My coil/pod tastes burnt

If you keep burning out your coils/pods and are tasting a burnt flavour when vaping; below are some common issues with solutions to help you solve this.

Dry Hitting

Dry hitting is when you press the fire button or vape with low or no e-liquid in your tank/pod. Effectively applying heat to the cotton wick only causes the wicking material to burn, which creates a strange flavour to your e-liquid.

Keep your tank topped up with e-liquid:
It is always good to keep your tank/pods topped up with e-liquid, so when you notice your tank/pod getting below the halfway mark, give it a top-up

Prime your tank/pod:
When installing a new coil or pod, it is always recommended to prime the coil/pod - Fill your tank/pod up with e-liquid, then let it sit for 5min before attaching it to your device and vaping. A good tip is to draw on the tank/pod detached from your device; this helps draw the e-liquid into the coil or pod before applying heat.

PG/VG Ratio

The PG/VG ratio generally plays havoc and can cause a burnt taste in pod kits and devices with small wicking holes on the coils. First, we will go through what is in e-liquid and then explain why this can cause a burnt taste.

All e-liquid contains Vegetable Glycerin (VG) and Propylene Glycol (PG), which makes up the majority of the product. Propylene Glycol (PG) is almost a water consistency, and Vegetable Glycerin (VG) is thick and dense, similar to an olive oil consistency. These base ingredients are mixed at different ratios based on the end-user and the intended device.

If you are using a pod kit or a device with small wicking holes, high VG e-liquid meaning anything with 70% or more VG, may be too dense (thick) for your device. The result is the e-liquid can't freely move through the wicking holes and soak in before you vape, allowing the cotton to dry out and burn. The optimum PG/VG Ratio for pod kits is 50% PG / 50% VG.

E-Liquids with Sweetener

When an e-liquid has a lot of sweetener or dessert-inspired flavours, it can "gunk" up your coils. The sugars in the e-liquid can caramelise, which is delicious if you're talking about eating something vs vaping, but it's also a reliable way to destroy your coils. The gunk-filled wick can't soak up new e-liquid as well, and so when you vape, the cotton drys out and burns.

Stop Chain Vaping

"Chain vaping" means vaping continuously with little to no break between each vape; this can lead to a burnt coil or pod. You need to ensure that your wick can re-saturate with e-liquid before hitting the fire button again or drawing on your device. This isn't a problem in normal use because you'll stop vaping after a short session and give it time to recover. However, if you're continuously vaping for a long period, your coil/pod will eventually dry out, and you risk burning your coil/pod.

Incorrect Power/Settings

This usually applies to mod/tank devices; pod kits are generally fixed wattage devices, so they don't have power settings to adjust.

Most coil/pod packets list the recommended wattage you should set for your device for optimum performance. If you can't locate the recommended settings on the packet, you will be able to get this information from the official website for each brand and coil type. Applying too much power to the coil can burn it out (a good rule to remember is - just because the device goes up to 220 watts does not mean you should be running it on full power).

Under-powering a coil can also lead to a coil burning out. If you are running the power too low, this will probably result in you pressing the fire button longer than necessary, causing the coil and wicking material to burn. Again always run the device in the recommended wattage range for that coil.