A

ADV/All Day Vape: Literally an e-liquid with such a good flavour that you can happily vape it from dawn until dusk. Sometimes you might buy an e-liquid because of the novelty value of its flavour, or you may simply choose a particular flavour as a change.  An all day vape is a flavour that is perhaps less interesting or novel, but does not become boring when used over a longer period of time.

APV (Advanced Personal Vaporiser): For a number of people (me included), the word “electronic cigarette” (and its connotations with tobacco smoking) is misleading. Advanced Personal Vaporiser is one of a number of terms that are often used as an alternative name for more modern electronic cigarettes.

Amps: An amp (short for ampere) is simply a unit of measurement for an electrical current. E-Cig batteries are measured in milliamp hours (mAh). The higher the mAh rating of your battery, the longer it will last before it needs to be recharged.

Analogue: The name that vapers sometimes give to a traditional tobacco cigarette that you light up and smoke in the old fashioned way (as opposed to a modern electronic cigarette).

ASH: This stands for “Action on Smoking and Health”. They are a public health organisation who cautiously support the use of electronic cigarettes but only as an aid to quitting smoking; they do not fully understand the concept of risk reduction or the enjoyable, recreational nature of vaping. ASH also supported the Tobacco Products Directive, a piece of legislation introduced in 2017 by the EU which is unfit for purpose; it places many pointless and arbitrary restrictions on electronic cigarettes.

Atomiser (US: Atomizer): The electronic component that heats the nicotine solution contained within the electronic cigarette, turning it into vapour- it can be compared to the element in a kettle. The word is starting to fall into disuse, with more people preferring to use the word “coil” instead.

Atty: Sometimes used as an abbreviation for atomiser.

B

Battery: The battery is used to power an electronic cigarette’s atomiser. They are usually of the rechargeable lithium ion type and are available in a variety of sizes and capacities. The capacity of a battery gives you an idea of how long it will last before needing to be recharged and is shown in mAh. Vapable.com stock many different models of battery, from the simple small ego types to larger capacity 18650 types, used in more advanced vaping equipment.

Bottom Coil Clearomiser (BCC): A clearomiser where the atomiser and heating coil is located at the bottom of the clearomiser. These are usually also filled from the bottom end of the clearomiser as opposed to the top.

Bottom Dual Coil Clearomiser (BDC): A bottom dual coil clearomiser with two coils. Provides more vapour and a stronger throat hit, but will also drain your batteries quicker than a single coil clearomiser. Increasingly, these are being replaced by vertical coil clearomisers.

Bottom Vertical Coil Clearomiser (BVC): A bottom coil clearomiser with a single coil in vertical position, which improves the airflow. These are available from Vapable.com

C

Cartomiser: A small tank that also houses an atomiser– so does the job of both storing and vapourising (atomising) the e-liquid.

Cigalike: An electronic cigarette that closely resembles a tobacco cigarette. For many people these are the way into vaping, but they quickly realise that they are fairly ineffective because of their poor battery life and insufficient amounts of liquid and switch to a more satisfying tank system.

Clapton: A type of coil configuration. A clapton coil aims to produce better clouds and flavour. It consists of a thin wire wrapped around a thicker wire that forms the main coil to offer more surface area to the wick. Named after Eric, the famous guitarist because of its close resemblance to a guitar string (personally I might have named them “Ronsons” after the great Mick).

Clearomiser: A cartomiser which is transparent so that you can easily see how much e-liquid is left.

Clive Bates: A prominent vaping advocate, Clive Bates was once the director of ASH (see above) and on his blog he consistently denounces the misleading research methods of many scientists and argues in favour of the risk reduction potential of e-cigs and snus.

Clone: A copy of a top brand electronic cigarette, often sold as a counterfeit. Authenticity stickers are used by many top brands to show buyers that their products are genuine.

Cloud Chasing: The activity of blowing massive clouds. This practice is looked down upon by some vapers (and pub landlords) who feel it brings vaping into disrepute among the general public. Most media articles on vaping are accompanied by a sensationalist photograph of a cloud-chaser, although to be honest, most of the ordinary folk that I see vaping are a lot more discreet about it.

Coil: A coil is the part of the electronic cigarette that heats e-liquid and turns it into vapour- sometimes it is referred to as an atomiser. Coils are made from metal wire such as kanthal, nichrome or nickel.

D

Dick Puddlecote: A prominent vaping advocate whose blog is both entertaining and informative. Well worth a read for any vaper.

Disposable E-Cigarette: Usually a cigalike, these are designed to be used once then chucked in the bin, so they are environmentally unfriendly as well as being ineffective.

Direct to lung: Direct to Lung vaping involves the vapour being inhaled straight into the lung without first being held in the mouth.

DNA Chipset: A type of chipset inside a mod that provides control over the power delivery to the coil.

