Vaping on a Budget – A Guide

A Good Vape Kit Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank

Start vaping they said it’ll save you money they said.

That’s the line from a well-known meme that shows a pile of mods – e-liquids and all the rest of the paraphernalia associated with vaping – and in truth it is quite accurate as well as funny!

Personally, I only have to look at what’s in a tobacco cigarette and compare that with the ingredients in my e-juice to know I’ve made a sound decision.

Surely that is far more important than spending a few quid per month on vaping.

If you’re a new vaper or considering vaping as an alternative smoking then maybe when you hit your local vape shop or surf the plethora of online vape shops your wallet might be reluctant to leave your pocket.

Let’s face it some of those vape mods – tanks and even e-liquids are pricey – but honestly?

You don’t need to be shelling out a ton of cash to take the first step on the road to vaping.

And as your vaping styles and taste progresses sure you might find yourself yearning for that new shiny mod or tank but box clever – quit the cigs – take up e-cigs and take it from there.

In the long term you WILL save money but most importantly get rid of tobacco for good.

So let’s look at ‘Vaping on a Budget’ for both beginners and more advanced vapers – first up how I began vaping and the pricey pitfalls to avoid.

Caveat Emptor – ‘Buyer Beware’

This is true in pretty much everything you purchase more so it seems these days where fake and shoddy goods seem to be around far more than they used to be [ah the good old days lol].

When it comes to vaping it is extremely important not only for your wallet but for your personal safety that you buy from a reputable company.

Buy a cheap and nasty vaping kit and chances are the leaking – the awful e-liquid taste and the total lack of safety features will have you reaching for the fags and chucking the kit into the bin.

It’s money wasted and will probably put you off vaping for life.

Most companies include a ‘scratch card’ in the box – I suggest you reveal the code and go to the website and check yours is indeed authentic.

OK – I had smoked for 40 odd years and by the end I was on 40 hand rolled cigarettes per day spending at the very least £150+ per month.

I’d once quit for 3months whilst saving for a posh bicycle for my son’s Christmas present [he’s now 30 lol] but slipped back into the filthy habit.

I was in Hay-On-Wye for the literary festival [ooo get me lol] and smoking a cig outside a pub when I saw this guy [he turned out to be Dutch] puffing on a plastic ‘thing’.

Thinking it might be some kind of new cool tobacco device I struck up conversation. Believe it or not he let me have a few puffs and I was amazed at how like smoking it was.

On my return home I hit the internet and like a dickhead I bought the cheapest and pretty much the first pen-style vaping kit I spotted.

For the life of me I can’t remember the brand but it was an ego style that was temperamental to say the least.

The e-liquid tasted of paint stripper – the throat hit was more of a tickle with a feather and battery life was 30 minutes on a good day with the wind behind.

And yes after a month of e-liquid stains on my shirt I binned it and for the next 12 months or so I persevered with a whole host of kits – including those bloody E-Lites which were expensive – tasted bad and for me absolutely sucked lol. No idea if they are any better today.

Thankfully the industry was beginning to bloom and eventually around 4-years ago I found the kit that stopped me smoking for good – more on that later.

No matter if you’re a newcomer to vaping or an established coil building cloud chucking God – it pays to read and watch reviews and to shop around.

Nowadays of course the phrase ‘Caveat Emptor’ is a little easier to follow – certainly for vapers – with many of the well-known vaping companies adding the all-important ‘scratch n check’ for authenticity cards.

What I’m trying to say here is it might seem the initial outlay for newbies to vaping seems a lot – but by buying sensibly and doing your research will indeed save you money and science tends to agree – you will improve your health.

Buying Your First Value for Money Vaping Kit

I should add to that a value vaping kit that actual does what it’s supposed to!

After 12months of getting numerous shoddily built cheap and nasty e-cig kits I finally stumbled across JacVapour – I think I’d typed into Google ‘best e-cig kit’ or something.

Compared to the plasticcy kits I’d been buying – including a ‘deluxe’ set bought from the car boot of a family car at a dog show [they had just started importing the kits] lol – the JacVapour UK designed kits looked amazing.

I took a chance and bought a Jacvapour Series E, Version 2, Aero Tank Starter Kit.

