The economics of vaping have changed a great deal over the last several years. In the past, e-liquid was the main commodity of vaping and was the product on which vapers generally spent the most money. More recently, though, vape juice has decreased drastically in price. At the same time, vape coils have become much more expensive.
When the first vape tanks with replaceable coils hit the market, the coils were usually sold in packs of five. Today, though, you’re lucky if you get more than two coils in a pack. If you use a vape mod with a sub-ohm tank, it’s likely that you spend more on replacement coils than you do on any other aspect of your vaping setup.
So, how long does a vape coil last? Is it possible that you’re spending more on vape coils than you should? Unfortunately, there’s no short answer to the question of how long a vape coil lasts because a coil may last just a day or two – or it can potentially last several weeks. To know what an appropriate coil life would be for your particular situation, you need to understand the factors that make coils burn out more quickly. By the time you’re done reading this guide, you’ll be an expert.
Vape Juice Has a Major Effect on Coil Life
More than anything else, the vape juice that you use is the biggest factor that can extend or shorten the life of your coils. Many of the flavoring ingredients that are used in e-liquid don’t vaporize fully when they’re heated. That’s particularly true of sucralose, the sweetener that’s used to enhance vape juices with sweet flavor profiles. When it’s heated, sucralose blackens and condenses into a dark film that sticks to your coil. After a while, the film becomes so thick that the coil begins to produce a burnt flavor.
The most important thing that you can do to make your vape coils last longer is switch to an e-liquid that contains little or no sucralose. Naked vape juice is a brand that has a wide variety of flavors available and is known for its coil-friendly blends.
Smaller Devices Have Longer-Lasting Coils
The next thing you need to understand about coil life is that all e-liquid – even if it contains no added sweeteners – leaves residue on a vape coil to a certain extent. The more powerful your vaping setup is, the more e-liquid you’ll consume – and if your device goes through a lot of vape juice, more residue will be left behind. If you’re using a large vape mod with a sub-ohm tank, in other words, you’ll have to replace your coil more often.
The solution for this problem is fairly simple. If you enjoy blowing enormous clouds across the room, you’ll need to accept the fact that your vape coils won’t last very long. If you want to maximize your coil life and spend less on vaping overall, on the other hand, your best option is to switch to a smaller device that operates at a lower wattage and has more modest cloud production. Pod systems and small vape pens tend to have excellent coil life.
Some Vape Coils Last Longer Than Others
If you’re a committed cloud chaser and love the experience of using a sub-ohm vaping device, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of vape tanks on the market today – and the tank included with your device may not be the one that has the longest-lasting coils. Vaping technology has reached the point where it’s probably impossible to increase devices’ cloud production any further. So, instead of developing more powerful hardware, companies have focused on creating vape coils that last longer and don’t require such frequent replacement.
These are the two technological developments that have made the biggest contributions to coil life over the last few years.
- A mesh coil uses a strip of meshed metal instead of the twisted wire that traditional coils use for heating. Because a mesh heating surface has a very flat profile, it makes firm contact with the coil’s wick. Mesh coils don’t have the hot spots that plague traditional coils, and that allows them to last longer because their wicks don’t burn out as quickly.
- Until recently, the vast majority of vape coils had wicks made from cotton. Cotton is a fairly fragile material, though, and it can burn when it’s subjected to intense heat. For that reason, many vape manufacturers have been experimenting with alternative materials that offer the same flavor characteristics as cotton but don’t burn as easily. Some of the alternative materials used in recent vape coil designs include wood pulp, flax fiber and bamboo.
Always Replace Your Coils Correctly
Although e-liquid residue is the most common reason why vape coils burn out, the second most common reason is because their wicks burn – and if you don’t install a new coil properly, the wick can burn the very first time you use it. That’s a disaster because burnt cotton produces an awful flavor, and there’s no way to fix it except by preventing it from happening in the first place. To do that, follow this three-step procedure every time you install a new coil.
- When you put a new coil in your tank, prime the wick by putting a few drops of e-liquid directly on the cotton before you reassemble and fill the tank.
- After filling the tank, let it stand for several minutes. This helps to guarantee full saturation of the wick when you use the coil for the first time.
- If your vaping device has adjustable wattage, set the power to a low level when you begin using the coil. Increase the power slowly to ensure that the coil will be fully broken in when you arrive at your desired wattage.
Avoid Setting Your Device’s Wattage Too High
If you use a sub-ohm vape tank, there’s a good chance that your vape mod has adjustable wattage. If that’s the case, it’s possible to increase the life of your coils by lowering your device’s power level. To ensure that the wick won’t burn, you should set your device’s wattage as low as possible without compromising your satisfaction. Don’t forget that the longer your puffs are, the lower your device’s wattage should be. If the power level is set too high, your coil’s wick may dry out when you take long puffs. That can lead to burnt cotton and a ruined coil.