DNA Mod: See above. A mod that uses the DNA chipset.

Dripping: Dripping is a vaping technique where e-liquid is dripped directly onto the coil from a bottle or a dropper and a special type of device is used. Unlike normal vaping where the e-liquid is held in a tank, dripping requires the use of a special dripping atomiser. The coils used are also larger than usual, making it easier to drip the juice onto the coil and the wick. Dripping is used for more intense flavours, which can be easily switched from one to another, unlike tank systems. Rebuildable dripping atomisers are available here at vapable.com

Drip tip: The mouthpiece of an electronic cigarette, originally used to refer to the mouthpiece of a dripping atomiser.

Dry Burn: The harsh burnt effect you get when there is insufficient e-liquid on the wick. This is usually done accidentally and is sometimes called a “dry hit.” Sometimes vapers do this deliberately to a used coil to remove the build up of gunk from the coil, but some scientists like Dr. Farsalinos have advised against this practice due to the possibility of oxidised metal particles from the coil being inhaled.

E

E-Cig (or Electronic Cigarette): A device that creates vapour to be inhaled. The vapour usually contains nicotine, although some vapers use zero nicotine liquid.

EGO: The original eGo was an electronic cigarette model manufactured by JoyTech. The word Ego is now used to refer to the type of fitting of a clearomiser, the Ego or 510 connection.

E-liquid (or e-Juice): The liquid that e-cigs turn into vapour. You may often hear people say “but we don’t know what’s in it.” Well actually we do; e-liquid invariably is a mixture of vegetable glycerine, propylene glycol, flavourings and nicotine (although some vapers do not use nicotine at all). That’s just three or four ingredients compared to the hundreds of toxic chemicals in a conventional cigarette. OK, so “propylene glycol” might seem like a scary sounding chemical, but then so does “dihydrogen monoxide” (H2O- water) which we are happy to drink all the time. By the way- propylene glycol is also safely used in asthma inhalers and is a main ingredient in Nicorette Quickmist spray (along with hydrochloric acid!).

ENDs: Electronic Nicotine Devices, another alternative name for electronic cigarettes, which is often used by scientists in their research into electronic cigarettes. I personally like this name as it is suggestive of the “END” of normal cigarette smoking.

F

Flavouring: The flavourings used in e-liquids, these are usually very concentrated food grade flavours and are available in thousands of different blends and tastes. Vapers who DIY (mix their own juices) can work to very precise recipes where different flavours are blended together to give a huge variety of flavour profiles. Flavouring usually has a base of propylene glycol liquid. Here at vapable.com, we have a huge range of flavours available.

G

Genesis atomiser: Genesis is a style of RBA that consists of a tank below the coil deck. A wick, which is often made from stainless steel mesh, is fed though a hole into the tank and through the coil on the deck.

Grub Screw : A type of screw used in atomiser posts. The tip is pointed to better secure wires and they are very small, fiddly and easy to lose. This is the reason why most RBAs RDAs and RTs come supplied with spare grub screws.

H

Herbert Gilbert: Considered by many to be the true inventor of the e-cig, he designed, patented and built a battery powered inhalation device in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Herbert’s revolutionary invention was totally ignored as nobody knew or cared much about the dangers of cigarettes in the 60s, a time when it was almost compulsory for everybody to smoke.

Hon Lik: The inventor of the modern electronic cigarette, the idea apparently came to him in a crazy dream when he was using nicotine patches in an effort to quit smoking after he lost his father to lung cancer. Hon Lik turned his dream into reality when he released his smoking alternative to the public in 2006. Hon Lik’s first electronic cigarette consisted of a battery, a cartridge containing nicotine solution suspended in propylene glycol and an ultrasonic atomizer. According to the World Health Organization, 6 million smokers will die this year. Thanks to Hon Lik’s ingenuity, this number should start to decrease annually.

Hookah pen: Alternatively known as shisha pens, these were popular a few years ago and were a  long and thin style of e-cigarette, available with flavours similar to those used in shisha pipes.

K

Kanthal wire: Trademarked name for a family of alloy used in resistance wire for coil construction. At vapable.com we stock a range of wire for different resistances.

L

Lithium Ion Batteries: Considered the strongest and most powerful batteries in the electronic cigarette market, they are available from vapable.com in many different sizes and shapes.

M

mAh: Milliamp hour. This gives the capacity of a battery, the higher the mAh, the larger the battery will be and the longer it will last before requiring a recharge.

Mech Mod: (Mechanical Mod) A mechanical mod is a device which has a battery and a switch with no adjustment or protection.

Mod: In its truest sense, a mod is a custom built vaping device. The word ‘Mod’ has begun to be used for any vaping instrument, but particularly power units. The word has its origins in the early days of vaping, when enthusiastic amateurs used to tinker around and modify ineffective devices to improve their performance. “Modders” would often use existing devices such as torches and modify them to create their own unique vaping kit.

