How to change and prime a vape coil

When should you change your coil?

There is no universal lifespan, but several signs make it obvious when it is time to swap the coil. The clearest one is a burnt taste (dry hit) : the cotton is partly charred and can no longer recover. Other warning signs usually show up before you get to that point.

• •A burnt taste that sticks around, even after refilling the tank
• •Thinner vapor even though the wattage has not changed
• •Flavor that turns flat or off, often described as 'metallic'
• •Heavy gurgling with liquid spitting up into the mouthpiece
• •Juice running out unusually fast (the cotton is saturated and no longer holds liquid)

With moderate use, a coil typically lasts 1 to 3 weeks. Past 30 to 40 ml of e-liquid vaped, the cotton loses its wicking ability even before any burnt taste shows up : swapping it preventively is good practice.

What you need before you start

No special tools are required, but setting up your workspace keeps things clean.

• •The new coil that is compatible with your device
• •Paper towel to wipe up excess juice
• •Your bottle of e-liquid for priming
• •A container to pour out any liquid left in the tank

Steps to replace the coil

The exact process varies a little from model to model (screw-in, push-fit, or magnetic coils), but the main steps stay the same.

1. 1Power off the device and empty the tank as much as you can to avoid spills.
2. 2Unscrew or disassemble the tank depending on your model, then remove the old coil by unscrewing it or pulling it out, according to how it is fitted (screw-in or magnetic).
3. 3Inspect the inside of the tank : wipe away any caramelized juice residue with paper towel.
4. 4Take the new coil out of its packaging. Double-check it is compatible with your device before going further.
5. 5Prime the coil before fitting it (see the next section).
6. 6Screw or click the primed coil into the tank, fill it with e-liquid, then close the tank back up.
7. 7Wait before firing : the wick keeps soaking once the tank is full.

Why and how to prime a new coil

Priming is the most critical step. The cotton in a new coil is dry : if you vape it straight away at full power, the heat from the wire burns the cotton before the juice has had time to soak in. The result is immediate and permanent : a forever burnt taste and a dead coil.

The goal of priming is to manually saturate the wick before the first puff, so that when the coil heats up it does so on material that is already wet.

Step-by-step priming

1. 1Find the wicking ports on the body of the coil (the side holes and sometimes the opening in the center at the top). These are where you can reach the cotton directly.
2. 2Drip 3 to 5 drops of e-liquid onto each visible wicking port. Wait a few seconds between drops to let the cotton soak it up without overflowing.
3. 3Fit the coil into the tank and fill the tank all the way up.
4. 4Let it sit on its side for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not skip this : this is when the cotton soaks all the way through.
5. 5Before firing, take 3 to 5 gentle pulls through the mouthpiece without pressing the fire button (dry puffs). This draws juice up through the wick and finishes saturating it.
6. 6Power the device on and start at a low wattage, below the range the manufacturer recommends. Take 4 to 5 short, light first puffs.
7. 7Step the power up gradually over the first 10 to 15 minutes until you reach your usual setting. This break-in protects the cotton while the last dry spots finish wicking.

Mesh coils vs classic coils : priming differences

Mesh coils (with a metal mesh strip) have a larger heating surface than classic wound-wire coils. That shape changes the priming approach slightly.

Classic coils (kanthal, nichrome wire)

The cotton is fairly dense and soaks up juice pretty quickly. 5 to 10 minutes of rest after filling is usually enough, as long as you saturated the side wicking ports well first.

Mesh coils

The mesh covers a wider area, so there is more cotton to soak. Give it at least 10 to 15 minutes of rest, or even 20 minutes for dual-mesh coils or large-capacity tanks. Dry puffs are especially useful here to wick evenly across the full width of the cotton.

The mistakes that burn out a new coil

Most coils that burn out early do so because of a handful of repeated mistakes.

• •Vaping without priming : the most common and most expensive mistake. Dry cotton burns in a matter of seconds.
• •Not waiting long enough : 2 minutes of rest is not enough. The juice has to reach the core of the cotton, not just the surface.
• •Firing at full power right away : even with the cotton well soaked, too harsh a thermal shock at startup can weaken the coil.
• •Forgetting to fill the tank before the break-in : dry pulling with no juice in the tank draws nothing up.
• •Running a coil with very thick juice (100% VG) without an extended prime : high-VG liquid soaks into the cotton more slowly.

Checking that the swap worked

After the break-in, your vape should be back to its usual quality : thick vapor, clean flavor, no off taste. A faint factory taste (plastic, metal) on the very first puffs is normal and clears up within a few minutes.

A burnt taste right from the start, on the other hand, means the prime was not enough. In that case the coil is done : keep vaping on it and you only make the damage worse, with no way to bring it back.