Best Vape Pens in 2021 – Find The Vaporizer Pen To Suit You

Vape Pens, What Are They?

Vape pens may not be suited to all users, if you’re unsure which type of e-cigarette to choose, then revert back to our guide on the best e-cigs which covers all the different types of devices and which type of user they best suit.

Vape pens, which in some cases are known as vaporizers, have been on the market since 2011 and populated by Joytech with the EGO type. This particular device was in direct competition with the Cig-a-like type of e-cigarettes, but due to their higher power rating started to become more and more popular with users. Over the following few years, most of the manufacturers started copying Joyetechs original EGO design and produce their own versions known as the EVOD design, trying to capture the market and put their brand on top as the best vape pen.

Now in 2021, the best vape pens have come a long way and the amount in the vaping market is huge. Users have all sorts of choices, so make sure you read on to make sure you choose the right type of vape pen to suit your needs.

Vape pens are named such due to their physical appearance, they consist of a tubular battery in which you screw a similarly shaped tank which holds both the e-liquid and coil (aka atomizer). They are very convenient to carry around with you, and as previously stated, hold more battery capacity and therefore produce a much better vaping experience than the smaller Cig-a-like type devices and pod vapes.

The Different Types Of Vape Pens

There are many different types of vape pen on the market, as you can tell in our rankings above. Each type suits a particular user and there are variants of the basic types. This may make it a little confusing, but we will clarify which each type is used for and which type of user it suits.

Vape Pens for E-Liquid

This type of vape pen is the more traditional device that people mean when they mention a vape pen. It uses normal vape e-liquid which contains nicotine and is used in a similar way to other e-cigarettes that are available on the market. The type of user this vape pen is suited to those who are using Cig-a-like or vape pod e-cigs and want a stronger hit. Within this category of vape pen there are a number of further sub-categories that include:

• AIO devices – AIO devices or ‘All in One’ vape pens are a basic vape pen that has a built-in tank, easy to use with limited functionality. Just charge, fill up with e-liquid and start vaping.
• Traditional Vape Pen – Also known as EGO type of vape pen where you can unscrew the tank from the battery and change the atomizer or coil when needed. The battery has a fire button that can be pressed when your vaping to produce the vapor. The battery can also be pressed 5 times to switch on and off.
• Sub-Ohm Vape Pens – These are generally a little bigger than the traditional vape pen as instead of producing around 10-15W, sub-ohm vape pen require around 30W plus. They require a tank that houses a coil that has a resistance less than 1-ohm (hence the name). These types of vape pens suit vapers who use the direct lung inhale vape technique.

Vape Pens For Dry Herb Vaping aka Vaporizers

The Dry Herb vape pen is a completely different type of device that is used for vaping, as the name suggests, dry herbs. This vape pen again consists of a battery element but instead of an e-liquid tank, it has a chamber known as the oven. The dry herbs are placed in this oven chamber and when switched on the vape pen will slowly heat the herb to around 350°F up to 420°F. The vape pen will keep the herb at this temperature and indicate to the user that it can be vaped. The idea here is that the herb is kept to a temperature below combustion to reduce the smoking effect and produce only a vape. Dry herb vape pens use to be popular but due to their lack of performance and the new release of CBD e-liquids they are now not as popular with users.

Vape Pens For Wax or Oil Vaping aka Wax Vaporizers

Again popular last year was the use of Wax or Oil vape pens, which became known as ‘dabbing’. This involved using a high concentrate wax extract of a herb and placing in a special chamber within the vape pen similar to the dry herb oven we explained above. Quite often the 2 types of vape pen are combined and the manufacturer will offer a different tank for either dry herb or wax/oil. This type of vape pen has also become less popular for the same reasons.

Tips for Finding the Best Vape Pen

The first step you need to take in finding the best vape pen is to decide which type of vape pen will suit you. The most popular is the e-liquid vape pen as this is used with normal e-liquid and now with CBD e-liquids, which are used in favor of Dry herb and Wax vape pens. We are now going to look at some key features to consider when choosing the vape pen.

The Vape Pens Battery Capacity

The smaller the vape pen the better right? Well wrong, unfortunately! The smaller the vape pen is the less powerful the battery will be, although you may not notice the difference in the shop, the smaller type of vape pens work with a relatively high atomizer or coil, usually around 1.5-ohms. This type of coil is meant for mouth to lung vaping and suits an ex-smoker. The small vape pen only needs a small wattage to produce vapor, around 5-15W so a small battery should be fine. Just remember, the smaller the battery the less amount of puffs it takes until it requires a recharge.

Moving Onto Vape Pens

If you’re moving onto vape pens from Cig-a-likes or vape pods, you may be wanting a little stronger hit when you vape. This is where you may want to choose a vape pen that has both mouth to lung and direct lung inhale (known as sub-ohm vaping) support. With sub-ohm vaping the coil is below 1-ohm, ideally around 0.5-ohm or below, but this type of coil requires around four times more power. So choose a vape pen with a large battery capacity of greater than 1000mAh.

The Vape Pen Tank Capacity

The tank capacity becomes particularly important if you are choosing to try sub-ohm vaping. This type of vaping uses a lot more e-liquid than the other and therefore requires a relatively larger tank to save you having to carry e-liquid bottles around with you. For sub-ohm vaping, we suggest buying a vape pen with a tank capacity of no less than 3ml.

EU Regulation on Vape Pens

If you live within the EU, you will find that the tank capacity is limited to 2ml due to the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive). This cannot be worked around and thus will have to carry around spare e-liquid. The sub-ohm vape pens use a lot more e-liquid than regular coils, so it may be worth considering to use larger coil sizes (above 1-ohm).

