Why Does Your Vape Taste Burnt? Find Out Here

Mar 12, 2024Updated Sep 17, 20266 min readVape School

Few things ruin a good bottle of vape juice faster than a harsh, burnt hit. The good news is that a burnt taste rarely means your device is broken. In almost every case, the wick inside your coil has dried out and scorched.

Here is why that happens, how to fix it, and the habits that keep your coils tasting fresh for longer.

What a burnt taste means

Tanks, pods and disposables all work in much the same way. A wick, usually cotton, soaks up vape juice and feeds it to a metal coil that heats it into vapor. When the wick can’t keep up, the coil heats dry cotton instead of liquid, and you get the acrid, scorched flavor vapers call a dry hit.

Once cotton is scorched, the taste usually stays. With a stock coil or pod, the fix is a fresh one. With a rebuildable atomizer, you can pull the old cotton and re-wick. Either way, work out what dried the wick in the first place so the next one lasts.

The most common causes

Chain vaping

Taking puff after puff without a break doesn’t give the wick time to soak up more liquid, so the coil gets ahead of the cotton. Pause for a few seconds between puffs. If you find you can’t stop puffing, your device or nicotine strength may not suit you, and our nicotine strength guide can help you find a better match.

Skipping the priming step

A brand-new coil has dry cotton. If you fill the tank and start vaping right away, the coil can scorch the wick before it is fully soaked. Many vapers blame a faulty coil when it simply wasn’t primed. The steps are below.

Too much power

Every coil has a recommended wattage range, usually printed on the coil or its packaging. Vaping above that range, or at the very top of it with thick juice, heats the coil faster than the wick can refill. This is most common with sub-ohm tanks, where it is tempting to turn the power up. Start at the low end and work up slowly.

Letting the tank run low

When the juice level drops below the wicking holes on the side of the coil, the cotton can’t pull in liquid anymore. Refill before the level falls below those holes, and keep an eye on it during heavy use. With pods and disposables, a sudden burnt taste often means the liquid is nearly gone.

Very sweet vape juice

Sweeteners don’t vaporize cleanly. They leave a dark, sticky residue on the coil, often called coil gunk, that clogs the wick and shortens coil life. If you love dessert and candy flavors, expect to change coils more often, or alternate with less sweet flavors.

Juice that is too thick for your coil

High-VG vape juice is thick and wicks slowly. That works well in sub-ohm tanks with large wicking holes, but in a small pod or mouth-to-lung coil it may not soak the cotton fast enough. If you get dry hits in a small device, try a thinner 50/50 juice. Our guides to PG and VG and 50/50 e-liquid explain the difference.

A worn-out coil

Coils don’t last forever. Depending on how much you vape, your wattage and your juice, one can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Muted flavor, dark gunk on the coil and a burnt edge to every puff are all signs it is time for a new one. See when to change your vape coils for more.

How to prime a new coil

Priming takes a few minutes and is the easiest way to get more life from every coil.

1. Check that the coil fits your tank or device, and note its recommended wattage range.
2. Drip a few drops of vape juice onto the exposed cotton in each wicking hole, plus a couple down the center of the coil.
3. Install the coil, fill the tank and let it sit for at least five minutes. Give thick, high-VG juice a little longer.
4. If your device has a fire button, take a few gentle puffs without pressing it to draw liquid into the cotton.
5. Start at the low end of the wattage range and take short puffs for the first few minutes before turning it up.

With a refillable pod, fill it and let it sit for a few minutes before your first puff.

Habits that keep coils tasting fresh

• Keep the juice level above the wicking holes.
• Give the wick a few seconds between puffs.
• Stay inside the coil’s wattage range.
• Match the thickness of your juice to your device.
• Rinse your tank when you change coils or flavors. Our guide on how to clean your tank shows how.
• Lock or switch off your device before it goes in a pocket or bag, so it can’t fire by accident.

For rebuilders

If you build your own coils, a burnt taste can also come from wicking that is too tight or too loose, cotton that doesn’t reach the juice channels, or hot spots on the coil. Before wicking, fire the coil and check that it glows evenly from the center out. Once the cotton is in, never fire it dry.

Flavor choice matters as well. In the Zamplebox Club, you rate flavor notes when you set up your profile, so if very sweet juices keep gunking up your coils, you can rate notes like candy and cotton candy lower. You can also browse all our flavor categories to find your next bottle.

Common questions

WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. For adults 21+ only.