Vaping your favorite herb can be a divine experience. However, it can get sour when you take a puff out of your precious vape pen only to get a burnt taste in your mouth and the back of your throat. There are several reasons your vapes might be tasting burnt.
If you use a vaping device like a rechargeable vape pen or a disposable vape, you might experience this once in a while. As unpleasant as this is, it has some easy solutions when you know the issue. This article will highlight the most likely reasons your vape tastes burnt and how to prevent and fix the issue.
Why Does Your Vape Burn Your Throat?
Puffing a burnt hit can be a very unpleasant experience. That awful feeling you get in your throat after taking a puff can almost turn you off from vaping completely. Vapers love the tasty and cooling vapor they get after a draw. However, some minor oversight in your vape’s care or handling can lead to a burnt taste and an awful sensation at the back of your throat.
There are several kinds of carts suchs as thc carts & delta 8 carts.
For several reasons, your vape could be emitting a “burnt” vapor that can give you a sore throat and send you into a feat of coughing. Burnt hits are often a result of a dry wick. This is when the cotton wick in your vape is not well saturated with e-liquid. Although there might be other possible causes, this is by far the most likely.
After puffing on a burnt hit, you might also have to deal with having an awful taste on your tongue for the whole day. It can even damage your vape coil in some cases. These burnt hits are awful and can happen with nearly all kinds of vapes. There are a couple of reasons this happens with your vapes. However, you can completely prevent burnt hits if you know how to use and care for your device correctly. Before we go explore the causes and possible fixes of burnt hits, what are dry hits?
Burnt Hits Vs. Dry Hits
It’s common among vapes to use these terms interchangeably. However, they are not the same but refer to two different things. Dry hits are no fun, but they are not nearly as unpleasant as burnt hits. Often, a person vaping might get a sensation of a “dry” hit. A dry hit will taste less flavorful than your regular hit. Also, you will exhale less vapor when experiencing a dry hit. This is likely to happen when the wick of your vape’s coil dries up a little. If you keep on taking dry hit after dry hit without fixing it, you’re much closer to experiencing the nastier burnt hit. Dry heat is often a warning sign of an impending burnt hit. What causes this chain of events?
What Causes a Burnt Hit?
Vapes work when you power the atomizer. The atomizer then heats the vape juice and transforms it to vapor. When there’s not enough vape juice in your device, the coil begins to burn the wick instead of heating the e-liquid. When the cotton wick is heated, and a vaper draws that vapor, that’s what leads to a dry hit. Here are some likely reasons for your vape tasting burnt.
Empty Tank
The most likely reason you’re getting burnt hits is due to a dry wick caused by an empty tank. If your wick does not have enough saturation due to inadequate vape juice, the ports will be exposed when air is drawn. Thus, instead of the atomizer heating your vape juice, it ends up heating the coil so much that it burns the wick. When you draw from this pen, you essentially take in the smell of burnt cotton, which can be quite awful.
High Wattage
Exceeding the wattage limits when using your vapes can lead to severe issues. If the wattage is too high, it might cause the e-liquid to vaporize at a quicker rate. When this happens, the wick might not be able to absorb more juice at the same rate, thus leading to a dry hit vape. Even with vape juice, the coil can burn the wick if the wattage is too high. Therefore you must stay within the stipulated wattage levels for your vaping device.
Chain Vaping
Chain vaping refers to taking continuous hits on your vape pen without pausing. While this is an enjoyable practice for many vapers, it can spoil your experience if you are not mindful. If you practice chain smoking, it gives your wick only no time to absorb more e-liquid before the next puff. Therefore, the coil burns out the wick, and the wick becomes dry with no juice to vaporize. With chain vaping, you can tell when a burnt hit is coming. You’ll need to set your device down for a while to let the wick soak when you notice a slightly roasted taste in your draw.
Your Choice of e-Liquid
There are several types of e-liquids you can use in your vape pen. Some of these e-liquids are inexpensive and can cause issues for your vape pen. Also, e-liquids with a high concentration of VG are more viscous than low VG juices. Thus, they do not absorb the wick easily. Depending on your vape tank, you may or may not be able to use high VG e-liquids. While some devices are compatible with high VG liquids, many are not and need just 50% PG to work.