Bad news is the Series E Starter kit is no longer available. The good news is they have updated and improved it!

A quick calculation after using it for a year shows that I was buying a cheaply made e-cig kit every six weeks or so therefore shelling out what seemed at the time a lot of cash for the early E Series was in actual fact quite a canny saving 😉

Since then of course JacVapour has continued to grow and is one of the most reputable e-cigarette companies out there. I recently reviewed the Series S vape pen, the Series E replacement that still combines quality, price and performance.

But today there are many other vaping companies supplying excellent vaping starter kits that won’t hurt your pocket.

You can check out our detailed and impartial reviews and also take a look at what we feel are the best starter and pen style kits.

Best Vape Pens for 2019

E Cig Buying Guide

So here’s four e-cig starter kits that won’t break the bank:

The K2 from Aspire

I recently reviewed the K2 from Aspire and was mightily impressed – so much so I gave one to my partner for Christmas – anything to get her off the fags lol.

Beautifully designed – great throat hit and under twenty quid – what’s not to like!

Read more with our hands on Aspire K2 Review here

Jacvapour Series S

This is the series that I completely stopped smoking with and as I’ve already mentioned the price has tumbled!

The new version is even more sleek and stylish and with the option of using DTL [direct to lung] and MTL [mouth to lung] coils it’s a starter kit that will grow with your vaping style.

What I mean is the vast majority of us who start vaping begin with the MTL – the same as smoking. Then many of us progress to DTL – sub ohm vaping – and this little beauty switches between styles easily and extremely well.

Read our full, hands on Jacvapour Series S review here.

Innokin Endura T18ii Starter Kit

A little pricier than some maybe but for quality and all round performance this is one of the best out there.

This is Jonny’s favourite MTL device and if anyone knows a good one he should 😉

Apart from a very good battery it features the Prism tank which gives a superb flavour profile and for a MTL device also gives good clouds.

Our reviewer, Michelle, also rated this very highly.

Check out the full Innokin Endura T18ii review here.

Now is the Best Time to Take Up Vaping

When I began vaping as you can imagine the choices were limited to say the least.

Thankfully the industry has blossomed and with innovation has come lower prices – certainly for the e-cigarette starter kits out there.

Once you’ve made your initial outlay on your chosen MTL it’s the replacement coils and buying e-liquids that will cost you money.

Sure the price of some coils are ridiculous if you ask me – but later on we’ll look at coils and how we can save money.

We’ll also take a look at e-liquids on a budget – including options to make your own.

The whole area around e-liquids is an extremely topical subject at the moment given the shake-up the shadow of the TPD has thrown over the industry in Europe and the FDA in the US.

But that’s for another part – for now we’ll look at sub ohm vaping and how not to break the bank buying a mod a tank or kit that looks ‘shiny shiny’ but might not be the right one for you.

Part Two: Sub Ohm Vaping on a Budget

I became intrigued by sub ohm vaping after about a year into my vape journey.

I dunno why I guess the clouds I saw some folks blowing appealed to my inner youth haha.

Anyway I had little – read if any – knowledge of what it was all about and to be honest there wasn’t much info – that I could understand anyway – out there and certainly no high street shops!

Anyway I ended buying a huge tank off ebay I think called a Sniper from a company called HeatVape – and duly tried to screw it onto my JacVapour Series E!!!

I know I know some things never change – once a newb always a newb haha.

For new vapers wondering why I laugh at myself here, it’s important to match a sub ohm tank with an e cig battery that actually works with these type of tanks. If you don’t know any different it’s an easy mistake to make 🙂

So – lesson one in sub ohm vaping on a budget is the same as it was with starter kits – Caveat Emptor – ‘Buyer Beware’.

Obviously there’s a whole lot more info out there these days from bricks and mortar vape shops who on the whole have knowledgeable and helpful staff – to sites like EcigClick and of course the seemingly never ending vape reviewers on YouTube.

As for YouTube channels some are obviously better than others and it can come down to personal taste – personally I could watch Zophie Vapes all day lol – anyway EcigClick has two excellent and impartial YouTube reviewers who know their stuff – particularly around sub ohm vaping:

• Worthing Vaper
• TheDevilVaper

I was recently asked if opening up a channel was something I fancied doing lol – sadly not – for the record I break cameras with my ugly mug 😉

OK let’s take a look at sub ohm vaping on a budget – if you want to know more about what it is then do check out our superb complete beginners guide to sub ohm vaping.

