Cost of Vaping Vs. Smoking Traditional Cigarettes
There are many reasons to switch to a vaping from traditional tobacco cigarettes, including the fact that you won’t stink like cigarettes anymore and that vape pens make it easier to stop smoking. Another factor that people consider is how much money they will save.
Smoking cigarettes is generally known to be a pretty expensive habit. An individual pack of cigarettes may not seem to be that expensive, but they add up very quickly, especially when you’re smoking every single day. Therefore it is a common and reasonable question to ask, whether switching to vaping is going to save you money. There are lots of people out there who talk about how much cheaper vaping is, but when you’re staring at the price of a vape starter kit and comparing it with the price of just going down to the nearest convenience store and buying a pack of regular cigarettes, it can be hard to believe that vape pensreally are cheaper.
The short answer to the question is, yes, vape pens are much cheaper in the long run. Depending on how much you currently smoke, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the course of a year by switching to vaping. How is this, given the higher price of the vape starter kit? Let’s break it down.
Initial investment
A vape pen starter kit from Slim Vape Pen is probably going to run you about $25-60 depending on the type of vape pen starter kit you get. That is all you need though to start vaping, as all starter kits come with free ejuice. There are different models you can choose from, of course, and they have different prices, but $25-35 is a good ballpark for a good starter kit for beginners. Our vape pen starter kits come with a free bottle of e juice, so you don’t have to pay for anything extra just to get started. In contrast, the initial investment for a pack of cigarettes is somewhere around $5 in California, maybe a little bit more or maybe a little bit less depending on where you are. Different states tax cigarettes differently, so you may actually see cigarette prices that are a lot higher where you live. We’re using California for a ballpark here, though, since that is where we are actually located at Slim Vape Pen.
Conclusion: the initial investment for a vape starter kit is about $25 on the low end, while the initial investment for a pack of cigarettes is around $5.
Continuing costs

The initial setup cost for smoking cigarettes is only $5, but then every single time you need to buy a new pack it’s going to be $5 again. With a vape pen, you refill your pen with e juice. This is assuming you get a refillable vape pen, as e-cigs with disposable cartridges can start adding up. There are many reasons why you would want to get Vape Pen vs E-Cigs.
2 mL of e juice is roughly equivalent to 1 pack of cigarettes
With refillable vape pens, a good ballpark is that 2 mL of e juice is roughly equivalent to 1 pack of cigarettes. At Slim Vape Pen, we have different brands of e juice to choose from and they have different price points, but for the sake of simplicity we’ll round and say you’re going to be paying around $10 per 15 mL of e juice. This means that $10 will buy you the equivalent of 7.5 packs of cigarettes. You’re paying the equivalent of $1.33 per pack of cigarettes if you use e juice instead of tobacco cigarettes. Imagine if you smoke a pack a day. At $5 a pack you are going to spend $1825 on cigarettes throughout the year with tobacco cigarettes. At $1.33 per 2 mL you are going to spend $485.45 throughout the year on e juice – a savings of $1339.55. Let that sink in for a bit: if you smoke a pack a day, you will save over $1300 per year by switching to vape pens.
But what about maintenance costs?
Vape pens do require some maintenance. The part you will have to re-purchase most often is the atomizer coil. All other parts should not need replacing for a very long time. Your coils should last anywhere between 1-4 weeks depending on how often you vape. If you are vaping heavily, you can probably expect to replace your atomizer coil about once a week. You can get replacement coils here at Slim Vape Pen for $7-10 for 5 coils, or $1.40 per coil. If you are replacing your coil every week you’ll spend $72.80 on replacement coils. If you take the $72.80 away from the $1339.55 you save per year switching to vape pens, you still come up with a savings of $1266.75. So even once maintenance costs are factored in, you STILL save over $1200 per year switching to vape pens, if you smoke a pack a day.
Conclusion: You can potentially save over $1200 a year just by switching to vape pens!