When vaping first started to rise in popularity there were not nearly as many different types of e-cigarettes available to consumers who were interested in trying them. Today, a lot has changed in the world of vaping and never before have consumers had so many different types of e-cigs to choose from, leaving some vapers and potential vapers overwhelmed by the prospect of choosing a new vape. This guide provides an overview of the different types of electronic cigarettes that are currently available.
Cig-A-Likes
The cig-a-like is what some consider to be the original e-cig. With a shape similar to that of a conventional tobacco cigarette, their appearance often resonates with smokers. Often times, cig-a-likes don’t require their users to press a button in order to use them. Instead of a button that activates the heating coils, cig-a-likes are often equipped with draw-sensing technology that allows them to detect when they’re being puffed on and automatically begin producing vapor.
While limited in how much vapor they can produce, how much e-liquid they can hold in a single cartridge, and how much battery power they can provide, cig-a-likes have managed to remain popular thanks to their ease of use, availability, and portability.
Cig-a-likes are available with disposable batteries and rechargeable batteries. Those with rechargeable batteries are generally designed to allow users to replace their e-cig cartridges with fresh ones, allowing the hardware to be used more than once. Those with disposable batteries are designed to provide enough battery power to vape all of the e-liquid contained within the cartridge and then the entire device is intended to be discarded.
Pod Vapes
For vapers who need more than what a cig-a-like offers, there’s an alternative that’s rapidly rising in popularity: the pod vape. As with the cig-a-likes that they compete with, pod vapes are available in two main formats. There are pod vapes with disposable single-use cartridges, which are known as vape pods, and there are reusable ones that can be refilled with e-liquid. Pod vape batteries, generally speaking, are rechargeable and intended to be used and then reused until their eventual demise.
What separates a pod vape from a cig-a-like isn’t much, however, the subtle differences can go a long way for vapers who just aren’t satisfied with the limited vaping power that cig-a-likes provide. With pod systems, the batteries are often more powerful, providing more use between charges and better overall vapor production. Their pods, which are what holds the e-juice, more often than not have a higher capacity than cig-a-like cartomizers (cartridges). With better battery life, higher e-juice capacity, and similarly compact designs, pod vapes are quickly becoming the e-cigarette of choice for many vapers.
While cig-a-likes typically use freebase nicotine in their e-liquids, pod systems generally utilize e-liquid that contains nicotine salts.
Vape Pens
The next step up from pod vaping systems is, at least in the minds of some, the vape pen. Like pod vapes, they offer higher e-liquid capacity and more powerful batteries than cig-a-likes, but they’re often larger than both pod vapes and cig-a-likes. While larger, pen vapes are still highly portable, making them relatively convenient to use for vapers who live their lives on the go. Vape pens typically work with refillable cartridges that allow for virtually any e-juice to be used.
While pod vapes sometimes offer features such as variable voltage and even adjustable airflow, such features are not uncommon to find in today’s vape pens. These features allow users to customize their vaping experience in a fashion that’s virtually unseen with cig-a-likes.
Vape pens, as one might surmise from their name, typically resemble in a pen used for writing. This makes them somewhat inconspicuous and also highly portable.
Vape Mods
For vapers who just can’t get enough vapor out of a cig-a-like, pod vape, or pen vaporizer to satisfy their needs, there’s the world of vape mods. These types of e-cigarettes are typically larger and more feature-rich than their rivals. They’re powered by large, powerful batteries and are often used in conjunction with high-capacity vape tanks that hold significantly more e-liquid than vape pen cartridges. They’re known for producing larger and more potent clouds of vapor than other types of electronic cigarettes, making them ideal for those who compete in cloud chasing competitions in which competitors to compete to blow the best clouds and perform vaping tricks.
While mods aren’t often seen as beginner-friendly vaping devices, there are many vapers who prefer to use them over the other available options. They can be more difficult to build and maintain, making them less than ideal for new vapers who are trying to learn their way around their first device.