The Vape Pens Airflow Capacity

Having an adjustable airflow control within a vape pen is going to suit all types of vapers, so really lookout for this feature. The more airflow you have the smoother the vape and you can set it to your ideal preference. With sub-ohm vaping this is more of a necessity than a nice to have option.

Common Airflow Mistakes on Vape Pens

Many vapers believe the sole responsibility of resistance of airflow is due to the airflow being adjustable or not, but this is not the case. The width of the coil also has a huge impact. If you look at the coil and the inside diameter is relatively small, the resistance of airflow is going to be considerably less than a wider inside diameter coil, regardless to the amount of airflow adjustment available.

The Coils Available With The Vape Pen

Most vape pens come with a tank that can be screwed off and a coil that can be changed. The manufacturer or model should provide a variety of different coils with different resistances ranging from 0.2-ohms to 1.8-ohms. These coils are often standard stainless steel coils, but if you’re after a more modern vape pen, then choose one that offers mesh coils in addition to the standard. Mesh coils produce a better vaper taste and an all-around better vape.

Regular Vape Pen Coils Vs Sub-Ohm Coils

It is worth knowing that if you use a coil below 1-ohm, this is known as sub-ohm vaping and is used for direct lung inhales. Direct lung inhales is when you take the vape down to your lung in one smooth breath. Any coil above 1-ohm is used with mouth to lung vaping which resembles traditional cigarettes, this is where the vape is drawn into your mouth first, then down to the lungs.

Using Your Vape Pen

Once you have chosen the best vape pen for your needs there are a few basic instructions you need to follow to make sure you get the most out of your vaping experience. Make sure to read these tips in full, and if you have any questions then ask us, we will be only too pleased to help.

Before You Use Your Vape Pen For Vaping

Once you have taken the vape pen out of the packaging, there are a few steps you need to take.

1. Read the instructions – I know it’s boring and you just want to vape, but it is important to read and understand the instructions. It will give you important safety advice on how to charge you vape pen correctly and what to avoid. The following tips are generally what most instructions state, but to keep the life of your vape pen to the maximum always follow their instructions.
2. Charge The vape pen – Most vape pen starter kits will include a battery that is built-in to the device and already charged. However, this is only charged when the vape pen was produced and likely requires an additional charge. Consult the instructions and make sure the battery is fully charged using the charger that they suggest.
3. Consider which coil to use – You may have received a couple of coil choices within your starter kit, one may be above 1-ohm and one below. The two different coils support two different vaping techniques. The above 1-ohm coil is meant for the traditional mouth to lung inhales which is performed when you smoke normal cigarettes. The coil below 1-ohm is meant for direct lung inhales which is used to produce more vapor and flavor from the e-liquid and the technique that most vapers move onto over time. Carefully consider which type of vaping you want to perform first with your new vape pen and move onto the next tip.
4. Choose which e-liquid to use – Although this seems to be an obvious task, choosing the right e-liquid is an important step to get the most out of your vape pen. If you are using a sub-ohm coil then you need to choose an e-liquid with no more nicotine content than 6mg, ideally around 3mg to get a smooth vape. If your sticking with mouth to lung vaping then you can choose a slightly stronger nicotine content, but try not to go higher than 12mg. Remember, consider how often you are going to vape, if you enjoy vaping and want to vape regularly we suggest choosing 6mg content. If you just want to vape to satisfy your nicotine addiction then we suggest using the higher nicotine salt e-liquids. The last thing to consider is the VG/PG consistency. Most e-liquids come in either 70/30 VG/PG or 50/50 VG/PG, we suggest the sub-ohm vapers choose an e-liquid of 70/30 VG/PG consistency which will produce more clouds, and for mouth to lung vapers to choose the 50/50 consistency where more flavor will be produced. This really comes down to taste, the consistency is not that important, just remember the more VG the greater the clouds and vape feeling, the more PG the greater the flavor but more likely to leak due to the thinner consistency which can be a problem for the larger sub-ohm tanks.
5. Wick your vape coils – Now you have chosen your coil and your e-liquid it is important to wick your coils. Your instruction booklet should give you instruction on how to do this, but we will also cover it! It is important to wick your coils to protect the cotton wrapped around the stainless steel coils or mesh from burning on the initial fire. Place the coil in your hand and look down the center shaft of the coil, you should see white cotton held into place with a wire coil or mesh. This is the cotton we need to soak in e-liquid. Take your chosen e-liquid and drop 3-4 drops down this shaft and inspect that the cotton is soaked. On the side of the coil, you should also see some holes which expose the cotton. Using your e-liquid, again drop one drop onto each hole. Your coil is now wicked and ready to be used.
6. Initial vaping puffs – It is so important to follow the wicking process above to avoid burning the cotton on the initial puff, which can completely ruin that coil. Once you’ve completed that task we like to follow a couple of other additional wicking techniques to make sure we prolong the life of that coil. First, fill the remainder of your tank up with the same e-liquid you used to wick the coil. Screw the coil and tank together, taking care not to drop or spill any e-liquid. Attach to the battery and without pressing the fire button take a couple of puffs on the mouthpiece. This is not going to create any vapor, but within the tank, you should see a couple of small air bubbles appear. This shows that the e-liquid is circulating into the coil and the cotton further saturating the coil. If you have a vape pen with an automatic battery, perform this task with the tank off of the battery. Do not perform this task too many times, once or twice is enough, any more could potentially flood the coil.

Your vape pen is now ready to be used, many like to let the vape pen sit for a few minutes to ensure complete and equal saturation of the coil. But following the simple tips above will ensure that not only you have the best vape pen, but you will also get the best vape from it.

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