Using Old Coils
Using old vape coils might lead to issues such as a burnt hit. You should change the coil of your rechargeable vape pen at least once in three weeks. Afterward, you should replace it with a new coil to prevent burnt hits.
Cold Weather
Sometimes, a temperature change might affect how your vape pen works. Often a drop in temperature might increase the viscosity of your e-liquid. When it becomes so thick, the coil can clog, thus resulting in a dry hit.
Improper Priming of Coils
You need to prime the coil when getting your device ready for its first use. How to prime your vape’s coil will differ from device to device. However, priming your coil is essentially saturating your wick with e-liquid. To ensure you never get a burnt hit, you must prime your coils properly.
How To Prime Your Coils & Prevent Burnt Hits?
Knowing how to prime your vape’s coil will go a long way in determining your vape’s longevity and effects. Priming your device’s coil might be slightly different based on the device. Let’s explore how to prime the coils of some of the most popular vapes on the market.
Priming Vape Tank Coils
Most vape tanks come with replaceable coil heads and are usually primed similarly. You’ll need to repeat these simple steps whenever you need a coil replacement on your vape.
- Dissemble your vape tank and take out the old coil.
- Remove the new coil from its pack.
- Locate the wicking holes on the coil and pour about 3 to 4 drops of e-liquid into them.
- Assemble your vape tank and fill it with vape juice.
- Screw the tank to your device’s mod and set it aside for some minutes.
- You could inhale from the top of the tank to speed things up.
- If your vape mod can adjust wattage level, try out the lowest recommended wattage to run your device. If necessary, you can gradually increase the wattage until you reach the ideal wattage level.
Note that some e-liquid might pool on the coil after this princess. Thus, there might be some spitbacks with the first few puffs. However, if this continues to happen after a while, there’s a way out. If you’re using a device with variable wattage, increase the wattage of the vape pen slightly for a few puffs. Ensure that you don’t go above the recommended upper wattage level.
How to Prime a Refillable Pod
Priming refillable pods is super easy since you do not have to take out the coil from the pod. These kinds of pods usually come without any vape juice in them.
- Pour your preferred e-liquid into the pod.
- Attach the refillable pod to your vaping device.
- Allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
Try inhaling the pod to drive some liquid into the wicks. Ensure you do this without the battery just in case the device is draw-activated. This will ensure that you do not get to experience a burnt hit. Also, when vaping on these pods, try starting with shorter puffs. Taking longer puffs at first might still result in burnt hits even though the wick is highly saturated. This mechanism is similar to raising the wattage levels in an adjustable wattage mod.
How to Tell If Your Coil is Burnt
The one sign that your coil is toast is when you get a burnt hit from your vape. If you can catch it before you get burnt hits, you could still try to see if the burnt taste is gone after a while. However, if the coil is burnt, there’s little you can do to fix it. In such cases, you’d need to replace the coil.
If you catch a burnt coil early enough, you might be able to salvage it. First off, carefully remove the coil and wick from the device. Before removing the coil, ensure you have a bowl of hot water on standby. Drop the coil and wick in hot water for a few minutes. This process helps to break up the debris lodging in the wick.
Afterward, drop the coil in a bowl of cold water to complete the job. If you want to get the burnt taste out and don’t want to change your coil yet, you can wipe the coil with vinegar in hot water. This cleaning method might shorten the lifespan of your coil, however. If you know you primed your coil properly and it’s filled with enough e-liquid, and you’re still getting the burnt taste, there might be other underlying issues. Knowing when to change your coil is something you’d have to learn while using your vape pen.
How Often Do You Have to Change Coils?
Coils are not designed to last forever. As a matter of fact, you have to change them often. There is no fixed duration of time for your coil to last. A couple of factors determine its lifespan. Note that not all coils will give you burnt hits before it’s due for replacement. However, when coils get old, they eventually burn and give off an unpleasant taste. Here are some factors that determine the lifespan of your coil.
