Dry Hits are the Worst When Vaping

Everything you need to know about dry hits when vaping

If there's one thing that all vapers around the world can agree on, it's definitely that dry hits are the worst experience you can have during a normal vaping session. No matter how experience you are as a vapes or how careful you are about it, a dry hit can always creep up on you when you least expect it.

Vapers often wonder what a dry hit is. A dry hit is the moment when you pull on an atomizer or cartomizer that's not fully saturated. This lack of saturation causes the heat to warm up the actual wicking material, burning or charring it slightly and bringing an extremely unpleasant flavor into your mouth. Although wicking materials are almost always unflavored, burnt wicking material tastes like the bottom of a used ashtray. Lack of wick saturation can be caused by many different factors, but there are just a few common problems that plague vapers more than the rest. Each of these factors can be more prevalent depending on the type of device in use. 

For e-cigarettes, the most common cause of dry hits is a lack of e-juice in the tank. If there is only a little bit of e-liquid left in the tank, then even less will be pulled up into the wicking material when puffing on the vape. Because e-cigarettes artificially limit the airflow per pull to simulate the feel of a traditional cigarette, far less liquid gets pulled up to the wick than in any other device. Low juice levels mean this level is getting restricted even further, increasing the chances for a dry hit.

Portable vaporizers often struggle with the same problem of not having e-liquid in the tank, but other causes often plague users. Similar to the problem of lack of e-liquid, users can inadequately prime the wick. This means the wick is not fully saturated prior to the first hit, leading to poor or dry hits. Incorrect power level settings can often cause too much heat to get to the e-liquid. Instead of heating the e-liquid to the proper temperature to vaporize, the heat singes the liquid before vaporizing it. This gives that dreaded burnt taste. This problem can also occur when vapers don’t properly warm up their devices, giving a sudden shock of high temperature to the coil instead of gradually letting it warm up.

MOD users struggle the least with dry hits, though the problem still exists. Usually only new MOD users will experience dry hits, as they have not correctly tuned the MOD to their preferences. As with portable vapes, there is a tendency to input too much power to the device, leading to charring and singing. This in turn leads to dry hits. Furthermore, vaping style changes from regular vapes to MODs. MODs require much larger hits, and new MOD users are not used to that style. By not taking huge pulls, extra liquid is left on the wick. The next pull from that device will be using the leftover liquid, which has been sitting in heat for longer than necessary. The hit from that liquid will be burnt. Fortunately, these problems correct themselves as users become more experienced.
Dry hits are a problem that can be easily remedied by being mindful about vaping practice. Don't forget to power your vape correctly, and make sure e-liquid has fully saturated the wick. Your taste buds will thank you for it.