Common terms for electronice cigarettes that I will use throughout these sections.
PV = Personal Vaporizor (new name for e-cigarettes)
atty = Atomizer
PG = Propylene Glycol
VG = Vegetable Glycerin
v = Voltage
vape = New term for "smoking" a PV
mAh = Milliamp Per hour
ohm = resistance in terms of electrical circuitry
ejuice = The liquid used to make vapor
TH = Throat hit (fealing in the back of the throat)
mod = Modified unit (usually user created)

Here is a picture of a number of different e-cigarettes.

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The PV has 3 major areas that come into play.
1. Battery
2. Atty
3. Tip/mouth piece
Essentially how a PV works is the battery delivers power to a little wire/coil inside of the atty thus heating ejuice that is in the atty to produce vapor. This vapor is essentially water vapor you would see coming from hot water. The vapor will not hang around like smoke does so it cuts down on what would look like second hand smoke. It isnt smoke anyway so that is a good thing. There usually is no odor except for some flavors of ejuice. How long that vapor hangs around is dependant on how much moisture is in the air. If you were to exhale the vapor in a hot steamy room, the vapor would hang around for along time whereas outside on a dry day it will disipitate faster.

Some example pictures.


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There are 3 different thread designs to atty's. The following numbers are the common names of the atty.
1. 510 - female thread (battery thread is female so think of that if you are looking at the thread thinking I was backwards
2. 901 - male thread
3. 801 - male thread
It can get a bit confusing at first look when looking for things online due to each one of those threads have a number of other atty numbers. For this I will cover more in the advanced section.


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There are essentially two kind of PV's that people will run into. Store bought cigarette look a likes and custom/upgraded model designs. Store bought are fine for people wanting to start into the e-cigarette due to most people wanting something that resembles a true cigarette. Once this phase wears out, allot of people want to move onto something that works better for them. Most starter kits should only be around $45-65 price range. Anything more and you should look around for better prices since they can be had. A lot of mall kiosks and tobacco shops will sell a degraded model for anywhere around $150 up towards $250 and that is just a waste of money. The reason they can sell them is because it is an impulse buy due to being a good salesman. Most all starter or mainstream kits will use the 510 thread design. Other non mainstream designs will use 901 and 801 threads.

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Batteries can range anywhere from 3.4v to 7.4v. Store bought kits like the Joye eGo or the Joye510 are rated around 3.4v. User made devices are usually around 3.7v to 6v and some extreme version will go up to 7.4v. 3.7v and 6v are two mainstays in the PV world when dealing with the larger units. The store bought mainstream designs will either be the size of a cigarette or something just a little bigger. The Joye510 is essentially the closest one to the size of a cigarette by length and diameter. The eGo is just a little thicker but about the same length as a 100 cigarette. These two are both 3.4v systems. For someone starting out and still smoking normal cigarettes with them, the unit will last a couple of days of occasional vaping. Once you start vaping normally these batteries should last you a better part of a whole day sometimes less, it all depends on how much you use the device.

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There are three different styles of vaping now and they all have to do with how you handle the ejuice.
1. Cartridge
2. Cartomizer
3. Dripping
Cartridge is probably one of the most widely used especially by someone new to vaping and by the mainstream units. Kiosks units will often be cartridge based and one of the ways they make money is by telling the customer once the flavor/vapor stops coming, switch it out with a new cartridge. Thus having to go back to the vendor to buy more of their pre-filled expensive cartridges. Someone new to the scene might not know that you can just refill this cartridge a number of times until it starts getting gunked up by ejuice over time. You can wash these out to reuse them. Empty cartridges online can be very very cheap. Usually $4 for a pack of 5 empty cartridges you just fill up with your own ejuice. To use a cartridge, simply drip about 8-10 drops slowly into the cottom wicking material waiting for it to soak the juice as you drip. This will usually last you an hour to a couple of hours depending on how often you are using the unit.



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Cartomizers are a new to intermediate system where it is a larger container that is either pre-filled with more juice that can fit into a cartridge or an empty unit that you fill yourself. In some cases, some cartomizers can hold up to 2ml of ejuice. That can last some people a couple of days. Empty cartomizers are very cheap also. You can usually get a pack of 5 for around $5.

