Vape Coils Explained | Need To Know

Your vape coils are arguably one of the most important components in your device which can really enhance your vape experience. It can determine the flavour, inhale and amount of vapour.

Back in the early days of vaping you would just get a disposable tank which had a coil pre fitted. With this you got what you were given, no room to change it for massive clouds or a richer flavour. And we thank the vaping tech genius’ for giving us the option to change coils and even build our own.

In this coils guide, I’m going to take you through all the coil chat that you need to know. We will talk rebuildables and pre built coils – to suit your RTA/RDA and your regular tanks. We take you through how to clean them and how to know when they are done.

If you are new to vaping don’t feel overwhelmed by all the chat on rebuildables. As a newbie you might be able to skim that stuff and focus on the pre built coils.

Vape coil types

There are two types of vape coil at the very top of the food chain. These are pre built coils and rebuildable coils.

Prebuilt coils

Pre built coils come already packaged. They can come out of the box and go straight in your kit (providing they’re compatible of course). Some of these coils can fit in your RDA/RTAs, while others are just suited to your box mods, starter kits and so on. Premade vape coils still have different materials and resistances, but more on that later.

Rebuildable coils

Rebuildable vape coils are made by the vaper from scratch. You’d probably be doing this if you were a more advanced vaper looking to really enhance your experience. This requires a little know how when it comes to science and ohms law which we cover in our Sub Ohm Vaping guide.

Coil type materials

So, top of the food chain are the types of vape coils, which are pre built coils and rebuildables (homemade). Then under those headings you have your materials. The different materials used in the coils makes for a different vape experience.

These materials will have a different effect on flavour, cloud and lifespan of the vape coils. When you build your own coils the various metal and material options for your vape coils will have different properties.

So, what are these materials?

Ceramic

Ceramic can withstand very high temperatures as it doesn’t conduct heat so well as other materials. This means that the lifespan on the coil can be increased and that you won’t burn your cotton leading to that throat on fire, foul tasting, dry hit. They can also tolerate high wattages, so are an ideal choice for those using high powered devices.

Ceramic coil users say they don’t experience so much spit back. This is because any e-liquid in the coil has to move through the ceramic to get into your mouth. The tiny pores in the material help prevent juice from pooling in the coil, which can lead to spit back.

One last note on ceramic is that it has great flavour and a super smooth inhale because of the increased surface area on the porous material.

Vaporesso writes “As compared to other coils, ceramic coils are self-cleaning, meaning you are spending less time on maintenance and more time vaping.”

We like the sound of that!

Mesh

Mesh coils are a strip of metal (usually stainless steel or Kanthal) with has a large surface area with holes punched in it. This material is in both prebuilt coils and you can also use it in rebuildables.

The biggest advantage of a mesh coil is the large surface area which means fast ramp up time, more vapor and richer flavour. The mesh coil is also reported to last longer as it needs less power to get the best performance.

Wicking material

The wicking material is used in a rebuildable and can be anything from cotton, silka wick, rayon wick, ceramic wick to stainless steel wick. Cotton and rayon carry e liquid well, whereas while stainless steel is durable, it doesn’t carry the juice and is better for MTL builds.

Back in the day clearomizers used to use silka wick, the advantage over cotton is that it doesn’t burn when it is dry. It is one of the most durable materials for building vape coils, that could easily last months with the right care.

Rayon is one of the fastest wicking materials, even faster than cotton! While cloud chasers might love this, the downside is that because it is a synthetic fiber some vapers say it has a slightly plastic taste.

Titanium

Titanium wires are known for being soft and malleable. This means that they are nice and easy to twist, move and cut. Vapers review them as having a clean and crisp vape. However, there are some safety concerns. Titanium is a more flammable material than say, stainless steel or ceramic. After all, it is used in fireworks! This material should only be used in devices where you can control the temperature.

Stainless steel

Stainless steel is a tough old metal. It is also really versatile when it comes to building your own vape coils. They are easy to form and hold the shapes well. As a bonus, you’ll be able to use wattage mode or temperature control, giving you the best of both worlds.

Kanthal

You’ll find this wire used in both pre built coils and homemade vape coils. They’re known for their dense vapor and for being soft, durable and easy to mould into shapes. You can only use kanthal coils in wattage mode. However, mouth to lung vapers will enjoy the higher builds and lower ramp up time for long slow draws.

Nickel

Nickel is one of the softest of the wires, which can actually make it hard to form and keep its shape. It can be frustrating when you have mounted the coil and it deforms when you’re wicking. It can only be used in temperature control mode. However, this material is easy to come by and the flavour is good – but is it worth the collapsing coil frustrations?!

Nichrome

Nichrome has a fast ramp up, holds its shape well and is nice and easy to work with. It has a lower resistance and melting temperature than Kanthal wires. This does mean that you need to be careful dry burning your vape coils. We suggest that you start low and pulse them, with gradual increases.

Pre built coils vs homemade coils