There’s no denying that vapes are one of modernity’s most useful inventions. From smoking cessation aids to substitute fidget spinners, vapes are the top competitor for most-held devices, second perhaps only to our mobiles… even for those of you who vape in the bathroom (you know who you are!)
But have you ever wondered what is actually inside these things?
In this special edition post, we’re going to dismantle the most popular brands of disposable vapes to learn how they work, how they are made, and how they can be recycled in an environmentally friendly way.
And along the way, we’ll dive into the manufacturer specifics and see if the specs they claim really stand up to scrutiny!
Here’s the lineup:
Bloody Mary, Lost Mary, Fantasi Orange, Ringo Red Juice, GM600/Crystal bars, Aroma King 600,
Ziggiys slimline pink, and Gold Bar.
Note that the capacity for all of these is 2ml, in order to be TPD compliant, so we did not test
the actual quantity of juice.
First up: Lost Mary
As with most popular vapes, Lost Mary features a plastic cast outer shell with slightly rubberised
colour coating. After an initial cut, the colour gives way to a pseudo-aluminium layer underneath.
However, this is in fact still plastic, and is known to contribute to some of the heating problems associated with chain-vaping disposable vapes – the rumour mill has it that this might change with the upcoming v2.
The draw rate (i.e. how much air the vape can intake during inhalation) is dictated by the vents at the bottom. Each vape handles intake differently and for disposables, it’s ultimately down to the user to identify what they prefer… a tighter smokier vape or a looser puff with a bigger proportion of air to vape.
The chassis is clipped with plastic stoppers at both ends which have a smoother non-matte texture (unlike the chassis itself).
Taking these apart by scoring the edges and prying with a screwdriver, we finally get access to the internals.
Inside the vape we find the standard lithium-ion battery, a cotton wick that holds the juice and the internal draw-activated mechanism.
SIDE NOTE
At this point it’s worth taking the time to linger on the details of how each of these components work so you can grasp the basic concept; this applies across all the vapes we’ll explore today.
The battery, as mentioned previously, is a Li-ion battery. These batteries are typically categorised as high-drawn batteries, meaning that they can be charged slowly, but will accept being discharged quickly, with a high amperage relative to their voltage – and they will tolerate the associated heat of that discharge without exploding!
In this case, 13300 is an international standard built to certain specifications and ordered in bulk as part of the production of various electrical devices; vapes in this case.
The next mark, 3.7v, relates to the voltage of the battery (one of the two elements used to measure battery power, the other being amperage/amps). Next, we can see 360mAh: this tells us the charge capacity of the battery. Of note is that, curiously, this battery capacity is 40mAh lower than the industry standard of 400mAh for a 13300 battery… a corresponding performance reduction of 10%.
Either by using magic maths, or by simply reading the bottom right figure on the battery itself, we can learn that this vape will discharge at around 1.3watt for one hour of quality vaping time.
The ‘tank’ in disposable vapes actually consists of a weaved cotton fibre structure that absorbs the e-juice, which typically mixed at 50/50 (i.e. equal parts) PG and VG – that’s: propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin for the uninitiated!
Removing the sheath and tearing the fabric wound around the coil, we can finally see the coil inside, wrapped around a final piece of cotton. The coil is a piece of wound metal wire which heats up, and in so doing vaporises the juice suspended in the cotton. This heat is created because the metal, whilst still conducting electricity, also has a ‘resistant’ effect, in that it inhibits the free flow of current, hence, when the power/current gets trapped in the wire, the coil (or heating element, such as that found in your kettle) heats up and glows. The resistance is measured in Ohms, and for disposable vapes typically hovers around 1-1.2 ohms.
As you can see in the photo above, the Lost Mary BM600 is more of a traditional coil than the “mesh” design typically marketed online, most likely a wound Kanthal (i.e. iron-chromium-aluminium alloy) coil, although some production lines have used stainless steel coils instead.
It’s quite remarkable how few people know that the inhale-activated draw mechanism in disposable vapes is a simple amplifier, typically found in cheap microphones!
If you take another look at the photo, you’ll see the (+)positive pole of the battery soldered to the corresponding point on the mic, and then the same with the (-)negative pole. Meanwhile, the (-)negative pole on the battery is linked to the coil, which in turn is linked to a third activator pole on the microphone.
The small mic itself consists of a thin wound copper wire and a thin layer of film. Once you inhale, the film layer is pushed onto the coiled wire inside the microphone and the circuit completes, activating the vape.
Don’t believe me? Take one apart and blow onto the little mic for yourself.
