Jargon-Buster
Atomiser
An atomiser does the mechanical work of turning the nicotine into the vapour - it is the 'filter' but without the nicotine. You have to add the nicotine by way of a seperate cartridge, or a 'tank' (see below). Some companies use separate atomisers as opposed to cartomisers (which contain the atomiser).
Battery
Before you start, bear in mind that pretty much everything these days is made in China, including e-cigs. Pretty much every e-cig battery is an '808' or a '510'. These batteries have slightly different diameters - also the 808 has a male connection (for a cartomiser, atomiser or tank with a female connection, and the 510 battery is female, for attachments with female connections - that's all the difference there is. If an 808 battery is bigger, it is called a VGO or something derivative of that name, and if it is a large 510 battery, it is called an 'EGO' or something pretty similar (Most e-cigs are made generically by Chinese factories, and 'branded up' in the west - so an 'EGO' e-cigarette from Juicy Cigs will the same as an EGO from eXhale - and any 808-battery-based kit from JACVapour will be much like the kits from Smokeless Image - the 510 batteries used by eXhale will be pretty much the same as the 510 batteries used by ROK and Vapourlites - like cornflakes, cars, and many other things - just with a different badge. (Having said this, the batteries used in Liberro's Realis is much less common, and the batteries used in the ROKstar, although compatible with 510 cartomisers, will not take tanks normally intended for other 510 batteries, because of the special configuration of the ROK battery).
The ROK 510 battery
The JAC 808 Battery
Now, with batteries, size matters. Usually, the bigger the battery, the longer it will be before it needs to be recharged. So one normally has a choice between small and neat (like the ROK, or the Liberro Realis, which is tiny - the entire Realis E-cig is the same length as a credit card - no bigger than an old 'Guards' or 'Embassy') but with a battery that needs a fair bit of recharging (every hour or two, I reckon) and will probably have a relatively short life of a month or two, and the JAC which has a great battery that needs less recharging (one charge lasts me a good two or three hours, sometimes more) and will last longer overall, and if you buy the Excel PCC, you will have two spare batteries charging, as spares, ready to go when you need them.
The standard battery for 'performance' e-cigarettes, is the EGO, which is 510-compatible, so it can be used, for example, with ROK or Boge cartomisers.
The EGO (510) Battery (used by, for example, Juicy Cigs and eXhale)
EGO batteries are basically the same as VGO batteries (which are used by JAC for example), except that the former are 510-compatible and the latter are 808-compatible. Both come in a variety of 'strengths' from 650 MaH upwards. A 650 battery will last most vapers 10 hours or more, compared to the one or two hours of the small ROK and Liberro batteries, but are longer and fatter, so your e-cig is starting to look more like a cigar.
The newest word is the variable volt EGO battery.
This battery is used by Juicy Cigs, for example in their excellent VV Clearo Kit. The basic battery is the same size as the EGO 650, but then an extra inch (ish) is added at the bottom for the lights! The lights indicate how charged the battery is - 1 bar for 20% charged, 2 for 40% and so on. In addition there is another LED at the top of the battery, just under the button (this is a manual battery, so you press a button to get your 'vape' - sounds a bit weird but fine once you get used to it). The colour of this light changes as you cycle through the voltage options - red for 3.2 V, mauve for 3.7 V and blue for 4.2 V. The point of this is that a higher voltage will give you more vapour and 'throat hit'. Press the button 5 times to cycle from one voltage rating to another.
Cartomiser
A pre-filled cartridge that screws into the battery. It contains the nicotine, any flavouring, and a 'carrier' (usually propylene glycol, or 'PG') that allows the atomised nicotine to vapourise. Cartomisers from JAC, eXhale, JuicyCIgs and Liberro are re-fillable with e-liquid - ROK cartomisers are not (or at least ROK don't recommend it). I have refilled ROK cartomisers with no problem - you can prise the top off, or use the endcap from a Realis. Although it works ok, the results aren't that great, and I would really recommend with ROK that you just buy new cartomisers. Vapourlites make no reference to refilling with e-liquid, but it is just as possible to do this as with any other cartomiser.
Cartridge
Like a cartomiser, but without the atomiser, which you have to buy separately (always supplied - indeed, some e-cigs come with spare atomisers, like the eXhale CE5 kit (my 'deal of the month'). A catridge may be pre-filled with e-liquid, or not. Make sure you buy some e-liquid if the carts supplied are blank.
