who started using e cigarettes, and liked them. They love smoking cigarettes just like I do. Most people I knew used the same e cigs, and had tried other e cigs in the past, so they have some nice experience.
That was the one thing that piqued my curiosity: that I knew of a few people who loved smoking, like me, who really like these e cigs.
What Really Sold Me On Taking The Plunge?
Yep, what you see pictured here to the right ——–>
Everyone has their own habits and ways, and mine was…I love my cigarettes, and wasn’t looking to quit, or cut back or anything, I just loved my smoking habit.
Then my sister brought them up to me, as I was looking at my budget, and she’s like: ‘these things cost me pennies every day.’
I asked for some clarification, and she meant: ‘less than 50 cents, maybe less than 25 cents even’.
At that point, whether it is 25 cents a day, or 50 cents, I am over here paying $16 a day for 2 packs of Marlboros.
Then I realized if I liked them even a little, I could hopefully cut back and save some cash if I liked them enough to satiate that fix. I decided to try one out. I chose the Joye 510, my sister’s e cig of choice, and the gateway ecig for a lot of people (I have since upgraded) and got regular tobacco flavor, since I wasn’t looking for dessert flavors, as I liked my Marlboros.
I then did find I liked them, and immediately cut back, as I just switched back and forth, and she was right, it is pennies a day, when you refill your own with e liquid. (You can refill any brands, so it’s the same thing – I have a video how to refill them here on the V2 page).
If The Cost Of Smoking is Your Primary Motivation:
We recommend heading over to http://bullsmoke.com and get their starter kit for $29.95 (it will cost you $50 or more to get the equivalent in parts just about anywhere else). Then head over to http://halocigs.com or http://v2cigs.com and buy some refill liquid and refill your own. (Watch our video how to refill e cig cartridges here).
It is cheap enough where you may want to try both, and perhaps a couple tobacco blends (for tobacco we recommend Halo Tribeca or V2 Red). A couple of bottles will cost less than a carton of regular butts, and the cost of daily use is less than $1 day, maybe significantly less depending how much you vape.
Update for September 2013: My sister has been converted to V2 E Liquid, after enjoying her own brand for over a year, and she loves the V2 E Juice.
So, that’s my intro to e cigs. We’ll be going into more specifics on our site, with brands etc. and we’ll be trying some different brands and giving our reviews.
Check out our reviews of the best electronic cigarette brands here!
We created a page for our V2 Cigs, Green Smoke and South Beach Smoke reviews, for those of you who want top quality (all three of them are essentially the Cadillacs of electronic cigarettes).
The link above has a more expansive list of the various electronic cigarettes we are reviewing, which we’re continually updating.
Now, to hopefully make your search easier, here are a couple topics that may interest you:
- To check out the top rated e cig brand by Alexa.com, check out V2 (they are in the top 10,000 sites, which is no joke considering there are millions, or perhaps billions of websites).
- For the cheapest and best product for the money, check out Bull Smoke, and also go here to see how it is the cheapest option.
- For cool quotes, check out our daily quote page here.
- To follow us on Facebook (we have some cool stuff coming!) and keep up with our updates, check out and like our Facebook page here. *Another September Update*: Our giveaways (currently V2 and South Beach Smoke starter kits) have commenced, check out our Facebook Page for details.
- To see our top picks, check out our top 5 list here.
- Here is a video all about vapor cigarettes, hopefully with everything you need to know about them and getting started vaping.
Otherwise, we hope our site helps you find what you’re looking for. Leave a comment with helpful feedback, e cig tips, recommendations of any brands you’d like us to review, a cool quote to add to our daily quote page, or anything you’d like to see us cover on our site, and we will consider it.
Thanks for stopping by!
7 people like this
I need folks like you that have boldly gone where too few smokers have! I’m a 50 year smoker and I’ve put them down 2 months ago for good. I just love ecigs and vaping !! I can breath again,not smell anymore and can still enjoy an experience that’s so close to smoking that I don’t miss it at all !! Thanks for all the solid information and pointing me to some quality products…you guys rule!
Vape On,
Steve
Awesome Steve, that’s excellent to hear!