Wonders of technology!
Don’t worry, we’ll go through the next vapes much quicker now that you’ve got the basics.
Second: Bloody Mary
Next let’s look at the close cousin to the Lost Mary, the Bloody Mary. It’s often misunderstood as a fake or a clone of the Lost Mary’s produced by the same company as Elf Bar, but in fact they are just a different take by an alternative company, which uses a similar internal construction, but with different flavours and marketing strategies. As such, the two vapes typically share a customer base and the decision on which to get comes largely down to a question of taste.
Again, we will open up the Bloody Mary, inspect the internals, and compare notes against the Lost Mary above. The initial impression upon scoring the sides and opening is that the construction is identical to the Lost Mary, right down to the plastic chassis and the air vents at the bottom.
Beginning with the battery then, as before, we can see that the similarities between the two vapes come to an abrupt end here.
The Bloody Mary is sometimes referred to as an upgraded version of the Lost Mary, and whilst this is not necessarily true legally (given that they are made by an alternate company and differentiate themselves from Lost Mary, rather than compete with it), on a technical level the battery in the Bloody Mary is undeniably better.
Firstly, it’s the improved 13400 industry standard of Li-ion batteries, which – whilst using the same chemistry – provides increased performance in pretty much all aspects.
We can see that the capacity is 550mAh, which is both far higher than the Lost Mary and in line with the expected capacity of such batteries industrially (which if you recall, the Lost Mary was not).
As a result, this can provide around 2Wh of power (i.e. 2 watts for 1 hour of delicious vaping), versus the 1.3w of the Lost Mary.
Whilst we can’t draw any major conclusions from the date, it’s helpful to see that the battery was produced in late 2022; if this consistent across their manufacturing process, then it reflects the fact that the batteries are relatively new and can be expected to perform in line with the industry standard.
You’ll recall from the Lost Mary disassembly that the wire linking the coil to the microphone was spliced but left exposed?
Well, here a further heat-shrink cable has been added to patch over the cable linkage; the user won’t notice the difference, but it’s a nice touch and speaks to a more refined manufacturing process.
You’ll also see that the microphone was also supported by a bit of glue, which can stop it from jumping out of the groove in the plastic and rendering your vape useless.
Right here we can see that the Bloody Mary uses a more advanced mesh coil, which is wrapped in a separate bit of cotton and then encased in a long metallic tube, providing good ventilation, upward direction of the smoke, and cooling for the coil, resulting in what is typically a smoother vape.
Unfortunately though, the coil is tightly fitted and secured with a small white stopper, which means that the coil itself didn’t survive the disassembly!
Overall, whilst the Bloody Mary has had time to improve on the initial design of the Lost Mary’s, the latter remains much more prevalent in shops and their first-mover market advantage has meant they dominate the major distribution channels for similar vapes.
Therefore whilst the Bloody Mary is, on a technical level, absolutely the better vape, the disposable vapes market is not the same as the high-end 0.01ohm alien coil market, and thus as a fast moving consumer good, speed sometimes trumps quality.
Sad to say, but you know we like to keep it real here at Disposavapes, as well as, (occasionally) learn a thing or two.
Third up: Fantasi Orange
Sticking with the short and phat theme, next up is an interesting contender that skirts awfully close to a trademark violation: Fantasi vapes.
Curiously, the design of this vape is slightly different – plastic remains a running theme here, but the vape ‘lid’ appears to be on the front, and there is no matte textures anywhere on the device; it’s slippery to the touch.
Let’s have a look at the internals?
Well, this is quite a break from tradition, eh? The Fantasi vape has been entirely reimagined, with the battery sitting at the bottom and the intake (along with the corresponding microphone) relocated to the side
Now whilst this does allow for easy access to control air flow, using just your forefinger, it could also be annoying if you just so happen to grip your vape by the sides when you use it (I know I do!).
Whilst the battery here claims to be per the 13300 standard, unfortunately there are no identifiable marks that would allow us to determine at a glance the operating capacity of the battery. This is not technically a problem, as the watt hours are in fact marked on the battery (1.48Wh) which we can confirm is in line with the industry standard by referring online. Hence we can deduce that the capacity is probably 400mAh, similar to the Lost Mary (or rather what the Lost Mary ought to be).
However, the lack of marking on the battery could imply that these are cell which are produced more cheaply and not as thoroughly quality assurance (QA) tested prior to leaving the factory… you can weigh that against the robust build quality of the black chassis and be the judge yourself.
