The vaping glossary

As a new vaper, we know that some of the terminology can be unfamiliar – with new technology to get your head around and new words to learn.

If you don’t yet know an atomiser from a clearomiser or propylene glycol from vegetable glycerine, this glossary is for you. We’re sure you’ll soon pick up everything you need to know to get started.

Aerosol – This is the technical term given to the cloud of vapour (vaporised e Liquid) that is inhaled from a vaping device and subsequently exhaled by the vaper.

Airflow controller – ‘Airflow’ isn’t very complicated really. It’s just a fancy word for the rate, speed and pressure at which air flows from your vaping device when you draw on it. We’ve designed our device so that you don’t inhale too much or too little.

Amps – An ampere (normally written ‘amp’) is a unit of electrical current. The number of amps tell vapers how powerful a battery is. The higher the amps, the higher the battery’s power output.

APV – Advanced Personal Vaporiser. This is the name given to the most sophisticated vaping devices. These are normally more powerful than regular vaping devices. They also have adjustable settings – allowing you to change things like airflow and the power (wattage and voltage) level, to have a more bespoke vaping experience.

Atomiser – The heart of any vaping device. It’s the part which converts the e Liquid into vapour which can be inhaled.

Battery Cutoff – This is an automatic safety feature that causes the battery in a vaping device to cut off after a fixed period of time. This prevents the device accidentally getting left on for too long, or the e Liquid getting overheated when you’re vaping.

Box Mod – Short for ‘box modular’. This is a kind of APV, so named as the device is literally the shape of a rectangular box, with a mouthpiece sticking out of the top.

Cartomiser – A single disposable pod which contains both an atomiser and the e Liquid.

Clearomiser – The clear tank that holds an atomizer and the e Liquid in an open system vaping device.

Coil and wick – Most vaping devices use a coil and wick system to heat the e Liquid. This heating method is similar to the mechanism you might find in an oil lamp: a heating coil wrapped around a wick, made of cotton or silica. When the device is activated, the coil and wick heat up to vaporise the e Liquid, which then partially re-condenses as the vapour you inhale.

Concentration – In chemistry, this word is used to describe the quantity of an ingredient. In vaping, it is normally used when describing how much nicotine is in an e Liquid.

Disposable Vape - Disposable vape pens are an easy-to-use type of e-cigarette device. The device comes pre-charged and pre-filled with e Liquid. To activate a disposable vape pen, you simply take a puff.

Dripping – This is when a vaper drips e Liquid directly onto the heating element of their device’s atomiser – instead of feeding it in via the clearomiser. Some vapers do this deliberately, but it can also happen by accident when you are using an open system device for the first time – if the e Liquid accidentally drips onto the heating element. We do not recommend you try dripping on your device as this will not give you an optimal experience. Please ensure you are using your device correctly, by referring to the user manual.

Dry Hit – This is something that happens when there is no e Liquid left in your device to vaporise. Essentially, the wick is dry and so it gets burnt, which makes the vapour tastes unpleasant. If you’re using a closed system device you simply need to change the flavour cartridge. If you’re using an open system you either need to fill up the clearomiser with e Liquid, or change the atomiser and wick. A Dry Hit can also be caused by having the airflow or power settings switched too high so try lowering both settings.

e Liquid – The fluid inside each vape pen is usually called e Liquid or vape juice. It’s this liquid that delivers the nicotine and gives the vapour its flavour.

Freebase Nicotine – Freebase nicotine is a form of nicotine commonly used in the e Liquid or vape juice for e-cigarettes or vape pens. When nicotine is extracted from tobacco leaves, it converts to a “Freebase” state which means it’s nicotine in its base form. Nicotine as a Freebase is an alkaline, which can provide a harsher throat hit when vapourised, compared to Nicotine Salts.

Generation – In the world of vaping devices, like many tech products, ‘generation’ is roughly the same as the word ‘version’, used when referring to a particular product (ie vaping device) or component – ie ‘the 2nd generation ePod’.

Lithium-Ion – The type of rechargeable battery which is used in all Vuse devices.

mAh – You will see the acronym ‘mAh’ in the description of batteries. No need to worry – you don’t need A-level physics to understand it. It stands for ‘milliamp hour’, and it’s a measure of battery charge capacity. If two batteries have identical voltage, then the one with a larger mAh will last longer.

Milliampere - One thousandth of an ampere, a measure of the amount of electrical charge flowing past a circuit point at a specific time.

Nicotine mg/ml - The concentration of nicotine in an e Liquid is measured in milligrams of nicotine per millilitre of e Liquid. This is generally written as ‘mg/ml’, and it’s this number you’ll see on Vuse e Liquid packaging. The higher the number, the more nicotine in your vapour. Some manufacturers express nicotine concentration as a percentage, eg 3% or 5% which would indicate 30mg/ml or 50mg/ml nicotine strength.

Ohms – A unit measuring electrical resistance, named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. In vaping, measurements of resistance normally relate to the heating coil in the atomiser. The lower the resistance, the hotter the coil can get.

Over-voltage and over-heating controls – The Vuse vape pens are designed for safe charging, with over-voltage protection and a timed cut-off system. Please don’t use alternative or unbranded charging cables or AC adaptors, as they may not be compatible with our devices.

Pharmaceutical grade – A term used to describe an ingredient which exceeds 99% purity.

Propylene Glycol (PG) – One of the two key ingredients of e Liquid, PG helps to carry the flavour. It’s colourless, clear and nearly odourless. It’s ‘Generally recognised as safe’ (GRAS) according to the United States Food and Drug Administration. Vuse only use pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol in our products.

Puff activation – Some devices are activated by pressing the power button. Others are ‘puff activated’, which means they’re activated by you actually taking a draw on them.

Resistance – This refers to how much electrical current the heating coil of a vaping atomiser will allow to pass. It is measured in ohms. The lower the resistance, the hotter the coil can get.

Nicotine Salt – Nicotine salts are what allow vapers to closely mimic the practice of smoking. Nicotine occurs in nature in a number of plant varieties but it’s strongest in the leaves of the tobacco plant where it exists in a salt form. At Vuse, these nicotine salts are recreated in e Liquid form by adding an acid, typically Lactic acid or Benzoic acid, to Freebase nicotine. The acid reacts with the nicotine to form a nicotine salt. The result is that nicotine in “salt” form is more stable and generally delivers a smoother throat sensation than the nicotine in freebase e Liquids.

Temperature Control – Technology which controls the temperature inside a vaping device, for both safety reasons and to produce a better all round vaping experience.

Tube Mod – Short for ‘tube modular’. This is a kind of APV, so named as the device is literally in the shape of a tube, with a mouthpiece at the top.

Vegetable Glycerine (VG) – A natural chemical which is normally colourless and odourless, VG helps to create the cloud Along with propylene glycol, it’s one of the key ingredients in e Liquids. Vuse only use pharmaceutical grade vegetable glycerine in our products.

Wattage – A measure of the rate at which electrical energy is used by any electrical product. So this gives a measurement of the power used by your device, usually with vape devices using wick and coil technology the higher the wattage the bigger the vapour cloud.

So there you go - now you’re ready to dive into the world of vaping. Good luck!