If your Vape Tastes Burnt - Learn Why Here

Top Reasons Why your Vape Taste Burnt

There is not much worse than a vape leaving a bad taste in your mouth. Particularly when the bad taste is literal. Whether you are vaping dry herbs, wax concentrates, or oils, a burnt taste can affect the vaping experience. This nasty taste can be caused by any number of things. To help you figure out what makes vapor taste so horrible and burnt, check out the following list of reasons why and the best ways to avoid them.

Dry Firing an Empty Vape Tank

If you rushed to start vaping and tried heating any vape tank for oil or e juice, specifically those with wick coils, this is likely the contributor to your burnt flavor you are now experiencing. By dry firing a wick coil you can very easily burn the wick which is wrapped in the metal coil. Wick coils are particularly affected by this behavior because they are meant to soak in the oils or juice before being heated. Regardless, quartz or ceramic can also burn out, however, you can dry fire those without worry. But once burnt, a coil will need to be changed out to remove the dirty, burnt taste. However, be advised that depending on the extent of the damage and the type of vape tank in question, removing the coil may not be possible. In this case, you will likely need to replace the entire vape cartridge. Make sure to take your time and avoid dry firing.

Temperature Setting is too High

Another symptom of becoming overeager or simply careless. For very much the same reasons as dry firing, sending too much power to your coil is going to send extreme heat and can cause the vapors to taste burnt. This will destroy the flavor and ruin your coil – if not the entire cartridge. You can also overload the coil - too much power will burn it out completely where you won’t get any heat. it out as it quickly overheats. The best thing to do before using your vape is to check the proper heat/power settings registered with your particular cartridge or oil. Different types can withstand different power/heat levels.

Too much Consecutive Heating

Just like too much power and heat too quickly will burn out your coils, so will taking too many hits repeatedly without letting them cool off. So, first off, remember that different coils have different levels of resistance. Make sure you know what your coil can handle. Second, make sure to give your coil a rest in between hits – especially powerful, hot ones.

Vape is too Powerful

This is usually a problem of too little research into your vape/cartridge. Some vapes are designed to provide a substantial amount of wattage, aka power to the cartridge, and this is problematic if your cartridge is not built to withstand that kind of power. If the vaporizer outclasses your vape cartridge, there is really no way to avoid the burnt flavor without getting a different cartridge or vape. However, these powerful batteries, often referred to as Box Mod Vapes have variable settings, and when adjusted to the lowest setting, they are suitable for just about any cartridge – so just pay attention to the settings and make sure to read carefully what tolerances the products you purchase can handle.

No More Oil, Wax or Dry Herbs Left

This is probably the simplest issue to diagnose. We have all been there and no one likes to be wasteful – but make sure to be careful about the amount of power/heat you’re putting on your coil. It is a good idea to consider cleaning out the ‘leftovers’ before adding any more dry herb or concentrate to avoid any burnt flavorings.

Used and Abused Vape Coil

As mentioned earlier, your coil can burn out from any number of reasons – most related to overpowering or excessive heating to the point of burning. When this happens, there really is no going back or reviving the coil. However, even if you have not completely destroyed your coil by dry firing or overheating, there is still the possibility that residue on the coil is burning up in your vape. This buildup will cause similar flavor problems – this issue is most pronounced in wax vape pens, and at this point, you just need to change your vape coil.

Bad Coils or Vape Cartridge

Let’s face it – it is not outside the realm of possibility that the quality of your coil or cartridge is just not that good. Especially when browsing for bargains, there is an issue of quality when it comes to different pieces of vaporizer hardware. Beyond that, vape tech has evolved to the point where there are much cheaper vaporizers being produced using older, less reliable technology. Take a fiber wick coil, for example. They have almost exclusively been outpaced by the quality of ceramic or quartz but they are still available. And not all of them are made of quality cotton fibers. Make sure to do your research and ensure that you are purchasing quality products from reputable vendors (regardless of the price being offered).

Vapor Pathway Resin

You will want to make sure that you keep all parts of the vape clean and ready to use. One overlooked area can be the pathway the vapor takes to the mouthpiece. Because vapor is much cleaner than smoke, many vapers forget to keep this area cleaned as regularly as the stickier, nastier parts of the vape. But, humidity and temperature can really cause this part of the vape to get a little nasty. Not to mention, the stickier and thicker your concentrate, the more resin can be produced in the vapor. Just keep an eye out when cleaning your vape to avoid having this destroy your vaping experience.

Bad Vape Oil or Wax

While not the most common issue it is still something to think about – especially after checking everything else off this list. You might just simply have a bad batch or have purchased subpar qualities products. Try seeing if the oil or wax tastes as bad in another device and, if so, you know you need to replace it. Otherwise, you are putting yourself at risk for more than bad flavor.

How to Get Rid of Burnt Taste

There is no universal way to rid yourself of the burnt taste. As noted in each of the examples above, there can be a variety of reasons for a burnt vapor taste, and there is a proper way to go about rectifying the various situations. If you have burned out your coil, you should probably look into replacing it (or the entire cartridge).  Or, if it still operates, you might simply need to press less on the heating button and allowing for more ‘breathing room’ in between particularly powerful hits to avoid overheating. Maybe, you need to replace the batch of oil or wax. Whatever your problem is, if you address it and continue to experience bad flavor then you need to move onto the next issue. Sometimes, particularly with bad maintenance, you may be experiencing a few of these issues all at once and need to remedy them one by one.

Vape Taste Tip Prime the Heating Chamber and Vape Coils

This DOES NOT go for wick coils found in oil or wax vapes. But for dry herb vaporizers, wax pens and oil vapes with ceramic and quartz heating elements, it is always a good idea to prime your heating chamber and vape coils. Particularly for dry herb, it is helpful to heat the chamber on high while empty for a few minutes to make sure everything has been burned off and is clear. Doing this in between vape sessions will be helpful after having cleaned out what residue might be there beforehand as well. With wax pens, this is also a useful tool – unless you are still using a wick coil in which case this will burn your coil. Most wax pens, however, now come equipped with either a ceramic and quartz coil. If that is the case with your wax pen, it is recommended you prime the chamber to remove residues and other things that might affect the flavor.

Related Blog Posts

Who is Storz And Bickel

G Pen Nova Vape Review

Vape Cartridges - How to Avoid Burnout and Last

How Do I Avoid Dry Hits while Vaping

Oil Cartridge Vape Troubleshooting Problems and Solutions