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What are Disposable Vapes?
Posted on 28 December 2020
What are Disposable E Cigarettes?
The popularity of e-cigarette use has risen in the past years, with many companies implementing constant innovative changes that have never failed to cater towards individual needs. Whether it be changes in form factor, quality of life issues, and sizes; vaping has evolved into a vast and quick industry geared towards the objective to provide a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. Transitioning itself from RDAs and rebuildable tanks, to sub-ohm atomizers, and now to Pod-Systems; one particular type of Pod-Systems has seen some light in this ever growing industry. As the name implies, a disposable e-cigarette is an electronic cigarette, also known as a vape, that is intended to be discarded after use. Unlike pod devices such as STLTH or Caliburn, which are comparable to disposables in terms of their convenience and ease of use, disposables don’t require the user to replace a pod or charge the battery. Once a disposable is out of e-liquid or the battery is dead, you throw away the whole device. Factors such as size and frequency of usage will impact the longevity of a disposable, however, as a general rule life lifespan for most disposables is one to three days. Disposable vapes are available in a multitude of flavour options, with fruit, menthol, and tobacco being the most common. Nicotine options in disposable vapes are limited, with most brands only offering three choices of strength (1.5, 3.5 5.0, or equivalent), and exclusively in salt nicotine. Disposables are not currently available in freebase nicotine. Due to the high levels of nicotine in salt nic, disposable e-cigarettes are only available as MTL devices. They are designed to provide a familiarity to smokers, minus the harmful chemicals, tar, and smoke that comes with smoking traditional cigarettes.
How do you use a Disposable E-Cig?
So now that we know what disposables are, how do we use them? This is the aspect of disposable vapes that most appeals to people, especially beginners and those who want to quit smoking without the hassle of learning about pods, coils, or e-juice. Disposables are draw-activated, meaning they don’t use a button to turn on or off. Instead, you just use the mouthpiece to inhale, which signals the element to ignite, heating the coil and producing vapour. Most draw-activated devices don’t rely exclusively on manually input settings, which makes them very user friendly, and thus a popular design choice for many companies. The STLTH, Caliburn, and Drag S are good examples of the variety that can be found in draw-activated devices. Unlike the aforementioned devices, however, disposable vapes cannot be recharged or turned off. A disposable e-cigarette is technically always on, fractionally depleting its battery life, even when not in active use. As you can imagine, the energy limbo of disposable e-cigarettes caused some concern in regards to shipping and sale time. To address those concerns and ensure the longest possible lifespan for disposable devices, many are now sold with their batteries inactive. The first inhale from a newly opened disposable is what activates it’s battery. As a result, disposable vapes perform best in the first three days after their initial use, and for the optimal experience, should be used within that time frame.
- Do not store your vape in extremely hot environments.
- Do not try to open, alter, or damage the unit by any means, it may change the vape quality of the device. An example of this would be the GHOST disposables, it is designed to not be refilled.
- Be sure to vape slowly and steadily. Disposable units are specially designed to be pulled like mouth to lung.
- Dispose of these units appropriately, by simply visiting your nearest battery recycling center.
What are the Advantages of using a Disposable E-Cig?
Why might someone choose disposable e-cigarettes over another style of device? There are a few advantages to disposable vapes, the biggest one, as mentioned above, is the ease of use. For those who feel a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of choosing their own device settings, or who are uninterested in learning about things like coils and wattage, the simple ‘open-and-go’ design of disposables might give them an edge over other devices. Portability is another factor for many when choosing a device. Disposable vapes tend to be smaller than other devices, and there is definitely some appeal to having a device that you can just grab and go without having to think about extra accessories like a charging cable or a spare bottle of juice. disposable e-cigarettes are relatively low commitment devices. Because disposable vapes have an average retail price ranging from 10 to 18 dollars, for many people, they provide a financially accessible introduction to vaping. Long term cigarette smokers who are interested in making the switch to vaping, but aren’t sure if it will work for them, may opt for a disposable device before making a commitment to something more sustainable.
What are the Disadvantages of purchasing a Disposable E-Cig?
As convenient as disposable vapes are, they also have their drawbacks. Battery life may be a concern if you’re considering a disposable device. Due to their limited life expectancy, what starts as a financially accessible intro to vaping can quickly turn into frequent and expensive trips to your local disposable retailer. For example, let’s say you’re trying to quit smoking and decide to try a disposable device. If the device you purchase works for you and is average in price and longevity, you’ll be spending around 12 dollars every three days. If your intention was a three day trial period, then a disposable is a great option. On the other hand, however, if you were hoping for a trial period of a week or so, then the three disposables you would need to purchase throughout the week are already more expensive than something like STLTH starter kit, which has the added benefit of saving you those extra two trips to the vape store. That leads us into the second drawback of disposables; their consistency.
