These are some of the common mistakes vapers can make when they first start vaping, which may cause them to lose their vapouriser or willingness to vape. No judgement at all since we were all novice vapers at some point in our vape lives.
We are hoping that by mentioning these common mistakes in the vape-osphere, we may help you avoid giving up on vaping if you are using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as a cigarette substitute (not that we can say vapes are an approved smoking cessation product – they are not).
You may not necessarily lose your e-cigarette or personal vapouriser in ten days by making these mistakes. It was just a catchy title and yes, it was inspired by that romantic comedy with Kate Hudson. Do you know which one?
If you're familiar with our blog posts, you'll know that there may also be some humour and exaggeration in here. It wouldn’t be fun to write without it!
So here we go - how to lose a vape in 10 days...
1. Wing it
When you start using an e-cigarette without reading the instruction manual, you are winging it – like when you buy a computer with the Windows operating system. It may seem simple enough and a lot of vapes are easy to use. However, there might be one or two hints in that manual that can make your vape life easier and save you possibly damaging your vape. If you don’t understand something in the manual, contact us or search on YouTube for some clarification.
Please don’t be the person who buys furniture from Ikea and puts it together without at least taking a peak at the instruction booklet! Those left over parts or screws were not optional!
2. Leave it alone with your kids
This is just a hard 'NO'. Not only with vapourisers but anything you don’t want to risk being broken, having slobber, snot or other mysterious goo on it, or disappear inside a little person’s belly.
We love our kids but we are keeping them safe if we take our vape with us wherever we go or put it in a place they can’t reach. For kids who are more mischievous and have an unexplained ability to rock climb like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, this may include placing your vape somewhere they can’t even see it!
Hide your vape. Hide your juice. Coz we can't trust our little ones around them.
3. Take it swimming
I know we said take your vape wherever you go but in the water is not what we meant. Even the Geek Vape Aegis series of vapes that are IP67-waterproof-rated can only be submerged for a short period of time and that only applies to the mod, not the tank.
So if you’re going swimming, leave it somewhere cool (not in the car or on the hot sand if you’re at the beach – see our battery safety blog post for more info).
4. Don’t prime new coils or pods
If you don’t read the instruction manual you’ll miss out on this information. Priming brand-new coils and pods only takes a few minutes and is of utmost importance to avoid burning the cotton wick inside them prematurely.
Priming involves dropping some of your e-liquid inside the coil, filling your tank or pod with e-liquid and possibly letting them sit for five to ten minutes before vaping, to fully soak the cotton inside. You only have to do this on brand new, unused coils or pods. See our FAQ on ‘How to prime your coils’ for detailed instructions.
5. You don’t provide back-up
We all need back up from time to time. Every movie hero, and even some villains, have a sidekick: Dominic Toretto has Brian O’Conner in ‘The Fast and the Furious’ and Sylvester Stallone had his mother in ‘Stop, or my mom will shoot’. You get the point.
Well, your e-cig needs back-up too. Don’t put all your vape clouds in one vape basket! Accidents and malfunctions can happen to vapes, like they do to a Windows computer (just without all the virus and hacking complications).
We recommend always having a back-up kit – even if it's just an affordable pod kit like a Vaporesso Xros or Barr. That way, if your rock-climbing child gained access to your daily vape and broke it, you have a back-up until you get it fixed.
We say, back it up like you back up your photos. If you don’t back up your photos… WHAT are you doing with your life?
6. Smack it around
It’s not a good idea to mistreat your vape, considering all the flavoursome vapour it gives you. Take care of it, love it, clean it, caress it… Okay, too far.
The bottom line is, it’s electronic, with a board and chip inside like a computer. So if you don’t throw your laptop around, don’t do it to your vape. That is unless you have a Geek Vape Aegis. The Incredible Hulk could vape on an Aegis e-cigarette.
If you’re one of those people who regularly crack the screen of their phone, for the love of vaping, buy a vape that you can attach a lanyard to and hang it around your neck like a Uwell Caliburn KOKO or for more advanced vapers, the Innokin MVP5 Kit (that also has survival features).
7. Buy e-liquid from a random
If you were off the grid for the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, you may have missed all the news on EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury). An article about EVALI on the ATHRA (Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association) website outlines how black market THC oils which may have had other harmful oil additives, like vitamin E acetate, played a big role in the cause of EVALI.
Bottom line? Buy your e-liquid from reputable vape stores and if you aren’t sure about the ingredients, ask. The half-naked guy across the road with one black sock on, drinking something out of a paper bag and selling cheap vapes and e-liquid out of his suspicious van or brief case, does not constitute as a reputable supplier. This is an exaggerated joke but you know what we mean.
8. Vape the same coil or pod for months
We all have money problems at times, we get it, but if you wouldn’t inhale air through a dirty car oil filter that hasn’t been replaced in a year, then change your coils or pods regularly!
Here’s how you know when to change it. If you answer yes to one or (god-forbid) more of the following, you know what time it is:
- Does your e-liquid change colour, looking like it has a hint of black death?
- Does your vape flavour taste like it may have been dipped in an ashtray?
- When you look down the drip tip/mouth piece of your tank or pod, is it as black as the vacuum of space?
- When you puff, does the tank or coil gurgle constantly like you're blowing bubbles in a milkshake?
- Do you cough after each vape like you’ve been in a coal mine for 50 years?
- When you remove your coil to inspect it, do you no longer see any white cotton material inside?
- Is your tank or pod leaking? (There could be many reasons this happens, burned coils is just one of them. Read our FAQ on ‘Why is my tank leaking’ for more info.)
These are extreme cases which we hope no one is experiencing. There are mixed views on the side effects of vaping a burned coil but we are going out on a limb to say that it can’t be good. Just keep an eye on it and if your vapour tank or pod is not vaping or tasting like it used to, maybe it’s time to change the coil.
We don’t recommend going a whole month without changing a coil or pod if you are vaping it frequently.
9. Buy imitation vapes or batteries
You won’t lose your vape in this case because you essentially never had one. Imitation vapourisers or batteries cannot be guaranteed for quality or safety, which is most important. These e-cigarettes can be dangerous to use so please, like your vapour e-juice, always buy your vape gear supplies from a legitimate vape shop or online vape store.
10. Be agnostic about battery safety
Every vape has a battery – some are interchangeable/removeable and some are built in. This means that you should have at least a gist on battery safety when using any vape for your own safety.
This is not a time to say truth is relative. You either know about battery safety to ensure you take care of your vape and therefore yourself and your family OR you play Russian roulette. It’s one way or the other, not both.
Most of the time it’s fine and most people don’t have a problem but we’d rather be safe than sorry. We strongly recommend being ‘woke’ about battery safety.
See our battery safety blog post for a little more info but we suggest doing your own research as well, especially when using more complicated vape gear like mechanical mods.
So there you have it. We hope our blog post on how to lose a vape in 10 days was both educational and entertaining. Please feel free to add any other beginner-vaper mistakes you've encountered in the comments below to share your experience with other vapers.
Happy vaping!