I’ll look at mods first and then the tanks – and for this ‘budget guide’ I won’t touch on RDAs and RTA’s though they will feature more prominently in the ‘coils on a budget’ section for obvious reasons;)

Vaping Clones – Good or Bad?

I had considered mentioning ‘clones’ – it’s a subject that can and does get vapers and vape manufacturers all fired up.

Clones are basically 3rd party ‘takes’ [some might say literally as in taking] on popular mods and tanks.

Personally I think it demands a much larger piece – so for this article I shall refrain from including them.

However do add comments giving your take on the subject of ‘clones’ and we can take it from there.

OK first up let’s look at sub ohm kits on a budget.

5 Budget Sub Ohm Kits that Won’t Break the Bank

Once you’ve done your research – read and watched reviews – checked other customer’s comments and checked your bank balance – you’re ready to buy.

But here’s a tip – albeit an obvious one 😉

Do shop around and DO look at the sale or clearance sections of websites.

Given vaping – particularly sub ohm vaping – is a fast moving industry chances are you’ll find that kit everyone was raving about 6 months ago at a bargain price ;). Older kits can be just as good as the latest, shiny new devices.

For the record my first ‘proper’ box mod capable of sub ohm vaping was the Heatvape Defender bought a couple of years ago from my local vape shop.

I just took it out of my vape cupboard and it’s still going strong 🙂

OK enough reminiscing lol – here’s half a dozen vape kits with enough power to start you on the sub ohm vaping trail – and trust me you don’t need to take out a second mortgage to buy some of these.

As always you get what you pay for – but these vape kits are priced between £20 and around £40 respectively – and don’t forget to check out the exclusive EcigClick money saving codes and coupons and latest vape deals to save even more.

The Pockex Kit from Aspire

This is an ‘entry’ sub ohm vape pen that won’t break the bank but with its x2 0.6ohm coils will give you a decent sub ohm vape.

Chances are even as a beginner you’ve heard of Aspire – they are indeed one of the most popular and trusted vaping manufacturers out there.

If it’s a ‘gentle’ introduction to cloud and flavour chasing you’re looking for – then this little guy coming in at a little over £20 should be on your list.

In my review I gave this little pocket rocket and very respectable 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Read our full Aspire Pockex review here.

It’s a decent little pen kit and well worth a second look.

Coolfire Mini and Slipstream Tank Kit

Shop around and you’ll find this little beauty for under £40 and for that you are getting a little sub ohm gem.

It almost got full marks in my review – I use the bigger version – the Coolfire IV TC 100 and have since they came onto the market.

At 40watts and with a decent little sub ohm tank [the Slipstream] this little guy will give you a great sub ohm vape at a lower wattage.

Read the full Innokin Coolfire Mini Kit review here.

The Innokin Coolfire 4

At around £38 I think we can just about call this all in one device ‘budget’.

This is a mod that has been around for a while but don’t let that put you off. To this day continues to be a best seller. And for good reason.

It’s like the work horse of the vape mod world. It’s straight forward to use and looks great as well scoring full marks in our review.

It may only fire upto 40W, when I say only, this is still ample for new vapers. In fact it’s ample for most vapers that use 0.5ohm coils and above.

Read the full Innokin Cool Fire 4 review here.

SMOK Brit One Mini Kit

This is another ‘vape pen style’ sub ohm kit and a worthy addition. SMOK are one of the most innovative and trustworthy brands available with the majority of their gear hitting the spot.

At around £24.99 this is a great entry point into this category. Simple to use and supplies flavour by the bucket loads.

The Brit One Mini comes with 2 X 0.6ohm coils and also has ‘plus-ohm’ 1.2Ohm coils available t buy separately.

Jac Vapour Series S

I’ve already mentioned this vaping kit and yes it is capable of sub ohm vaping and yes it does it very well.

Again this is a vape kit that will grow with your vaping style.

