If you think that buying a disposable vape is as simple as grabbing the best-looking product off of the shelf at your local vape shop, think again. There are several key factors that separate various disposable vapes from one another – and changing any one of those factors can have a drastic effect on your overall vaping experience. Buying the wrong nicotine strength, for instance, could mean that you’ll end up feeling completely unsatisfied. At the other end of the spectrum, buying a nicotine strength that’s too high could cause you to experience jitters and throat irritation.
Nicotine strength is only one of the things that you need to know about a disposable vape before buying it. It’s one of the most important factors, though, so it’s where we’ll begin in this article. These are the five things that you need to know about any disposable vape before buying it.
What Is the Nicotine Strength?
The nicotine strength of a disposable vape is usually measured as a percentage – such as 2% — or in terms of the milligrams of nicotine per milliliter of vape juice, such as 20 mg/ml. The two terms are roughly equivalent to one another, so a nicotine percentage of 2% is about the same as 20 mg/ml. That’s the highest nicotine strength available in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada. Other nations such as the United States allow higher nicotine strengths that typically top out at around 5% or 50 mg/ml.
In general, if you smoke around a pack of cigarettes per day, you should get the highest nicotine strength available when you buy your first disposable vape and then adjust from there if necessary. If you cough or experience throat irritation when vaping, you should probably consider switching to a lower nicotine strength. Many disposable vapes are available in at least two different strengths.
Don’t forget that the nicotine strength of a disposable vape can also help you determine how much total nicotine is in a device if you know its e-liquid capacity. To determine this, multiply the nicotine strength by the total volume of e-liquid. If a device has 2 ml of e-liquid with a nicotine strength of 20 mg/ml, its total nicotine content is 40 mg.
What Is the Puff Count?
The next thing you need to know about a disposable vape before buying it is approximately how many puffs it will last before you need to replace it. This number varies extremely widely and may range from as few as 600 puffs to as many as 5,000 puffs or more. If you typically puff on a cigarette about 10 times before putting it out, then every 200 puffs with a disposable vape will be roughly equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. You should never expect a disposable vape to deliver exactly the number of puffs stated on the package, though, because the advertised puff counts are only achievable under tightly controlled conditions.
The advertised puff counts on disposable vapes exist primarily to create a direct basis for comparison between brands, but it’s also important to remember that a device’s puff count has an impact on its size and portability. Devices that deliver more puffs tend to be a bit heavier, while the devices that are slimmest and most pocketable tend to deliver fewer puffs.
Is the Battery Rechargeable?
There are two limiting factors that determine how long a disposable vape lasts: the volume of e-liquid and the capacity of the battery. When the battery in a disposable vape dies – or the device runs out of e-liquid – its time is up. If a disposable vape is advertised to deliver an extremely large number of puffs – more than 1,000 puffs, for instance – it’s important for you to know that you won’t have trouble using all of the e-liquid stored in the device before the battery dies.
With that in mind, it’s a good idea to look for a charging port when you buy a high-capacity disposable vape because a port indicates that the battery is rechargeable. Having the ability to recharge a device means that you’ll definitely be able to use it until all of the vape juice is gone. The Lost Mary 3500 is one of the most popular rechargeable disposable vapes on the market today.
Is the Device Authentic?
Do you have a local gas station or convenience store that sells disposable vapes? If you do, you should probably think twice before buying one of those devices because there are likely millions of counterfeit disposable vapes on store shelves around the world today. In 2021 and 2022 alone, more than 2 million fake Elf Bar disposable vapes were seized by law enforcement and customs officials – and if millions of devices have been found and removed from the market, it’s likely that millions more have slipped through unnoticed and are available for purchase right now.
Fake disposable vapes are potentially dangerous because there’s no way of knowing what’s in them or whether they are even safe to use. A counterfeit device may not taste the same as a legitimate one and may not deliver anywhere near the number of puffs advertised on the package. Needless to say, you need to buy authentic devices if you want to have the best possible experience. It’s best to buy disposable vapes only from a specialist vape shop that only sources its products directly from the manufacturers or from distributors authorized by the manufacturers.
What Is the Flavor?
The last thing that you need to know about a disposable vape before buying it is its flavor, and one of the first things you’ll notice when you visit any vape shop is that there is an amazingly wide selection of flavors in the world of disposable vapes today. If you can afford it, it’s a good idea to choose a few different flavors to try when you buy disposable vapes for the first time. Since you’re trying to quit smoking, you might like to try a tobacco or menthol flavor. You’ll find, though, that no e-liquid really tastes like a tobacco cigarette. In fact, most of the people who have successfully used vaping to help themselves quit smoking prefer sweeter flavors like fruit and candy. Since the overwhelming majority of vapers feel that way, it’s very likely that you’ll prefer sweeter flavors as well.
