The only thing worse than a dry hit is a burnt hit. Coils are a very important part of the vaporizer, and they need to be replaced pretty regularly. Once you’ve installed a fresh coil, you first need to prime it. After that, your vaporizer is at its fullest potential. Those clouds will be as flavorful as they get. From that point on, the vapor quality will decrease until you change your coils.
Everyone has a certain breaking point where they just can’t use the same coil anymore. It happens at a different time for everyone, but eventually, the quality of the vapor becomes intolerable. But how long is too long? When does a coil need to be replaced?
How To Tell If A Vape Coil Needs Replacing
There are a few giveaways that’ll let you know it’s time to replace your vape coil. A bad coil will reveal itself in the following ways:
·The biggest giveaway is the taste of the vapor. A bad coil will make any e-liquid taste like a charred version of itself. If you take a look at the coil, it’ll probably be black and covered in burnt residue. A bad coil looks burnt, and it tastes burnt. You’ll likely know from the taste alone whether or not your coil needs to be replaced.
·Another good indicator is a gurgling sound during vaping. While this can have more than one reason, odds are that when you haven’t replaced your coil in a while, it’s time for a replacement. Your vape should never gurgle. If after the replacement the gurgling continues, there might be a bigger problem that’s not related to your coil at all.
·Your e-juice is leaking from the device. If your O-rings are still good and your tank isn’t overflowing, the only problem can be damage or burn out to this little key part of your vaping device. Do check the rings and the tank e-juice levels first, before considering the most obvious option. Replacing without necessity is a waste!
·Vape coils have not been replaced in a long time. Sometimes the parts in your e-cigarette will simply wear out over time. There doesn’t need to be a real reason, it’s just damage or wear and tear from using the devices too much. This puts a strain on sensitive parts and that’s when it’s a good moment to replace the disposable parts.
When Should I Replace Coils?
Replace your coils when the vapor starts to taste like they need to be replaced. If your vapor tastes burnt or your coils look burnt, it’s time to replace them. Every vaper’s coil lifespan is different, and it mostly depends on how frequently you vape.
Vape coils don’t really have a set expiration. Rather, a coil’s lifespan is affected by how frequently it’s used. The lifespan of your vape coil also depends on how many coils you use and what kind of e-liquid you’re using. Some vapers replace their coils weekly while others won’t go more than a couple of days. For the most part, vapers just change their coils once they begin to negatively affect the flavor of the vapor.
How Many Puffs Does A Coil Last?
The number of puffs that a coil lasts can vary depending on the number of coils, the size of the coil, the coil’s material, your wattage settings, and the size of your clouds. Coils can last anywhere from 500 to 1300 puffs depending on how you vape.
Long, drawn-out hits will kill your coils faster than short hits will. Cloud-chasers change their coils more than anyone, simply due to the excessive strain that those massive clouds put on the coils. The kind of coil being used largely affects the coil’s longevity. For instance, an atomizer with one coil won’t last as long as an atomizer with three coils of the same size, given they’re put under the same conditions. When atomizers have multiple coils, the coils share the current supplied by the battery. Neither coil gets as hot as a single coil would with the same wattage. When you have more coils, your vapor is cooler and more flavorful. Additionally, your coils tend to last longer.
A coil’s total puff count also depends on your battery or mod. The mod supplies a certain amount of electrical current (measured in watts) to the coils, which in turn heat up until they cause the surrounding e-liquid to evaporate. Different mods supply different amounts of power to the coils, and many of them allow you to change the amount of power supplied with variable wattage mode. The longevity of your coils largely depends on how hard they’re working. The guy that occasionally vapes at 50 watts won’t have to change his coils as often as the guy that regularly chucks massive clouds with a 200-watt mod.
What Is A Dry Hit?
Have you ever taken a big hit from your vaporizer, and right as you notice that awful burnt taste in your mouth and sharp pain in the back of your throat, you remember that there isn’t enough juice in your atomizer? Well, that’s the infamous “dry hit.”
A dry hit is every vaper’s biggest pet peeve. A dry hit occurs when your coils are fired up without enough juice to make vapor. Typically, a dry hit will still give you some vapor. However, that vapor will be too hot, and it’ll often taste burnt. When the coils are heated up with insufficient e-liquid, they can sometimes burn the surrounding wick. The wick is very absorbent, and it’s intended to hold the e-liquid near the coils to be vaporized. However, without e-liquid the wick is dry, and when the coils are activated, it becomes susceptible to burns. This results in a very uncomfortable “dry hit” that consists of hot coil air, a little vapor, and some burnt wick flavor. The taste and sensation of a dry hit are absolutely repulsive.
To prevent a dry hit, just keep your coils and wick juiced up. That applies more to RDA users. If you’re using a regular sub-ohm tank, just keep that tank filled. Replaceable tank atomizers usually have coils hidden away on the inside. Otherwise, they’d be exposed to far too much e-liquid. The outside of the replaceable atomizer usually has several openings filled with wicking material. This wicking material leads to the coils housed within the atomizer, and it regularly resupplies the coils with e-liquid when you vape.
Basically, as long as your e-liquid is covering the atomizer’s wick openings, you shouldn’t have a dry hit. If your tank is properly filled and your vapor tastes burnt, it sounds like you need to change your coil. If this is a brand new coil, there are a few possible causes.
