Published on July 25th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

How Exactly Do Vape Pens Work?

Today, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who’s never heard the word “vaping.”

Heralded as the modern-day replacement for historically harmful cigarettes, vape pens—or “e-cigarettes”—have taken the world by storm with influence and popularity affecting adults and teens, alike.

Maybe you’ve tried vaping yourself, but if you’re even somewhat curious like we are, you’ve at least asked yourself, “how exactly do vape pens work?”

Well, it’s a lot simpler than you may think.

Here’s a quick breakdown on the science behind vaping—how it works, what it does to the body, and why it’s actually pretty important for society.

Let’s dive in.

How Do Vape Pens Work?

Starting with the basics by defining what a vape pen is.

A vape pen is effectively a battery-operated electronic delivery system that involves the heating of an internal coil to roughly 320-356 degrees that instantly vaporizes a liquid rich in chemicals such as CBD, flavorings, and other common ingredients. Once this liquid is vaporized into vapor (otherwise known as aerosol) it is then inhaled by the user and blown out as a puff of smoke.

This process of inhaling vapor and blowing it out is called vaping.

Standard vape pens are built from four key components:

Vape juice cartridge or pod
Power source (battery)
Mouthpiece
E-liquid

Vape pens can take a variety of forms, looking like everything from regular cigarettes, a CBD zen pen, and USB sticks.

Modern vape pens that you see on the street with use either cartridges, reservoirs, or pods, which hold the liquid solution (“vape juice” or “e-liquid”). You can find these vape pens online on Smokea.

As opposed to traditional cigarettes that use combustion (burning) to create smoke for the user to inhale, vaping, on the other hand, is significantly less harmful to the body.

In fact, many studies have shown that if you’re looking to quit smoking, nicotine vaping can be a much safer alternative as it delivers the chemical nicotine smokers want, without all the harmful chemical agents found in cigarette smoke.

How Does Vaping Affect the Body?

When a person vapes, they are inhaling the vaporized form of the vape juice and drawing compounds such as CBD from the liquid directly into their lungs. This CBD is then absorbed from the lungs into the bloodstream and delivered throughout the body.

In short, vaping any compound such as CBD is an incredibly fast way to distribute it throughout your body compared to other forms of ingestion such as some CBD tinctures.

Although scientists don’t yet know the longterm effects of vaping on the body, what scientists have stated objectively is that vaping is fundamentally less harmful to the body than smoking a cigarette.

Okay, But What’s in Vape Juice?

Thankfully, the ingredients that make-up of vape juice are actually quite simple.

90% of vape juice is a compound called propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG).

What the heck is that?

PG is more common than you think, in fact. It’s an FDA-approved food agent used to flavor and dilute things like vanilla extracts, food coloring, and some types of medicine. It helps distribute the taste of food-grade flavorings evenly throughout the liquid.

VG, on the other hand, performs a similar function but is a vegetable-based sweet thickener.

The other 10% of the ingredients are a mixture of water, food-grade flavoring, and chemical compounds like CBD.

Is Vaping Safe?

The short answer is “generally yes.”

Since vaping is the vaporization of a liquid as opposed to the combustion of a solid, vapor-based inhalation has more akin to a cloud of steam than a puff of smoke.

The long answer is that the longterm effects of vaping are still under study but no significant adverse effects have been found—particularly in comparison to traditional combustion-based cigarette smoke inhalation.

However, there is one ingredient to be on the lookout for as it has been commonly associated with lung injuries.

Vitamin E Acetate is a thickening agent used in black market and inferior vaping products. So, whenever buying vape products such as CBD vape pens, be sure to always—and only—get your products from a reputable brand.

However, despite the fact that currently, more than 30% of those who vape are teenagers, anyone under the age of 18 should not—and cannot—vape. Teenage brains are still developing well into their twenties and introducing chemicals at such a young age can have harmful developmental consequences.

Why Do People Choose to Vape?

For many, vaping is seen as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarette smoking. In fact, more than half of all adult vapers are current/former cigarette smokers.

Another reason people vape is because it’s a fast form of intake for the chemicals they want to consume such as CBD, THC, or nicotine.

As opposed to ingesting these substances, vaporizing and inhaling them hits the lungs almost instantly, delivering the benefits of these chemical compounds to the user almost immediately.

Closing Thoughts

If you’ve ever been curious about vaping, now you know how it works. Whether you’re already a master-level vaper or you’re just curious to see what the fuss is about, rest assured that it’s safer than smoking and exercise your freedom to choose what’s right for you.

Tags: CBD, cbdfx, pen, vape

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.