We hear you, and not only that stuff, but the money savings are nice too
Can you offer any suggestions for me, after being a smoker for 40 years? My daughter just gave me the “Gator vapor ecig”…and I can’t find ANY info on filling. Also, the “warning” about nicotine “overdose” is a bit scary…Thanks for sharing your experience!
Hi Sherron,
besides the e-cigs we have listed, which are all good, you may want to get higher nicotine, which gives a nice throat hit (where you feel it hit the back of your throat like a real cigarette), and the ones we have listed here all have a nice amount of flavor, in the case that your taste buds are a little weaker like mine 😉
I haven’t heard of that one, but all of these listed here are good e-cigs, and all resemble an actual cigarette as far as how they taste, and the size etc.
I don’t know how much you need to overdose, but I vape quite a bit, and have even had 36 and 45mg nictotine, but you can get reduced and even zero nicotine.
With v2 Cigs and Halo, you can order juice and fill your own, if you want to try different nicotine levels, as you can order different strengths.
Good luck and Happy New Year!
Martin
Really glad e-cigs worked for you. I’m one of the happy cases too and I’m so grateful for having the chance to finally quit. I can relate to your case even though I’ve only been a smoker for 10 years, but the liberation you feel form them is priceless
Bull Smoke tells me their cartridges are not refillable.
Is that correct?
Trying to determine which brand of starter kit to start with.
Why mess with Bull Smoke if their carts are not refillable?
Thanks.
You can refill just about any cartridge. They don’t have refill liquid, but you can pop off the back of the cartridge, and refill them, which is the same with most cartridges/cartomizers.
I’ve been considering switching to e-cigs a lot recently since I’ve grown very tired of the stink of burning smokes. I also live in Southern Oregon where it gets mighty cold and have decided that I no longer want to freeze to smoke. I’ve asked friends that vape what their favs are and finally have landed on your site. I’m about to make my first purchase. After reading many reviews including the ones here on klks.com, I have allowed Martin to convince me to try the Green Smoke or V2 variety of e-cigs. I’m going to further research what all comes with each starter kit now to make my final decision, but I think that it will be Green Smoke because I’m a Marlboro girl and Martin is a Marlboro man so his recommendation ways heavily on my choice. If I remember when it arrives, I will be sure to update you on my thoughts of the product that I choose. Thank you very much for putting up this site, it is very informative. I appreciate it greatly. I have found the most information in one place right here and that makes a big difference in my decision making process as I don’t want to drop $60+ and end up with junk, nor do I have the time to browse and research multiple places. Thanks again for all great info. Well, here goes………………….
Thanks C, let us know how you like it! We don’t think you can go wrong with either. Also you can try out V2 for a decent price as they have disposable samplers, which come with Zig Zags also, for around $10.
Thank you Martin & Greg. This was a very informative article. I am getting ready to try electronic cigarettes, and reading this made it not seem so daunting.
Thanks Mike, let us know which you went with.
Between the cost savings and the lack of harsh chemicals, switching my Marlboro Lite habit to ‘vapes’ seems like a no-brainer…
We agree Bizz, or even for someone wanting to cut back.
I tried a couple of e cigs with varying degrees of success. I’ve been using the South Beach for a few weeks. They’re pretty good, but some guy had a “spinner” that I tried. It was Very Good, with a lot of ‘Smoke’ , very fulfilling & satisfying. Trying to find them, but unsure of what’s available. They were unusually shaped had a button start and he said you twist the bottom to vary the smoke. If you know what I mean. Please let me know so I can order some. Thanks, Phil
Hey Phil,
that sounds like an eGo twist, we did a review on that:
http://www.ecigintel.com/joye-ego-twist-650-mah-battery/
also Halo Cigs makes a variable Voltage Triton battery:
http://www.ecigintel.com/halo-cigs-triton-variable-voltage-900-mah-battery-blue/
Those are both upgraded batteries, and you can adjust the amount of vapor which is pretty cool.
Thanks Greg.
