A healthier alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes and available with zero-nicotine e-liquids, vaping devices can be used to help smokers beat their cravings and kick the habit, or simply for a pleasurable puffing experience!
If you’re new to the world of vaping, however, you might be trying to figure out what some of the terminology means. To help you uncover the mysteries of vape coils, here’s a brief guide:
What is a coil?
As one of the most important parts of an e-cigarette, the job of the coil is to heat the e-liquid up inside the vaping device, and turn it into vapour. Coils for Oxva and other branded devices, are wrapped around the wicking material in a spiral shape, before being secured into place within the atomizer head, connecting the batteries positive anode to the negative.
When you start using your vaping device, the wick is soaked in the liquid, the battery is switched on to heat the coil, and the e-liquid in the wick is vaporised. Then, the vapour makes its way up the tank chimney ready for you to inhale.
Made mostly of stainless steel, while some vapers who are a bit more experienced and use mod kits for the purpose of sub ohm vaping, may create their own setups with the coils, most vapers buy them readymade.
Are atomizer heads the same as coils?
Also referred to as coils, atomizer heads include the coil, casing and wick, and are usually found at the bottom of the tank where the wick is able to properly absorb the e-liquid when being used. Keeping a pack of replacement atomizer heads handy is a good idea for ensuring you can always enjoy vaping, even when the coil needs to be replaced. Simply remove the old coil with the wick and casing, and pop the new one in its place.
Coil configurations
Available in configurations of single, dual, quad-coil and so on, this indicates whether a coil has a single wick and single coil wire, or two wicks and two coil wires etc, to heat up the liquid inside the device.
Using less of the battery’s power, single coils make it easier for experienced vapers to build them as part of their mod kit, while coils of two and above, typically produce bigger vapour clouds and a significantly more intense flavour. However, this is really more for sub-ohm vapers. Speaking of which…
What are ohms and sub-ohms?
The coil inside the vaping device has a specification of ‘ohm’ on it, helping you to know the coil wires electrical resistance. In general, vape coils are enjoyed by the majority of vapers at a resistance of 2.5ohms. Coils with lower ohms give more vapour and an intensified flavour, but use up more of the battery’s power to do so than those with a higher ohm. Conversely, vaping devices with high ohms give less vapour, use less of the e-liquid for a less intense flavour experience, and use less of the battery’s power.
Sub-ohm vaping refers to when someone vaping does so with a coil that has an ohm resistance of less than 1, for bigger vapour clouds and bigger hits of flavour. For sub-ohm vaping, you’ll need to purchase a certain battery or mod from Wildfire vape that’s compatible with low ohm coils.
Will I need to replace the coil?
Fortunately, while coils do need to be replaced every month or so, once the e-liquid flavour starts to fade, doing so is pretty straightforward. Simply purchase some atomizer heads or replacement coils in a packet (they may be labelled as either), take out the old coil, and insert the new one. Just be sure to buy the right coil for the right device.
To find out more about vaping, visit your local vape shop and chat to the staff there, or check out some of the guidance you can find on the internet from online retailers.