You may think it would be a good idea to purchase all three of the disposables you’ll need for the week in one trip, however, due to the inconsistency that disposable e-cigarettes are prone to even between devices of the same brand and size, it’s unlikely that buying them in bulk will meet your timeline expectations. In my own experience, I’ve had disposable vapes that lasted for nearly 7 days, but I’ve also had disposables that die in as little as 10 hours, even though there was no difference in brand, size, flavour, or usage. Rechargeable devices such as STLTH or NFIX are much more reliable when it comes to things like battery and juice life, so it’s far more convenient to plan for the number of pods you may need during a given time frame.
Due to the range of inconsistency in disposable e-cigarettes, you may find yourself throwing them out much more frequently than you originally anticipated. As a result, the environmental impact of disposables is also something to be aware of. Lithium batteries like the ones in disposable vapes have a very specific recycling protocol. Sims lifecycle services provide this list of steps to safely dispose of lithium batteries;
- Ensure batteries are removed from devices, and kept segregated, before further material recovery
- Approach a specialist to remove batteries if they cannot easily be separated and make sure the specialist processing facility has appropriate permits
- Insulate the battery terminals or wires to prevent short circuit
- Package batteries in UN-approved barrels or boxes (depending on the type), separating layers with dry sand (for li-ion) or vermiculite (for other battery types)
- Follow the aforementioned UN-approved barrel process for damaged packages, and additionally package leaking or swollen batteries in plastic
Disposable e-cigarettes may seem like a quick and easy solution when compared to other devices, however that convenience only lasts as long as the vape’s battery. The complicated and time consuming disposal procedure means many people dispose of dead devices incorrectly, letting them end up in landfills where the corrosion of their batteries leak toxic chemicals into the ground and water. Pod style devices don’t require the user to dispose of a battery every time the juice runs out, making them a far more sustainable and environmentally friendly option.
One more thing that may be important to note is that there is virtually no way to customize your vaping experience while using disposable. Vapour production, air flow, and even simple things like flavour can be altered in many refillable devices. There are some good flavour options across all disposable brands, but it just doesn’t compare to the flavour options available across all e-juice brands.
To recap here's a quick list of pros and cons:
| PRO | CON |
| Portable | Unpredictable |
| Easy to use | Environmentally harmful |
| Expensive | |
| No customizability |
Does NYX ECIGS carry Disposable Ecigs?
NYX does carry disposable e-cigarettes in two brands. The first is Dose which is available in two nicotine levels; 20mg and 50mg, and eight flavour options; apple, banana ice, grape, mango ice, mint, orange ice, strawberry, and watermelon. Dose is available for $9.99.
The second brand of disposable e-cigarette available at NYX is Ghost. Ghost disposables come in three nicotine strengths; 20mg, 35mg, and 50mg. They are available in two sizes, regular and XL, which retail for $9.99 and $13.99 respectively. The flavours include blizzard, blue lemon, blue raspberry, green apple ice, hyper, peach ice, pineapple coconut, pink lemon, strawberry kiwi ice, watermelon ice, mixed berry, strawberry banana, and banana ice.
Should you purchase a disposable Ecig and are they worth it?
So, are disposable e-cigarettes worth it? The honest answer is they can be, but not always. They're great for people who just want to try vaping for a short time, or for people who go long periods of time in between vape sessions and only need a day or two of use from their device. However, if you’re planning to use a vape for more than a week at a time, it would be worth it to invest in a more sustainable option like a pod device. Open pod systems like the Caliburn KOKO, (pictured below), feature all the advantages of disposable devices such as portability and simplicity, while maintaining consistent quality that far surpasses that of disposables. Pod systems are also more financially friendly in the long run because you won’t have to buy a whole new device every time you run out of juice. You simply replace the pod and it’s good as new. Not throwing out a whole device also means less batteries in our landfills. While no device is 100% waste free, for the environmentally conscious smoker, switching to a pod or tank device is the best way to mitigate the long term environmental harm of disposable devices. All things considered, I’d say disposable vapes are the fast food of the vape world. They’re a quick and convenient option sometimes, and they do make a nice treat every once in a while, but for most people, relying on disposable e-cigarettes as a daily device just isn’t realistic financially or environmentally. As someone who entered the vape world through disposables, and who used them to quit smoking nearly six years ago, disposables will always have a special place in my heart, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t go back to them nor recommend you do when there are so many superior options out there.