I followed your link to the joye-ego-twist and some links from there. It was helpful since I know very little about e cigs. I also read your blogs about how to ‘smoke’ the e cigs. I’m trying to quit, reduce,or change to ecigs instead of reg. cigs for health & financial reasons. The guy that had the other e-cig said it was called a “Spinner” and let a friend of mine & me try it. It really had a lot of smoke available & both of us thought with something like this, we could quit the reg. smokes. It looked something like the black one near the end of the halo video, and the ones in the top of the video to the right. He took it apart & showed us there was the battery, (a button for ‘on’), a place to hold the ‘juice’ and this piece that looked like the end of an old fountain pen that he said you had to replace about once a month. It was ‘different looking’ but worked real good and he kept calling it a spinner & said I could find it on line. No real luck with that part yet. I’m open to any information you can offer. Thank you Again Greg. Happy Holidays, Phil
Hi Phil, check out VaporZone, that is what was at the end of that video. I’m not sure what he means by spinner either, though VaporZone has a couple that look like the ones at the end of the video, and those produce a nice amount of vape.
Good luck with it and Happy New Year!
Martin
Nice write-up, but I’m disappointed you didn’t include the higher-end models, which make the transition to e-cigs MUCH easier than the cigarette lookalikes.
One tip I have for smokers who are looking to make the switch: start with higher nicotine levels rather than lower ones. The nicotine is not what’s bad for you in cigarettes. It’s the tar and all the chemicals. Starting with a higher nicotine content will mean your cravings for real cigarettes will not be nearly as bad as they would be if you weren’t getting your usual dose of nicotine.
Good luck to you all!
Thanks Chaki,
Yes there are a lot of higher end models out there left to try, and good call on the higher nicotine, which helps the throat hit. I personally liked the ones that resembled an actual cigarette for a while and moved on up to the advanced stuff later, but we’ll have to add some more reviews of those and mods etc., as those are catching on.
I gave my boyfriend a disposable E-cig for Christmas this year. He was smoking more and more. He was coughing alot and his sinuses were wrecked. Plus, he was always outside. Anyway, he pulled it out of his stocking. The smile on his face was priceless. He immediately took a puff. Heaven…….I am proud to say, that he has not picked up a real cig since Christmas Eve. He threw away the remainder of his pack and has not looked back. (cute..that rhymed). He doesn’t smell. He doesn’t taste bad anymore. He helps in the kitchen, before and after dinner instead of going outside to smoke. I am thankful for this invention. Now, I am thankful for your website. All of the info is so beneficial. I had no idea where to get the starter packs of refills. We just keep buying disposables. Keep up the good work!!
That’s awesome Melissa!
Thanks for sharing that, he could save some decent money too.
Hope you have a great 2014!
Martin
Hi. I have been on an e cig for 5 days now and I LOVE it! I smoked for 20 years, but I can proudly say that I quit smoking literally immediately after my very first puff off of my e cig! They are awesome and I would recommend them to anyone!
That’s amazing Angela, thanks for the comment!
Thank You All for the help. This is a whole new world and I appreciate the assistance in navigating it.
Thanks Again,
Phil
Thanks for the comment Phil, glad it was helpful!
Martin
After smoking for 40 years I switches to the e-cigs and have been super pleased. I have tried the V2 brand and also Gatorvapor. The battery with the Gatorvapor is, IMO, superior in that you get more draw from it and it last longer without recharging it. But I also like the V2. If you go with the V2 don’t buy the shorter batteries because they don’t stay charged through even on of the nicotine cartridges. The longer batter is better, but their new EX battery is superior to any of their regular batteries. The nicotine strength I use is their highest which is 2.4 and that is plenty for me. I was a heavy 2 pack a day smoker and when the federal gov’t raised taxes on cigarettes it got to be cost prohibitive and I just plain resented paying that kind of money to kill myself. The e-cigs have been a blessing. No coughing, no shortness of breath, and my doctor says my lungs sound like someone who has never smoked after being away from real cigarettes for several years.
I highly recommend them. As others have said, make sure you buy 2 batteries. I like the refillable cartridges. I have gotten the price per pack down to under $1 AND no nasty smell or smoke. I can’t say enough good about e-cigs.
So glad to find these options. It’s changing my life.