Vape Pens: The Ultimate Guide

Posted by Vaporizer Chief on 8th Jun 2021

Vape pens have become a popular device among members of the vaping community. Every vape pen has its own design, size, function, and style of operation. Vapes are the best way to enjoy your herbs, oils, and wax. Some vape pens are compatible with just dry herbs, some are designed for oil and concentrates, and some are for e-juice.

Many vapers are switching to vape pens because of the convenience they offer. While their are not designed just for expert users alone, some newbies find it challenging to use these helpful devices effectively. Hence, we have come up with this article to serve as a guide as you're about to buy a new vape pen. We also have a section for vape pens where you can find a wide variety of these pens and other accessories.

What are Vape Pens?

Vape pens are compact devices that look like a typical office pen designed for vaping dry herbs, e-juice, and concentrates. These devices are non-combustible, meaning they don’t burn your materials, so you're sure of a pure and clean flavor. While they are more sophisticated than the basic e-cigars, vape pens are a simpler version of the advance portable vaporizers.

Vaporizer pens are the most common vaping device you can find on the market. They are affordable and offer utmost discreteness.

Benefits of a Pen Vaporizer

There are many benefits why you need to purchase a vape pen for your daily vaping sessions. These include:

Save Money

The most important benefit of using a pen vaporizer is that it saves money. Getting so many benefits from a small investment is great. With less than $50, you can get a good and powerful vape pen that can last long if properly maintained. And you can also get a replacement cartridge with twenty dollars or less. Aside from the cost of buying a vape, you also save real money regarding buying herbs and concentrates. Since vaporizers don’t combust your materials, it will save you more money in the long run.

Help Quit Smoking

Technology has helped many smokers to move from smoking to vaping, especially because vape pens are a safer alternative for smoking traditional tobacco and can help quit smoking.

Inhale Vapor Instead of Smoke

Smoke doesn't favor our lungs, and that’s one of the reasons why smoking is bad for our health. But since vape pens don’t produce fire, there is no smoke production, meaning you don't inhale smoke at any time. What vaporizers do is to produce clear vapors.

Less Nasty Smell

No one like the nasty odor produced by smoking, and you wouldn’t want to walk down the street while taking a hit, probably because you don't want to draw attention to yourself due to the smell. However, you can use a vaporizer pen anywhere, whether you're indoors, outdoors or traveling. Although the herbs you used in your pen still produce a smell, it is not as strong and smelly compared to smoking, plus it doesn’t linger for long.

Vaporize All Materials In One Device

You can use your pen to vaporize any cannabis you want. There are also some vape pens that are designed to support dry both herbs and concentrates. Being able to do all these with one device is great.

How do Vaporizer Pens Work?

It’s quite amazing how vape pens work; they are incredibly straightforward to use. Vape pens typically feature a battery, mouthpiece, chamber, atomizer, and single or multiple buttons for control. Once your herb, e juice, or concentrate is the right position, next is to turn on the vape pen by pressing the power button three or five times quickly depending on the device you purchased. You can also cycle through different temperature settings using the power button or adjustment buttons on the unit. Once it's powered on, the device will start the heat process, and you can now take draws from the mouthpiece to produce vapors.

Components of a Vape Pen

Mouthpiece

This is the open end of your vape pen that you places your mouth to take hits to puff out vapors. Cartridge tip of the e-cigarette serves as its mouthpiece for e-cigs.

Battery

Vape pens are powered by batteries just like your mobile phones and other battery-powered devices. The battery capacity will determine how long you can use your pen after a full charge. Most vaporizer pens use internal batteries and can last fairly long.

Atomizers

Atomizer or tank is the part of your dab pen or e-cig that transforms your cannabis (e-liquid or concentrate) into vapor when your device is powered and the temperature adjusted.

Chamber

Vape pens come with chambers that provide heat to your material and turn them into vapors. Before you start vaping, you will need to load your dry herbs into the chamber or attach your cartridge containing your e-liquid.

Charger

Every vape pen requires a charger for recharging the battery once it gets low. Most pens are typically charged with USB micro cable.

Types of Vape Pens

Weed Vape Pen

Weed vape pens, also called dry herb vape pens, are used for vaping dry cannabis. These devices provide a more convenient and safer way of enjoying dry herbs for medical or recreational purposes. Most vape pens often feature a preset temperature setting and powerful batteries. Weed pens are very compact and can fit into the pocket with ease.

Heating method

Weed vape pens use conduction or convection heating methods. Most vape pens adopt a conduction method for heating dry herbs, allowing a precise temp control. Conduction vape pens heat the dry herb directly to produce vapor. Pens with this type of heating method are less expensive and have a short heating time.

