7 Tips for Avoiding Burnt Coils

Today we want to talk about a completely incredible taste experience. From the first puff, you can taste the delicate aroma of old, burnt newspapers. This comes with the sensation that someone is sanding the inside of your nose, a very burning feeling. When you inhale, it feels as though someone is using a hot cheese slicer on the inside of your throat, and the taste left in your mouth will make you thirst for water.

No, of course this is not a flavor description for a completely new E-juice. It is a description of the taste caused by a burnt coil, or more clearly: a burnt wick. And as if it were not enough that it tastes awful, your coil is also ruined, which costs you money.

The good news is that there are a few simple tricks you can use to prevent burnt coils or at least avoid combustion as much as possible.

 

One step back! How do I notice that my coil is burnt out? 

If your coil is completely burnt out, you will notice it. The taste we described in the introduction is very difficult to miss or misinterpret.

If your coil is only slightly burnt, you will notice a slight burnt taste. It will taste as though something is not quite right. Since we know that burnt wicks can produce harmful chemicals, it is nevertheless best to replace the coil even in this case. 

Every now and then, you may also experience a burnt taste when you have just replaced your coil. Sometimes it disappears after a few puffs, but sometimes you also have to replace the liquid in the tank to get a clean taste again.

 

Why do coils burn in the first place?

If you want to avoid burnt coils, it is important to first understand why they actually burn. This is quite uncomplicated and supports all the advice we give in this article.

First, think about vaping without the burnt taste. When you press the activation button on your E-cigarette, electricity flows through your coil and it becomes hot. The heat released by the coil, or rather the wire, is absorbed by the liquid in the wick, and the liquid is converted into vapor. By absorbing some of the thermal energy produced by the wire, the liquid prevents the temperature in the coil from rising too much.

When the liquid in the wick has evaporated, it dries out a little. However, you have a tank filled with liquid around your coil that constantly supplies more liquid to the wick. This means that the coil is already saturated again when you take your next puff, and everything works as it should.

But what happens if there is no E-juice left in the wick, or simply not enough? If you press the activation button now and heat the wire, there is not much to absorb the excess heat, and two (equally undesirable) things happen:

• The E-juice remaining in the wick overheats, causing the PG to break down into formaldehyde. If that needs any further explanation: Formaldehyde tastes very disgusting. 
• Without any protection from the heat, the wick is directly exposed to the glowing wire. Since the wick probably consists of cotton, it burns. If the wick is completely dry, it can actually catch fire. And yes, burnt cotton does not taste very good either.

These two factors are the main ingredients in the taste experience described in the introduction. Burnt cotton with notes of formaldehyde, or rather disgusting with a little disgusting on top.

 

What can we do to keep our coils from burning? 

After the explanation above, it is almost obvious that the most important thing is to make sure there is always liquid in the wick when vaping.

This means that you should not dry-burn your coils, as most wicks consist of cotton and are simply ruined when there is no liquid to protect them. Dry burns are not a problem with ceramic wicks, and if you have silica wicks, you can get away with a few short hits, but unfortunately not with cotton 

The risk is lower when there is E-juice in the wick, but you still have to take a few steps to protect your coil. When you activate your E-cigarette, you reduce the amount of E-juice in the wick, and we must therefore always ensure that the device is set in a way that allows the liquid flow to the coil to keep up with the rate at which the liquid evaporates.

And that balance is what is most important for preventing the coil from burning. But what does that mean for us vapers? What can we actually do?

 

7 tricks to avoid burning your coil

1. Prepare your coil for vaping (“Prime” it)

If you do not “prime” your coil before you start vaping, you can burn the wick before you have even had a chance to use it.

When you install a new coil for the first time, the wick has to go from completely dry to completely saturated. This takes some time, so you usually have to wait about five minutes after filling the tank and before taking your first puff. If you wait long enough, it is not really necessary to “prime” it. The problem is that it is very difficult to see whether the coil is already saturated or not, and if there is not enough E-juice in the wick to absorb the heat when you activate the E-cigarette, the problems described above will occur.

“Priming” the coil simply means manually wetting the wick before installing the coil. Coils usually have an opening at the top and holes at the sides where you can see the wick. To “prime” the coil, drip a few drops of E-juice onto the top of the wick (3–5 drops should be enough) and then wet the visible wick through the holes on the sides. You only need a little for each hole. Simply make sure that all visible parts of the wick are thoroughly saturated.

As an alternative, some vapers take a few puffs from the E-cigarette without pressing the activation button to “prime” the coil. This draws the E-liquid into the wick. Be careful when trying this, however, as it can flood the coil if you overdo it. 

Your coil is now ready to use. To be completely safe, it is still a good idea to wait five minutes after filling the tank. This may not be necessary since you have already saturated the coil, but if it has not been properly prepared yet, you can ruin it immediately. So it is truly worth waiting and being completely sure.

 2. Stop chain-vaping

Chain-vaping—meaning vaping and vaping until you cannot see your E-cigarette through all the clouds—can lead to a burnt coil. The reason is the balance mentioned above: You must make sure that the wick is fully saturated before pressing the activation button again. During normal use, this is not a problem because you give the coil time to rehydrate after short use. However, if you vape continuously for an extended period, the wick will dry out. If you continue vaping then, you risk burning it.

