Choosing a device and the iPack...Dionne's Journey Part 5

Hiya! Welcome back.

How are you?

Have you been looking at the eliquids since we last met here?

Have you been discussing Vaping with your friends & family?

I guess you're pretty excited about making a choice of electronic cigarette by now!

Since I’m blogging here on Exhale’s site I’ve been having a good look at their range. Its pretty impressive and offers quite a few options which is great not least because when we begin to vape we are looking for an e-cig that we demand a lot from!

We’re spending the money we would have used for smoking on it, so once we have spent that money we need this investment to deliver!

  • Our first kit needs to feel comfortable.
    • We need to not feel conspicuous.
      • We want our kit to get us on the road to a life that is tobacco free.

When choosing a device, regardless of which one you choose now, or others you may add to or replace it with later on, it is important to read all the advice given on how to care for and maintain it so that it can provide you with the vaping experience you are seeking.

It is also important to know right from the outset that all electronic cigarettes require replacement parts from time to time. Their atomisation devices have a limited lifespan which can be effected by things such as the type of eliquid used and how much a person vapes.

OK, here’s the rub!

You’re looking to move away from tobacco, improve your health and your environment… you may have been brow beaten for years by friends and family!!! You’re looking to save money too whilst at the same time beginning to vape is going to cost you money…. You may or may not have tried a ‘cigalike’, you might have tried out a friends set up or been recommended towards a product or supplier….

Of course you have to go for a device that seems to ‘suit your pocket’….remember how a few weeks ago I told you about how I l wasted a lot of money when I began this vaping life?

Well, a lot has changed since then and thankfully there is a lot more choice and a lot of much better products.
There are devices I like and there are those I don’t. My needs will be different than yours might be so in introducing you to the electronic cigarettes available from Exhale I will try to be as unbiased as I can be, to provide you with sound information about them so that you can arrive at the choice that is RIGHT FOR YOU.

LOOK & FEEL OF YOUR electronic cigarette

There are now so many devices it is hard to decide what to get isn't it?

Do you remember me saying earlier how at first I felt rather conspicuous with my ‘pretend cigarette’?
I honestly believe that it is important to us how we are perceived and what we might look like to others. For years now we have felt quite comfortable holding and using our cigarettes. Therefore, it is quite natural for us to want to use something that looks and feels the same or similar.

If we are going to use an electronic cigarette to make this transition successfully, we want to be able to use it without embarrassment or awkwardness.

I speak to a number of people these days about vaping and electronic cigarettes and what all of them say at the beginning of their own journey is that they feel overwhelmed by the choices and do not understand the words and terminology used. They get confused and do not know what to ask for. To understand an Electronic Cigarette, it might help if we break it down like this:

All electronic cigarettes use a battery to provide power -

This power heats a coil inside the atomisation device -

The coil atomises the e-liquid which is then vaped.

Electronic cigarettes are either 3 or 2 part models.
  • Of the 2 part models their are 2 families.
3 part models are: a battery + an atomiser + a tank

2 part models are either: a battery + a cartridge or a battery + a clearomiser or Cartomiser type device.

With the 2 part models the liquid and the atomiser are combined as one sealed unit.
In the cartridge system there is an atomisation device surrounded by a wad of cotton wool like material which only a small amount of e-liquid.

In a clearomiser/cartomiser type device the atomisation device is combined with a tank which holds a much larger amount of e-liquid. The e-liquid is easily viewed through the clear plastic or glass tank, hence the word clear being combined with the word atomiser to become clearomiser! A cartomiser is similar to a clearomiser except that it usually is covered with a sleeve.

There will be more words and terms you’ll come across and I will explain these as we go along so that they are more meaningful at the time. For now, let’s go back to choosing a device for you…

If you want the appearance of a cigarette there are models made for that purpose. They’re often an inexpensive way to get started with vaping. A way if you like, to ‘put a foot into the water’ and see if vaping might work as an alternative to smoking.

It was in fact how I got started. My first kits were ‘cigalike’ (looks like a cigarette) devices costing around £65 each. They were 2 part cartridge systems that had batteries of a similar size to a kingsize cigarette with cartridges that contained dosed nicotine. These cartridges were designed to look like a cigarette filter with paper covers. The battery lit up with an LED light at the tip that was orange/red so that when vaping it looked as much like smoking as was possible.

Now, people who vape want devices that DON’T look like a lit cigarette and which makes it clear to others that they are NOT smoking. Invariably these LED’s are now blue or green. A clear sign to anyone that this is not a lit cigarette.

You can pick up a ‘blister pack’ cartridge cigalike for around £12-18 though this will more than likely have only 1 battery whereas my original kits had 2 batteries each, one in use and one on charge. As the cartridge is used they are disposed of and replaced.

