subject: Should You Mod Your Electric Cigarettes? [print this page] Modding is almost its own trend these days, with people finding creative uses for existing products or creating their own versions of certain items out of unusual materials. Electric cigarettes are not immune to this trend, and vapers have created some pretty interesting methods for building their own devices.
Unfortunately, carried away by the fun and creativity of modding, some aficionados fail to recognize the dangers.
Modding Skips the Electric Cigarette Testing Process
If you thought there was no incentive for the makers of electric cigarettes to test their products for safety, think again. The last thing digital cigarette makers want is to give opponents of this new technology more reasons to criticize. Electric cigarettes go through a rigorous testing process before they make their way to consumers, and their design is based on significant research over the years regarding the safest way to deploy liquid nicotine vapor.
If Something Goes Wrong, Modders Have No Recourse
If an accident were to occur with an electric cigarette, consumer protection laws would guarantee the right of the victim to pursue restitution in court. Modded digital cigarettes, though, are usually assembled from parts purchased overseas, and the very act of modding and building items from scratch negates the consumer protections vapers are afforded.
In short, if you build something yourself and get injured by it, you are the only person who can be blamed.
Modded Digital Cigarettes Might Be Cheaper, But at What Cost?
Proponents of building your own electric cigarettes will point to the money that can be saved, but the money saved is minimal. There are plenty of digital cigarette starter kits out there in a range of prices. Some of the most inexpensive kits actually cost less that the parts needed to create a modded device, especially when you account for the price of international shipping.
Even if you manage to find parts and have them shipped to the U.S. for less than the cost of an electric cigarette starter kit, you also have to factor in the time it takes to build a digital cigarette. You have to assemble modded e-cigs yourself, and since they are not in line with the normal design specs, you may need to come up with your own methods for cleaning, filling and charging them.
Time is money, and modding a digital cigarette is time wasted when you could simply purchase a safety-tested product with established methods for cleaning cartomizers and charging batteries. This is all in addition to the fact that some modified versions of electric cigarettes just do not work at all.
The modding community is a creative group, and some are even visionaries, but the plan you use to build your electric cigarette could just as easily come from someone with no clue what they are doing, or someone who knows how to build a device themselves but is not very good at explaining the process to others.
If you buy a digital cigarette from a reputable dealer and it does not work, you can return it for a replacement or a refund. If you build one that does not work, you are out the money for parts with no recourse.
Modding is a hobby for some, and can certainly be a fun way to both spend time and save money in some cases, but turning an old television into an aquarium is hardly the same thing as building something you will be inhaling from.
With the large number of available electric cigarettes out there, there really is no reason to take the risk of trying to make one yourself.