Frequency of Use
Your vape’s coil usually lasts up to a certain amount of e-liquid. Although its lifespan is usually calculated in days or weeks, an ideal way to determine its lifespan is how frequently a person uses it. Thus, it’s ideal to establish a coil’s lifespan per ml of juice vaped. The more often you use a coil, the sooner you have to replace it. For persons who consume more vape juice, they have to change their coil more frequently.
Wattage Levels
Your device’s wattage level can play a huge role in the effectiveness and longevity of your coil. If you use a wattage level closer to the highest recommended level, it can put a strain on your vape and shorten the lifespan of your coil. Also, using too low wattage levels might lead to residue accumulation, which might also affect the coil.
Vape Ingredients
The ingredients of your e-liquid might affect the durability of your coil in some way. E-juices containing sweeter juices tend to clog up coils and affect your coil. E-liquids with a high VG ratio are thicker and clog up the coil easier. Coils have no expiry date, but based on the frequency of use alone, they can last for five days to three weeks. If you primed them properly, they are more likely to last longer. Also, sub-ohm coils may not last as long as mouth-to-lung tanks do.
It’s advisable to preemptively change your coil after a week of frequent usage, even though you’ve not observed any changes. Sometimes, the loss of flavor can happen gradually, and you might not observe it until you buy a new coil and realize how much better your vaping experience is.
Does Your New Coil Taste Burnt?
If you’ve just changed your coil, done all necessary, and still get a burnt taste, you might have a bad product. Given the sheer number of coils available these days, some bad coils will undoubtedly be on the market. Perhaps due to an error in manufacturing or some other fault, you might end up with a broken coil that doesn’t work. If this happens, try buying a new one, preferably at a different shop. This way, you’re less likely to get another dud if it was a batch problem.
Some Ways to Prevent Burnt Tasting Vape
No one wants to experience burnt or dry heat. Besides what we have discussed above, taking these specific steps may help reduce your chances of experiencing a burnt hit.
-
Keep the Vape Tank Full
One of the fundamental rules of vaping- always ensure that your wick and coil are submerged in e-juice. Those small holes around the sides of the coil must always be submerged in e-juice and should not be exposed. Your device will have a line indicator of the minimum recommended juice level. Going below this line might lead to terrible experiences as the coil won’t have sufficient vape juice to vaporize.
If your tank does not have this indicator, you must always ensure to refill your vape juice when the levels are low. Remember to prime the coils when filling your tank, and ensure that the coil head remains completely submerged.
-
Replace the Coil
Changing your coil often will guarantee you better vaping experiences all the time. As we stated earlier, coils do not expire. However, they will eventually get worse after being in use for a while. If your coil gets burnt, you’ll need to replace it to get rid of the burnt taste. Even though it may not result in burnt hits, the coil will need replacing.
Due to consistent use, a coil may have a buildup of some products like sucralose sweeteners. This buildup may adversely affect the wick’s effectiveness, affecting your wick’s absorption rate of e-liquid. This is why, after a long while of using the same coil, you might begin to notice that your hits are less flavorful. Sometimes, your e-juice might just have a weird taste for no reason. When this happens, it’s best to change the coil.
-
Use the Right Wattage
Using the right wattage level for your vape cannot be overemphasized. If your tank is full and every other thing is in place, and you get a burnt hit, you might want to check your wattage level. Using your vape pen with a higher wattage level than recommended can lead to problems. Coils often come with a recommended wattage level on the packaging. The manufacturers of these products give these recommendations so that you can enjoy vaping optimally. Using too-high wattage can cause your vape juice to vaporize at a higher rate. This can lead to your wick drying up as your coil will not be able to sustain enough e-juice to keep the wick wet.
Also, it’s best to start using your vape with a lower wattage than the one the manufacturer recommends, just to be safe. If you’re starting a new coil, start with a lower wattage and work your way up until you find your ideal spot.
-
Prime Your Coil
Priming your coil is an important step before vaping. Every time you change your coil, or you get a new vape, ensure to prime the coil before use. This involves soaking the coil and wick materials until they are saturated with e-liquid. Your coil head has several port openings on the sides, exposing the wick. To prime your coil, simply add 3 to 5 drops of e-liquid directly to the exposed wick until it is soaked.
