A fresh coil makes e-liquid taste cleaner and clouds feel fuller, and then one day a deep pull comes back dry or carries a foul taste that lingers. That is the coil wearing out. Premade coils are unpredictable: some keep going for a month or longer, while a few give up within days, though that is uncommon. Around two weeks is the usual figure.
Three things set the pace. How often you vape matters, daily use being harder on a coil than occasional use. So does wattage, with lower settings generally lasting longer, and so does the juice itself, since sweet custards and other dessert flavors tend to be thicker. The habits below help you get the most from each coil.
Stay inside the coil’s wattage range
No single wattage is right for every device. Set it too low and you can burn the coil by underpowering it while overusing it; set it too high and the liquid burns off faster than the coil can take it in. The recommended range is engraved on the coil’s side wall, and some coils also carry a “Best Vape At” figure. You do not have to use that exact number. Keep within the range and the coil should manage two weeks at minimum, possibly more.
Prime every new coil
Swapping in a new coil and firing it straight away at your old wattage is tempting, but skipping the prep can shorten its life. Priming takes only a few minutes:
- Discard the old coil and screw the new one into the tank base.
- Dab e-liquid onto the wicking ports along the side and onto the small cotton circles on top.
- Attach the base and coil to the upper part of the tank, then fill it.
- Stand the tank upright for a few minutes so the cotton can soak.
- Begin at roughly half your usual wattage. Someone who normally vapes at 120W would begin at 60W.
- After the first few puffs, step up by about 7-10W at a time until you are at your preferred level.
Those few minutes can add days, or even weeks, to a coil.
Keep liquid in the tank
With a small tank it is easy to run dry without noticing, and the reminder is usually an unpleasant dry hit. Top up when the level falls to about a quarter. Resist the urge to vape out the last drop before switching flavors. To change juice without blending the two, take the coil out, rinse the tank, let it dry and then fill it with the new liquid.
Pause between puffs
Chain vaping means taking hit after hit with no gap for the coil to cool. It is a hard habit to resist when you find a flavor you love; ours is Black Orange Crush from Dinner Lady Summer Holidays, reviewed here. An overheated coil leaves the cotton unable to draw in juice, so the next puff is harsh and dry and sets off a coughing fit. Keep it up and the cotton can scorch. Burnt cotton goes black, and every bit of liquid passing through it afterwards picks up that taste.
The fix is to wait about 3-5 seconds before the next puff. That gap is enough for the coil to cool and the wick to re-saturate.
Wash the tank
Residue collects in a tank and holds a device back from performing at its peak. Dusty or windy surroundings such as a construction site, a beach or a warehouse leave dirt around the airflow slots, at the tank’s base and inside the chimney. E-liquid adds its own share: vaporized juice often leaves a thin film that accumulates over time, clogs the coil and makes fresh liquid harder to vaporize.
Our guide on how to put eJuice in a vape touches on sanitizing a tank. Boil some water, or run the faucet as hot as it goes. Take the tank apart, set the coil to one side, and lower the tank parts carefully into the water. Give them half an hour or more, then drain slowly and put the tank back together.
Coils themselves can be cleaned too, but doing so adds only a few days. If yours seems close to finished, keep a spare ready for the moment you know it needs changing.