The solution is very simple: Take a break. The most immediate signal that you should stop is that the flavor diminishes. This is a sign that there is not enough E-juice in the coil and that you are approaching combustion. Your wick needs time to rehydrate. Since the coil is hot now, we recommend that you simply take a break of 5 to 10 minutes and let your atomizer do its job.

 

3. Lower your wattage setting 

When you turn up the wattage, you vaporize more E-juice with each puff. This is great if you want to produce large clouds of vapor, but it can also affect your coils. The coils vaporize the E-juice faster and therefore sometimes have difficulty keeping up. And if the coil cannot keep the wick wet, the wick can burn. The problem is quite similar to what happens with chain-vaping, but it occurs after significantly fewer puffs.

The solution is to lower the wattage setting. When you notice the flavor diminishing, the wick is probably becoming drier and drier and needs time to absorb the liquid. You need to take a break when this happens (just as above), but to reduce the risk of it happening again, you should lower the wattage a little. 

Usually, you can find a recommendation for the wattage setting to use with individual coils. If you stay within the recommended range, there should not really be any problems. However, it is still best to start low and work your way up to the maximum. If you experience a reduction in flavor and your coils burn at your current setting, the simplest solution is to lower the wattage.

 4. Top up the tank regularly

If the amount of E-juice in the tank is too low, the tank may eventually be unable to wet the wick sufficiently. With many coils, the juice level must remain above a certain line even to reach the openings to the wick. If the wick has less contact with the E-juice in the tank, it will not absorb it as quickly. So if the liquid level in your tank is very low, this can easily lead to problems.

The simplest solution is to top up the tank regularly. If you feel that performance and flavor are diminishing, it may be time to give up on the remaining liquid in the tank and refill it. If you do not want to mix flavors, you can empty the tank first. Alternatively, you can also rotate the tank a little to get the wick to absorb the remaining liquid, but this is not a particularly reliable measure and becomes difficult when there is really very little E-juice in the tank. It is best to refill it.

5. Use an E-juice with more PG

PG has a thinner consistency than VG, which means that it is absorbed more easily by the wick. This has important consequences for the balance between the speed of evaporation and the speed of juice flow to the wick, which we absolutely must maintain. If your E-juice is not absorbed quickly enough, the risk of experiencing “dry puffs” and possibly burning your wick is much greater.

This means that E-juices with a higher VG content (70% or more) can cause problems with liquid flow and ruin your coil. So if you have some difficulty with “dry hits” and burnt coils, your E-juice may be the cause. Try replacing your high-VG E-juice with a 50/50 or high-PG variety. 

Of course, high VG is not always a problem. Sub-ohm tanks, for example, are usually very good at handling E-juices with a high VG content and may even work better with them. However, if your tank is not intended for use with that type of E-juice, VG can easily cause problems. 

6. Try an E-juice with less sweetener

If an E-juice contains a lot of sweetener, it can clog your coil. The sugars in the E-juice can caramelize, which sounds very tasty when talking about dessert, but it is also a sure way to ruin coils. The sticky wick cannot absorb new E-juice as well, and if you then vape, the same problems we discussed earlier may occur.

Although the problem is most often related to sweeteners, there are many different E-juices that tend to clog coils. Coffee E-juices and heavier, dessert-inspired E-juices, for example, often cause problems, but there are others as well. Generally, E-juices with a darker color are more likely to affect your coils than clearer juices.

If you are dealing with a clogged coil, you can try cleaning the wick. Use water or grain alcohol (or another clear, strong, drinkable spirit—no cleaning alcohol). If you do this, however, you must let your coil dry for 24 hours (or longer). The wick must be completely dry again before it can be used.

When it comes to cleaning coils, however, not everyone agrees. There are not only many methods for doing it, but even a thorough cleaning often does not make the coil reach the same good quality again, especially when you have already tried to use the clogged coil and possibly damaged the wick.

7. Use temperature control 

Vaping with temperature control solves the problem of burnt coils a little more directly. TC devices track the measurable changes in resistance that occur when a certain type of wire is heated. In this way, the devices make it possible to set a maximum temperature for the coil. When the coil reaches this temperature, the E-cigarette stops delivering power so that the coil does not become even hotter.

If there were a magic solution for burnt wicks, it would be temperature control. When you try to vape with a wick that is not sufficiently saturated with liquid, a TC device will not let you do so. Even if you actively try to burn your wick, you will probably not succeed. Temperature control can therefore solve the problem without you needing to use the other tricks. The only problem is that you then need an E-cigarette that supports temperature control with certain types of wire in the coil, such as nickel, titanium, or stainless steel. These devices are usually rather complicated and cannot really be recommended for beginners.

Save money and protect your taste buds 

It may seem like there is quite a lot to keep track of here, but this is definitely a topic where it is worth investing a little extra time. Protecting your coils is important because every burnt wick means that you are wasting money. Here, you cannot go back: If the coil is burnt, you have to replace it. This applies especially when you forget to “prime” your coil and consequently ruin a completely new coil. And regardless of the cost, it is also surely something you do not want to experience again once you have tasted the fine flavor we described in the introduction.

If you want to enjoy your E-juice, get the most out of your coils, and avoid the taste of a burnt wick, it is a good idea to keep this advice in mind when using your E-cigarette.