If Captain Picard ever went for a smoking break, he’d probably have pulled out something not dissimilar to your vape pen. So you’re forgiven for thinking your vaporiser is powered by space age technology that is totally beyond you...but you’d also be wrong.
The Holy Trinity
Vaporisers and e-cigarettes use the same three basic parts, and by these powers combined, vaping is born!
The Battery: Obviously your vape needs power, so your vape has a battery, hardly pushing the technology boundaries, right? You’re battery can be switched out for a powered-up version if you end up converting to the religion of the Cloud Chaser, where summoning mad amounts of vapour is key.
The Atomiser: A fancy name for the part of your vape that makes your e-juices warm up and produce vapour. This can also be upgraded to a more powerful model if that’s what you’re into.
The Cartridge/Tank: For e-cigarettes the cartridge is the part closest to your lips, it holds you e-liquids and is easily detached and thrown away. Tanks are found on vape pens have to be manually refilled, which might be a bit fiddly at first but also means you can enjoy a huge range of flavours!
And have a bonus part: the Mouthpiece, this is found on vape pens and, as you might have guessed, is the piece that goes in your mouth so you can puff up all that lovely vapour.
Out with a Bang
Maybe more important than knowing how your vape pen works is knowing how to keep it working. Cleaning is an important part of vape maintenance, especially if you use high VG blends of e-juice – yes, they do give lovely thick clouds, but they also run thick through your tank and can cause clogging and lots of gunk for you to clean out.
In an ideal world you’d clean your vape tank after every use, "What?!" You cry, "ain’t nobody got time for that!" Actually, you do! It really doesn’t take long to show your vape pen your appreciation for all it’s done for you and clean it out every day. You can flush your tank out with a simple ingredient you’re sure to own: vodka! It's as simple as 1, 2, 3!
Unscrewed all your parts, leaving you with the atomiser, tank and mouthpiece separated
Place the parts in a glass or bowl and fill with vodka until they're submerged and leave for 2-3 hours
Remove them from the vodka (feel free to dispose of that how you see fit) and leave them to air dry on a paper towel, then they’ll be squeaky clean and good to go!
Leaving vapes to clog up increases chances of them dying long before their time, and could also lead to them blowing up or catching fire like all those horror stories you’ve heard. Vapes are made to be safe to use, but if you mistreat any electronic item chances are you’ll regret it, so keep you vape clean and charged only with the manufacturer-supplied charger, and you’ll enjoy a long and happy relationship with your vaporiser!