Convection vaporizers, on the other hand, do not heat the herb directly; heat is transferred from ceramic or stainless stain to the herbs to produce vapor. Convection vapes take a longer time to heat up, but they heat the herbs more evenly. Some pens are hybrid and combine both convection and conduction heating system.

Packing

How you pack your chamber can affect both the flavor of your herbs and your vaping experience, but how do you pack your vape properly for the best results?

Grinding the herb: The texture of your herb will go a long way to influence the outcome of your vaping experience. Use herbal grinders to crush your herbs to achieve a finely ground texture.

Dryness of your herbs: Weed vape pens are designed for dry herbs and not moist materials. Make sure your herbs are dry for a smooth vaping process.

Filling the chamber: You don’t want to stick all your herbs into your vape pen because doing this would restrict airflow and ultimately lead to bad hits. Always pack load your herbs to about 70 to 80% full, to provide enough space for air passage.

Chamber

The heating chamber or oven of a herbal vape pen is where you load your herbs. It provides consistent heat to the herbs to produce vapors. Heating chambers are made from different materials like ceramic, stainless steel, and glass.

It would help if you always cleared your chamber after every use to prevent the residue from becoming sticky due to exposure to heat. If you don’t do this, the airflow would be restricted, which could distort the performance of your pen in the long run.

Dab Pen

Dab pens are used to consume different types of concentrates in a very discreet style. Most dab pens are compact and take after the shape of an office pen, which offers more portability. A dab pen typically comes with a mouthpiece, atomizers, and coils. More advanced dab pens are the mod-style dab devices, and they offer more powerful hits and extending vaping sessions.

Heating Method

You can find dab pens with convection heating method, conduction method, and even hybrid.

Packing

Whatever dab pen you’re using for wax, you’ll find a chamber and coils on the inside. Use your dabber to scoop a small ball of wax and scrap it gently around the sides until the wax falls onto the coil. Don’t try to use a big tool for scooping the concentrates and don’t overpack or force it or else you could damage the device.

Atomizer

Dab pens have atomizers which heat your concentrate for vaporization. Dab pen atomizers are built from Titanium, Quartz, or ceramic materials. These atomizers have two categories; the coiled and the coil-less.

Titanium atomizers last longer because of the durable materials, which makes them suitable for regular users. However, Titanium cannot preserve the flavor of your wax.

Quartz atomizers are relatively new in the market, and they have a tiny quartz rod with a titanium coated coil. These atomizers heat pretty quick and are capable of preserving the flavor of your material.

Unlike the quartz atomizers, ceramic type of atomizers has slow heat time, which gives you a smooth vaping experience while preserving the flavor of your concentrate. They are most suitable for beginner vapes.

E-Cig

These are vape pen that heat e-liquid or juice to produce vapors when you inhale and exhale.

Filling up e-Liquid

Filling up the e-cig vape pen with e-Liquid is incredibly easy. Once you get an e-cigar vape pen, you need to fill the cartridge with your favorite e-liquid and attach it back to the pen. Turn on the device and start vaping almost immediately.

Atomizer

Vape pens work with different types of atomizers which include disposable, replaceable, and rebuildable atomizers.

Disposable atomizers are inexpensive and easy to find in the market. These types of atomizers are suitable for beginner vapers.

Replaceable atomizers are the most popular type of atomizers you can find. They are a bit more expensive than disposable atomizers. They are washable, which allows you to use one for different e-liquid flavors.

Rebuildable Atomizers (RDAs) allow you to build your own coils, giving you control over the device. These atomizers are suitable for advanced vapers as it requires knowledge and time to set up. If you’re a beginner who would like to try RDA, then you have to dedicate some time to learn how to build one.

Maintenance of your Device

If you must use a vape pen, you must learn how to maintain the unit, especially when cleaning and replacing the atomizer. When you use your coil for too long without changing it, you begin to have burnt taste.

Dry herb vape pens require more maintenance than other types of vapes because the herbs stay in the chamber, and adding more herbs without cleaning will have adverse effects.

You’ll need to learn how to clean the exterior of your pen to preserve its beautiful appearance and ensure the buttons are in good conditions. Be careful how you use the power and adjustment buttons, so you don’t run into a problem.

You can simply use a clean, plain cloth to wipe the exterior of your unit to keep it clean. If you notice any grime around the button area, then use a toothpick or cotton swab to remove.

You may also need to clean the screen of your device if your fingerprints are all over it.