You’ve got a handful of different types of vaping devices to choose from. As earlier mentioned, there are vape pens, standard box kits, pods and disposables. Choosing between different types of vapes depends on your personal preference, intended use and where you are in your vaping journey.

Vape pens are pen shaped vapes that offer a degree of compactability as they are generally very slim. Due to their compact size, vape pens often have smaller batteries and are easy to use. When compared to vape mod kits and vape pods, vape pens often cost less making them perfect for new vapers. Vape pens can offer mouth to lung, direct to lung, or even a combination of both vaping styles depending on the pen you choose and the vape coils it’s compatible with. Utilise a mouth to lung vaping style option and enjoy a throat hit whilst you inhale and modest clouds when you exhale. Or choose a direct to lung vaping style which offers a looser inhale without throat hit, but coupled with a monstrously cloudy exhale. If you like the sound of switching between both styles, you don’t have to choose between the two. You can have both if you choose the right kit! If you’re not sure about mouth to lung and direct to lung vaping we’ll explain both vaping styles in more detail later in the guide.

Vape box kits come in a box shape design and are bulkier than vape pens. Vape mod kits can be small, medium or large in size but often appeal to vapers who want a cloudy vaping experience. These advanced vape kits contain bigger batteries that support their ability to dish out a massive smoke screen on the exhale. Vape box kits are also more technologically advanced as they give you the ability to customise the way you vape with modes like temperature control, variable wattage or TCR (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance) modes, just to name a few. For this reason, we recommend box vape kits for advanced vapers as they are not as straightforward as pen, pod and disposable vape kits. If you want a crazy amount of vapour production and the ability to have more control over the way you vape, a vape box kit will be the best kit for you.

Vape pods like their name suggest, are vapes that contain refillable or pre-filled pods, unlike vape pens and kits which are equipped with vape tanks/atomisers. Vape pods accommodate both mouth to lung and direct to lung vapers. They’re user-friendly and are extremely compact which means they’ll fit effortlessly in your bag or pocket without taking up too much space.

Lastly, disposables vapes are extremely popular in the vaping community for their ease of use and compactibility. Disposable vapes come in a mouth to lung vaping style and resemble the size of a cigarette but with added width, usually around 16mm in diameter. Depending on the brand of disposable vape you choose and how often you vape, you’ll get approximately 2 days of use before you have to dispose of it and replace it with a new one. Disposable vape kits come prefilled with vape juice and are ready to use right out of the package. Disposables can be fired up with a simple inhale.

As promised, let’s get into vaping styles. If you choose the wrong kit or the wrong style, it will break your experience with vaping. Simply put, there are two main vaping styles: mouth to lung and direct to lung which is commonly referred to as sub-ohm vaping. Mouth to lung is often referred to as MTL and direct to lung DTL. Mouth to lung vaping style is similar to that of traditional smoking with a slightly restricted meaning after you inhale vapor from the mouth piece, the vapour resides in your mouth, where you’d have to inhale to get the vapour into your lungs as you would with smoking. This also means mouth to lung vaping will give you the same throat hit you’d get from smoking. Upon inhaling the vapour into your lungs, you’d then exhale and expel a modest amount of vapour. Mouth to lung vaping styles give you a wide range of customisation when experimenting with different mouth to lung vaping coils. MTL coils can range from 1.0ohm to 2.0ohm coils. The higher you go in resistance, the stronger your throat hit will become.

The second vaping style is direct to lung. Direct to lung vaping gives off a much looser draw on the inhale. After you inhale into the mouthpiece, the vapor travels directly into your lungs. This means the vapor travels into your mouth, and goes straight to your lungs which eliminates the need to inhale again. After your inhale, you’d then simply exhale. When you exhale, you’ll notice a large amount of vapour. Massive amounts of vapour appeal to cloudchasers who like to perform vape tricks or simply like the idea of seeing tremendous amounts of vape exhaled. You can also vape using a restricted direct to lung vaping style which means you’re using a vape coil that is 0.8ohm or 0.9ohm resistance level. Restricted direct to lung vaping produces a tighter draw on the inhale and requires you to use coils with higher resistance levels. In addition to a tighter draw, restricted direct to lung coils will give you a good amount of vapour on the exhale giving you the best of both worlds when it comes to direct to lung and mouth to lung vaping.

Now that you have a general idea about what types of vapes are out there and what each one is used for, you should be able to decide which one would work best for you. If you want a vape kit that is for on the go use, you’ll find a vape pen or pod kit best as they require you to change the power wattage only. Most pod kits and vape pens automatically detect which coil is attached and will determine what power wattage to operate on.

Disposable vapes are great for beginners who don’t want to give vaping a try without fully committing to a vape juice or vape kit. Disposables are also great for use whilst traveling as they take up a minimal amount of space and you don't have to worry about replacing parts like the vape coil, tank or vape juice.

Vape box kits are more advanced as they give vapers the ability to customise their vaping experience. If you’re already familiar with vapes and want to tailor your vape, vape box kits will be your next transition into the vaping scene. You’ll have options to change things like temperature control, wattage output, pulse mode, bypass, TCR modes and more.

It’s important to buy a vape juice that is compatible with your vape kit. Vape juices come in shortfills, nic salts, 50/50 freebase. Shortfills come in a 50ml and 100ml bottle and contain a specific ratio of VG and PG which are the two main ingredients that make up e-liquids. VG is short for vegetable glycerin, is thicker in consistency responsible for your vape juice's delectable flavour. PG, or propylene glycol, is thinner and is responsible for giving you that pronounced throat hit when you inhale. Also important to note that VG and PG are both food grade used in products such as medications, beverages and asthma inhalers. Shortfills either come in a 70/30 VG/PG ratio or a 80/20 VG/PG ratio. For example, a 70/30 VG/PG shortfill ratio contains 70% VG and 30% PG and a 80/20 VG/PG ratio contains 80% VG and 20% PG. Which ratio you choose depends on how much flavour and vapour production you want to experience. Shortfills also come nicotine-free which means you’ve got the option to vape them nicotine-free or add your desired dose of nicotine to add some edge. You’ll also notice shortfills are not filled all the way to the top. This space is reserved for nicotine shots. Nicotine shots are usually flavourless and won’t impact the flavour of your shortfill. Nicotine shots come in a variety of nicotine doses from 18mg to 20mg. Shortfills are compatible with vape coils that are 0.6ohm and under.

Nicotine salts and 50/50 vape liquids are higher in PG which makes them thicker. Nicotine salts are made using the purest form of nicotine and are less harsh when on the inhale. This means you won't experience a harsh throat hit like you would smoking a cigar or cigarette. 50/50 PG/VG vape juice combinations are made of 50% PG and 50% VG. When using 50/50 vape juices, you’ll notice a prominent throat hit on the inhale like you would get with traditional cigarette smoking. Both nic salts and 50/50 e-liquids are compatible with vape kits that come with a vape coil that is 0.8ohm or higher, producing less amounts of vapour, as both liquids are thinner and heat up much quicker than high VG vape liquids.

With that being said, you’ve got a lot of options to choose from. If you’re still not sure as to which vape to choose, we’ve put together a list of starter kits you can look at that might tickle your fancy. We’ve listed vape pens, standard box kits, pods and disposable vaping devices to give you a good range of options to choose from.