Why does my vape taste harsh?
Why does my vape taste harsh?
There’s nothing worse than getting out a fresh coil, priming it with your new juice and taking that long-awaited first drag, only to get that scratchy harsh feeling on your throat. There are a few different things that can cause that harsh feeling, but we’ll go through the most common causes here.
1. Too much nicotine.
Generally speaking, the higher up in nicotine strength you go, the harsher the becomes. If you were a heavy smoker and want to be using the higher nicotine strengths, just without that throat hit, we would recommend switching to nicotine salts. These liquids are much smoother, while still providing a good nicotine hit. To read more about nicotine salts, click here.
2. Burned coil.
As your coil starts to die, the flavour of your liquid usually will degrade alongside it. If your liquid was smooth at first but has gotten harsher, it could indicate that your coil needs to be changed. Make sure when you do change your coil, you prime it before use and run the coil at the appropriate wattage. You can read more about changing and priming a coil here.
3. Steeping your liquid.
If you’re buying shortfill bottles and mixing nicotine into them, a harsh-tasting liquid could indicate the liquid needs to be steeped a little longer. Sometimes after adding enough nic shots for your desired strength, if you don’t mix the liquid enough this can cause the vapour produced to be very harsh. After adding your shots, give the bottle a good shake (for around 30 seconds), and let the bottle sit for a while before filling up your tank. How long you leave your bottle to sit is dependent on how smooth you like your vape. The longer you leave it, the smoother the experience!
4. VG / PG ratio.
The VG to PG ratio can also have an impact on the harshness of your liquid. VG is very smooth, while PG is what causes most of that throat hit. So the higher the ratio of VG you have, the smoother the vape will be. Similarly, the more PG you have, the more throat hit you will have. You can read more about VG / PG ratios here.
5. Incorrect wattage/resistance
Each coil has its own resistance, which determines how much power (watts) is needed in order to reach a temperature where the liquid can vaporise. This will also adjust how much vapor is produced, the higher the wattage, the more vapour If the wattage set on your device is too low, the coil cannot reach a temperature to efficiently vaporise your e-liquid, leading to flooding coils, loss of flavour and eventually burning, which can cause that harshness on your throat. Conversely, too high wattage will vaporise your liquid too quickly, leading to a burned coil, and that same harshness. Make sure your device is set to the recommended wattage, this is usually printed on either the coil itself or the packaging it came in.
Another thing to consider is the resistance of your coil for the type of liquids you’re using. For high VG liquids, we would recommend a low resistance coil. This is because the more VG you have, the thicker the liquid is, and the more power is needed in order to vaporise it.
6. Try adjusting your airflow.
Most devices will have some form of adjustable airflow. When this is closed off, it will give you a more restrictive and warmer vapour. More similar to a cigarette. When the airflow is opened up a little more, it allows the air to cool the coil, leading to cooler vapour, and in some cases less harsh.