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Dripping is an advanced system where the atty usually has a special tip where the juice can be dripped right into the atty. You have to drip more often because you can not overfill the atty's coil system. Usually with dripping you only want to put about 3-4 drops into the atty and that will last you about 4 or 5 inhales give or take before dripping again.
You might be wondering why someone would drip when the cartridge will last you longer before refilling. Dripping will give you more flavor from your juice and in some cases more vapor. You can succesfully drip with a cartridge if you take the cotton wicking out and just take the tip off and drip then put it back on. In most cases it is more time consuming and sometimes some juice might leak out of the connection of the tip and atty making it a little messy.

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Atomizer differences
These are some common differences in what the different atty numbers can do for you.
510's are known for giving more TH than other units usually. They are also a little noisier than the other two.
901's are kind of the mid way between the 510 and 801. They also have one breather hole on the side of the atty.
801's are known for delivering better flavor and in most cases from what I have seen more vapor production. They are also the more quiet of the three. They are the largest of the three also.
Some people like the size of the 510 over the 801 and I think that is why it is not as popular. The majority of the user's online use the 510. I personally use 801's moreso since I love the vapor and flavor production more than having a good TH.


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Advanced section.

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Thread models
Most starter kits sold by malls and kiosks use what is called the RN4082 atty. It is a small unit that a cartridge or tip slides on top of the atty covering it completely. Not widely used or sold on the internet. Mostly due to no one wanting to use the system I guess. 510 thread can be used by the 510 or 306. The 306 is very similar to the RN4082 as in the cartridge or tip fits over the atty. It uses the same thread design as the 510 though.
901 thread is often called the mini 901. Both the 901 atty and the KR808-1 cartomizer use this thread design. From what I have seen online 901 is often always an atty where as the KR808-1 is strickly a cartomizer.
801 can be use by the "Penstyle 801" atty and the BE112.

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Battery life
Most standard kits that are about the size of a cigarette are usaully within the 280 to 900mAh rating. Most being at the lower range. mAh is directly related to how long a battery will last over the use of the unit. The custom and user made PV will usually be around the 900 to 3000mAh range. I have a unit that can last me 4 days until I have to recharge it. Only bad thing about getting a more powerfull battery is the size of the battery. A 3.7v 900mAh battery can be the size of a AA battery. A 3.7v 3000mAh will be much larger, in some cases, close to the size of a roll of quarters. Two 3v 900mAh batteries in series can give you 6v and most call this High Voltage vaping. There are some cases where you can put two 3.7v batteries in series and get 7.4v which is on the extreme side. You can be creative with some mods and put two 3.7v 3000mAh batteries in parallel and get a number of days worth of vaping with out worrying about changing batteries.



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Atty resistance
Atomizers can be made in three different ways. This boils down to resistance.
1. LR = Low resistance
2. SR = Standard resistance
3. HV/HR = High voltage/high resistance

All of them look the same but they are made differently due to how long the coil is inside the heating element. Low Resistance has a shorter coil lenght than a stardard and that obviously means the high resistance is longer. The shorter the coil is, the less it takes to heat up.
LR atty work the best in 3.7v units and will give more vapor production that they would if you used a SR in the same unit. It is meant to give the same performance of a 6volt system without using 6volts. Most starter kits come with SR atty and work fine. Some people will get LR atty for the kits but you must watch how it performs as it might either damage the battery or just result in lower battery life.
6volt systems work well with either SR or HR atty depending on what the ohm rating of the atty is. Standard ohm ratings are generally as follows.
LR 1.5ohm - 2.4ohm
SR 2.8ohm - 3.2ohm
HR 3.9ohm - 4.1ohm
At first glance you might be wondering why the ohm rating is important. It all has to do with how much wattage you want to be vaping at. The "sweet spot" for me is somewhere in the 7.8 - 9watt range. 3.7v x 1.9ohm = 7.03watts. A 3.7v batter will tipically start at 4.2volt at its highest recharge range and drop all the way down towards the 3.4v range. I tipically will only use it until it get to 3.7v then switch batteries and stick that one on the charger. So this would be in the 7.56 - 7 watt range of a "sweet spot".

USB Passthru
There is even a way to vape right from your computer utilizing the USB port on your computer. This would be termed 5v vaping. It is essentially a USB plug wired into a battery housing that you screw on your atty and either press a button to start or just start inhaling depending on if you got a manual or automatic unit.
Here is a picture of one.

I am more than happy to answer any more questions and if you want to open your world to all vaping needs you can visit ECF Forum