After this, then you can go ahead to fill your tank. Before taking the first puff with your vape, make sure the wick is completely saturated with e-liquid. Alternatively, draw on the vape and “suck” liquid into the coil. To do this, you must ensure to take out the battery if your device is draw-activated. However, you need to be careful with this method as it can flood your wick with e-liquid. Some devices now come with auto-priming capabilities. These devices ensure that your wick stays saturated by automatically drawing juice into the wick after every puff.
-
Use the Right VG/PG Ratio
If you’ve used a vape pen before, you’re conversant with PG/VG ratios. VG refers to vegetable glycerin, while PG refers to propylene glycol. A high VG vape juice will contain more vegetable glycerin and thus have a higher viscosity. This means that such an e-juice will have a thick consistency. Your vape’s wattage and the coil size determine the ideal VG/PG ratio for your vape. Smaller vape pens usually come with coils with smaller heads. For such coils, a high VG liquid can lead to wicking problems. This is because the thicker liquids may clog the small coils causing wicking issues that will result in getting burnt hits. For smaller coil heads, use less viscous juice with higher PG.
Also, it’s best to use e-liquids with a high percentage of PG for vape coils operating with lower wattages. Just glancing at your coil can tell you the suitable PG/VG ratio your device needs. Larger coils will do well with higher VG levels, while higher PG liquids are better for smaller coil heads. If the problem continues, try adjusting the concentration of your e-juice until it gets better. Using the right nicotine strength would also make your vaping experience better.
-
Avoid Chain Vaping
Many vapers chain vape to get the most out of their vaping sessions. Some people chain vape due to low nicotine levels in their e-juice. However, there are several disadvantages to chain vaping. Chain vaping involves drawing puff after puff from your vape device without dropping your device. This can lead to your vape juice becoming severely overheated. This would then lead to the juice vaporizing quicker.
When this happens, the coil is not given enough time to recover and soak in the liquid. This results in a drier wick that might give you a nasty burnt taste. This can easily turn you off and ruin your vaping session in a second. To avoid this burnt flavor, draw slower and longer puffs from your vape. Then, ensure that your vape pen rests for about 10 to 20 seconds after every session before going in again. This will help the atomizer or wick to soak up more liquid before you draw again. Taking timed primer puffs without the battery present is also a great way to avoid these unpleasant hits.
-
Unclog Your Wick
Colored juices and juices with high sweetener content are hard to resist. However, these kinds of e-liquids can caramelize and clog up your wick. This doesn’t mean you should avoid those kinds of juices, though. It just means you must be extra committed to frequently cleaning your wick. Dark-colored juices are tasty and will very easily clog up your device. If you frequently use such juices, ensure to rinse your coil frequently. This helps to keep it unclogged and prevent incidents of dry hits.
-
Use Temperature Control
Some vaping devices available in the market allow you to set a temperature limit for your coil. Temperature control vapes are able to track the physical changes that occur when the coil elements are overly heated. When it confirms the changes, the device “knows” that the temperature is too high and immediately stops power from entering the device. With TC devices, you cannot vape with a device that has insufficient juice. So, even if you were trying to burn your wicks on purpose, you cannot achieve that goal with a TC device. If you have a TC device, you wouldn’t have to worry about adhering to the other recommendations on this list.
-
Use Smart Mode
Some vaping devices have a smart mode to set your minimum and maximum wattage. Depending on the device, it might also suggest the ideal wattage for your coil.
Conclusion: What Makes A Vape Burn Your Throat?
It can be downright nasty and discouraging if you’re a newbie vaper and have had your first experience of a burnt hit. However, this article shows that there are easy ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Vaping is fun and is much safer than smoking. There are several kinds of weed vapes that you can try like thc vape pens.
So, to keep it enjoyable, you have to change your coils often and observe other tips we’ve listed here. If your vape tastes burnt, there are a couple of reasons why that might be. All in all, a simple change of coil can do the trick. Just remember to prime the coil first.