Mouth to lung: In mouth to lung vaping, the vapour is inhaled into the mouth and held there before being drawn down into the lung. This is the same technique as used in traditional cigarette smoking.

N

Nicotine: An often quoted phrase “people smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar” is supported by a new report from the Royal Society for Public Health, which suggests 9 out of 10 people still falsely believe nicotine is very harmful to their health, when in fact it is no more dangerous than the caffeine in a cup of coffee. The fact that a great many people still believe that nicotine causes cancer is one myth about the dangers of smoking that has endured for decades, largely thanks to the efforts of a public health industry who have spent the past 40 years indoctrinating the general public with their anti-smoking agenda. Nicotine is the most well-known chemical found in tobacco and is chemically similar to caffeine. As well as the tobacco plant, nicotine is also found in potatoes, tomatoes and aubergines. Evidence suggests that nicotine alone isn’t actually all that addictive and that it is the other harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke that make it so hard to quit smoking. There is scientific evidence that nicotine has many health benefits; it aids memory, concentration and can even have a therapeutic effect for those who suffer depression. Nicotine is officially NOT a carcinogen, so if you do smoke, you definitely shouldn’t let the fact that you’d still be consuming nicotine put you off trying to switch to vaping. Out of all the many serious risks from smoking, nicotine addiction is definitely among the least of your concerns.

Nicotine Salts – A nicotine formula patented by PAX Labs in the USA, where it has become very popular; nicotine salt products are now starting to appear on the UK market. Nicotine salts are derived from the natural nicotine salts found in tobacco plants. Nicotine salts aim to reproduce the same nicotine hit that is felt when smoking a cigarette. The nicotine salts are absorbed into your bloodstream a lot faster than the usual nicotine found in traditional eliquids on the market, meaning that a nicotine hit is felt quicker when vaping eliquid which contains nicotine salts.

Nic Shots – Nic Shots are 10ml “shots” of high strength nicotine. They usually come in 18mg standard strengths or 20mg salt strengths and are primarily used by DIY E-liquid mixers or shortfall users.

O

Ohm: A unit of measurement for electrical resistance and how difficult is for the electrical current from the battery to pass through the heating coil. A lower number indicates lower resistance and therefore creates faster heating. So how does knowing this information benefit the vaper? There’s a direct link between resistance and the amount of vapour a device can produce, and it is usually the lower the ohms the bigger the clouds, but if you are a smoker trying to make the switch or a vaping beginner then a device with 1.5 – 1.8 Ohm coils might be advisable to start with.

Organic Cotton: This material is used in many commercially available coils and is a popular material for DIY vapers to use in their own coil construction. Many vapers swear by Muji Japanese cotton. At Vapable.com, we are able to supply a range of cotton for wicking.

P

Passthrough – A device that has the facility to plug directly into the USB port of a computer or charger which allows the user to vape while charging at the same time.

PG: Propylene Glycol is an ingredient that is found in most e-liquids. It is also used widely as a food additive and as a carrier for injectable and topical medicines. We have good evidence that propylene glycol is safe to inhale because the pharmaceutical company Nicorette use it as a main ingredient in their Quickmist quit smoking spray. Generally speaking, the more PG in an e-liquid, the better the throat hit. PG also gives e-liquids a thinner consistency.

Priming/Prime: The act of preparing a wick before vaping. This is usually done by adding a few drops of liquid to the wick and allowing it to soak in before reassembling the tank and filling with juice. PV: Personal Vapouriser- an alternative name for an electronic cigarette.

R

RBA: Rebuildable Atomizer: These usually have a tank that holds liquid and an atomiser that you can assemble yourself. You can use your own DIY coils and wicks, but some models have pre-built coils available to buy.

RDA: Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer: With an RDA, you directly drip e-liquid on the wick/coil and vape it directly after fitting the drip tip. RDAs do not usually hold a lot of liquid at a time and you have to re-fill the liquid more often, but it is easier to change between different flavours. Many vapers use RDAs because of the improved flavour and vapour production compared to tanks.

Resistance: This is how easily an electrical current can travel through a wire and is used to classify different grades of coils, which are usually available in a choice of different resistances. Measured in ohms, a lower number indicates lower resistance and therefore creates faster heating. So how does knowing this information benefit the vaper? Well there’s a direct link between the resistance and the amount of vapour that a device can produce- usually the lower the ohms, the bigger the clouds but if you are a smoker trying to make the switch or a vaping beginner, then a device with 1.5 – 1.8 Ohm resistance coils might be advisable to start with.

Resistance Wire: The wire that is used in an atomiser coil which heats up when an electrical current is applied. It is typically made from Nichrome or Kanthal.

