An electronic cigarette vaporiser that includes a heating element and further includes or co-operates with an electronics module that (i) detects characteristics of the resistance of the heating element and (ii) uses an inference of temperature derived from that resistance as a control input. The temperature of the heating element may be inferred from data stored in the electronics module that has been empirically obtained for a specific heating element design. The electronics module controls the power delivered to the heating element to ensure that it is no higher than approximately 130 C., plus an error tolerance.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser includes a heating element, an air pressure sensor and a microcontroller; the microcontroller stores, processes or determines the extent of each inhalation using signals from the air pressure sensor. The microcontroller can calculate the approximate e-liquid consumption from the extent of each inhalation or provide data that enables an external processor to calculate approximate e-liquid consumption. The extent of an inhalation is a function of one or more of: duration; peak flow rate; average flow rate.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser system includes a case and a vaporiser that is stored in the case; the system includes a non-contact sensor that detects release or withdrawal of the vaporiser from the case. When withdrawal of the vaporiser is detected, then the vaporiser electronic circuitry changes state, e.g. to a ready mode, or a pre-heating mode in which an inhalation detector is activated or to a heating mode, where an atomising unit in the vaporiser is at least partly activated so that the vaporiser is fully heated when the first inhalation is taken.

An electronic cigarette vaporizer includes a heating element and a microcontroller; the microcontroller monitors or measures external or ambient temperature and uses that as a control input. The control input automatically controls the power delivered to the heating element to ensure that the heating element operates at its optimal temperature. Where ambient temperatures are monitored or measured as very cold, then the power to the heating element is automatically increased to compensate.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser includes a heating element for heating an e-liquid and a microcontroller; the microcontroller determines the type and/or characteristics of the e-liquid being used and uses that as an input to automatically control the power delivered to the heating element to heat the e-liquid in a manner suitable for that specific type of e-liquid, or e-liquid with those characteristics. The e-liquid can be supplied from a cartridge and that cartridge then includes a record of the type of e-liquid stored in the cartridge and/or its characteristics and the microcontroller reads that record or is provided data from that record. A variable for the type of e-liquid and/or its characteristics is the water content of the e-liquid.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser that is the same approximate size as a cigarette and has a square or rectangular cross-section with rounded corners and includes a long PCB inserted lengthwise into the vaporiser. The PBC is not mounted at the mid-point of the cross-section, but at a different position closer to a major face of the vaporiser to permit more room for a rechargeable battery. The cross-section is a squircle.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser system including a piezo-electric pump that pumps e-liquid into an electronic vaporizer in which a sensor detects whether air or e-liquid is present in the liquid feed line into the piezo-electric pump and adjusts an operating parameter of the pump accordingly. The operating parameter that is adjusted can be the frequency of the actuators in the piezo-pump; it can be 300 Hz for air and 15 Hz for e-liquid. The frequency can also be adjusted in dependence on the viscosity or temperature of the e-liquid.

An e-liquid cartridge designed to provide e-liquid for an electronic cigarette vaporiser system, the cartridge including a chip that stores and outputs (i) a unique identity for the cartridge and/or (ii) data defining the e-liquid stored in the cartridge, and the cartridge being adapted to be inserted into or form an integral part of the electronic vaporiser system. The data stored and output by the chip defines one or more of: flavor, nicotine strength, manufacturing batch number, date of manufacture, date of filling, tax data, quantity of e-liquid stored in the cartridge.

An electronic cigarette vaporiser that includes an air pressure valve or device to enable excess air to escape from an e-liquid reservoir in the vaporiser during pressurized filling of the vaporizer with e-liquid. If the vaporizer includes a ceramic cell, then the air pressure device is the wall of the ceramic cell and the reservoir is the chamber arranged outside of the external wall of the ceramic cell.

An e-liquid cartridge designed to provide e-liquid for an electronic cigarette vaporiser, the cartridge including two apertures, the first aperture being used to fill the cartridge on a filing line and then being covered with a bung or plug or other form of seal and the second aperture being sealed by a septum or other form of seal that is designed to be penetrated or punctured by a needle or stem that, in use, withdraws e-liquid from the cartridge. The first aperture is sized to enable rapid filling with e-liquid on an automated or semi-automated manufacturing line.