The Beginners Guide to Electronic Cigarettes

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Intro
Lingo
Hardware
Using Juice
Using Accessories

Intro: So what is e-smoking, anyway?

The use of electronic cigarettes (known as e-smoking, or vaping,) is an alternative to smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. Instead of being lit, an electronic cigarette vaporizes a solution of water, nicotine & flavoring. There's no smoke, no combustion. Even better, you can often use them in traditionally non-smoking venues. Electronic cigarettes are not meant to be a smoking cessation device, but what they can do is leave no lingering odor, have just a few ingredients instead of several thousand, and no longer bother others with your second-hand smoke!

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Lingo: What did they just say?

There are a lot of terms that have developed amongst e-smokers since the devices have come out. Here's a few of the basics to get you started.

Atomizer

The portion of electronic cigarette hardware that heats Smoke Juice into a vapor.

Cart, Cartridge

A moulded plastic cartridge containing polyester filling material and Smoke Juice for an electronic cigarette. A blank cart is one with only filling material, and no juice.

Drip, Dripping

Bypassing a cartridge and dropping Smoke Juice directly onto the atomizer. Johnson Creek Original Smoke Juice strongly advises against using this method.

ECA

The Electronic Cigarette Association. A group of industry leaders, retailers, suppliers, and e-smokers who are fighting to make sure electronic cigarettes stay legal and available.

E-liquid

The liquid used in electronic cigarettes that contains distilled water, flavoring, and nicotine.  We weren't content to create just any old e-liquid, so we refer to ours as Smoke Juice.

PG, Propylene Glycol

The ingredient in most e-liquid recipes that produces vapor. Propylene Glycol, or PG, is on the FDA's list of substances generally recognized as safe, and is used in everything from fog machines to artificial flavors.

Reduced PG, VG, Vegetable Glycerine

A very small percentage of e-smokers have a sensitivity to PG.  Our Red Oak™ line of flavors uses VG instead of PG to carry flavor and create vapor.

Vaping

Using an electronic cigarette. Alternative word to smoking.

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Hardware: What are these things?

While there are several different models of personal vaporizers, or electronic cigarettes, on the market, there are a few main types. All are comprised of the same basic components, with some minor differences.

Components
The largest component is the rechargeable Lithim-Ion battery, similar to one you might find in a mobile phone or laptop computer. Often these have an orange LED at the end, which lights up like a burning cigarette would. Sometimes these LEDs are other colors as well, to showcase how unlike a tobacco cigarette they actually are. The next part is the atomizer, or vaporizer. This is activated by inhaling on the cartridge end or by holding a manual switch, depending on your model. On a pen-style electronic cigarette, the atomizer is contained in a metal tube that looks a lot like a cigarette holder, where they're far more hidden on a mini or super-mini ecig. The atomizer instantly heats the liquid into a vapor, which lingers in the air for just moments after exhaling. The final piece is the cartridge. The cartridge is the mouthpiece. On minis and super-minis, it's often made to look just like the filter of a regular cigarette. Inside the cartridge is a polyester fill material which holds the earlier mentioned solution. This solution is known as e-liquid, but for quality you'll just need to look for Johnson Creek Original Smoke Juice.

Pen-Style

The first type of electronic cigarette created. They have the appearance of a cigarette in a holder, like the ones popular from the 1920's to the 1960's. These have a large, standardized cartridge that holds about 1.3mL of e-liquid.

Mini

A compromise between physical size and liquid capacity/battery life. These generally look quite a bit more like a traditional cigarette, but are still slightly larger. Mini cartridges vary greatly, but usually contain between .5mL to 1mL of e-liquid.

Supermini

Frequently almost the same size as a traditional cigarette, this hardware has smaller capacity cartridges and batteries. The batteries do, however, charge significantly faster than other types. Supermini cartridges also vary greatly, holding between .2mL and .5mL of e-liquid.

Electronic Cigar

The e-cigar looks similar to a cigar. Thicker around than most other e-cigs, they employ a similar cartridge to the pen-style, with a greater capacity. E-cigars can sometimes hold as much as 1.5mL of e-liquid. There are also disposable e-cigars available, which look extremely similar to an actual cigar with no external mouthpiece.

E-Pipe

As the name may suggest, these look just like a pipe. They have big cartridges, but blanks aren't quite as readily available as the rest of the styles. The cartridges hold more than 2mL of e-liquid at a time.

Disposable

There are many shapes and sizes of disposable e-cigarettes & e-cigars on the market. These aren't refillable, and should always be disposed of responsibly when used up.

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Using Smoke Juice: How to refill cartridges

Whether you're new to e-smoking in general, or just new to filling your own cartridges, this can seem like a complicated and difficult task. Don't worry, it's actually pretty simple (and it will save you a lot of money, too.) Below are some step-by-step instructions to follow.

To fill a blank cartridge for the first time, start by taking it out of the box and removing any wrapper or cap. If you're using a needle and syringe, slowly fill the syringe with your favorite flavor of Smoke Juice. A pen style cartridge will need about 1.3mL. A mini cartridge will need about between .2mL & .5mL. Carefully lower the tip of the needle to the bottom of the fill material in your cartridge. Slowly fill the cartridge, raising the needle as the cartridge fills. Empty any extra Smoke Juice back into the bottle. Take care to cover the needle and store it in a safe place. Never use these needles for any other purpose. If you're using the included dropper cap or travel dropper bottle instead of a needle, simply fill the dropper and slowly drip a few drops at a time into the cartridge, waiting for the fill material to absorb it before adding more. If liquid is pooling on the top, the cartridge may be a little too full. Dab off the extra liquid to avoid the possibility of flooding and damaging your atomizer or battery.

Johnson Creek suggests only refilling a cartridge about 5-6 times total. After that point, the polyester begins to break down. That can cause damage to the atomizer, and a very bad taste! So what to do with all that leftover Smoke Juice? See the accessories section below!

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Using Accessories: What does all this do?

Using all of our accessories will get you the best, and most affordable, e-smoking experience possible. So what does it all do?
The tweezers are great for removing or fluffing the fill material in the cartridge. Why would you want to remove the fill material? Glad you asked!
Our 10mL syringe without needle is perfect for collecting the fill material from your used cartridges. When it's full of fill, just depress the plunger to yield several mL of extra Smoke Juice that otherwise would have gone to waste.
So what about the other syringe, the one with the needle? Our 3mL or 10mL syringe with needle are the best way to fill a new cartridge, and the easiest way to fill those tricky supermini carts. No need to worry about juice leaking out when you can control where and how much Smoke Juice goes into your cart!
For more information on the accessories we offer, check out the tour of our Welcome to E-Smoking Kit, which contains just about every accessory we offer in one kit at a great price.

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