There are a lot of different vapes (or e-cigarettes) on the market. Box mods? Cigalikes? If these terms make your head spin, you’re in the right place. We’re going to discuss e-cigarette-style vapes. It’s important to specify, because if you’re looking for marihuana vapes, that’s not what we’re discussing here.
Four Generations
E-cigarettes are usually categorized in four generations. They are:
- The First Generation (Cigalikes)
- The Second Generation (Vape Pens)
- The Third Generation (Mods)
- The Fourth Generation (Pod Mods)
Let’s dive in!
Cigalikes
Cigalikes are like cigarettes but...not. Get it?
These were among the first e-cigarettes, and they’re made to look and feel like traditional cigarettes, complete with a red LED light to make it look like there is an ember going.
Cigalikes are pretty newbie-friendly. Many are draw-activated, and setup is often a breeze. What’s more, they’re pretty discrete and portable, being about the same size as a cigarette.
Being the first generation, they do come with their share of disadvantages. The original generation of cigalikes were almost all disposable. Today, they generally come with disposable cartridges, which means you can use them more than one time.
Looking for long battery life and big clouds? Cigalikes aren’t for you. The cartridges also don’t come with a ton of juice, so you’ll have to stock up if you use your cigalike a lot.
Vape Pens
Vape pens are kind of like futuristic cigalikes. You can get pens with pre-filled, disposable cartridges, and you can find pens with refillable cartridges. They’re still portable, but not quite as portable as cigalikes - they tend to be bulkier.
That bulk, however, comes with a number of advantages. The airflow on most vape pens can be changed, so you can go from mouth-to-lung (MTL) to direct-to-lung (DTL) hits. The battery life is longer than you’d get with cigalikes, and cloud production is much improved.
Unless you’re really keen on discretion and a more aesthetically cigarette-like experience, vape pens tend to be preferable to cigalikes. They’re still easy to use, they come in all kinds of shapes and colours, and you can get some pretty interesting features on them.
Mods
When you hear the word mod, you might think of DIY tinkerers working in the lab to modify some pre-existing electronic device - and you’d be on the right track. Mods are so named because:
- They originated when the vape community would create modified homebrew e-cigarettes
- They’re customizable (moddable)
A brief (electrifying) primer to what makes mods so special is in order: Let’s say you want a bunch of power. You could increase your wattage or decrease the amount of resistance in your circuit. Vape manufacturers managed this with what’s known as a sub-ohm coil - a coil with a resistance of less than 1 Ohm. That meant that a smaller battery could deliver a much bigger kick - mods are perfect if you want big clouds and a lot of nicotine.
There are regulated and unregulated mods. Given that you’re reading this guide, you should almost certainly get a regulated mod - they have protective circuitry to prevent overheating and give you more control over your vaping experience.
Box mods are one type of mod; you can tell it’s a box mod because it looks like a box with a tube coming out. These mods generally come with temperature control, variable voltage/wattage, and a handy LED that will tell you what your settings are at a glance.
Many vape pens on the market today could also be considered mods - they may have the sub-ohm tank and protective circuitry.
Pod Mods
History repeats itself. The pod mod can be compared to a souped up cigalike. They use nicotine salts instead of juice, which gives a higher concentration of nicotine in each hit and a more cigarette-like feel. They’re super small, very easy to use, discreet, and have either disposable (closed pod) or refillable (open pod) cartridges (called pods).
That should do it for a brief overview of the different types of vapes! We didn’t get into some of the more advanced stuff like mech mods, because they’re not necessarily the most newbie-friendly. That said, if you have any questions, you can come visit us. Can’t stop by one of our shops? We offer Downtown Winnipeg vape delivery, as well as delivery throughout the city!