There are so many different accessories,
cartomisers, and atomisers!!! I’m confused…

The amount of accessories and products for an electronic cigarette is immense and if you’re new to the world an electronic cigarette user calls vaping you may find yourself drowning in information that really doesn’t mean much. We will try to break it down and simplify it to make things a little more manageable and easy to digest. There are lots of different ways to get e-liquid from the e-cig into your lungs and get that bit of bliss you crave. The tank that holds the e-liquid comes in two main categories.

Atomisers and cartomisers, each with its own benefits and methods of use, which are slightly different and give slightly different flavour, the method is much the same but preference is largely down to personal taste.

Atomisers are essentially tanks that hold the e-liquid and double as the mouthpiece for inhaling the e-liquid, they work with the use of a separate atomiser or heating element to vaporise the liquid. You fill the tank directly with the e-liquid which makes it very easy and convenient to use, according to some it empties a little faster and the flavour is slightly different.

The cartomiser is a one piece cartridge and atomiser with a sponge-like filler material inside which soaks up the fluid and keeps it ready for use, while not quite as convenient to use, it is held by some that its gives a richer flavour and a lot more vapour to exhale giving a richer experience. Filling a cartomiser is a slightly more involved procedure which can be
done in two ways;

Art of Vaping - Filling your Cartomiser

a. You can drip the e-liquid drop by drop directly into the cartomiser by removing the rubber cap on the end and dripping the e-liquid straight into the filler material until it can't soak up any more and then gently wipe away the excess fluid and attach it by screwing it onto the battery.

b. You can use the little rubber pot that comes with the cartomiser. Fill the little pot to about three quarters and then after removing the rubber cap from the cartomiser gently push it into the rubber pot screw on thread first and very slowly push down. This will force the e-liquid into the filler material and get absorbed, leave it for a few seconds then top up by dripping a few drops into the cartomiser like in method one. Pull the cartomiser out of the pot gently, wipe it then screw it into the battery.


Whichever method you choose, care should be taken that no liquid is left in the threads of the cartomiser and that there is no residue on the battery, using the e-cig when there is liquid left where the cartomiser and battery meet can damage the battery and leave you with a dead e-cig.

There are a couple of variations for both cartomisers and atomisers that deal with amount of liquid they hold and how much electrical resistance they have (measured in Ohms) both of which have an effect on your vaping experience. Cartomisers come in regular and extra large sizes which hold different amounts of liquid, and type A or B atomisers which amount
to the same thing.

Vape Right - Know Your Resistance

More important is the resistance option cartomisers offer. Available in Low and Standard resistances, the lower the resistance the stronger the flavour and the more vapour it produces.

Resistance ranges from 2.7-3 Ohm on standard resistance, 1.8-2.2 Ohm on low, while these numbers don’t mean much to the average consumer but do have a huge impact
on the vape experience.

Low resistance cartomisers tend to drain the battery a little faster for a stronger flavour and more vapour, while the standard resistance gives a good amount of both vapour and flavour while keeping your battery going a bit longer than it otherwise would. Either way there are tradeoffs but each of these products caters to different tastes and habits.

E-Cig Battery - The Power

While cartomisers and atomisers are obviously pretty important to the vaping experience, you never want to forget your battery. Get the wrong kind of battery i.e. too weak, and your vape is never going to be the way you want it no matter what smoke juice / e-liquid you use or how well you fill your cartos and attys.

Electronic cigarette batteries come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, from the traditional cylindrical shape of the tobacco cigarette to the short thick n stubby of the ultraportable SD Keyring to the lightsabre handle-like eGo Twist.
What you need to know and what is most important is not the shape or the size of it, it’s all about the power. The two things you need to know are voltage and mAh (milliampere-hour).

mAh is short for milliampere hour and refers to the battery’s charge capacity, the higher the mAh the more powerful and long your vape before you need to recharge it. For example a 1000mAh (that is a really powerful battery) can give one Ampere per hour before it eventually runs out. Depending on how much you smoke, smoked or vape this will make all the difference between satisfaction and frustration.

Voltage is what to look for if you want more flavour and more steam. Voltage is the current and thus the power that runs through the battery when you use it. Most popular e-cig batteries are rated at 3.7v and this is despite their amperage (mAh).

There are two types of battery voltage:

Single Voltage Batteries, these batteries work at a particular voltage and give off a standard amount of current, a very popular voltage rating appears to be 3.7v though certain tests we’ve seen suggest that this isn’t always quite the case. If you have a single voltage e-cig battery in or around the 3.7v mark you should look at low resistance cartomisers for it.

Variable Voltage Batteries, these little (or large) beauties offer a variable range of voltage for a stronger vape, bigger throat hit and more vapour production, a good example is the eGo Twist battery which has an adjustable voltage ranging from 3.2v to 4.8v to cover everything from mellow to hardcore vape. Batteries like this tend to be very powerful as they need to have a fairly high mAh to support added current. The eGo Twist comes in 650mAh and 1000mAh variations for this reason, and it’s always a good idea to use standard or even high resistance cartos to match those higher currents.

There are of course other voltage levels too, and some e-cig batteries can go up to 5 or 6v but that is pretty much the hardcore domain.