They’re a great way to get started and it’s understandable that you may wish to test the water by buying a cheap ‘cigalike’ device to give it a try; to experience what vaping might be like; to see if this whole vaping thing ‘fits’ you.

So, buying something “off the shelf” in a supermarket or off the high street might be an ideal beginning and fine in the short term. These devices are designed to be very disposable and will not last long. After all, the vendors want you to keep coming back and spending and this need to constantly replace cartridges becomes expensive in itself. It is what often leads someone towards seeking a more sustainable device.

Do bear in mind: All atomisation devices have a limited life and will eventually ‘expire’. The thin coil of wire inside will burn out and at this point the cartridge or atomisation device will need to be replaced or fitted with replacement parts.

Additionally, these cheap devices tend to provide a dry vape (and many people say they make them cough)… for a lot of people, in the end, although it leaves one knowing vaping could be for them they simply don't ‘cut the mustard’ in terms of a lasting and real (alternative to) smoking satisfaction. However, for a light or occasional smoker, they might be an ideal solution.

A note on coughing:

The dry vape can cause coughing because there is not enough liquid absorbed onto the wadding.

When you stop smoking your body quickly begins the process of recovery and healing. Coughing is often a sign that this is happening. Your lungs are clearing away the debris and coughing is the natural way to do this.

Luckily for those of us who need more “oomph” and a “meatier” throat hit and a more sustainable solution there are better products that will meet these requirements. There are more powerful devices with longer lasting batteries (though these devices are larger).There are devices where you can refresh the wadding by adding more fluid (making them more sustainable and less dry) and there are devices with tanks (with no wadding) which provide a much ‘fuller’ vape and hold more e-liquid so that you can vape for longer.

In terms of an electronic cigarette using batteries of similar size to a cigarette Exhale offers the choice of either an iPack, or either the 510T and the CE2 starter kits.

Let me begin to tell you more about them…..

The batteries supplied in the 510T and CE2 kits are known as 510 batteries (referring to the screw thread size) and have a power rating of 280mAh. They have the LED lit end common to devices of this ilk. The 510 battery can be either manual (press a button to activate the power and vape) or automatic (the inhale activates the power).
The 510T is a 3 part system, and the iPack and CE2 are 2 part systems each coming from one of the families mentioned earlier.

 

The iPack:

This might look like a ‘cigalike’ however, in its conception and design Exhale addressed and defeated those complaints of both dryness and lack of ‘oomph’ as well as making them more sustainable too!

The iPack offers a cigarette size and appearance but it gives you more. It also offers two very important features in that:
  • it’s a device that is a Personal Charging Case (PCC) and
  • The cartridges can be refilled a number of times.
What is a PCC?

The iPack PCC in itself has 3 features:

  • It is a case to hold and easily carry your e-cig.
  • It also holds a spare battery and cartridges.
  • It is a device that contains a lithium ion battery so that once it is charged this power is then held and carried with you and used to charge the e-cig battery itself.
The great thing with a PCC is that when you are out and about you can recharge the e-cig battery without the need of a separate power source, you know you won't run out of power.

The iPack cartridge has a coil inside surrounded by a material to absorb and hold e-liquid. The cartridges are replaceable and refillable too!

The cartridges are available in Extra High, High, Medium and Low strengths and in Cherry, Coffee, Menthol, Tobacco and Vanilla flavours. So there is sure to be something to suit.

Unlike cheap ‘cigalikes the iPack cartridge can be refilled with e-liquid very easily and therefore it is easy to ensure that you avoid that ‘dry’ vape.

When removed from the battery, if you upturn the cartridge you will see a bowl shape with a small hole: You simply drip 1 or 2 drops of e-liquid onto the bottom of the cartridge into the bowl shape and this then is absorbed into the cartridge via the small hole. When this has been absorbed you can repeat this until about 8 drops have been added. This cartridge although disposable can be reused a number of times, until the coil burns out.

You can see the Exhale’s iPack here:

http://www.exhalecigarette.co.uk/ipack-electronic-cigarette-starter-kit/

Do you want to try the iPack and write a review about it? 

Exhale are offering 3 of these devices to my blog readers! All Exhale ask is that you commit to writing us a review on the product… If you are interested in taking part and having your review published on these pages please contact Exhale here: support@exhalecigarette.co.uk.

Please make the subject line of your email” iPack blog’ and don't forget to include your name, address & telephone number.

Next time we meet I’d like to tell you about Exhale’s 510T and the CE2 starter kits.

See you soon
20th Feb 2014 Dionne Westwood

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