Vape Pen Basics: What Is A Vaporizer Pen and How Does It Work?

More and more people are becoming a part of the vaping community; quitting cigarettes and joints, and using a vaporizer pen instead to inhale nicotine or legal marijuana. You’ve likely heard the term vape pen before, but if you’re like most people who are brand new to the vaping lifestyle, you might not be exactly sure what one is and how it works. Not to worry, this guide will give you all the basics about vaporizer pens.

The Vape Pen Defined

A vape pen or vaporizer pen is a compact, slender rod-shaped device with a mouthpiece on one end. The gadget gets its name from the fact that it is similar in proportions to a writing pen; however, many vape pens today are shorter than an average ink pen. Most vaporizer pens have a metal exterior, and they come in a wide variety of colors. A vape pen is used to inhale the active compounds from various types of substances.

Varieties of Vaporizer Pens

There are four main varieties of vape pens:

• An herbal vaporizer pen is used to inhale the active compounds in ground dried herbs like medical marijuana, tobacco, or botanical herbs.
• A wax vaporizer pen is used to inhale the active compounds in waxy concentrates.
• An oil vaporizer pen is used to inhale the active compounds in essential oils, nicotine, and flavored e-juice and e-liquid.
• A multifunction vaporizer pen is used to inhale the active compounds in different types of materials. These vape pens may be herbal, wax and oil pens, or a combination of any two types.

How a Vaporizer Pen Works

Regardless of what type of materials they work with, vape pens all work basically the same way:

1. Material is loaded into a heating chamber, usually located near the top of the pen.

2. A button is pushed to turn on the vape pen battery, which is usually at the bottom of the pen.

3. The battery supplies power to a heating element in the vaporizer pen, allowing it to get hot.

4. The heating element increases the temperature of the material until it reaches its point of vaporization.

5. The heated material releases vapor.

6. The vapor is inhaled through a mouthpiece at the very top of the vape pen.

Vape Pens versus Electronic Cigarettes

A lot of people use the words e-cig and vape pen interchangeably. In some cases, you can call a vape pen an electronic cigarette, but not always. As already explained, a vape pen can be an herbal vape pen, a wax vape pen, an oil vape pen, or a multifunction pen that allows you to vaporize more than one type of material.

An electronic cigarette only vaporizes e-juice or e-liquid. This makes it a type of oil pen, so you’re correct to refer to it as a vaporizer pen; however, a dry herb vape pen or a wax pen wouldn’t be considered an electronic cigarette. To read more about the history of a vaporizer, click here.