How to avoid Vape Bar burnout

Are you getting a dry hit from your disposable vape? Does your puff bar taste burnt? We’ve compiled this handy troubleshooting guide to help you navigate the pitfalls of vape bar burnout.

Whether you’re using a sophisticated sub-ohm mod with all the bells and whistles, or a simple and discreet disposable bar, a dry hit is a risk that all of us vapers take every time we take a puff. It takes us by surprise, and the nasty burnt taste seems to linger, so we want to do everything we can to avoid it.

If you’re new to vaping, and using a disposable device, this is likely to be your first experience with a dry hit. You’d be forgiven for thinking that your vape bar is broken, but that’s not necessarily the case.

Our helpful customer service team have seen a rise in the number of queries from new vapers about this new burnout phenomenon that they’re experiencing. The popularity of disposable vaping devices has gone through the roof in recent months, so it only makes sense that new users would need some advice.

We’ve compiled a list of all the reasons why your puff bar is experiencing burnout. We hope you find it a useful reference point the next time you get caught out with an unpleasant dry hit.

How does my disposable vape work?

In order to fully understand how to avoid vape bar burnout, you should first have a basic understanding of how your disposable device works.

Your vape bar contains several key elements:

The main body contains the electronics and battery needed to heat the e-liquid and turn it into vapour. Battery capacity is denoted as milliampere hour (mAh); the higher the mAh, the longer the battery life between charges. Of course, with disposable vapes, there is no charging option, so the manufacturer will ensure that the mAh is sufficient to last you until the e-liquid runs out.

The top of the device contains the drip tip (the part you inhale the vapour from), the tank (where your reservoir of delicious vape juice is stored), and the coil.

The coil is the heart of any vaping device. It acts as the heating element that, when provided with an electrical current from the battery, heats the e-liquid to the point that it becomes vapour. Coils can vary in complexity, depending on the vaping device they’re intended for; however, broken down to their simplest components, they all do the same thing.

The wire of the coil is wrapped around a ‘wicking material’ - in a simple device like a disposable vape, this wick will be made from cotton.

The wick absorbs the e-liquid within the tank, and the coil vaporises this liquid from the saturated material when the button is pressed, or the user draws on the drip tip, to activate the battery.

What is a dry hit?

A dry hit happens when you draw from your vaping device and there's not enough juice on the wicking material. Rather than your tasty e-liquid, you get a mouthful of burnt cotton. Yuck!

In refillable vape devices, the first port of call is to check that there is actually vape juice in the tank. Even the most experienced vapers occasionally forget to refill!

However, with disposable devices, you don’t have that option. In nine out of ten cases of vape bar burnout, the reason is simply that the tank is out of juice, and it’s time to start a new one.

If, however, you’re sure that there should be some e-liquid left, there are a couple of things you can do to try and resolve the dry hit issue.

Give the wick chance to resoak

If you’ve not been off the ciggies for long, you will still be in the habit of lighting a cigarette and quickly smoking it, hit after hit, to avoid wastage.

New vapers, especially those that are using e-cigs to help with a social smoking habit, tend to take a while to break this habit. They take multiple vape hits in quick succession, rather than stopping to assess if they’ve satisfied the nicotine craving.

The trouble with this style is that you’re not giving the wick a chance to resoak in between hits. If you vape all of the liquid contained within the coil, without giving it a chance to soak up more juice, you will end up sucking on burnt cotton.

Countering this is simple. After you’ve taken a couple of puffs, put the device down and leave it a minute before you go in for another draw.

Change the position of the vape bar

If the tank is nearly empty, you might need to just tilt the device, or tip it upside down for a while, to make sure you get the last of the juice into the coil.

Also, if the wick is getting to the end of its life, it might not be soaking up the liquid as well as it did at the beginning. Just letting it sit for a while could enable it to absorb the last precious drops, and give you a bit longer with your disposable device.

Consider that your disposable could be faulty

If the above tips don’t work, and you’re still convinced that there’s juice left in the tank, it could simply be that the device is faulty.

These are electronic devices with multiple components. They are perfectly capable of going wrong every now and again. We only work with the most trusted vape manufacturers, but we would never claim infallibility.

When it’s time to dispose of the disposable

Ultimately, these are disposable vape devices. They aren’t designed to last forever. Once the reservoir of e-liquid is empty, or the battery runs out of charge, it’s time for a new one.

Disposable vape bars are intended to replace the approximate number of puffs you would expect from a packet of cigarettes. However, it still varies from brand to brand. If your current vape isn’t giving you enough bang for your buck, check the other disposable options for one with a larger vape juice volume.

If you intend to permanently replace your smoking habit with a safer vaping habit (which we hope you will), you’ll want to switch up to a refillable vape kit at some point. Not only is it going to be cheaper for you in the long run, it’s also far better for the health of the planet.