Start of using it with the 1.0 ohm coil and then swap it for the 0.5ohm coil and see if sub ohm vaping is for you.

Beautiful design and construction – the ability to switch between vaping styles and available for under £25 makes this the obvious choice – for me anyway 😉

Checkout my Jacvapour Series S review here and grab your money saving coupon codes :

Innokin iTaste EZ.TC

I’ve added this Innokin kit into the budget/beginner sub ohm category for two reasons.

One it’s extremely simple to use and two it proves my point that a few months after release prices of vape kits do [on the whole] tend to drop.

On its arrival this was well over £40 – now you can get if for around £30 if you shop around.

Our expert reviewer Mike Murphy gave this a decent 4.6 out of 5 stars and that in its self should tell you it’s a decent sub ohm vape kit.

Check out the full Innokin iTaste EZ.TC review here.

Summing Up Sub Ohm Vaping on a Budget

Here in the UK an average packet of cigs or tobacco is around the £10 mark – heavy smokers are spending an absolute fortune on the life threatening habit.

For those using the argument that the initial cost of a vaping set-up is too expensive to try- need to realize that’s a myth – it really isn’t.

In fact as the industry grows far from being left behind beginners to vaping have never had it so good!

The prices as you can see from the handful of MTL and DTL kits I’ve picked out show that for the price of half a week’s tobacco you can and will be set up for months.

If you proceed from a beginner’s kit to the world of sub ohm vaping then yeah I guess things might start to get a little pricey – but again clever shopping will certainly help your wallet – and just think of the cash you’ve saved from packing up the fags!

OK I sounded like a bit of a preacher then lol.

In the next two sections we’ll take a look at coils and e-liquids on a budget.

Vape Coils on a Budget

One of the bugbears for vapers has to be the price of coils – there’s no getting away from it – coils cost and range from around £1 for a single to £15 for a pack of five depending on the model.

One of my coil bugbears is that many companies have stopped adding a spare coil in their complete kits or tank kits.

This I personally think is a bit cheap on their part – as I say in many reviews ‘add a spare coil or two!!!’

I recently wrote a piece on a beginner’s guide to vape tanks and within that are two sections concerning coils and coil management.

When I say coil management I mean eking out the length of time it takes between coil swaps – which obviously lessens the amount of packs you have to buy.

Check them out here:

• https://www.ecigclick.co.uk/e-cig-tanks-guide/#changecoil
• https://www.ecigclick.co.uk/e-cig-tanks-guide/#burnt

Another way to save cash on coils is to simply build your own.

Now as a beginner that might seem a daunting prospect – all that talk of resistance – wattage – kanthal – alien – Clapton – stainless steel etc might seem bewildering – well it did for me lol.

Anyone who’s read my reviews knows I am the least technical reviewer on EcigClick – certainly the one most prone to newbie mistakes lol – and so like you I too shied away from ‘building my own’.

However after 5 years of vaping I felt it was time I dived in and had a go.

So this is a lightning quick guide to saving cash on coils by 1) investing in a tank that allows you to build your own and 2) a quick look at pre-built coils.

I’m hoping to write an ‘over the shoulder’ look at building your own vape coils from scratch soon.

The main message is ‘safety first’. I spent an absolute age researching coil building via YouTube and written tutorials.

I started with buying a packet of ten pre-made basic coils for less than £2 – now that is a saving. Then I recently started to build my own with the use of the Coilmaster DIY V3 kit.

Check out my first coil build here!

However you will need a tank to build on – so let’s take a look at two tanks that are suitable for a first timer and won’t break the bank.

RDA – RBA – RTA on a Budget

First up those acronyms:

• RBA – re-buidable atomizer
• RDA – re-buildable dripping atomizer
• RTA – re-buildable tank atomizer

RBA is pretty much a cover-all meaning any tank that can be built on.

RDA is not strictly a tank as the juice is ‘dripped’ directly onto the cotton and coils.

RTA does have a tank making everything in my opinion a whole lot easier.

For a full lowdown check out our ‘RDA, RTA, RDTA, RBA Explained Guide’ here

So let’s look at a reasonably priced RDA and RTA that is suitable for a beginner.