Why Does My Vape Taste Burnt?
There’s nothing worse than burnt-tasting vapor. If your vapor tastes burnt, there are a few possible causes. Burnt-tasting vapor is usually the result of an old coil, a defective coil, a coil that hasn’t been primed, or a dry hit.
We now know that a dry hit occurs when you try to vape without a sufficient amount of e-liquid. This initial “dry hit” usually tastes burnt due to the burning of both the coil and wick. Often, that burnt taste doesn’t totally go away. Once your wick takes a significant burning, you can taste it until you change the coil. Burnt-tasting vapor can be the result of a defective coil. If a single coil is getting too hot, or if the atomizer doesn’t properly wick the e-liquid towards the coil, it can result in a dry, burnt-tasting hit.
If you’re getting burnt-tasting vapor from a brand new coil, either it’s defective or it hasn’t been properly primed. When installing a new coil, priming it is very important. Neglecting to prime your coil can cause your vapor quality to suffer. So what does it mean to “prime a coil?” Well, coils don’t usually perform optimally right out of the box. They usually hit better once they’ve been soaked, and they tend to make better-tasting vapor once they’ve been heated a few times. Whether you use a tank with replaceable coils or an RDA, your coils are going to hit better after they’ve been primed.
How To Prime A Coil
Priming a coil is very easy. Tanks with replaceable atomizers usually have their coils concealed inside. To prime the coils of a replaceable atomizer:
·Find the wick-filled slots on the atomizer’s surface.
·Apply a small amount of e-liquid to all of them. This will get the wicking process going, and it’ll allow the atomizer to easily wick e-liquid towards the coil once it’s installed.
·Install your coils.
·Fill your tank with e-liquid.
·Let the coils sit and soak for about five minutes before vaping.
To prime an RDA:
·Install your coils and don’t add your wick yet.
·Hold the fire button until your coils begin to glow.
·Repeat the last step two or three times.
·Let the coils cool down and your wick to the coil.
·Thoroughly soak the wick and coils with e-liquid.
·Let your newly soaked coil stand for about five minutes before vaping.
If you’re still getting burnt-tasting vapor, pay attention to the way that you’re holding your vaporizer. Sometimes, hitting a vaporizer horizontally can trigger a dry hit. This only applies to vaporizers with replaceable pre-built atomizers. Earlier we talked about those wick-filled openings around the surface of the atomizer head. Well, those wicks all lead back to a coil, and they’re all supposed to pull e-liquid to their respective coils. For this to work, these openings need to maintain contact with the e-liquid. Using a tank like this horizontally can leave one or more of the wicking areas dry, resulting in a dry hit. This can also happen when the e-liquid gets too low to maintain contact with the wick.
How To Tell When A Vape Coil Goes Bad?
The first sign of a bad coil is usually the taste of the vapor. Usually, a coil doesn’t just suddenly begin to produce unbearably bad-tasting vapor. Usually, the first vape session with a new coil is the best, and it progressively gets worse until you decide to change the coil again.
If a new coil begins to produce bad-tasting vapor, it’s either defective or improperly primed. A sudden change in vapor quality is odd and unusual. Usually, your vapor quality progressively gets worse the longer you go without changing your coils. At what point has a coil gone “bad?” It’s purely preferential. A coil that I consider good enough to vape with might not meet the criteria of a pickier vaper. Likewise, there are surely those that wait far longer than I would to change their coils. You know that it’s time to change your coils when the quality of your vapor becomes intolerable to you.
How Long Does It Take For A Coil To Soak?
Part of priming your coil is letting it soak. If you don’t give your coil time to soak, your first several hits won’t taste right. The flavor will be off, and the vapor will be unusually harsh. Usually, a coil will take about five minutes to become fully soaked.
A lot of people just install their new coil, fill the tank, and begin vaping immediately. You can do this, but you’ll notice that your vapor is harsh and lacking in flavor. It may even be burnt-tasting. If this happens, it’s because e-liquid isn’t being properly wicked to the coils housed within your atomizer head. Applying e-liquid to your atomizer’s wick slots will ensure that e-liquid is properly wicked once it’s installed. Once your coil is primed and installed, you can fill your tank.
Now, your tank should be flawlessly supplying e-liquid to your coils. Ideally, you should let your coils soak for five minutes after the primed coils have been installed and the tank has been filled. New coils that haven’t been broken in can sometimes produce pretty harsh vapor. Priming your coils reduces that harshness, and it makes the first several hits far more tolerable.
Replacing Vape Coils Is Easy
Some coils are easier to replace than others, but in any case, they’re all pretty easy to replace once you’ve replaced them a few times. For instance, most tanks use replaceable atomizer heads that house coils. Coils like these are extremely easy to replace. Even someone totally new to vaping would be able to change such a coil in a matter of seconds. RDAs have a bit of a learning curve unless you’re buying pre-built coils. If you’re building your own coils, getting it just right can take a few tries. However, once you’ve gotten it right, it tends to be very easy to do moving forward.
Is the current state of your vape game not meeting your standards? Are the clouds not big enough? Is the flavor not intense enough? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade. Some new gear can completely change the way you vape, and it can make vaping more enjoyable. The trick is finding the gear that’s actually worth buying. The vaporizer industry is growing rapidly, and new products are released to the public on a regular basis. There are so many products, and it could take hours to research and compare them all.