There’s a lot of lingo attached to smoking E-Cigarettes which can be daunting for the beginner. If you’re wondering what an earth cartomisers, mod kits and tanks even mean this is the blog post for you. Below is a guide to vaping covering all the basic lingo you need to know for your first visit to the vape shop.


  • APV (Advanced Personal Vaporiser): APVs usually have a larger battery, often with features such as variable voltage and wattage. An APV is more commonly called a MOD (modified e-cig).
  • Amps: Short for ampere, a measure of electrical current. E-cig batteries are measured in milli amh hours (1/1000 of an ampere).
  • Atomiser: Electronic component that turns the nicotine solution contained within the e-cigarette into vapour.
  • Box Mod – A box mod is any PV or APV (see above!) that comes in a box shape, and comes in several different wattage selections. Vapers who prefer box mods are sometimes called ‘boxies’.

  • Cartomiser: This is a combination of disposable cartridges and atomisers. They hold more e-liquid than a regular cartridge/atomiser combination.
  • Clearomiser: A combined cartridge and atomiser with clear walls, which allow the user to see how much e-liquid remains in the cartridge.
  • Cigalike: An electronic cigarette that closely resembles a tobacco cigarette.
  • Coil: The wire that heats e-liquid and turns it into vapour.
  • Cloud Chasing: The pursuit of blowing massive clouds of vapour.

  • Dripping: Method of vaping where e-liquid is dripped directly onto the coil.
  • E-liquid: The solution that is vaporised within the atomiser tank. Usually contains nicotine, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine.
  • Flooding: Occurs when too much e-liquid is put into the atomiser.
  • Genesis Atomiser – A style of RBA (see below) that consists of a tank below the coil deck. A wick (often stainless steel mesh) is fed though a hole into the tank and through the coil on the deck.
  • Hot Spot – Areas of excess heat on the atomiser coil which can cause burning or bad taste.
  • Mod – Short for modification. This originally referred to modifying an e-cigarette into a unique design, but is now commonly used to refer to any vaping device that is not a cigalike.

  • Ohm (Ω) – The standard unit of electrical resistance. Used to measure the resistance of heating coils in atomisers. A lower number indicates lower resistance and therefore faster heating.
  • Pen Style – A particular style of electronic cigarette which resembles a ball point pen.
  • Propylene Glycol: A colourless liquid that forms the majority of the solution in e-cigarette iquids.
  • Personal Vaporiser (or PV): An alternative name for the electronic cigarette.
  • RBA – Rebuildable Atomiser
  • RDA – Rebuildable Dripping Atomiser

  • Sub Ohming: Vaping with a coil with a resistance set below one ohm. Read our article on Sub-Ohm vaping here.
  • Tank – A special type of cartridge that holds considerably more liquid than cartridges with filler. Usually used with a cartomiser and sometimes an atomiser.
  • Vaping (vape) – The use of an electronic cigarette.
  • Watt (wattage) – The amount of raw heat that the atomiser coil uses to vaporise your e-liquid.
  • Wick: Used to deliver e-liquid to the coil in electronic cigarettes. The wick absorbs the e-liquid and holds it until is vaped.

We hope you found this list useful. It will serve you well for your first few weeks exploration into the world of vaping. If you get seriously into the techy side of vaping or hang around with seasoned vapers your e-cigarette vocab will expand until you’re practically speaking another language, such is the popularity of the almost cult like nature of vaping!