Budget Priced RDA

For an absolute beginner I recommend the Wotofo Troll V2 RDA. You can get this little bad boy for around the £22 – again cheaper using our exclusive review code here: https://www.ecigclick.co.uk/wotofo-the-troll-rda-review

With three posts meaning you can build single or double coils – this won’t break the bank – gives superb flavour and clouds and is highly recommended by our reviewers.

As always make sure you know exactly what you’re doing! Research is the by word here guys and girls 😉 – Further reading – Rebuildables guide for beginners

Budget Priced RTA

I’m going to stick my neck out her and assume very many of you sub ohm vapers – myself included – have anAspire Cleito – either the original or the latest Cleito Pro.

I use mine every single day and love it – little wonder why it’s featured in the best sub ohm tanks list.

But did you know that for less than £13 you can buy an RTA kit?

This of course means you can turn your favourite sub ohm tank into an RTA quickly and simply.

You’ll find a number of manufacturers adding kits like this to their tanks – so do take a look around before splashing out on a complete new RTA – this is about saving cash after all 😉

Budget Pre-Built Coils

As I said earlier if you can’t be bothered to make your own from a roll of wire – usually priced around £3 plus – then the internet and maybe your local vape shop – should have plenty of pre-made coils available.

I bought a pack of 10 for £2 and they are working quite beautifully. My local bricks and mortar vape shop also stocks pre-made coils from Aspire – so you know you’re getting quality.

Social media is filled with folks selling basic to outrageously gorgeous coils so again shop around if you’re not ready to begin making them from scratch.

Make the step into RDA’s and RTA’s and the days of spending £15 on a pack of five coils will be a distant memory 😉

But as always make sure you know what you’re doing and if in doubt ASK!!!

Safety first people.

E-Liquids on a Budget

The cheapest way to keep yourself topped up with e-liquids is of course to make your own.

A couple of years ago this was a daunting prospect for most of us – however just like the mod and tank technology has moved on so has DIY e-liquids.

I’m planning to do an ‘over the shoulder’ piece in the near future looking and the various ways to brew your own e-juice.

This will include – Shots – Concentrates – VG and PG mixes and stand-alones as well as steeping and the bits and bobs you’ll need to become a home brewer.

Until then here’s a couple of budget range e-liquids that really should have the label ‘Premium’.

Halo UK Made E-Liquid

At just £3.99 for 10mls Halo Vapour Co e-liquids are UK made and loved around the world.

With nicotine strength between 0mg to 18mg there’s a flavour for all tastes.

And do pop Halo E-liquids into your bookmarks because over at ECigaretteDirect they do have regular offers on multiple orders which will save you £££’s.

Check out their full range here

Liquid – £1 E-Liquid

Well it don’t get cheaper than £1 for 10mls of e-liquid does it!

I have to say I’ve never tasted this stuff but a quick look at the customer reviews seems to suggest they ain’t a bad vape.

If money is tight I guess you could do far worse.

Be interesting to see comments from anyone who has tasted them 😉

Final Thoughts on Vaping on a Budget

If you’re still here then thank you for hanging in there 😉

As you can see vaping for beginners – intermediates and the more advanced enthusiasts does not have to break the bank.

If you can hang on a few months for that much raved about mod or tank you will not only save a few quid as the price tumbles but just as importantly see how the thing has stood up after a few months of use by reviewers and others.

An obvious device to mention here is the Smok Alien. Oh boy was this vape kit eagerly awaited with pre-orders busting all kinds of records.

It was pretty soon obvious to many the paint was, shall we say, prone to chipping leaving the (it has to be said) gorgeous looking mod looking a little tatty.

So shop around – be patient and do plenty of research and you will save money in the long run.

And here’s a couple of other pretty obvious tips but I felt they were worth mentioning.

Social media is filled with vape companies offering easy to enter competitions and draws – enter them you never know!

Sign up to on-line vape store newsletters – as a first time customer the majority of them will give you a few percent off your first order.

The regular newsletters will keep you abridged of any deals etc they may have.

Do check reviews on YouTube and do use the coupon code these guys and gals usually have in the descriptions.

Most of all sign up to the EcigClick notifications and NEVER miss a review or article as most of these have exclusive and generous money saving codes and coupons.

Hope this has helped – and Vape On!