Vaping Glossary

Adult nicotine consumers new to vaping often face new terminology, technology and techniques. Don’t know an atomiser from a clearomiser? Confused about the differences between propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine? This vaping glossary is here to help!

Now you’re equipped with the jargon you need to dive into vaping. Choose the Vuse device that suits you, including Vuse PRO and disposable vapes with various nicotine strengths and flavours.

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 eLiquid) 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 devices so that you don’t inhale too much or too little. The eBox has an adjustable airflow controller, so you can customise your vaping experience according to your taste. The eTank, eTank Pro and Pebble have fixed airflow controls built in. 

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 eLiquid into fine vapour droplets 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 eLiquid 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. The Vuse eBox is a Box Mod.

Cartomiser – A single disposable cartridge which contains both an atomiser and the eLiquid. 

Clearomiser – The clear tank that holds the eLiquid in an open system vaping device (e.g. Vuse’s eTank, eTank Pro or eBox). Under UK law – in line with the EU’s TPD – clearomisers hold 2ml of eLiquid or less. 

Cloud chasing – The clouds in question just refer to the vapour, so ‘cloud chasing’ is when you blow large vapour clouds!

Coil and wick – Most vaping devices use a coil and wick system to heat the eLiquid. 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 eLiquid, which then partially re-condenses as a mixture of gas and liquid droplets – 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 eLiquid.

Dripping – This is when a vaper drips eLiquid 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 eLiquid accidently drips onto the heating element. We do not recommend you try dripping on Vuse devices 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 eLiquid 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 eLiquid, 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.

eLiquid – The liquids you put into your device in order to vape. We make our eLiquids using propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerine (VG), and in a range of flavours with or without nicotine.

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 ePen’.

ISO 9001:2008 – That line of numbers probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but here at Vuse it means a great deal. It’s a strict specification of quality management standards from the International Organization for Standardization, a network of national standards institutes from 163 countries. We proactively maintain ISO 9001:2008 for our quality management business system. You can find out more here.

Lithium-Ion – The type of 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. For example, the Vuse Pebble has an electrical charge capacity of 380mAh, so a full battery recharge takes approximately an hour. For a typical vaper, a full charge will last all day. 

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

Nicotine – Nicotine occurs naturally in several varieties of plant, but is found at the highest level in the tobacco plant. Over one billion adults today consume nicotine, in one form or another. Nicotine has been consumed for over a thousand years, and has become one of the most widely consumed social stimulants worldwide. Nicotine also has the potential to cause dependence. 

Nicotine Salts – Nicotine salts are found mainly in the leaves of the tobacco plant, where nicotine exists in a salt form. These nicotine salts that are available in tobacco have been recreated in eLiquids by the addition of a special ingredient to the nicotine containing eLiquid formulation, which reacts with the nicotine to form a nicotine salt. Nicotine in “salt” form, also known as protonated nicotine is more stable than the nicotine in normal eLiquids.

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 – Vuse products 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 and may even be counterfeit.

Propylene Glycol (PG) – One of the two key ingredients of eLiquid. It’s colourless, clear and nearly odourless. It’s ‘Generally recognised as safe’ (GRAS) according to the United States Food and Drug Administration. 

Puff activation – Some eCigarettes 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.

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. The Vuse eTank Pro is a Tube Mod.

Vegetable Glycerine (VG) – A natural product which is normally colourless and odourless. Along with propylene glycol, it’s one of the key ingredients in eLiquids. 

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 eCigarettes using wick and coil technology the higher the wattage the bigger the vapour cloud. 

So there you go - now you’re qualified to dive into the world of vaping and choose the device that’s right for you. Good luck!


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