Learning to Vape – How to Vape Properly

I was talking to a new friend on the phone tonight. Someone I know is a smoker. I decided to do a little fishing and tossed a line out. I told them – I’m just sitting here having a vape. They replied “A What?” I’m vaping. Having a vape. I quit smoking many months ago. They said “I tried vaping and could not do it”. Why? “Because it made me cough”. Interesting.

This is not a rare case. Quite common actually. These are people that never learned to vape. Their problem being, they try to vape like they smoked a cigarette. They are conditioned by smoking to do a Lung Hit, where you breath the smoke in with a constant flow. Only big burly mountain men can handle vaping like that. No wonder they are coughing and going back to cigarettes.

HOW TO VAPE – It takes at least 72 hours to learn to vape properly, so buckle down for the long haul. Vaping is more like smoking a cigar. You inhale to first fill up your mouth with vapor, not taking any in your lungs. When your mouth is full of vapor you inhale comfortably and blow out. Imagine yourself pretending to smoke with a lit cigarette. You fill up your mouth with smoke, not inhaling, then blow it out. (Clinton Style “I didn’t inhale”) Vaping is the same technique, but once the mouth is full, you take the device away, then quickly inhale and exhale. By slowly filling up your mouth with vapor before inhaling, it’s takes the bite away that makes you cough.

Just as important, when you are taking in vapor, you are not sucking. Smokers tend to take quick lung hits from a cigarette, that average around two seconds. A proper vape is a slow, gentle draw, that averages around five seconds. Press the button and gently inhale, letting the vapor fill your mouth. The moment you release the button and pull the device away, inhale and gently exhale. The filling your mouth part takes five seconds, but the quick inhale and exhale takes only one second. You will find your own tempo / technique sweet spot.

Another angle on proper vaping technique is the “French Inhale”. To French Inhale, one fills their mouth with smoke, then lets it drift out of their mouth to be sucked in by the nose. If you can French Inhale, this means you already have the ability to fill your mouth, before inhaling, for which is proper vaping technique.

Another angle on this is: Holding your mouth open when you are underwater. You can do this because you can close your throat. Close your throat like you are underwater with your mouth open, and close your lips on the vape and gently draw. Notice how you can fill up your mouth with clouds of vapor, with your throat closed. Put your chin to your chest when you practice this technique. Fill your mouth up without inhaling, then quickly inhale it in and blow it out. This makes it smooth and prevents the cough.

DON’T BE A VAPE SUCKER! : Common mistake for new users. When you try to suck vape you flood the tank. E-liquid is drawn up the tube and in to your mouth. You curse the device as defective and go back to smoking. This why you condition yourself to draw the vapor in slowly and smoothly. The draw you take is no more suction than a normal inhale breath, while puckering your lips. The proper technique prevents tank flooding. Remember the average vape is five seconds, not two seconds.

Some people press the button while the vape is on the way to their mouth. This gets it started a little early, for easier, more efficient vapor production. Once again, you will find your own tempo and style.

This is something that takes practice. Going from cigarette lung hitting to vape mouth to lung hitting takes time. Yes, some people are lung hitters with vape from the start, having no problems with coughing. I believe they are a minority. I have let many two pack a day smokers try vape. Over half of them cough and hand it back to me.
There are people that are natural lung hitters with vape, but, they are a minority. Then you have vape users that learn how to lung hit properly, after already successfully mastering the mouth to lung technique. This also takes time and patience to learn. Dare I say it’s an art form.

SNEAK A VAPE – Then you have the sneak a vape technique. You inhale a vape and casually hold it in for two seconds. Instead of blowing it out, you then start shallow breathing. Notice how soft, shallow breathing does not exhale visual vapor. Thus affording you the convenience of vaping in places that would send smokers to jail. (funny)

So many people slip through the cracks and go back to smoking, over minor issues that could have been resolved. They spend fifty bucks on vape gear to quit smoking, but never finish the learning curve it takes to learn how to vape properly. Don’t end up like that. If you see someone like that, politely tell them: “hey man, you need to learn how to vape properly”