Many people don’t understand exactly how an electronic cigarette even works. E-cigarettes are a brand new technology that are taking over the smoking industry so not a lot of people have every heard of an e-cigarette or even seen one in real life.

The e-cig is made up of basically 3 parts, the battery, the atomizer, and the cartridge.

The battery of an e-cigarette makes up the majority of the electronic cigarette, it’s basically everything past the “butt” of the e-cig. It has an L.E.D. light at the tip that lights up when you inhale through it, this gives it the appearance of a traditional cigarette.

Next, there is an atomizer which screws into the battery. The atomizer, like it’s name suggests, atomizes the e-liquid (we’ll get to this below) and nicotine into a fine smoke-like vapor. The atomizer is charged by the battery and gets warm to the touch when used, but not hot enough to burn anything.

The last part is the cartridge. The cartridge contains the e-liquid. E-Liquid is what provides the electronic cigarette with the flavor and nicotine. The atomizer uses the e-liquid to produce the vapor. E-liquids come in flavors like regular tobacco and menthol. Once the e-liquid runs out the e-cigarette will no longer produce vapor and the cartridge will have to be changed. The e-cig cartridge is comparable to a pack of traditional cigarettes. Luckily for e-smokers, cartridges cost much less than a pack of cigarettes, usually around 1.60 each, and they come in packs of 5 or more.

Many people are confused about how cartridges and e-liquids work for electronic cigarettes. Hopefully I can clear up this topic a little bit today.

The cartridge of an e-cigarette is a small plastic tube that slips on to the end of the e-cigarette acting as the butt. It has a small sponge in the bottom of it that comes pre-filled with e-liquid. The E-Liquid is what the atomizer uses to create a smoke like vapor. The e-liquid also contains the flavor and nicotine that you choose. Once the cartridge runs out of e-liquid it will stop producing vapor and need to be replaced. Cartridges come usually in packs of five or cases of twenty. The cartridge is comparable to one pack of regular cigarettes. However, the price of a cartridge averages out to about $1.50 each, much less than today’s tobacco cigarettes.

The electronic cigarette smoker has the option to continue to buy pre-filled cartridges or if they want they can buy small bottles of e-liquid and refill their cartridges on their own. This second option is actually very easy and reduces the expense of e-smoking even further. Kind of like buying in bulk. To refill a cartridge you only need to put a few drops (usually 5-8) of e-liquid into the cartridge and you continue to smoke.

For those of you who prefer to use E-Liquids to refill your existing cartridges or empty cartridges, here is a quick guide on how to refill them.

1. When Cartridge is empty and when one desires to refill it with using E-Liquid, First remove Cartridge from Atomizer.

2. Once Cartridge is removed from Atomizer, use a small pin like object (e.g. Paperclip, toothpick or etc.) and insert into bottom hole of Cartridge and push out internal Liquid Container from inside Cartridge.

3. Now that the Liquid Container has been removed from the Cartridge, place upright.

4. Using your desired E-Liquid, drip 5-8 drops of E-Liquid into Liquid Container or until full. Fill only so much that there is not a puddle, if there is a puddle using a piece of cloth and dab excess.

Note: Do Not over fill, overfilling can cause damage to atomizer.

Tip: A completely empty Cartridge takes 0.5ml of E-Liquid to be completely full.

5. Once the Liquid Container has been refilled insert back into Cartridge body.

6. Push Cartridge back on Atomizer of E-Cigarette and you are ready to vape.