How to Inhale a Vape (Without Coughing!)
People who haven’t vaped before often assume that inhaling from a vape is the same as inhaling on a cigarette.
In fact, the inhale is quite different, and inhaling wrongly when you vape is one reason some people fail to switch successfully to vaping.
So in this post, you’ll learn about how to inhale properly when you vape. This will reduce the chances of you coughing and increase the amount of nicotine you get, helping to eliminate nicotine cravings.
If you’re interested in knowing more, you can also learn about the two main inhale styles, as well as advanced inhaling tricks and techniques.
Contents
- What’s the difference between inhaling on a cigarette and a vape?
- How do you inhale when you vape?
- Different inhaling styles for different devices
- How long do you hold vapour in for?
- Inhaling and coughing
- The cigar inhale
- Inhaling and flavour
- Vaping inhale tricks
- Finding your inhale style
- Related posts
What’s the difference between inhaling on a cigarette and a vape?
With a cigarette, you typically take short, sharp puffs. However, when you inhale from a vape, you take longer, slower puffs.
If you puff harder on a cigarette, it burns down more quickly and you get more smoke. With a vape kit, puffing harder accomplishes very little. The only way to get more vapour is to hold the button down for longer and/or inhale for longer.
This takes some getting used to when you start. Research has shown that experienced vapers puff for longer than smokers new to using e-cigarettes, and they end up getting nicotine more efficiently as a result.
How do you inhale when you vape?
Most vapers nowadays use a Mouth-to-Lung (MTL) inhale. This is ideal for the low-powered vape devices used by most vapers. It’s also more similar to smoking than other vape styles.
How to Mouth-to-Lung vape:
- Close your mouth tightly around the mouthpiece and take a long, slow, steady drag, inhaling the vapour into your mouth.
2. Hold the vapour in your mouth for as long as it feels comfortable.
3. Inhale the vapour into your lungs.
4. Exhale. Most people exhale through their mouth, but you can also choose to exhale through your nose.
Direct-Lung vaping is suitable for more powerful devices with plenty of airflow, and e-liquids with a higher VG ratio.
How to Direct-Lung (DL) vape:
- Take a long slow drag straight into your lungs.
2. Hold the vapour in for as long as you want.
3. Exhale.
The diagram below shows the difference between the two techniques:
You’ll find more in-depth information in our guide to MTL v. DL vaping.
Different inhaling styles for different devices
The device you are using can also impact inhale style.
Low powered devices with restricted airflow, such as the Vaporesso Xros 5 Mini, work best with a MTL inhale.
For higher powered devices with more open or adjustable airflow, vapers typically use a Direct-Lung inhale. However, this technique is best used when you have already vaped for some time.
You might also see the term RDL used with tanks or pods. This means Restricted Direct-Lung, and refers to a device that is half way between a restricted and very open airflow.
How long do you hold vapour in for?
After the inhale, there isn’t much difference in how long vapers and smokers hold the vapour or smoke in before exhaling.
The longer inhale time from vapers means that they’ll probably hold some vapour in their mouths for longer than smokers do. Overall, this isn’t a crucial factor and you’re unlikely to have to think about it when you switch to vaping.
Inhaling and coughing
If you inhale in the wrong way for your device setup, it can make you cough.
For example, trying to DL inhale from a device with restricted airflow will likely irritate your throat and cause coughing.
Inhaling MTL with a big device that produces billowing clouds can make you cough because of the sheer volume of vapour.
From experience, it seems to be the airy nature of the draw that makes me cough when I try to MTL vape on a DL device, and usually on the exhale.
Another factor that causes coughing is inhaling air when you vape. This is often done by new vapers who may be nervous, and could explain why experienced vapers cough less.
To avoid this, ensure your lips make a seal around your vape, and inhale with confidence.
Learn more: How to Stop Coughing When You Vape
The cigar inhale
There is a whole different approach to inhaling that’s worth considering. We’ll call this the "cigar inhale," because, as with a cigar, you can inhale the vapour into your mouth without pulling it into your lungs.
This isn’t done by many vapers. Still, some early research suggested that most of the nicotine from vapour is absorbed in the upper throat (Farsalinos, 2014), although this is not likely to be the case with nicotine salts (O’Connell et al, 2019).
When I tested this myself (with freebase e-liquid) it seemed to work, although if you’re interested I would recommend moving up a nicotine level. With 12mg/ml and regular vaping, I did feel satisfied. However, I’m only one person and I have been vaping for a while, so I’m probably not as dependent on nicotine as a smoker.
Inhaling and flavour
Some vapers think MTL inhales lead to "improved flavour." This might seem a little strange (why should the flavour of your vape juice be influenced by how you inhale it?) but there is an indirect link.
When you MTL vape, you generally have less airflow than in DL vaping. With less air mixed with your vapour, the flavour from the juice isn’t "diluted" by the air. This is why vapour production is generally less with MTL vaping (because the air helps the cloud billow out).
That’s the theory anyway. However, when you Direct-Lung inhale, you typically use a device and e-liquid that produces a lot more vapour - which helps concentrate the flavour.
Also see: 11 Tips for Flavour Chasing Vapers
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Vaping inhale tricks
Inhaling is a big factor in the bizarrely entertaining world of vape tricks. For most vape tricks, the volume of vapour is key, because you need thick clouds to do cool stuff with your vapour. (OK, maybe "cool" is a bit of a stretch but you know what I mean). Most trick vapers tend to DL inhale on low-resistance, high-power setups for this reason.
Some tricks specifically revolve around your inhale style, though, particularly the French inhale and the ghost inhale. These are really both fancier ways to MTL inhale, so you can perform these tricks even with more basic hardware.
The French inhale
The French inhale is when you take a draw on your device, open your mouth and suck the vapour from it up into your nose. The effect looks like a waterfall in reverse, as the vapour is pulled from your mouth up into your nostrils. This is quite an easy one to perform, too: keep the vapour in your mouth when you inhale, and then open your lips and inhale slowly through your nose.
It might take a bit of practice, but it looks pretty awesome when you get it right. You can make it even better by widening your lips when you release the vapour and pushing your lower jaw out. This video from VapeChilla goes into more detail…
The ghost inhale
The ghost inhale is a little harder to perform, but basically, it involves pushing out a "ball" of vapour and then quickly sucking it back into your mouth.
To do this, take some vapour into your mouth (not your lungs), form your lips into an "O" shape like you’re about to blow a ring, and then push (not blow) some vapour out of your mouth while relaxing your lip shape.
The best advice is to push it out with your tongue as you release your mouth position from the "O." The aim is to get a thick ball of vapour to just come out of your mouth. When you’ve got this down, you inhale the ball of vapour again to complete the trick. This is explained in more detail in this YouTube video from vAustinL.
Finding your inhale style
Finally, remember that there is no "right" way to inhale.
If MTL is what you enjoy, then that’s what you should do, and the same goes for DL or cigar-style inhales. The best thing about vaping is that you can make it work for you. Vape your way and forget about the trends.