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Quitting smoking with an Vape or an E-Cigarette can be one of the best things you do for yourself. Not only are E-Cigarettes at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes (according to Public Health England) but they don't affect the people around you with 2nd hand smoke either.
E-Cigarettes have even been shown to be more effective than nicotine patches or nicotine gum in helping smokers get off cigarettes!
However choosing an electronic cigarette for the first time can be quite a daunting task, especially if you don’t know what to look for. Getting the best e cig can be the difference between having a pleasant first-time experience and giving up early due to frustration.
The first few days of any new routine can be difficult, and if something goes wrong or you don't get on with it, falling back into your old ways is easy. That's why choosing the best Vape Starter Kit is vital for making the switch from smoking, as changing a years long habit is hard enough, you don't need more frustration!
Here’s a brief guide covering the top 5 factors to consider when shopping for an e-cig.
WHAT BATTERIES DO I NEED FOR MY VAPE
Unlike a cigarette you need to make sure you have your battery ready to use and fully charged. The good news is that batteries these days last for a long time, and most people can get through most of a day on one battery.
An e-cig with lasting batteries will allow you to smoke more puffs and enjoy every minute of it.
Depending on the type of e-cigarette you are going for you might need to buy batteries separately, in which case you will need to find the best voltage for you and your hardware.
The type of e-cigarette that doesn't have an inbuilt battery is called a mod or a vaporuiser, and can be extremely confusing to someone just starting. Some vapers love to customise their device, but if you want something simple that will work as soon as it comes out the box, these might not be for you.
Another type that has recently arrived on the scene are disposable vapes. These are e-cigarettes that once you have used up you throw away. As they are designed to be thrown away the battery is NOT re-chargeable. Even if we don't talk about the environmental impact this has, this means that if you think you are near the end of a vape, you have to carry another whole vape around just in case.
Compare that to a re-chargeable vape battery, where you can just re-charge before heading out for the day, making sure you have enough charge.
If you want something that has a built in battery and is simple to use and re-charge all our e-cigarette systems have built in batteries with fixed voltages, so not only are they easy to use, they will always deliver a consistent and satisfying vapour.
WHAT FLAVOUR E-CIGARETTE IS BEST
To a smoker, looking for a specific flavour may seem unnecessary, especially considering that smokers are mostly after the nicotine. However, e-cigs provide much more than just nicotine.
For those smokers who are just starting to use an e-cigarette we always suggest going for a tobacco flavour (like our Original tobacco flavour) first so you can get used to it. After a few weeks of using the e-cigarette you might want to try other flavours but getting used to the e-cigarette and the feel of it is all-important.
But even restricting your choice to just tobacco flavours we have plenty of choice: from Original (our most popular flavour), Virginia Rolling (our roll up tobacco flavour), Havana (a very rich tobacco flavour) Menthol and Mint Breeze to name a few.
The best part though is that all our flavours are made in the UK and have been tested to make sure you are getting the best experience and can be sure there is nothing in the liquid that shouldn't be there!
WHAT'S THE BEST NICOTINE TO START VAPING
Vapes and E-Cigarettes can come in a huge range of nicotine strengths, going from zero all the way up to 2.0%. This range allows you to experiment with the strength you are most comfortable with and if you would like you can move down the nicotine strengths once you are comfortable.
If you are just starting with e-cigarettes we Cancer Research UK would suggest starting with the 2.0% cartridges. These types of e-cigarettes are specially built and have batteries designed to avoid draining before satisfying your cravings. And by starting on the highest strength you are making it easier for you to succeed in making the switch from cigarettes.
This is because the vapour from e-cigarettes is much kinder to your lungs than smoke is, and so takes longer to be absorbed than smoke does. By starting with the 2.0% you are giving yourself the best chance to make the switch from cigarettes.
HOW MUCH VAPOUR SHOULD MY VAPE MAKE
Not all vapers always want the same style, model, or design of e-cigs. Some E-cigarettes produce a huge amount of vapour, you may have seen them on the street creating clouds when they breathe out. These can be be good for long term vapers who want something that feels nothing like a cigarette as they provide much more customisation, but can be difficult to use when you are first starting out.For others though they may want a more discreet option, or an e-cigarette that produces the same amount of vapour as a cigarette does smoke. For them we would suggest e-cigarettes sometimes called cig-a-likes, essentially e-cigarettes that look and feel like a cigarette. For many new people these can be a great help as they feel more like a cigarette and make the conversion easier.
HOW MUCH DOES A VAPE COST
Depending on how much you want to spend you could be paying £100's for a really kitted out vapouriser.
However the great thing about E-cigarettes is that you really don't need to spend that! In fact you can get started with everything you need for less that a pack of cigarettes.
Take our E-Cigarette Starter Kit bundle for instance. For only £9.99 (which is less than the average price of a pack of cigarettes) you not only get 60 cigarettes worth of nicotine but a re-chargeable battery and a USB charger for the battery.
And it gets even better when you start buying boxes of refills, as you buy 5 refills for the maximum price of £9.99. That means each refill (which are 25 cigarettes or nicotine each) is less than £2!
And even better for your wallet is that we have weekly deals on all our refills so that you can get stocked up for even less.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A VAPE
When starting out it can seem that there are millions of options to choose from,so when you are looking into what E-Cigarette remember to look out for:
- A re-chargable battery
- A tobacco flavour that's made in the UK
- A high nicotine strength
- A realistic vapour producing device
- A low cost alternative
However if you want something that ticks off all 5 of those boxes then try one of our E-Cigarette or Vape Starter Kits today and see if they can you get off cigarettes!
REFERENCES
1) Public Health England's statement on the safety of E-Cigarettes compared to cigarettes
2) NHS on E-Cigarettes and 2nd hand vapour
3) Cancer Research UK study on effectiveness of high nicotine vapes compared to low nicotine vapes
4) Study on flavoured vs. tobacco flavoured E-Cigarettes
5) BBC article on how the average price of a pack of cigarettes has gone up to £14.39
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Written by Mike Cameron
Mike Cameron is a former smoker of 15 years (2 packs a day) until he successfully quit using a cigalike. Mike is the Co-Founder and CEO of SMOKO E-Cigarettes and over the last 10 years, SMOKO has prevented 600M+ cigarettes from being smoked, helped their customers save £320M+ of their hard-earned money from going up in smoke and helped 10,000’s of adult smokers in 25+ countries to live smoke-free.
