Vape Tastes Burnt? How to Fix It

Is your vape burning your throat?

It has happened to all of us: we grab our vape, take a long puff, and instead of tasty soothing vapor, we get a nasty burning taste and an awful throat feeling. Burnt hits are one of the worst things a vaper can experience. And it can happen with almost any vape, from disposable vapes to cloud-chucking sub ohm tanks! It can ruin your day, and even worse, steer you away from vaping. While there are many reasons for a burnt hit, the good news is that most can be avoided.

Let’s examine some of the most common causes of burnt hits and find out what you can do to prevent them.

Burnt hits vs dry hits

Although most vapers use these terms interchangeably, they are in fact two separate things. While dry hits are not pleasant, they are far less shocking than burnt hits. A dry hit will make its appearance as soon as the wick of your coil dries up a bit. You will get less flavor and exhale less vapor, without the nastiness and coughing that come with a burnt hit.

But keep vaping on these dry coils and you are in for a surprize... Think of a dry hit as a warning signal to pay attention to: don't disregard that dry, flavorless vape you took! The burnt hit is coming soon. But why is it happening?

What causes a burnt hit?

Burnt hits are the result of powering an atomizer when there is no liquid or not enough on the wicks. Without liquid to vaporize, the coils start burning the wick, and the user essentially inhales burnt cotton. Here are some of the most common reasons behind burnt hits and some advice to help you avoid them.

High wattages

Vaping at wattages that exceed the coil limits will vaporize e-liquid too fast. When that happens, the coils can burn the wicks, even when there’s still some juice there. Always stay inside the recommended wattage ranges.

Chain vaping

When taking many puffs in a row, the wick will dry up fast. If you sense that a burnt hit is coming, by noticing a slightly roasted taste, put your vape down for a moment. This will allow liquid to cover the dry spots of the wick.

Vaping with high-VG e-liquids

Not all vapes are made the same. Some vape tanks will allow for high-VG juice, while others will often require 50% PG or more to function properly. A good rule of thumb is to check for the size of the wick channels. If the holes are of a small diameter, chances are your tank will not bode well with high-VG juice.

Not priming coils properly

This is probably the most common issue of the list. Priming your coil heads is essentially the process of getting them ready for first use by allowing the wicks to get saturated with e-liquid. If you want to avoid getting a burnt hit, remember to always prime your coils properly.

Prime your coils: stop the burnt hits

How to prime vape tank coils

All vape tanks that come with replaceable coil heads have more or less the same structure and require the same simple steps to get primed. You will need to repeat this process every time you replace a coil.

Take note that you might experience a bit of spitback on the first puffs, due to the extra bit of liquid that may’ve pooled inside the coil. If it doesn’t go away and you are using a variable wattage mod, try raising the power a bit for a couple of puffs—but make sure you don’t exceed the upper wattage limit of the coil, as this will most probably burn it.

How to prime refillable pods

Refillable pod systems will usually arrive without e-liquid in the pod. The process is even simpler for this kind of vape, as you will not be able to remove the coil from inside the pod.

Inhale a couple of times on the pod itself, not while in the battery (just in case it’s draw-activated). This will push some liquid inside the wicking channels and give you some extra safety against dry hits.

When you first begin vaping on a pod, try and take shorter puffs to begin with. Some of the smaller coils need to be broken in a bit before being pushed. If you take really long hits to start, even if the wick is fully saturated, you could get a burnt hit. Think of this as somewhat like slowly raising the wattage on an adjustable power mod.

That’s it. You may now start vaping!

How to tell if your coil is burnt

After a nasty burnt hit, your coil is probably ready to be binned. If you managed to catch it early, you can still give it a go and see if the burnt taste disappears after a couple of puffs. Unfortunately, chances are you’ve already burnt some of the cotton inside the coil, and it will need to be replaced. That taste will not leave if it’s truly burnt!

Burnt hits aside, if you have properly primed your coil and you’re sure that it is adequately fed with e-liquid, you might be wondering why you keep getting a burnt taste out of your vape. While burnt hits are the most common culprits behind a throat burn, they are not the only ones. A coil might be burnt due to a number of reasons, and while the sensation is not as pronounced, you sure aren’t getting the best out of your e-liquid.

Knowing when your coil is done is not a science, but it is a learning process. The more you use a vape tank, the more aware you become of the time you need to grab a new coil out of the box. The first sign will usually be a loss of flavor, followed by a drop in vapor production. Even at that point, you can squeeze a little bit of life out of your coil. But if you are out of supplies, that’s a good time to get some.

How often do you have to change coils?

Coils go bad. Unfortunately, they don’t come with expiration dates: the time your coil head will last depends on a variety of factors. Even if you never had a dry hit, a coil will eventually “burn” after extensive use and taste bad. There is a number of parameters that you will need to consider when trying to estimate the expected lifespan of your coils.

Consumption

A coil is generally good for up to a certain amount of e-juice. The more you use it, the faster it dies. Coil life is sometimes calculated in days or weeks, but the most accurate way to calculate it is in mL—some people vape only a couple of mL per day, while others will consume 10-20 mL or more.

E-liquid ingredients

If you want your coils to last, try to avoid sweeter juices—especially the ones that come in high-VG ratios. Sweeteners are notorious for clogging coils and reducing their lifespan, and the thickness of VG only makes things worse.

Wattages

Vaping on the higher end of the recommended wattage will strain your coils and reduce their lifespan. In effect, your coil is “getting tired” and starts flirting with burnt hits. Vaping on the lower recommended wattages is not ideal either, as it might reduce the life of your coil due to residual accumulation—e-liquid that doesn’t get vaporized might caramelize your coils after some time. Try to stay somewhere in the middle for the best results.

While there is no universal rule in place, most properly primed coil heads will generally last anywhere between five days to two weeks. Coils in mouth to lung tanks tend to last a bit longer than sub ohm coils, due to the smaller amount of e-liquid that passes through the coils in a day—although there are a lot of exceptions to that “rule.”

If you are using your tank regularly and haven’t noticed a flavor drop after a week or so, consider proactively changing your coil. Flavor and vapor production might diminish very gradually and might go unnoticed. In the meantime, you will be vaping on some low-performing coils—get a new coil in the tank and you will be amazed with how much better it tastes.

Does your new coil taste burnt?

If you have properly primed your new coil, but it is giving you a burnt taste—or any weird taste for that matter—replace it. Chances are you got a dud. Not all coils are made equal, especially when you consider the large numbers that are getting produced every day. Some coils are bad out of the box, maybe due to a production error that caused a bad fit or a loose connection. Luckily, it's fairly rare these days for large-scale "bad batches" of coils to be on the market.

That said, if you ever do get a bad coil that didn't perform how previous ones did, it's likely that you'll get more bad coils from that pack. To safeguard yourself from not having any good coils, consider buying more than one box of coils when you re-up. If you can, think about buying the same coils from another shop because it's a better chance the batch will be different.

Beat the burnt hit!