A Lack Of Adequate Hardware

The typical "cig-a-like" form factor

When most people think of an e-cigarette, they probably envision what is known as a "cig-a-like" -- essentially a skeuomorphic tube. In place of the filter is the inhaler and past that is the tank of e-liquid, which contains the nicotine. Beyond that is an "atomizer," or heat source. Then comes the bulk of the device: the battery, which powers the atomizer. Finally, a cig-a-like ends with an LED, which mimics the glow of a cigarette ember. When a user activates the atomizer, it heats up the e-liquid until it vaporizes.

That's why the action of using an e-cigarette is called "vaping," because nothing is burnt; it's vaporized. Proponents of e-cigarettes argue that because the nicotine is vaporized instead of burnt, as in a traditional cigarette, vaping is much healthier than traditional smoking. That's not something the World Health Organization agrees with, however, and it will probably be decades before the scientific consensus is clear on the issue. Until then, it remains a contentious issue between the organization and vapers, e-cig makers and even some doctors who say vaping is preferable to smoking.

Still, the lack of agreement on any benefits e-cigarettes have over traditional ones hasn't stopped the devices from flying off the shelves. But to hardcore vapers, the "cig-a-like" e-cigarette form factor is an underpowered piece of kit. To them, it's an Atari when what you really need is a tricked-out, custom gaming PC. And indeed, just as serious gamers kicked off the PC modding scene in the '90s in response to a lack of hardware tailored to the community's needs, the same has happened in the vaping scene -- and it started in, of all places, Newark-on-Trent.

Building A Better E-Cigarette

The first version of the "Screwdriver" mod

When e-cigs exploded onto the market in 2007, their users began to coalesce into online communities dedicated to the newly commercialized technology. One of the first major e-cig communities to spring up was E-Cig-Reviews.com, run by London-based Scott Bonner. And it's on sites like his and other dedicated online forums like UKVaper.org that modding was born.

"Many people these days associate 'modding' and 'mod-makers' with the engineers that are manufacturing the high-quality devices that most of us currently enjoy vaping," says Bonner when we chat about the history of the craft. "But the very early modders were the regular cig-a-like users that were tinkering with their cartridges, experimenting with different wicking materials, removing parts of the atomizer, et cetera, and we would gather on the forum, swap ideas and share our findings."

But then the tinkering began to get more extreme. Instead of just fiddling with the internals of cig-a-likes, a pair of modders known online as Trog and Mrog took the then-radical step of completely replacing the body of a standard e-cig. For what would come to be known as "The Screwdriver," the pair -- whose real names are Ted and Matt Rogers, a father-and-son team from Newark-on-Trent -- turned a small pocket torch into the atomizer and battery array.