I would say for a starter kit/new vaping make it as simple as possible and get some spares, coils etc I would also suggest taking the old man to a shop for hands on. Plonking a kit in front of him without a talk through or just paper instructions will be a sure fire recipe to lighting up again.
They can be a bit of a faff if your new to it all and if your getting frustrated its not going to be a positive experience which is definitely needed when getting off the fags.
As i found out above the tobacco flavours kill coils, but fine to start for the similarties but expect to change coils as burnt hits again will result in a poor experience and back on the fags. Again another good reason to get to a shop, some flavours are very pleasant, its not just sweet flavours, peppermint, whiskey the list is endless so the old man might find something that floats his boat.