Many new vapers often find their vapes don’t work after several days. Most of the time it is not a quality problem, but rather a problem caused by mistakes that almost all vape newbies usually make.

1. Chain Vaping and Taking Hard Puffs

Results: dry hit (burnt coil/burnt taste)/ nicotine overdose

Many new vapers are ex-smokers. In other words, they tend to take many short and hard puffs. Basically, chain vaping means you puff consistently. Taking many hard puffs is okay if you smoke but not if you are vaping, because the wick in the coil is likely to get burnt if you puff many times in short succession. A pause between two hits can allow the e-juice to re-saturate the wick.  So, if you make this mistake, your coil lifespan will be shortened greatly. Moreover, you will notice a burnt taste and your vaping experience will not be very pleasant.

In addition, if you chain vape you might get too much nicotine in your system and feel dizzy and even nausea. Other symptoms of inhaling too much nicotine are fatigue, constipation, brown urine, dry mouth, dry eyes, extreme thirst, headache or sore throat.

Furthermore, hard puffs will shorten the coil lifespan and. moreover, you burn your coil. This is because you don’t allow the wick (cotton) to re-saturate with e-liquid and instead of vaporizing e-liquid you will end up burning the cotton. This is called a “dry hit”.

2. Wrong E-Liquid

Result: nicotine overdose, Coil Gunk

There are many kind of e-liquids and vape newbies oftentimes choose the wrong ones. Firstly, you need to know about the PG/VG ratio of your e-liquids, flavorings and the nicotine level. Sweet e-juices like dessert flavor can gunk up your coil. This is because sweeteners tend to caramelize and accumulate as residue in your coil. In addition, high VG e-liquids are thicker than high PG ones, which will cause your coil to gunk up much quicker. Therefore, if you like sweet e-liquids, you have to replace coils more often and clean your vape devices more regularly than if you use e-liquids with less sweeteners.

Nicotine is another factor. If you are using a sub-ohm tank, you’d better choose lower nicotine e-juices, or else you may get too much nicotine and experience some side effects.

3. Not Refilling Your Tank

Result: tank leakage

If your tank is under 50% full and placed horizontally, then a dry hit may happen when you puff. This is because the cotton may not be soaked if there is no enough e-liquid in the tank.

On the other hand, the tank leakage often happens when the tank is in horizontal position. The e-juice may leak through the airflow holes or the gap between the o-ring and base hardware.

4. Place Your Vapes Under Extreme Conditions

Results: tank leaking/battery explosion/children

Although vapes are usually safe, they come with batteries that require a proper maintenance. Typically, you should not place the device under extreme conditions, like high temperatures or very cold places. Straight sunlight, stoves or candles are extremely dangerous for your vapes.

If you have kids, you’d better place your vapes in places inaccessible to children. There is a fire button or wattage adjustment button on the vape device, which could be quite dangerous in the hand of a toddler. Make sure your vapes are child-resistant to prevent any unwanted accidents.

5. Never Clean the Tank

Results: weird taste/gunk coil

Have you changed the old coil for a new one but you’ve noticed that it doesn’t work after a few days? This could be caused by a dirty tank that has accumulated residue. If you never clean the tank, the e-juice will caramelize and accumulate in your tank. Clean your tank regularly to avoid this issue. Click here to learn more about how to clean your tank.

6. Vape with Old Coils

Results: no vapor/ burnt taste/damage your vape

New vapers forget to change the coils until they notice the vape doesn’t vaporize effectively or the vapor taste burnt or spoiled. The coil is not designed to last forever, it depends on how much your vape. Less vapor production, burnt taste and spoiled flavor and gurgling sounds are some of the indicators that you should change your coil.

Summary

In summary, these are some of the measures you should follow:

  • Avoid chain vaping or hard puffs.
  • Choose the right e-liquid (sweeteners, flavorings, nicotine).
  • Keep the tank stand.
  • Place the vape in a safe places.
  • Clean the tank regularly.
  • Replace the coil regularly.

This post was originally published on June 5, 2019. It was most recently updated on May 18, 2021.

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1 Comment

  1. I think I was guilty only of laying the device on its side, my LVS cautioned me on the other topics. They went so far as to showing me how to change the coil & disassemble/clean the tank… for a newbie, this was much appreciated at the time?