Vaping is the act of filling an e-cigarette with e-juice, activating the device to heat up this fluid and turn it into vapour, then breathing the vapour into your lungs and releasing it out into the air via your mouth. As you may already know, people often take up vaping in order to quit smoking (cutting out their intake of all the highly hazardous chemicals contained in tobacco), but to still get their nicotine fix – the one ingredient that e-fluid shares with tobacco-filled conventional cigarettes.

Make no mistake, an e-cigarette is a very clever piece of kit. In order to heat up and turn into vapour the e-liquid that its tank has been loaded with, an e-cig comprises a battery, which generates the power for the device’s coil and, connected to that, a wick that becomes white-hot and is the active part of the device that heats the fluid. The latter, now become vapour, is then breathed into the mouth (and the lungs) via the device’s mouthpiece.

First of all, you may need to replace the e-cigarette’s coil; they don’t last forever. In fact, it’s hard to estimate just how long a coil will last – it’s unlikely to be longer than a month. Obviously, the more wear it endures owing to how much you vape and the consistency of the e-liquids you vape will be factors here. Alternatively, the burnt taste may be because the wattage/ voltage of your device is set too high relative to its coil’s resistance or you may not be allowing for enough time between vaping (15 seconds or more is best). Finally, it could simply be because you’ve run out of fluid and are breathing in burnt air rather than actual vapour.

Usually, the battery for your e-cig device will require charging via a USB port, which means you can connect it via the appropriate cable to the USB port on a computer or, with a USB plug converter, to a socket in the wall. It’s likely you’ll be able to use the device to vape while the battery’s charging; how long that’ll take depends on the capacity (mAh) of the battery being charged – up to eight hours to be fully-charged, potentially.

Vaping is currently subject to differing laws depending on the country in which you are using the device. In the UK we’re lucky to be in one of the most vape friendly countries out there right now. This means that there are generally no restrictions on vaping in public, but when it comes to the three main prohibition sectors, you’ll have to watch where you vape. These are businesses, transport and sports stadiums. Whilst many of these bans are just common sense and courtesy – not everyone wants to breathe in a big cloud of your vape juice, others are down to the discretion of the business owner. For instance, some bars and pubs won’t mind you vaping on their premises, whilst others will. In these situations, use your initiative and ask a member of staff.

There are two main vaping styles, Mouth to Lung and Direct to Lung. The lower powered devices which more closely resemble tobacco cigarettes are usually mouth to lung. This means that you inhale the vapour into your mouth and then into your lungs, like you would traditionally. The higher powered and more recent devices have opted for a new way of vaping. To get a bigger vape hit and blow larger vape clouds, you simply push the power button and inhale directly into your lungs before exhaling.

A vape device, or e cigarette, is a less harmful alternative to tobacco smoking. Simply put, a vape device consists of a circuit board which includes a coil, atomiser head and a battery. When the device is powered on, the battery sends electricity through the metal coil and in turn heats up the atomiser head which the vape juice, or e liquid has been saturated around. The e liquid will vaporise and is inhaled through the mouthpiece.

As e cigarettes have increased in popularity, almost every corner shop or supermarket will sell e liquids and simple devices such as cigalikes. Whilst these are catering towards smoking cessation, those who want more complex and personalised devices will have to purchase devices at vape stores such as No1 Ejuice, either online or in shop. Here you can find some of the most powerful devices from trend setting and forward-thinking brands who have customer satisfaction and creativity at the core of their ethos.

You’ll hear ohms get talked about a lot in terms of vaping – and it’ll probably be the first time you’ve had to think about them since their mention back in science lessons at school. If you don’t recall them from back then, ohms are the unit of resistance; in the case of vaping, the level of ohms you vape at determines, in part, your vaping experience. So, a low-ohm level will result in more power (wattage) and so more heat and bigger clouds of vapour; a high-ohm level results in using less power, less heat and a cooler, smoother vaping experience – vaping at this level regularly’ll also ensure that your battery lasts longer. When starting out, for most vapers the standard ohm level tends to be 2.5 ohms, but more experienced vapers will vary the level between 3 ohms and as little as 0.1 ohms (sub-ohming).

The range of electrical resistance (measured in ohms) at which an e-cig device can be used while vaping is wide – it can vary from more than three ohms to less than one; enabling vapers to experiment to their heart’s desire to achieve their ideal vaping experience. Generally speaking, 2.5 ohms is considered standard, with over 3 ohms looked upon as high. At the other end of the scale, you vaping from around 1.8 ohms or less (low) and vaping that’s below one ohm (yes, sub-ohm).

Fundamentally, the point of sub-ohming is because it’s fun. First up, many sub-ohmers like to focus on it when they vape to try and generate the biggest clouds they can. For them, it’s about getting their ohm levels down; below that of a single ohm – and this is the lower the resistance (ohms) you vape at the more power (wattage) you’ll be vaping at and, in turn, then means big, big clouds. On top of that, though, sub-ohming can also result in more powerful flavours and warmer vapour. Many vapers enjoy the latter because it can resemble a part of the experience of smoking they used to enjoy; as to the former, that’s down to the low-resistance cotton-wicking of sub-ohm builds.

The simple answer is when vaping with your e-cig no longer tastes right. The fact is, should you suddenly taste a burnt sort of flavour and the vapour feels hot and dry, then the coil’s most likely burnt out and it’s time is verily up. In this situation, you’re not going to be able to recapture any kind of pleasant flavour again until your change the coil; the taste will far more resemble that of smoking a tobacco-featuring cigarette than vaping a delicious e-liquid.