You expect top-quality flavor every time you puff on your vape – so if you’re new to vaping and have never experienced a burnt vape before, it’ll be a bit of a surprise to you when it happens for the first time.

Although vapes are capable of producing incredible flavor quality, one unavoidable shortcoming of the technology is that no vape coil lasts forever. That’s due to a combination of factors including heat-related stress, residue from your e-liquid and the way you use your device.

So, why does your vape taste burnt? We’ll start by examining the causes, and then we’ll continue by discussing what you can do to fix, prevent or delay a burnt vape in the future.

Are you using a disposable vape? Scroll to the bottom of this guide to find troubleshooting steps for your specific device.

What Causes a Burnt Vape, and What Does It Taste Like?

A vape can taste burnt for three reasons. We’ll discuss the three causes and what they taste like before continuing with the solutions.

• Overheating Coil: This happens when your coil dries out – either because your tank or pod is empty or because your vape’s power level is set too high. When your coil overheats, you’ll experience an extremely harsh flavor that might make you cough, and it’ll happen with little or no warning. In the case of severe overheating, it’s possible for the wick to burn. This ruins the coil’s flavor permanently.
• Burnt Wick: A vape coil uses a fabric wick – usually made from cotton – to deliver e-liquid from the reservoir in the tank or pod to the coil’s heating surface. The fabric can burn, and that causes the coil to produce a persistent foul taste that may trigger a scratchy sensation in the back of your throat. A coil’s wick can burn immediately if the coil severely overheats. The wick can also degrade over time due to repeated heat stress.
• E-Liquid Residue: As you use your vape, the sweeteners and flavors in your e-liquid can cause residue to build up on the coil’s heating wire. The residue becomes thicker over time as you continue vaping, and how quickly it grows depends primarily on how sweet your vape juice is. At first, the residue causes your vape to produce an exaggerated sweet flavor with a slightly caramelized tinge. As the residue thickens, though, the flavor eventually starts to taste burnt and smoky.

Now that you understand the reasons for a burnt vape, let’s explore the solutions. It isn’t always possible to fix a burnt vape, but it is possible to at least delay it and maximize your device’s flavor quality for as long as possible.

How to Fix a Burnt Vape That’s Overheating

If you experience a harsh “dry hit” when vaping, it means that your coil is overheating. In this case, the first thing that you should do is release your device’s fire button or stop inhaling immediately. A dry hit doesn’t have to cause permanent damage to your coil, but damage will probably occur if the coil overheats for longer than a fraction of a second.

After you stop vaping, here’s what you should do next.

• Check to confirm that your tank or pod still has e-liquid in it. If your vape is empty, refill it. In the future, don’t allow the level of e-liquid to go below the wick openings visible on the side of the coil.
• If your vape isn’t empty, you might have your device set to a power level that’s too high. Reduce the wattage.

How to Fix a Burnt Vape with Damaged Cotton

This picture shows a disassembled vape coil with a damaged wick due to overheating.

If you experience a persistent foul “burnt t-shirt” flavor when vaping, it means that your coil’s wick is damaged from heat. In this case, you’ll need to replace the coil because there’s no way to fix burnt cotton. You can prolong the life of your coils and help prevent the wicks from burning, though, by always following these two tips.

• If your vape has adjustable wattage, always set it to a moderate power level. When you buy a box of coils, you’ll see a recommended wattage range for the coils printed on the box. If you like to take very long puffs, you’ll need to set your device to the low end of that range.
• Follow the steps in the previous section to ensure that your coil won’t overheat.

Even if you do everything right, it’s important to remember that every vape coil burns out eventually. There’s no way to prevent your coil’s wick from failing due to heat-related stress. However, it is possible to make a coil last several weeks if you treat it well. For that to happen, though, you may need to make some changes to how you vape. We’ll discuss that next.

How to Fix a Burnt Vape with E-Liquid Residue

These three pictures show show vape coils that taste burnt because of sucralose residue or “coil gunk.”

Preventing the wick from burning is important if you want a vape coil to last as long as possible, but that’s not the primary reason why a vape usually begins to taste burnt. The main culprit is generally e-liquid residue, which can form in as little as a day or two if you’re a heavy vaper and use very sweet e-liquid.

How can you tell if residue is why your vape tastes burnt?

• You’ll detect a caramelized flavor when the residue begins to collect on the coil’s heating wire. The flavor will become stronger as you continue to vape, and it’ll eventually start to taste burnt.
• When you remove the coil from your device, you’ll see the dark residue on the heating surface.

If you have a coil that tastes burnt due to residue, you can try cleaning the coil with water to rinse the residue away. In some cases, cleaning can restore some of the original flavor and allow you to continue using the coil a while longer. The only way to completely restore your vape’s flavor, though, is by replacing the coil.

Although there’s no way to completely fix a coil that’s burnt due to e-liquid residue, there are two steps that you can take to prevent the residue from forming or at least delay it.

• Try using an e-liquid that’s either unsweetened or only slightly sweet. Sucralose is the biggest reason why residue forms on vape coils, and that’s because it burns when it’s heated instead of vaporizing cleanly. Take a look at this video to see what happens when sucralose comes into contact with a heat source. That’s exactly what happens inside your vape when you use sweetened e-liquid. If you switch to something that doesn’t include sucralose, your coils will last dramatically longer.
• If you don’t want to switch to unsweetened e-liquid, try using a small pod system with lower vapor production. Residue will still form on your coil, but it’ll take longer to form if you don’t use as much e-liquid. If you’re currently using a larger vape mod, bear in mind that you’ll probably need to start using an e-liquid with a higher nicotine strength if you switch to a device that produces less vapor.

Disposable Vape Tastes Burnt? Here’s What to Do

A disposable vape can taste burnt for all of the same reasons as a refillable vape. The troubleshooting process is a little different, though, since you can’t refill a disposable vape or replace the coil. It’s possible in some cases to make a disposable vape not taste burnt; here’s what you should do.

• Make sure the device isn’t empty. If a disposable vape tastes badly burnt every time you puff on it, it’s probably out of e-liquid and in need of replacement.
• If you’re using a disposable vape with multiple power levels, decrease the power. Although a disposable vape shouldn’t produce a burnt flavor when you use the higher power level, it will produce much larger vapor clouds. You may interpret this as a burnt taste due to the higher level of intensity.
• If you’re using a disposable vape with adjustable airflow, make sure that the vent isn’t closed. A closed airflow vent is the most common reason why a brand-new disposable vape tastes burnt.
• Are you chain vaping? Wait a little longer between puffs to give the e-liquid adequate time to redistribute itself throughout the device’s wick.
• Are you using a disposable vape with a very sweet flavor? As we explained above, sweetened e-liquid will cause a dark, sticky residue to form on your vape’s coil. This happens even with disposable vapes, although it should only happen when the device is almost out of e-liquid anyway.