Hacking Your E-Cigarette: Getting More From Your Vaping Experience

Guest post provided by eCig One.

Vaping technology has evolved at a breakneck pace since the modern e-cigarette appeared a little over a decade ago. You can buy almost any e-cigarette that you find in any store with full confidence that it will work as advertised and provide a good – perhaps even great – vaping experience. With any gadget, though, there’s room to tinker – and where there’s room to tinker, there’s room to improve. If you want to improve your vaping experience, read on. We’re going to share four methods for hacking your e-cigarette.

Clean and Re-Wick Your Coils to Make Them Almost Like New

If you use a sub-ohm tank, you know that there’s nothing like the flavor of a completely new coil. Installing a new coil means that – for at least a few days – you can taste the pure flavor of your e-liquid with no distractions and no burned sugar taste. The newness fades quickly, though, as residue collects on the coil and the wick begins to darken. Did you know that you can re-wick your pre-made coils? In some cases, it may even be possible to clean the heating wire. Re-wicking your coils is easy, and it’s a great way to save money. Here’s how to do it.

Disassembling the Coil

Begin by removing the metal cap from the bottom of the coil. Under the cap, you’ll find a rubber insulator. The ring separates the heating wire’s positive and negative leads. When you reassemble the atomizer coil, you must return the insulator to the same position to avoid a short circuit. Push the heating wire and wick out through the top of the atomizer coil. Unroll and discard the cotton wick.

Cleaning the Heating Wire

You’ll probably notice that the heating wire has a dark layer of residue. You can attempt to clean the residue from the wire, or you can simply re-wick the wire as it is. If you elect to clean the wire, try soaking it in hot water or a strong alcohol such as vodka. Some people clean their used heating wires in ultrasonic cleaners. When the wire is clean, dry it completely.

Re-Wicking the Coil

To re-wick your coil, you’ll need a pad of Japanese organic cotton. Cut the cotton to create a strip as wide as the coil is high. Wrap the strip tightly around the coil. Your goal is to use enough cotton to fill the chamber of the atomizer coil completely without using so much cotton that you have difficulty reassembling the coil. Push the coil and wick back into the chamber of the atomizer. Return the insulating ring to its original position between the positive and negative leads of the heating wire. Replace the coil’s bottom post. At this point, you can prime your coil and resume using it. Before vaping with the coil, use a resistance tester to confirm that you reassembled the coil correctly.

Eliminate Dry Hits With Pre-Made Coils

The pre-made coils for some vaping tanks have their cotton wicks packed so tightly that they tend to restrict the flow of thick, high-VG e-liquids. You’ll get frequent dry hits with tanks that have this issue; the SMOK TFV8 Baby is particularly notorious for producing dry hits with thicker e-liquids. Before you ditch your tank, try doctoring a coil with a sewing needle. Simply push a few holes through the wick openings on the sides of the coil, fluffing up the cotton a bit as you go. Opening the wick can help thick e-liquids flow through to the heating wire more quickly, eliminating your dry hits.

Give Unsweetened E-Liquids a Try

Aside from vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and nicotine, sucralose must be the most popular e-liquid ingredient today. Sometimes it feels as though every American e-liquid maker realized simultaneously that the easiest way to sell a lot more vape juice is to make each one taste as sweet as candy. We get it; many people never truly outgrow their love of sweets, and vaping allows you to indulge your sweet tooth without worrying about your waistline. There’s just one problem: sucralose is murder on vaping coils. It’s the top cause of the coil gunk that burns the back of your throat and makes everything taste like burned caramel. Did you know that vegetable glycerin actually tastes pretty sweet on its own? Likewise, many e-liquid flavors taste sweet even without added sweeteners. Even if your e-liquid preferences lean toward the sweetest of candy, slushie and donut flavors, seek out a company that makes unsweetened e-liquids and try a few bottles. You may ultimately decide that you don’t miss the sucralose at all – and your coils will probably last twice as long.

Don’t Assume That Open Airflow Is Ideal

Today’s typical sub-ohm tank has a wide mouthpiece, huge airflow vents and a large coil with several heating wires. Your average vaping tank, in other words, produces vapor clouds big enough to alter weather systems. We know how fun it is to fill a room with those big, creamy clouds. If you think about it, though, what are you really inhaling when you use a tank with a wide mouthpiece and huge airflow vents? That’s right – much of what you’re inhaling is plain, unflavored air. Wouldn’t you rather inhale your e-liquid? Try closing your tank’s airflow collar a little and lowering the wattage of your vaping device. If you want to take this experiment even further, find an 810-to-510 adapter and replace your tank’s original wide mouthpiece with a narrow 510 drip tip. You’ll find that the narrow drip tip further focuses the flavor by helping you hold the vapor in your mouth longer before you inhale it.

About the Author

Jason Artman is the owner and author of eCig One. Through his website, Jason offers freelance writing and SEO services to sellers of vaping supplies, e-liquid and CBD products as well as vape shops and companies in the legal cannabis industry.