S

Starter Kit – A kit that typically includes everything needed to begin vaping. Most starter kits come with 1 or more atomizers, 1 or more batteries and a charger. Vapable.com stock a range of starter kits.

Stealth vaping: Deliberately vaping in a way that is designed to minimise attention. Typically stealth vapers use certain techniques to minimise the amount of visible vapour exhaled and may use smaller, more discreet devices. Specially made for stealth vaping, high PG e-liquid can have an almost invisible vapour. I have personally successfully used stealth devices and liquids in situations such as flying, cinema or theatre visits and public transport.

Steeping:  The act of letting your e-liquid sit for a length of time after purchasing or mixing it yourself. The purpose of this is to allow the components of the e-liquid to intermingle and mature. Some users will try an e-liquid immediately after receiving it and find it tastes bad. By letting it sit for a certain amount of time and retrying it later, the flavour is greatly improved. Sometimes a couple of days or as much as a week or two of letting the juice steep will make a e-liquid taste much better. Opening the cap and letting air into the bottle once a day is sometimes also a preferred method of steeping, along with shaking the bottle to mix the components. Many vapers allow their juices to steep by placing them in a light place such as a windowsill, although others swear by a dark airing cupboard. Personally, I just carry mine around in my jeans pocket for a week.

Stovetop coil: Stovetop coils resemble the heating elements on electric stoves and are flat and circular. This increases the surface area which helps to create more vapour.

Sub Ohm/ Sub Ohming: Sub ohm vaping means using a coil with a resistance lower than 1.0 Ohm. Mainly it refers to resistances ranging from 0.5 Ohms and below. These are capable of creating higher temperatures and allow for a bigger quantity of e-liquid to get evaporated, thus making massive clouds of vapour (see Cloud-Chasing). The increased quantity of e-juice combined with the higher temperature can produce a warmer and more flavourful vape than in the case of standard resistances and some e-liquids are specially manufactured with cloud-chasing in mind by having a high VG content, which also helps to create the bigger vapour clouds.

T

TC (Temperature Control): This is a feature of some mods where you can set the temperature you want your atomiser to run at rather than the voltage or wattage. This can help to avoid burning your coil and deliver a more consistent flavour.

Throat Hit (TH): The slightly harsh, burning, tingling feeling at the back of your throat when vaping. Most vapers desire a decent throat hit because it emulates the effect of smoking cigarettes. Generally speaking, the more nicotine in an e-liquid, the stronger the throat hit.

Top fill: When a tank is filled from the top, usually by unscrewing a top cap. This is easier than filling from the bottom because you do not need to remove the tank from the battery.

V

Vapable.com: The UK’s leading vape store of course!

Vaper’s Tongue: This phenomenon sometimes occurs to vapers if they vape one particular flavour constantly; their taste-buds become desensitised and they stop tasting the juice. The remedy is to switch flavours, suck on a mint or something with a strong taste and I have even heard that sniffing a handful of fresh coffee beans can help.

Vaping (To Vape): You shouldn’t really need this defining of course, but it’s the act of using an electronic cigarette to inhale vapour.

Vapour: The steam created by the electronic cigarette, which is inhaled. Many people are put off switching from smoking to vaping because they mistakenly think that the water vapour might collect in their lungs and become a breeding ground for germs. This absolute nonsense has been spread by irresponsible journalists. The water vapour actually dissipates naturally into the body. In fact PG in aerosol form is an effective antibacterial and antiviral agent that is likely to prevent infections of the respiratory tract so, ironically, far from creating an ideal condition for germs to multiply and spread, vaping could be a practical and safe way to prevent COPD exacerbations.

Variable Voltage (VV) Battery – A battery that allows the user to set the voltage powering the atomiser and controls the vapour volume and flavour.

Variable Wattage (VW) Battery – A battery that allows the user to set the wattage powering the atomiser. A safety chip inside the battery will then adjust itself to the appropriate voltage. This gives the user control over the vapour volume and flavour.

Vent holes: Designed as a safety feature in batteries, these allow gases to be expelled from the battery.

VG: Vegetable Glycerine: An ingredient found in most e-liquids. It is used widely as a food and drink additive and as a carrier/thickener for many medicines. Generally speaking, the more VG in an e-liquid, the better the vapour production and density of clouds. It also makes e-liquids thicker and can sometimes be difficult to wick unless some amount of propylene glycol is added to the mix.

W

Watt: A measure for units of power.

Wick: A small piece of fabric or cotton which is found in the coil. The wick absorbs the e-liquid and holds it there until it is vaped.

Z

Zero Nicotine: E-Liquid or cartridges that contain no nicotine and so usually has a lower throat hit because of this.

510 – An industry standard connection type between batteries and clearomisers. If you look at a standard ego battery (you probably got one with your starter kit) there are two threads – inside and outside of the end of your battery. The outer thread is an ‘ego thread’ the inner is the ‘510 thread’.

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