The cotton that holds the liquid is again protected by a plastic casing, which upon removal reveals a nice thick coil and protective metal sleeve.
Unlike the Bloody Mary, this coil did survive the disassembly and is confirmed to be a mesh coil – the new technology which promises an even heating of the cotton and thus a smoother vape.
As previously stated, the microphone is embedded into the robust black plastic chassis which makes it difficult to remove and inspect, but also provides significantly more protection – possibly the most we’ve seen so far.
Overall, the technical revision of the design, combined with the – let’s say “legally daring” approach to flavour (it’s an almost perfect replica for Fanta!) – leaves us with an excellent vape overall, with the only disadvantage against, for instance, the Bloody Mary, being the inferior battery on the Fantasi.
Fourth in the lineup, the final fat and flat: Ringo (Red Juice)
The Ringo shares the same matte middle-body with two attached smooth segments are the Mary vapes above, with one notable difference being the size of the vape itself; it’s certainly one that chunkier hands will feel at home with, although with this size you’d think that the air vents would expand to accommodate
Inside the Ringo, we have possibly the simplest design so far: a cotton cube protected by thin plastic, embedded into the grooves of the case which have been plastic-injected to line up with the tip; a battery which has been wired as we’ve seen so far, hanging loose; and a draw-activation microphone embedded with soft plastic into the base.
There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple, and if you can save money on engineering in the process, why not?
The battery is of course industry standard 13300, which we’ve covered previously for Lost Mary and Fantasi – nothing new here.
Again, the wiring is absolutely standard, using the microphone as a middleman switch between the battery and the coil to facilitate draw-activation… classic in the disposable vape world.
After removing the initial cotton cube, we can see the fabric wound around the coil. After proceeding to unwind the cotton, a mesh coil revealed itself – good to see mesh making an appearance in what is otherwise an absolutely standard vape, although to get the most benefit out of mesh the coil typically needs to be embedded in the cotton rather than simply sitting in the middle while the cotton is banded around the coil (it’s an easy way to burn out a coil due to dryness!).
Overall, a decent contender in the vape market, with the main strength laying in the very potent flavours (the juice scent even stuck to our hands the most during this experiment!). It’s a pity to see the internal space in the vape not be used more efficiently, but with TPD regulations it’s entirely understandable why a bigger cotton cube isn’t always better.
On to the tubes with our fifth vape: Ziggiys
Since we’re moving away from short and fat to tall and this, we’ll begin with the most slimline of all, the Ziggiys pink. This vape has an oval profile and is entirely plastic in construction, with one cap at the bottom end, using which the internals are loaded – let’s crack it open and pull out the guts!
This vape far and away presented the biggest challenge in opening, since the end cap was too small to get sufficient leverage, and therefore required to be scored around the circumference with a knife before prying open (as the photo above will attest) – this does not do it any favours as regards recyclability.
Beginning with the battery, the supposed corresponding industry standard is listed as 701444, but no information on this particular battery type is available online. The closest we were able to get was two listings on Aliexpress for a 701444 battery, both of which gave different capacity listings: 420mAh and 280mAh.
Given the size of the battery, and its unknown provenance (no manufacturer listed), we concluded that the implied 450 mAh, which is not stated on the battery but calculable using the stated 1.665Wh figure, is probably inaccurate – compare for yourself the two batteries linked above and see which one bears the closest resemblance to the Ziggiys. For us, we can conclude that the capacity is around 65% of even the weakest of the vapes we tested.
The coil was attached and protected with the classic fibre sleeve – no metal – and the coil itself is a standard wound-coil, probably Kanthal.
Overall, we here at Disposavapes feel very sorry, and our heart goes out to the Australian vape market. We warmly invite you to, instead, place an order with a supplier from good ol’ Britain, with an expertise in the vaping market and a customer-first attitude.
Sixth: Aroma Kings
Moving to the classic Elf Bar style of vape, next we have the Aroma Kings disposable. This tube vape has a detachable tip, but to remove the actual internals, it’s important to proceed from the bottom, being careful not to damage the microphone.
Similar to the Ringo, we can see a simple and straightforward deployment of the tried and tested vape design.
However, there is one key difference: the chassis of the vape is metal! This supports much better cooling across the internal components and helps to minimise overheating from chain-vaping by routing the heat to the body of the device – although necessarily this can mean that your device can get warm from overuse. For recycling purposes though, metal is better for the environment than non-degradable plastic.
