When your vapetastes burnt, you know about it.
It tastes like charred newspaper and theburnt vapor cloud scratches the back of your throat all the way down to yourlungs, where it can make you choke or even vomit. When this happens you shouldstop vaping immediately and take steps to fix the problem, but you'll want toanyway.
It’s not nice. But why does it happen?
Why your vape tastes burnt
The first thing to say is don’t worry ifyour vape tastes burnt. This happens to everyone and it is easy to fix. Ittastes burnt because the wick inside your atomizer coil has dried out andburned up when it was heated. The wick is the part of your vaporizer that soaksup the eliquid from the tank. The wick holds onto this eliquid before it isturned into vapor when the coil heats up. If the wick is not fully saturatedwith eliquid when you take a puff, this material can char and leave a foultaste in your mouth. Vapers call this a ‘dry hit.’
How long should acoil last?
All coils fail eventually, but differentvapers go through them at different speeds. Some heavy users may change theircoil every week, while others might only need to swap coils once a month. Itvaries from device to device, but we expect most vaporizer coils to last forabout two or three weeks. Once a coil has been burnt there isn’t much youcan do to get rid of the taste, except change the coil.
But there are some things that you can doto extend the lifespan of your coil. Everyone experiences burnt coils, but manynew vapers will burn coils out quickly because they don’t know howto protect them. With this in mind, this troubleshooting guide is geared moretowards newer vapers who use less advanced devices.
But that doesn’t mean thatexperienced vapers won’t learn a thing or two as well. Read on to find out how to savemoney on coils and get the best flavor hit out of every vape.
Two notorious coilkillers
We estimate that these two killers areresponsible for at least 70% of all coil burnouts. If your coils aren’t lasting aslong as you think they should, these should be your chief suspects. The twomost likely coil killers are:
1.chain vaping
2.not priming your coil.
Chain vaping
If you've just changed to a new coil andstill getting a burnt taste it could be due to chain vaping, when you take puffafter puff with barely any break in between. It is probably the most commoncause of coil burning, especially for new vapers. Most vapers chain vape atsome point.
Even experienced vapers can be a bit toohandy with the ignition button when they have a tasty vape juice in the tank.Chain vaping can damage your coil because it doesn’t give thewick enough time to soak up more eliquid between puffs. This causes the wick todry out and burn.
How to stop chainvaping
Stopping burnout by chain vaping soundseasy. Just leave 15 or 20 seconds of breathing space in between hits. Inpractice though, it is often trickier than this. Most vapers, particularly newvapers, are ex-smokers and are in the habit of taking lots of short puffs likethey would with a cigarette.
Many vapers are also hooked on nicotine andchain vaping can help satisfy these cravings. If you are chain vaping tosatisfy nicotine cravings, try switching to a vape juice with higher nicotinestrength. You might also want to switch to an vape juice with a high PGcontent, as these liquids can provide a more satisfying throat hit, which manyex-smokers crave.
You can also practice taking longer, slowerhits and putting your vape right back in your pocket to prevent temptation.
If you like chain vaping and don’t want tostop then you might consider switching to a rebuildable dripping atomizer(RDA). These need re-dripping every few puffs, but you don’t have towait very long for the juice to soak into your wick.
These are an advanced product however andnot recommended for a new user. Alternatively, you could buy two differentdevices and cycle between them.
Coil priming
Ever had a fresh coil taste burnt after thefirst few hits? You aren’t alone. Most vapers have experienced this at some point and it isincredibly frustrating. Some vapers are quick to blame it on a faulty coil, butnew coils usually get burnt because they haven’t been primed beforeuse.
Priming your coil basically means preparingit and getting the wick nice and saturated with ejuice. If you don’t prime yourcoil and you heat the wick dry, it can cause it to burn straight away, givingyou that nasty dry puff taste.
How to prime yourcoils
Priming a new coil is easy. First, checkthat the coil is compatible with your device and make a note of the wattagerange printed on the side of the coil (make sure you don’t exceedthis while you’re vaping or the coil could pop). Before you put the coil in yourtank, you need to saturate the wick by dripping a small amount of e-liquid downeach of the coil holes.
Most coils will have two small input holeson the side and one larger hole on the top. You should be able to see thecotton-like wick through each of the holes. Apply two or three drops of vapejuice to each hole, stopping when the liquid starts pooling on top of the hole.Once you have soaked the holes with vape juice, you should leave the new coilto rest for a while.
People disagree over how long you shouldleave the juice soak in. Some just leave it for a few minutes - some say theliquid tastes better if you leave the device to rest for a few hours orovernight.
However long you choose to leave yourdevice, just make sure that you take a few dry ‘primer puffs’ before youuse it. A primer puff is where you take a short sharp breath through thedevice, without hitting the ignition button. This will help guarantee thetastiest possible first puff when you’re ready to vape forreal.
Other reasons whyyour coil might fail
Too much chain vaping and not priming yourcoils are public enemies number one and two when it comes to burnt coils, butthere are other reasons why your coil might burnout faster than it should.
These factors are not as likely to lead tocoil burnout, but remember that vape devices are complicated and coils mightburn out for a combination of reasons.
High power vaping
High powered vaping can damage your coils.If you exceed the recommended power (measured in Watts) on the side of yourcoils then they are likely to pop or fail more quickly. Vaping at a highertemperature also leads to the eliquid being vaporized faster than the wick cansoak it up.
If you are puffing on your vape oftenenough, this can cause the wick to dry out and burn. If you are using a devicewith variable Wattage or Voltage then make sure it is not turned up too high –particularly if you also like chain vaping and taking extra-long puffs.
This is also a common issue that occurs when sub ohmvaping. If you enjoy vaping at a higher intensity then you might want to thinkabout upgrading your tank system or switching to a rebuildable atomizer or adrip tip.
Vape Juice running low
Do you like to squeeze every last drop outof your tank before refilling it? It could be damaging your coils. Letting yourtank run dry or nearly dry can leave your wick without enough juice to soak up,which can cause it to burn.
When you are down to your last few squirtsof juice it is tempting to let your liquid level run near the bottom, but ifyou can see that the juice does not cover the input holes of your coil then yourisk hitting your vape dry.
The easiest way to stop this happening isto keep your tank topped up to a good level, at least enough to make sure it iscovering the input holes on the side of your coil.
When you want to switch flavors, just pourwhat’s left of the juice back into the bottle and insert your new juice(or combine the flavors in your tank). If you can’t easily see whatlevel your e-juice is at, then make sure you don’t let the tank dropbelow about a quarter full.
Your vape juicechoice
Some vape juice are a problem for coils andcan cause them to gunk up. This is a problem for juice that have a high VGcontent and those which contain a lot of sugar. Vape Juice with a higher VGcontent tends to be more viscous than liquids with a predominantly PG base.
This means that high VG vape juice arethicker and harder for coil wicks to absorb, which can cause them to fail. Toavoid this, we recommend sticking with lower VG vape juice (below 70%) orupgrading your tank system to one with a more reliable wick.
Eliquid that is very sweet can causesimilar problems for your coil. When it heats up, sugary eliquid can caramelizeon the coil blocking it from absorbing more of the juice. Gunk build-up canalso affect the taste of your juice, which is a shame because sometimes themost satisfying flavors are the big coil killers.