Even the longest-lasting disposable vape will eventually run out of vape juice. It’s important to know when that’s about to happen because you wouldn’t ever want to be caught without a spare device when your last vape is dry. That’s one reason why there are so many disposable vapes with screens these days – because if your device can tell you when it’s almost empty, that’s going to eliminate a major potential stressor because there’s no need to guess.
Whether your device has a screen or not, though, it’s not actually that hard at all to know when a disposable vape is almost empty because all that you need to do is pay attention to the way the device tastes. Because of how vapes work, the flavor will change drastically when your vape is almost out of e-liquid.
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know.
How Does a Disposable Vape’s Flavor Change When It Is Almost Empty?
When a disposable vape is almost empty, its flavor changes in two ways.
- The overall flavor becomes very muted. The flavor isn’t nearly as bold as it was when you first opened the device.
- You may also notice a bit of an “off” flavor that tastes a bit like plastic.
The reason why a vape’s flavor changes when it’s almost empty is because of the way a disposable vape works. Typically, the e-liquid is stored in a reservoir that’s stuffed with a synthetic fiber filling material. It’s really the fiber that holds the e-liquid; the reservoir is just there to prevent leaking. The heating coil is placed in the center of the reservoir, and the coil is connected to a tube that carries the vapor out of the reservoir when you puff on the device. The coil touches the filling material in the reservoir, and that’s how the coil is supplied with e-liquid.
When you use your disposable vape, the heating coil vaporizes the vape juice held in the surrounding filling material. That leaves the inner portion of the filling dry, so it absorbs more e-liquid from the outer portion of the reservoir. The wicking action continues to supply the coil with e-liquid until the reservoir is nearly dry. When the vape is almost empty, the filling material around the coil no longer maintains complete saturation. That’s what causes the flavor quality to drop. The reason why you can sometimes taste plastic when a disposable vape is almost empty is because some of the filling material that’s touching the heating coil is dry.
An additional side effect of the reservoir drying out is that a disposable vape’s vapor production will also drop when the device is nearly empty. If your device seems to produce smaller clouds even when the battery is fully charged, you can bet that it’s almost out of vape juice.
How Does a Vape with a Smart Screen Work?
If you’re using a disposable vape with a screen, it can be a great enhancement to your experience because the screen will give you plenty of advance warning when your vape is almost empty. You’ll never have to be caught off guard by an empty vape again – as long as you pay attention to what your device is trying to tell you.
If you’ve used a few vapes with screens before, you probably know that the e-liquid meters on these devices often run out well before the devices are actually empty. That can lull you into a false sense of security because you might start to ignore what your device’s screen says. That, however, isn’t a good idea because telling you when your vape is almost empty is the entire reason for having an e-liquid meter.
Here's how the smart screen on a disposable vape works. Your device doesn’t actually have a physical sensor inside the e-liquid reservoir. Instead, what’s shown on the meter is linked to a simple algorithm that causes the meter to slowly tick down as you vape. The algorithm isn’t tracking the actual amount of vape juice in the device – it’s just tracking the number of puffs or the total amount of time the device has been active.
Although what’s shown on a vape’s smart screen isn’t connected to the actual amount of e-liquid in the device, that doesn’t mean the information isn’t useful. Vape manufacturers tune the algorithms for their screens conservatively because you’d be very unhappy if your device was empty, but the screen showed that it was still half full. The conservative design helps to ensure that won’t happen.
So, don’t ignore what’s on your device’s screen if you want to know when your vape is almost empty. When the meter reaches the bottom, you will definitely need to replace your device very soon.
What Happens When a Disposable Vape Is Completely Empty?
Now that you know how to tell when your disposable vape is almost empty, let’s go one step further. How can you tell when your vape is empty? This is a situation that’s extremely easy to identify because when your vape is empty, it’ll produce a flavor that’s very unpleasant or even burnt. That’s because there’s no vape juice remaining in the filling material, so the coil is beginning to overheat.
When a disposable vape first starts to produce a burnt flavor, you can sometimes get a few more puffs out of it by putting it down for a while and waiting for the last few drops of e-liquid to absorb into the dry area of the filling material around the coil. It’ll only be a few puffs, though, so you’ll definitely want to make sure that you have a new device ready to go.
Is There Any Way to Make a Disposable Vape Last Longer?
There’s no way to make a disposable vape produce more puffs except by taking shorter puffs, and there’s little reason to do that because you’ll just end up taking more puffs to compensate. Instead of trying to get your vape to produce more puffs, you should focus on trying to increase the number of days that you can use the vape before needing to replace it.
How can you make a disposable vape last longer before it’s empty? The easiest way to do that is by simply putting the device down for a while after you’ve puffed on it a few times. Some people enjoy vaping so much that they hardly ever put their devices down. In the process, they lose track of how much e-liquid they’re consuming, and their vapes end up running out of vape juice after just a few days. Wouldn’t you like your vapes to last weeks instead? Just put a little space between you and your device when you aren’t actively vaping. This will help you avoid vaping out of habit, and your vape will last dramatically longer as a result.
Another way to make a disposable vape last longer before running out of vape juice is by going back to the old patterns that you used to follow as a smoker before you switched to vaping. You know that a cigarette lasts about 10 puffs and that a pack-a-day smoker smokes 20 cigarettes per day. So, to copy the patterns of a smoker, all that you need to do is puff on your vape about 200 times a day, spread out over 20 individual sessions. If you do that, you can be confident that you’re getting as much nicotine as you need and can probably look forward to your disposable vapes lasting several days longer than they currently do.
Is There Any Way to Refill an Empty Disposable Vape?
It’s possible to fill many disposable vapes, but you probably don’t want to for three reasons.
- It’s a lot of effort. Even if you’re experienced, it’ll take you several minutes to open and refill a disposable vape. That’s way more effort than you should ever have to expend on vaping, and you’d be much better off simply buying a refillable vape instead.
- Because the parts inside a disposable vape are packed so closely together, it’s entirely possible that you’ll damage your device permanently if you try to open it.
- Even if you’re able to refill an empty disposable vape, the flavor quality may not be acceptable. That’s especially likely to be the case if you enjoy sweet flavors because sucralose – the sweetener that’s added to sweet e-liquids – leaves residue on a vape coil when it’s heated. The residue eventually causes the coil to produce a burnt flavor. Not only will the flavor of a refilled disposable vape not be very good compared to when the vape was new, but you may actually find the experience so unpleasant that you’ll have trouble finishing all of the vape juice that you added.
Refilling a disposable vape usually involves using a tool like locking pliers to squeeze the vape at the seam running along the side of the device. This splits the vape open. Once you’ve done that, you can locate the e-liquid reservoir on the inside of the device and add your vape juice directly to the reservoir.