Disposable
As the name suggests this is an e-cigarette, or an e-cigar that you can just get out of the pack and put straight in your mouth, and drag away as you would with a normal cigarette. When it is finished (you will know because you won't get any more vapour from it), you can just throw it away. My winner for best disposable e-cigarette is the BIGblue just because it tastes excellent and because it delivers close to its claimed number of cigs-worth, . I am not so keen on cigars really, but the Liberro Corona Grandes is excellent and lasts for absolutely ages! I was a bit ambivalent about disposables for a while (and they remain the most expensive vaping alternative to smoking). Some of them, like the Intellicig, are not that great. But if you get a decent one, like the BIGblue, they are the most convenient option.
E-Liquid
An e-liquid is flavoured liquid nicotine which you use to refill your cartomiser/empty catridge, or tank.
Most suppliers offer e-liquid as an option but also offer 'plug-and-play' cartomisers as well, which is more convenient, but more expensive. E-Liquid is kinda like the 'roll-up' version of vaping. If you don't mind a bit of work, and want a cheaper option, e-liquid is for you. Having said that, the new 'vision' clearomisers that are now available from JuicyCigs and eXhale (for the EGO) and JAC (for the Vgo), make liquid a much more practical option, even for newbies. If you're a 'tailor-made' smoker and just want to 'plug-and-play', you might be better off with pre-filled 'cartomisers', where the nicotine is already in the product - you just screw it into the battery and off you go - in that case, you are probably better off going for a Liberro Realis, or similar. The cartomiser option is more expensive, but both cartomisers and e-liquid options are much cheaper than cigarettes.
Click here to compare the cost of vaping with cartomisers, as opposed to e-liquid.
If you like a ritual and don't mind the 'fag' of it, and want to save a bit of cash, give e-liquid a go if you like, but I think pre-filled cartomisers are usually better for 'newbies' - you can always switch to liquid later if you want to save some cash. You also get a wider choice of flavours with e-liquid. I was a smoker of 'tailor-made' cigarettes - so I used cartomisers initially, but now often use liquid, and find it no hassle at all really, and noticeably cheaper. My daily vape at the moment is part BIGblue disposables, and part VV EGO with the new Clearomisers. I am a big fan of the variable volt batteries, but they're not cheap, and a super-cheap option (if you don't need the VV bit) is the eXhale CE5 kit - fantastic value at £21.60 - I am confident that this is the cheapest on the internet! You can read the review here.
PCC
- or Portable Charging Case. This lovely bit of kit allows you to charge it up - it carries charge that you can use to re-charge your batteries on-the-go, without needing the mains.
The ROK PCC is good, and works well. The Liberro too, but it also has a little torch light in the bottom which I guess might be handy, and a light inside the lid which might also be handy in a dark environment like a club. It also has lights on the side that tell you how much charge remains in the PCC and in the battery it is carrying. The only drawback is that you have to press a button to tell it to charge the battery, whereas the ROK mini just gets on with it - the batteries charge automatically as soon as you put them in the PCC. The JAC PCCs are stylish and work well, but the 'Excel' charging case which can charge two batteries at the same time is, for me, better yet.
The larger cigs do not employ a PCC, for the very good reason that they don't need to. The batteries are much more powerful and will go for a whole day or more before they need a re-charge.
In summary, if you use a small e-cig with small batteries, you need a PCC. Larger e-cigs with larger batteries mean that the need for a PCC ought to go away. The larger cigs certainly don't need a PCC.
See my review of e-cigarettes with charging cases.
Tank
A 'tank' sounds 'big' but it isn't. It is a cartomiser that is empty, but with an important difference. Where a used cartomiser (which you re-fill with liquid), contains a kind of gauze that you soak in liquid, the tank is a (usually) transparent 'cartridge' that is completely empty. You fill it with liquid and just plug it into an atomiser - alternatively, the tank might incorporate the atomiser, like with the new 'vision clearomisers'. Where a cartomiser gradually gets emptied, and the 'vape' gradually gets harsher as the liquid runs out, with a tank, the liquid flow remains constant and consistent, giving a smooth 'vape' right up to (pretty much) the last moment. Tanks are, in my view, the way to go - ultimately - because they give smoothness, consistency and have the advantage of being able to use liquid, which is a cheaper option than using pre-filled cartomisers.
Note though that a tank sometimes has to be used with a special atomiser that is different from a normal atomiser - the tank atomiser punctures a hole in the tank itself, to let the liquid through, so it is a different design. (eg the eXhale 510-t). The new Vision Clearomisers however can be used with any EGO battery, or, for that matter, a small 510 battery like the ROK or eXhale (the battery from the 510-t).
