A vaping device is a hand-held, battery-operated mechanism that produces an inhalable aerosol cloud containing flavorings, nicotine and other elements. Vaping devices as we now recognize them have been on the market since 2003, and since then there have been successive generations that expanded the device’s potential, helped countless people quit smoking, and created a new market for wholesale vaporizers, among other things.

There are hundreds of different vapes on the market today and they fall into 4 basic categories that also denote their “generation”. Those categories are:

• E-Cigs
• Vape pens
• Vape mods
• Pod mods

In this post, we're going to look at these different types of vapes and hopefully help you understand your choices a little bit better.

Some Basics Before We Start

Most vaporizers are comprised of 3 main components. They are the battery, the atomizer and the e-liquid. The e-liquid contains the flavor, nicotine, CBD oil or other product that you bought the vaporizer to enjoy, the atomizer turns that e-liquid into vapor, and the battery powers the atomizer. In most cases drawing on the vaporizer activates the atomizer which sets the whole process in motion. Now that we have a basic idea how vapes work, let’s look at the 4 different types that are popular today.

The E-Cigarette or E-Cig

The e-cigarette was made available to the general public in 2003 and marketed as a way to help people quit smoking (hence the name, e-cigarette). If you look quickly you might mistake an e-cig for the real thing because they’re designed to mimic the look of a real cigarette, but they produce none of the poisonous smoke cigarettes do. The e-cig was the first to introduce the draw-activated atomizer and usually had a dim LED light in the tip to mimic hot ashes.

E-cigs also used cartomizers which combined the atomizer and e-liquid in one cartridge for the first time. This made vaping much easier than it had been with earlier, cruder vaping devices. Some e-cigs come with disposable pre-filled cartridges. Others have refillable cartridges that reduce waste, although they add a few steps to vaping with the refilling process.

E-Cigs Summary

E-cigs are low wattage, entry-level vaping devices that are typically user-friendly and very portable. On the downside, they do not produce huge vapor clouds and they are not able to handle a lot of e-juice.

The Vape Pen

The vape pen is a second generation vaping device that is the direct offspring of the e-cig. In most cases, it addresses two of the biggest issues people had with e-cigarettes by offering more battery power and producing larger vape clouds. Vape pens greatly increased sales of retail and wholesale vaporizers when they first hit the market as an e-cig upgrade, and today offer both fixed and variable voltage, sub-ohm tanks and variable temperatures.

All vape pens were fixed voltage when the device was first introduced, which meant the only control you had was the depth of your draw. Many new vape pens offer variable voltage, which enables the user to adjust the intensity of the flavor, the harshness with which the vapor hits the throat and the size of the cloud produced. Sub-ohm technology is complex, but in short, it allows a greater amount of current to flow through the e-liquid which typically results in bigger clouds.

Vape Pen Summary

If you are looking for a super-discreet method of vaping that produces larger vape clouds than an e-cigarette, but which allows you to adjust your experience, the vape pen is a good choice.

The Vape Mod

Vape mods are powerful devices that have attracted quite a following. Because of their larger batteries and sub-ohm technology they are known to produce robust vapor clouds and allow for a relatively high degree of personalization. The vape mod got its name because it was inspired by vapers who used to modify their flashlights to achieve larger clouds.

There are two kinds of vape mods, tube mods and box mods. Tube mods are much like vape pens but provide better performance. But it’s box mods where the real action is today. Box mods quickly became the go-to device for veteran vapers the minute they hit the market a few years back. The name stems from their box-like shape and they’ve curried so much favor because of the enormous clouds they produce.

Vape Mod Summary

Vape mods use sub-ohm technology and produce huge clouds, especially box mods. Both tube mods and box mods are a step up from e-cigs and vape pens offering variable voltage, temp control, and long battery life. Vaporizer retailers selling wholesale vaporizers will tell you that box mods are where it’s at these days, though they’re usually not recommended for absolute beginners.

The Pod Mod

The last of our vape types is the pod mod. The pod mod is compact and versatile and resembles a Bic lighter. They are typically low-wattage devices like an e-cig and are often used in conjunction with nicotine salt e-juice for those who want to quit smoking.

Pod mods come with either “closed” or “open” systems. The closed systems come pre-loaded and are disposable, while the open systems can be filled and refilled manually as many as five or six times. Both the open and the closed pod mod are extremely simple to use and ultra-discreet.

Pod Mod Summary

Pod mods are a good choice for those intent on quitting cigarettes. They’re the ideal device for vaping nicotine salts, they’re affordable, they’re user-friendly and their popularity has been a boon to those who deal in wholesale vaporizers.