How to Inhale a Vape
Here’s a common scenario that plays out in vape shops across the country.
A smoker enters the shop, completely new to vaping but intent on buying their first e-cig kit.
“How can I help you today?” the sales manager asks.
“I’m looking to buy an e-cig kit,” the smoker responds, sheepishly looking at the wide array of different devices in the glass displays.
The sales manager launches right into the usual questions, “What are you looking for – a Mouth-to-Lung vape or a Direct-Lung vape?”
“Yer what?”
You may never have heard of Direct-Lung or Mouth-to-Lung vaping, but it’s every day vape lingo for many vapers.
Although it’s poor service, it’s easy to forget that people outside the industry have never heard of these terms, and soon we end up confusing the very people we are meant to help.
Enough!
For anybody who’s as bewildered about these terms as our fictional smoker, this post will explain the different types of inhaling, and the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Inhaling on a cigarette vs. a vape
Vaping is modelled after smoking, but there are big differences between how you inhale on a cigarette and how most vapers inhale from their devices.
It does depend on the type of vape tank you’re using and your personal preferences, but regardless of this, there are some differences that are unavoidable.
How do you inhale your vape?
The length of your inhale
The most important difference is the length of your inhale. Generally speaking, vapers inhale for a longer time than smokers.
The reason for this is simple. If you puff harder on a cigarette, it burns down more quickly and you get more smoke. On an e-cig, puffing harder accomplishes very little. The only way to get more vapour is to keep the button held down for longer and inhale for longer.
This takes some getting used to when you first start. Research has shown that more experienced vapers puff for longer than smokers using e-cigarettes, and they end up getting nicotine more efficiently as a result.
Do you hold vapour for longer than smoke?
After the inhale part of the puff, there isn’t much difference in how long vapers and smokers hold the vapour or smoke in before exhaling.
The longer inhale time from vapers does mean that they’ll probably hold some vapour in their mouths for longer than smokers do. Overall this isn’t a crucial factor and you’re unlikely to have to think about it when you switch to vaping.
The whole process with vaping is slower, but after you finish your inhale, there isn’t much difference in the exhaling process – apart from the size of the clouds, that is!
Do you need “priming puffs” when you vape?
Back when vaping was first getting started, many devices were “automatic,” meaning the coil activated as you inhaled rather than as you pressed a button, as on “manual” devices. Withthese devices, “priming puffs” were often recommended.
Note that this is different to “priming” a coil (unfortunately vape lingo isn’t always easy to get to grips with!). When you prime a coil, you manually soak the wick of your coil before filling up the tank or pod. This is important with any type of device, but it’s particularly important with Direct-Lung devices because they tend to operate at higher wattages.
Priming puffs were basically little draws – like you would just before taking a draw on a cigar – that gave the coil time to heat up before your proper puff.
The vast majority of e-cigs on the market today are manual, so priming puffs aren’t really needed in the same way, especially with higher-powered devices. However, you can still replicate the same effect as a priming puff by pressing the fire button for a second before you actually start inhaling. The coil takes a second to reach vaping temperature, so even though it isn’t strictly necessary, this still helps you get a harder hit when you start your puff.
The only issue is that this can lead to condensation around the drip tip. This can either end up getting sucked up into your mouth when you take a puff or potentially drip back down to the coil and risk flooding. If you do this, make sure you continue your draw for a second after releasing the fire button to protect against these risks.
