The history of vaping technology is quite extensive. Although the technology has only been around for a couple of decades, it’s quite surprising to see how quickly it has grown. In this article, we’ll be looking at the history of vaping technology and how it has become what it is today.
The birth of vaping technology
Vaping is said to have started in 1927 with a man named Joseph Robinson who filed a patent for his idea, describing it as ‘…an Improvement In Vaporizers.’ Back then electronic cigarettes were not e-cigarettes – they didn’t even look like them – but were patented as inhalers that vaporized liquid nicotine. This was invented to help people quit smoking and you could say it’s technically where vaping began. The first modern e-cigarette would appear in 1963. Herbert Gilbert created a ‘smokeless non-tobacco cigarette’ that involved nicotine being heated to produce steam instead of smoke. This device is still used today, although it’s more commonly known as e-cigarettes.
The first electronic cigarette was invented by Hon Lik in 2003 and looked nothing like the cigalikes you see on the market today. Instead of using an atomizer like modern-day devices, his idea involved an ultrasonic atomizing system that had water at the base of the device. It also did not provide any flavor or vapor; it was strictly for inhalation purposes. The idea came about after his father passed away due to smoking-related illnesses. At this point, there was a growing market for cigalikes that did not contain any nicotine.
The beginning – early ecigs and cigalikes (2003-2007)
The idea behind electronic cigarettes was simple: offer smokers an alternative way to get their nicotine fix through vaporization instead of combustion and smoke inhalation. At the time, it was thought that electronic cigarettes could be the answer to ending smoking because the fact that they did not contain combustion meant that there were no harmful carcinogens or tar in the vapor. This is one of the reasons why early ecigs were popular with smokers who wanted to switch while also maintaining their nicotine intake.
Early ecigs weren’t perfect, though. They were not as efficient as modern-day devices and relied on ‘dripping’ liquid directly onto the atomizer to produce vapor. This meant that the nicotine was not always consistent because it depended on how much liquid you had dripped onto your atomizer. At this point, early vaping technology was still mainly geared towards smokers trying out for the first time or those who wanted to switch completely away from smoking. There wasn’t really anything available for vapers who are looking to customize their vaping experience by experimenting with different flavors or using more advanced gear.
From cigalikes to eGos (2007-2008)
The first generation of electronic cigarettes consisted of devices like the original 510e-cigarette and those that looked like tobacco cigarettes. At this point, it was becoming obvious that the entry-level devices were not as efficient as they could be and didn’t do a great job of replicating smoking behavior either. E-cigarettes were also still pretty new to a lot of people at this point, so many didn’t know how to use these early ecigs or where to buy them from.
Around the mid-2000s, a company called Ruyan began to sell their version of electronic cigarettes, which were similar versions of the ones already out on the market. But instead of selling them in tobacco stores as other vaping companies did, they started selling through kiosks in malls and vape shops. This move would help tremendously to popularize electronic cigarettes because it allowed people to see how electronic cigarettes worked in real life before purchasing them. It was also during this time when cartridge-based systems (a system that uses prefilled cartridges) became available, find out more
Innovation continued – Mods (2008+)
In 2008, two important things happened in the electronic cigarette world: 1) electronic cigarettes featured within mainstream media 2) The first custom built-in battery mod or ‘mod’ was created.
The first report of electronic cigarettes being used in the media came from an article published in New Scientist, which described how an 18-year old student had created his e-cigarette after seeing it online. This story caught worldwide attention and gave ecigs a lot more credibility because it showed that they weren’t just some scam being marketed by fly-by-night companies who wanted to make money selling these devices. It also introduced mainstream media to vaping for the first time, which meant that there were now stories about electronic cigarettes moving further into television shows, movies, books, etc.
Current time: Vaping has become more popular than ever!
The last decade of vaping history has been incredibly exciting because the technology and possibilities have expanded so much. The way ecigs are used, their appearance, flavors – everything is different now from how it was back in 2003 when electronic cigarettes were first introduced. There’s no denying that things look very different now than they did 10 years ago! It just goes to show that innovation never stops with vaping, which means there will be even more changes ahead as vaping continues to advance into the future… stay tuned!
