Why Are My Vaping Coils Turning Black?

Guest post by Smoking Things.

The following content is a guest post. All content and opinions offered in guest posts are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of this site.

If you’re like most vapers, you probably switched to vaping in part because of how much cleaner it is than smoking. Vaping leaves no smell on your clothes or in your home and car. If there’s anything that the rise of sub-ohm vaping has shown us, though, it’s that vaping definitely isn’t perfect. The flavours and sweeteners in e-liquid don’t vaporize fully; they leave residue on your coil. The more e-liquid you use, the more quickly that residue forms – and a modern sub-ohm tank goes through e-liquid extremely quickly. That’s why, more often than ever, new vapers are turning to the Internet to find out why their coils are turning black.

The black film on your coil is something that vapers call – not too affectionately – coil gunk. In this article, we’re going to explain what coil gunk is and what you can do about it.

What Is Coil Gunk?

Coil gunk is the carbonized remains of e-liquid additives such as flavours and sweeteners. You’ll see it beginning to form after you drain your first tank or take your first several pulls from an RDA with a new coil. As you continue to vape, you can watch as the coil turns from silver to brown – and eventually to a deep, glossy black. If you’re a heavy vaper, your coils may transition from silver to black in less than 24 hours. As the crust on your coil becomes thicker, you’ll notice these symptoms.

·       

At first, every e-liquid tastes a bit sweeter. That’s because the sweeteners in your e-liquids are building up on your coil rather than vaporizing fully. The concentrated sweeteners make your e-liquids taste more like candy. It becomes more difficult to taste delicate flavour notes.

·        As the residue becomes thicker, it starts to caramelize. Your e-liquids begin to taste less sweet and take on a distinct “burned sugar” note. Changing flavours does little to help; all of your e-liquids start to taste the same.

·        Eventually, the layer of coil gunk becomes so thick that it restricts the capillary action of your cotton wick. Even though your coil appears wet, you begin to feel irritation in your throat as if you’re getting dry hits. At this point, your coil is toast – it’s time to replace it.

What Causes Coil Gunk?

Almost everything in an e-liquid – including the vegetable glycerine that most e-liquids contain – leaves some residue on a coil. Some e-liquid ingredients, however, encourage the formation of coil gunk more quickly than other ingredients. Minimizing your usage of those ingredients can help you prolong the life of your coils – but be warned that getting serious about reducing coil gunk may require you to stop using many of the e-liquid flavours that you love. If you don’t want to do that, this list will at least help you understand why your coils are turning black.

·        Sweeteners such as sucralose cause coil gunk more quickly than any other e-liquid ingredient. That – along with the sub-ohm vaping trend that causes vapers to consume so much e-liquid – is why coil gunk is a more common issue today than it was in the past. Almost everyone loves sweet flavours, and e-liquid makers have responded to that demand by sweetening most of their products.

·        Natural tobacco extracts often contain tiny solid particles that collect on a coil and form a layer of crust. If you like NET e-liquids, it’s wise to ask the makers about the filtering processes they use. Although filtering doesn’t remove all of the solid matter from a tobacco extract, it does help. A poorly filtered tobacco extract will kill coils very quickly.

·        Many vapers find that high-VG e-liquids cause coil gunk much more quickly than e-liquids containing mostly or all PG.

·        Some flavouring compounds may contribute to the formation of coil gunk. E-liquid manufacturers guard their recipes closely, though, so it’s difficult to say which flavours are the culprits.

What Can I Do About Coil Gunk?

There are three things that you can do about coil gunk. The first thing that you can do is accept the fact that as long as you’re using sweetened, high-VG e-liquids with high-power vaping hardware, coil gunk is a reality that you can’t avoid. If you don’t want to change anything about the way you currently vape, you’ll just have to change your coils when the layer of residue becomes too thick to ignore.

If you want to take a more proactive stance against coil gunk, you’ll need to change something about your e-liquid or vaping setup. As we mentioned above, e-liquid ingredients such as sweeteners, natural tobacco extracts and vegetable glycerine promote the formation of coil gunk. Simply avoiding sweetened e-liquids can drastically improve coil life. Unflavoured e-liquids are even better; if you use unflavoured e-liquids, your coils may last weeks before you’ll need to replace them.

If you love your favourite e-liquid too much to consider using anything else, the other way to reduce coil gunk is by switching to a vaping setup that consumes less e-liquid. A pod vaping system or small vape pen designed for mouth-to-lung inhaling uses drastically less e-liquid than a box mod with a big sub-ohm tank. If you continue using the sweetened e-liquids that you’re using right now, you’ll still deal with coil gunk after switching to a lower-power vaping device. It’ll take much longer for the gunk to form, though, since a lower-power device uses less e-liquid. To switch to a smaller vaping device without compromising your satisfaction, you should also consider increasing the nicotine strength of your e-liquid. Since you’ll find it easier to maintain the blood-nicotine level that your body expects, you’ll use your vaping device less often – and you’ll find that you don’t have to replace your coils so frequently.

About the Author

SmokingThings.com is a new online vape shop that wants to be your one-stop shop for your favorite e-liquids. Smoking Things carries a growing selection of vape juices and offers a 10 percent discount to all new customers with the coupon code FIRST10.