So Many Choices: Why the Size of your Vape Does or Doesn’t Matter

Why do vapes come in so many different sizes?

An assortment of vapes, from bulky to tiny!

In vaping, you’ve probably noticed that devices come in huge variety of sizes. They run the gamut from small pod vapes all the way to massive four battery box mods with an attached 8 milliliter tank on top. If you’re relatively new to vaping you might why are so many different sizes of vapes. I know it can seem excessive, but I can assure you that there is a good reason for the overwhelming variety.

… in the simplest terms possible, more vapor requires a larger battery

To put it in the simplest terms possible, more vapor requires a larger battery, but while the goal of some vapes is to put out a huge amount of vapor, the goal of others is to be discrete, hence the variety of different sized vapes.

Two different small pod vapes, next to an 18650 battery, which is normally found in large mods.

On the smaller side of the spectrum are pod vapes. These vapes don’t need to push out huge amounts of vapor since that isn’t their goal. Instead, they utilize tiny coils and higher nicotine strengths to fully utilize their smaller batteries and prioritize their pursuit of discretion.

A typical box mod and tank setup.

Box mods reside on the larger end of the spectrum. These vapes utilize much larger batteries and coils that further their pursuit of vapor production and “flavor chasing” with the downside of typically being bulkier to carry around and much less discrete, as they put out considerably more vapor than pod vapes do.

But, why do you need a larger battery if you want more vapor production?

The reason that larger amounts of vapor requires larger batteries is that larger coils are required for more vapor production. In order to produce more vapor, your device needs to be able to vaporize more eliquid at once. In order to do that, one of two things needs to happen: your coil either needs to be at a lower resistance, which requires more battery power to fire, or the coil needs to cover more surface area of the wicking material, which, obviously, requires more wicking material. Either way, more juice is being vaporized at any given time and a lot more power needs to be used to vaporize all of that juice.

Tanks are much larger than pods are. The reason for this is that the coils (the thing that heats up and vaporizes the juice) inside of tanks are a lot larger than those in pods.

This becomes a slippery slope when it comes to matters of size. Since more power is being demanded by the coil, the device requires a larger battery. Essentially, the larger the coil, the more battery life you’ll need. With some tanks you’ll be able to make due with one battery and with others one battery would run out way too quickly too be practical, so a mod with two batteries is a must. And since a lot of juice is being vaporized at once by the coil, the tank needs to hold the right amount of juice: enough to keep the user from refilling constantly, but not so much that the tank is a behemoth. At this point you’re probably starting to understand what makes some vapes so much bulkier than others.

Even in pod vapes, you’ll see smaller coils and bigger coils. The large one on the right puts out more vapor, but eats through battery life more quickly.

That extra size does have benefits beyond the impressive vapor production, though, which is why so many vapers use big box mods. To start with, the flavor is usually much more pronounced with these bigger vapes than with pod vapes or smaller tanks. The bigger coil heads found in the tanks on big mods are typically crammed with more wicking material, have more advanced coils, and vaporize more juice at once, allowing even the most subtle notes in your juice to ‘pop’ more than they would in something smaller.

A pod vape next to two 18650 batteries. The batteries alone are larger than the pod vape is. You might be starting to see why mods are so large.

Bigger vapes will also give you much more battery life than you would get with a tiny vape. Currently, the pod vape with the largest battery is the Smok Nord, which has an 1100 mah battery. Compare that to your typical dual battery box mod with 6000 mah or a single battery box mod packing 3000 mah. You’ll be able to vape much longer off of a bigger device, especially if you pair it with a tank that doesn’t require a lot of power to run, like the Innokin iSub-B or the Aspire Nautilus 2S. Not only would a tank like one of those let you get as much battery life as possible out of your device, but it would also allow you to avoid the huge clouds associated with box mods if that’s not quite your thing.

It can be a good idea to have one of each, since each is ideally suited to different situations.

If it seems impractical to carry a large vape around with you at all times, you could always have two vapes: a small pod system for when you’re out and about somewhere and don’t feel like lugging your larger device around and a larger vape for at home or when you’re going to be gone all day and need the extra battery life. It’s always a good idea to have two vapes, regardless. If one dies on you or breaks you don’t want to be left without nicotine, so having a second will come in handy at some point. Not only that, but using two vapes for two different situations will keep you from putting too much wear and tear on any one vape, allowing them to potentially live longer lives.

Does size matter?

Even among box mods, you’ll find a lot of size variation. Above is a dual battery box mod next to a single battery box mod.

So, does size matter? The answer to that question is yes, but how much it matters depends on what you’re looking for in a vape and what situations you’re going to find yourself vaping in most. Tiny pod vapes are extremely handy for sneaking quick puffs in during a bathroom break at work, being discrete, and easy to use, but not ideal for all-day vaping scenarios due to their limited battery life. Bigger box mods are unwieldy to carry around and much harder to be discrete with, but allow for much more customization, give you better flavor, and have batteries that are capable of lasting you all day.

Thanks for reading our article and we hope we were able to help shed some light on the reason why there are so many different sized vapes. As always, if you have any more questions or just want to chat about vaping, feel free to shoot us an email at support@vaporleaf.com or message us on Facebook.

f you want to read more vaping articles, purchase a pod vape or box mod for yourself, or check out our selection of hand-crafted vape juice, click here to go to our website!

This article was originally posted on our blog.