How to Choose a Vape Tank

One of the most important parts of vaping is choosing the right tank. It’s critical because you’re not only searching for the best vape tech, but also something that’ll suit your own needs. Many new vapers overlook this vital step and end up wondering why it seems like something’s missing from their vape experience.

Since your setup can be altered in a bunch of ways, choosing the best starting point can get a bit overwhelming. Here’s a quick guide that’ll help you develop a better understanding of what tank is right for you.

If you’re new to vaping or are trying to quit smoking, your best best is to avoid a sub-ohm clearomizer, these tanks are usually found on eGo-style pens or other low-powered devices. Because there’s more resistance as you travel above 1.0 ohm, you’ll get a cloud that will feel and hit more like a cigarette. These usually aren’t as customizable, but are perfect for beginners. You can find these at your local convenience stores, or you can try out the Breazy Pen.

If you’re interested in thicker clouds and heavier hits, your best best is to purchase a sub-ohm tank. These are great for getting more flavor and vapor production, and they don’t require you to know how to build coils like rebuildable tanks or dripping atomizers. Here are our featured sub-ohm tanks, any of these favorites shout satisfy your flavor and cloud needs.

If you’ve experienced both positive-ohm and sub-ohm tanks and want to take a step up, want to try cloud chasing, or are just really interested in controlling everything about your vape, the next steps are RTAs (rebuildable tank atomizers), RDTAs (rebuildable dripping tank atomizers), as well as RDAs (rebuildable dripping atomizers). These all require more work, since you’ll have to build and wick the coils yourself. Building a coil is a a bit more labor-intensive and requires some basic electrical knowledge check our our tutorials elsewhere in this blog), but can also save you money and are fully customizable. Don’t feel like you have to delve into coil building to be a “true vaper,” though. Throwaway coil clearomizers have become quite serviceable in recent years and even experienced pros will agree they deliver a vaping experience that’s quite close to the nirvana of the hand-built coil.

If you want to build and prefer the simplest setup possible, your best bet is sticking with RTAs. These require you to build their coil, install them into the tank, fill them with juice, and vape away.

If you’re thinking about dripping, which is basically the process of dripping a few drops of liquid on your coil each time you vape, but don’t want to ditch the tank just yet, RDTAs are your way to go. They combine a dripper and a tank and can be used as either.

Finally, if you’d like to go all out and drip, RDAs are meant for you. There isn’t a tank to store any juice, so you’re pretty much required to keep your juice with you if you decide to go out. They’re fun, though, and make for a great social activity if you’re in the company of other vapers.

Whether you prefer an RTA, RDA, or RDTA, we carry a variety of rebuildables perfect for those of you who like to perfect the craft of building.

Another thing to consider when choosing a tank is whether you prefer plastic or glass.

Virtually all tanks and clearomizers on the market today utilize glass walls, while most RDAs are solid metal. Most vapers prefer variety in their e-juice collection, so tanks made with glass are usually recommended because glass can stand up to any flavor, while plastic or polycarbonate tanks are prone to cracking when used with certain flavors, particularly cinnamon's or citruses.

The only downside to a glass tank is that it easily breaks. While some companies make them more durable than others, dropping your device will usually lead to shattered glass. Luckily, though, replacement glass sleeves are often sold. I’ve found that the more popular the tank, the more likely you’ll find replacement glass. I use the Kanger Subox Mini C tank and have been able to find glass in every store I’ve been to.

Plastic tanks are a little different, as they are more durable than glass, and are a little less expensive. They’re usually found paired with older pen-style devices with eGo (larger, female) threading than the more common 510 (smaller, male threads). Plastic tanks, though, aren’t the most reliable when it comes to e-juice variety. There are liquids whose high acidity levels react with the polycarbonate plastic and weaken it, leading the tank to be more prone to cracking. Most people report flavors like cinnamon, passion fruit, and cola leading to this problem; some of these juices have a label on their containers which say that they may crack plastic tanks, which is a great help for those who do use them, but it’s never a bad idea to run a search for tank-cracker flavors before buying a liquid to fill a plastic tank with.

Whatever you end up choosing, make sure you do a little homework and ask questions. Your tank is something you want to live up to your preferences and vaping on the wrong one can be pretty discouraging.