Beginning with the battery, we can see that it’s both beefier than the other models and, based on the industry spec 13400, is in line with the Bloody Mary. With a capacity of 550mAh and around 2Wh of power (the latter is not stated on the battery but we can recall this information from our research into the Bloody Mary), we can expect an enduring and lasting vaping experience.
Moving on to the coil, we can see it’s a standard tubular cotton piece also encased in plastic, with rubber stoppers on each end. Performing a further disassembly of the coil by removing the tubular cotton reveals a fabric protector that covers the coil – keen readers may have noticed that wherever there is a fabric protecting the coil, instead of a metal sleeve, it’s more likely to be a traditional wound coil instead of a mesh structure, and this Aroma King is no exception!
It’s quite unfortunate with a battery of this size that the company opted not to go for a mesh coil, decreasing the resistance and therefore increasing the volume, heat, and taste of their juices. We await with bated breath a revised version in future.
The microphone is embedded into the base, wired as is to be expected, and activated with an intake duct cut into the left of the black plastic stopper at the bottom.
Overall, the Aroma King boasts a strong battery that lasts us throughout the day and is a strong contender with other underdog vapes. If you like the way their flavours smoke on their traditional wound coil, then by all means follow the Disposavapes philosophy of life and do more of what you love.
Seventh: GEM Crystal bars
A popular recent design style for vapes is the thick transparent plastic outer coat, with essentially a metal tube in the middle, and the GEM Crystal bars have catered precisely to the demand for this new design.
Disassembly of this vape was trivially easy, with two clips at the bottom metal base holding the device together. Once those were removed, with barely a scuff on the device itself, the entire apparatus pulled apart – the coil and battery from the bottom, the cotton from the top – revealing the internals.
Interestingly, looking at the battery, we note the industry standard 13350, which sits right in the middle between the more powerful Aroma King and the least powerful Lost Mary (no, Ziggiys does not even get an honourable mention!). With 500mAh capacity and 1.85Wh of power, that should be enough for most disposable vape enthusiasts – few are likely to notice the 0.2Wh difference between the 13400 and the 13350, let’s be honest.
With this slight adjustment to the battery, the GEM Crystal bar vape supports a mesh coil, hidden under that now familiar metal sleeve.
This coil was also very straightforward to expose in a non-destructive way, which bodes well for the future recyclability of these disposable devices.
The draw-activation is that classic time-tested microphone technique again, wired just as expected.
The particular ingenuity of this vape is the implementation of a built in ‘drip-tip’ as part of the outer plastic, such that there is another barrier to the entry of germs as well as a higher likelihood that the device will remain intact after being discarded, thereby aiding with recycling.
Eighth: the Gold Bar
This is the next best thing to an actual gold bar. The outer metal casing has a nice shape with inlay grooves that satisfy the fidgeting urge, as well as feeling cold to the touch on initial pick up. The same huge bonuses for longevity, heat management, and overall feel apply to the Gold Bar as they did to the Aroma King.
Disassembly, whilst not as absolutely trivial as the Crystal bar, remains very easy. Both the tip and the black plug at the bottom are detachable and, on removal, reveal the internal workings of the Gold Bar vape.
For the battery, we can see that the manufacturer has settled on the same happy medium as the Crystal bar: the 13350 industry standard, which is marked on the battery, including the corresponding useful information: 500mAh, 18.5Wh, etc.
Again, with a more suitable battery we can extract the coil and determine from there it is, as with the Crystal bar, a mesh coil – unlike the Ringo however this is appropriately wrapped within the protective metal sleeve for maximum exposure to the ejuice.
In this case, the coil was a little more difficult to extract non-destructively, however, the coil build and wrapping quality is excellent, with enough grooves cut into the side of the metal sleeve to allow free flow of juice (which is an interesting modification that is sometimes overlooked by other manufacturers).
We also found that, like the Crystal Bar, the location and size of the venting at the bottom of the Gold Bar is very nice for a smooth and sustained pull; not too heavy, not too airy – just right.
Overall, the combination of flavours (which we love here at Disposavapes… not that we play favourites or anything…!) combined with the happy medium-level battery and the properly-packed mesh coil, we can confidently say that the Gold Bar is a highly recommended disposable.
Recycle
We offer a thriving recycling program spearheaded from our Crawley store to play our part in the waste electronics initiative (WEEE). If you have used vapes laying around, we encourage you to either bring them to us in-store or ship them to our address for a reward.
Conclusion
Fancy trying this experiment out for yourself?
Scroll below to view our mix-and-match offers from our most popular brands and flavours.
We’d love to hear from you if you find something we missed!
