What is Wax Pen
Wax Pens Quick Definition
A wax pen, aka wax vape pen or wax vaporizer, is a type of vaporizer. It is an electronic device designed for vaporizing wax substances. More or less, wax pens are comprised of a battery, a heating chamber aka wax coil, and a mouthpiece. Usually rechargeable, the battery attaches to a heating chamber or coil where the wax is packed and eventually vaporized as the coil gets super hot. This subset of vaporizers became popular due to the growth in demand for wax concentrates. Ripping dabs via dab rigs of some sort is one option for consuming wax, but the easiest and most popular way is a wax vaporizer pen. Looking to buy one? Browse our wax pens for sale!
Things to know about Wax Pens
1. Wax Can Get Messy
Wax is sticky and sometimes it can get onto your wax pen during a vapor session, especially if precautionary measures are not taken. For example, always leave your wax vape pen standing upright, especially right after vaping. If you don't wax may leak out. When the wax is heated it becomes fluid like, and if you leave it on its side, the hot wax will flow up the coil walls and out the mouthpiece.
2. Replacement Wax Coils Are a Fact of Life
The wax coil or chamber will not last forever and it will need to be replaced. Just like all vapes, batteries long term eventually die out, but the heating chambers and wax coils will be replaced more often. Wax seeps everywhere and loading the wax coil should be done with caution. Avoid poking the coils directly. Do not get the wrong impression, get yourself a wax vape and expect to enjoy it for awhile. But we're just saying, if you vape every day, and especially if you over pack and pack aggressively, you will eventually need a new coil.
3. Wax Coil Types
The wax vape pen is the general name to described the overall unit. But the heating chamber or coil component is what heats and vaporizes the wax. From model to model, the coil types can and will vary. Even the same vape pen can be equipped with different coils. There is wick wrapped with metal coils, ceramic and quartz rod coils plus other types of heating atomizers. Pancake style coils like the ones found in the AGO Jr are also popular. Quartz coils, dual quartz coils for that matter have become the most popular for dabbing on the go with your vape pen. The SteamCloud Wax Cartridge is currently one of the more popular models.
Wax Pen Vape Accessories
1. Dab Tools
Wax is super sticky and it can be very difficult to handle, especially in warm conditions. You should avoid using your hands and instead use the dabber. Not only will your fingers remain sticky-free, but the dabbers are designed to help load heating chambers and coils with precision. With the end of the dab tool, just scrape, cut or finagle a small piece and handle it so that it can be properly, and gently loaded onto the coils.
2. No Stick Containers
Another no-brainer, must have product if you are dealing with wax. DO NOT use any sort of stash container that is not, non-stick. In a plastic bag and some other containers, sticky wax residue can get lost and left behind on the surfaces. Get a proper jar or container to avoid wasting valuable product. The average storage jar for wax is great and very portable - they can be left in the freezer or brought along with the vape while traveling. Many silicone wax jars in the market will have separate compartments for the various flavors you may have. A dab tool with a no stick silicone storage jar will be the best decision you ever make - regarding this sort of stuff obviously.
Tips and Tricks for the best experience
1. Store your wax in the freezer
Read all about wax concentrates in this research paper on concentrates, but it is sticky! So how can we make loading your wax vape pen easier? Well, store the sticky stuff in the freezer. The cold temperature will keep the stickiness at bay, at least until the stuff warms up again, and that happens quick. So just keep it in the freezer and when it is time to pack the vape, take it out, chip off a small piece, and load the heating chamber or wax coil. This will likely make things a lot easier if you have not yet tried it.
2. Keep the Vape Upright
Take a tub of ice cream and turn it sideways once you remove it from the freezer, not much happens - instead wait an hour for it to melt and then turn it sideways. The melted ice cream will likely flow towards the top and make its way outside the container. This is exactly what happens when vaping wax concentrates. Especially after a nice vaping session, if there is still product in the chamber and you lay the pen down sideways, the melted waxy substance is going to naturally flow to where ever possible - and in this case it will flow up and out of the chamber and into the mouthpiece and likely some will make its way outside the vape to make things even more sticky.
3. Replacement Coils
A main difference between wax vapes and the average herbal vaporizer is the replacement heating chambers. Crumble, shatter and the rest can be very sticky and messy. Whether a Micro vape or something super high quality like the Saber Vape, over time, the coil may burn out or become damaged from handling and loading with dabbers. You know what is worse than a coil burning out right after it was packed -- the burnout occuring without a backup coil. Having a replacement wax coil will go a long way and it will eventually be utilized. Plus if you really like the taste of your flavors, the different coils allow you to keep the flavors separate. Looking for fresh coils? Shop for vape coils now!
4. Check the coil before packing
Naturally this tip comes after tip number three. If you want to avoid loading a burned out coil, just test the coil each time before it is loaded. No sense in wasting any wax concentrates if you do not need to. Want to learn more about loading wax coils and using wax pens? Checkout our blog post on how to use a wax vape pen!
Common Coils found in a Wax Pen Vape
When referring to wax coils for your vape it can often be interchangeably used with the terms heating chamber or atomizer. Technically the coil is well, the actual coil, the part that heats up. And there are other components too, there is the ceramic dish, the chamber or metal stem, plus the other electronic components that make the connection to a battery. But in general terms the wax coil is the component that connects to a vape pen battery and is then loaded with wax. Also note, we'll be pointing out not only the structural types of coils, dual coil versus pancake, but also, we'll start with the different materials used to vaporize.
1. Wick Coils
Wax coils started here.Cotton wicks can be at the core of some of the best atomizers for e liquids, so it only makes sense the concentrate industry started here. Within this atomizer type, small bundles of cotton are wrapped with a metal coil that heats when powered up. Although still used today, there are other materials that have pushed into the market and gained share.
2. Ceramic Coils
At least within the concentrates space, ceramic is usually considered an upgrade from the wick. Users note a better, more pure taste that is never tainted - in the past, some have complained of a distorted vapor taste, potentially due to the wick. The ceramic first came in the form of ceramic rods wrapped with metal coil, but now other styles exist such as the ceramic donut coils.
3. Quartz Coils
From ceramic to quartz coil material went a step further. In terms of burn, taste and purity, users seem to vote quartz as number one. It makes sense and they have become very popular. As of now, you'll find quartz rods wrapped with coil and often there can be several in the same atomizer.
4. Single Rod coils
In concentrate land, the rods seem to be the most popular and after all, both ceramic and quartz got their start in the form of a rod. The single rod typically sits in the center of a ceramic dish. The rod is wrapped with coil and when powered up, the coil heats and vaporizes the wax, immediately giving off vapors.
5. Dual Rod Coils, Triple Rod
To really deliver a satisfactory dab hit, users demanded more power, and they got it. Dual rods means 2 rods wrapped in coils within a ceramic dish or chamber - and that means DOUBLE the heat and power of a single rod - with two, you can get closer to a true dab hit. And by the way, you can even find triple rods coils or potentially more!
6. Pancake Coils
It looks how it sounds.The style is a flat, circular-spiraled coil that sits at the bottom of a heating chamber or coil dish. The style gets great reviews but for some reason it is not more popular or common.The pancake coil, depending on the vape pen, can also be used to vaporize dry herbs which is something that should not be done with rod coils.
7. Donut Coils
Similar to the pancake style, the donut sits a the bottom of a heating chamber or coil dish. But the donut is all ceramic sitting in a ceramic chamber or dish. The Donut is one of the latest coil variations in the market, it has gotten good reception but still is not as popular as the quartz rods.