The biggest reason why disposable vapes are so popular is because they require basically no effort – so that’s going to leave you feeling quite surprised when you have a disposable vape that suddenly starts to produce a burnt flavor. What can you do next? Is there any way to make a disposable vape not taste burnt?
On the surface, it might seem as though a disposable vape has nothing that you can troubleshoot or adjust when you encounter a problem. That, however, isn’t always true. In some cases, it’s actually possible to fix a burnt disposable vape. In other cases, though, a burnt flavor can mean that it’s time for you to get a new device.
In this guide, we’ll explain how to tell the difference and walk you through the steps that you should take next.
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Fixing a Burnt Disposable Vape: Key Takeaways
Don’t have a lot of time to read? No problem. Here’s a quick overview of the reasons why a disposable vape can taste burnt and what you can do about them.
- Your vape is empty (tastes extremely harsh on every hit): When a disposable vape is out of vape juice, you’ll need to replace it.
- Your vape uses sweetened e-liquid (tastes smoky and caramelized after using the device for some time): In the future, consider choosing a flavor that’s not sweetened.
- Your vape’s nicotine delivery is too high (overwhelming throat hit): If you’re using your vape’s dual-coil mode, switch to the single-coil mode instead. If you still experience too much throat hit, consider buying a disposable vape with a lower nicotine strength.
- You’re chain vaping (tastes harsh intermittently): After you hit your vape, don’t hit it again until you’ve waited several seconds for more e-liquid to absorb into the wick.
- Your vape is overheating (tastes harsh and device is hot to the touch): Move your vape to a cooler location and don’t use it again until it’s had plenty of time to cool down.
Identify a Disposable Vape That’s Out of E-Liquid
We’ll start with the most common reason why a disposable vape tastes burnt. Unlike some of the other things we’ll discuss in this guide, this isn’t something you can fix. If your vape tastes very badly burnt every time you hit it, it’s probably out of e-liquid. In this case, the flavor might be so harsh that it triggers a coughing fit and leaves you with a sore throat.
By paying attention to the flavor quality, you can actually tell that a disposable vape is running low on juice. This gives you some advance notice, so you can make sure that you have a new device ready to go.
Here’s how you can tell that a disposable vape will start to taste burnt soon.
- The flavor quality of a disposable vape will drop dramatically when it’s almost empty. You’ll notice that the vapor clouds will get much smaller, and the flavor will lack depth. You may also taste a flavor note that resembles plastic, which happens because the device’s wick is almost dry.
- If you have a modern vape with a screen, your device will also have an e-liquid meter. It’s important to remember that the meter is only an approximation and isn’t linked to a physical sensor. Your vape won’t necessarily start to taste burnt exactly when the meter reaches the bottom. When the meter runs out, though, you’ll definitely need to replace your vape soon.
Want to know more? Learn about how long a disposable vape lasts and what you can do to make it last longer. Don’t even bother trying to refill your vape because it’s way more trouble than it’s worth. If you’d like to use a device that you can refill, browse our list of the best refillable vapes on the market today.
Identify a Disposable Vape with Coil Gunk
The next most common reason why a disposable vape can taste burnt is because it has an issue called coil gunk. This happens because your vape is filled with an e-liquid that’s sweetened with sucralose, which caramelizes when it’s heated and leaves a dark, sticky residue on a vape coil.
You can tell that a disposable vape has coil gunk because the flavor will be dark and smoky, almost like burnt sugar. The flavor may actually start to develop an unpleasant harshness when the layer of residue becomes very thick.
The good news is that unless the vape juice is extremely sweet, a disposable vape won’t start to develop that unpleasant smoky flavor until it’s nearly out of e-liquid. There’s no way to fix a disposable vape that tastes burnt because of coil gunk, which means that you’ll just have to put up with it until the vape is empty.
Don’t like the flavor of coil gunk? Consider doing one of these things in the future.
- Use disposable vapes that aren’t flavored with sweeteners. If a vape has “Clear” in the flavor name, it’s unsweetened. We have a list of the best clear vapes that you can use as a starting point. Many tobacco and mint/menthol flavors are also unsweetened.
- If you love sweetened flavors and don’t want to use anything else, you can buy vapes with lower e-liquid capacities. If a vape doesn’t have a lot of e-liquid, it’ll probably be empty before the coil gunk changes the flavor noticeably.
- Try a dual-coil vape like the Geek Bar Pulse. When the single-coil mode is in use, a dual-coil vape switches from one coil to the other as you use it. Since the coils take twice as long to build up thick layers of coil gunk, the flavor quality lasts much longer.
Stop Using Pulse Mode or Lower Your Nicotine Strength
Speaking of dual-coil vapes, one of the reasons why these devices are so popular is because they’re adjustable; you can configure a dual-coil device to use one or both coils. In the dual-coil mode, the vapor production doubles. That’s a good thing for some vapers, but it might not be ideal for you.
The typical nicotine strength of a disposable vape is 50 mg/ml. That’s more than enough to replicate the satisfaction of smoking a cigarette, even when the device produces very small clouds. In other words, some people don’t actually need to use a disposable vape’s dual-coil mode at all.
If you experience an overwhelming sensation of throat hit or harshness when using your vape’s dual-coil mode, it probably means that you don’t actually need the doubled vapor production. If you still experience overwhelming throat hit when using your vape’s single-coil mode, the nicotine strength might be too high for you. Read our roundup of low-nicotine vapes to discover some alternatives that might be more appropriate.
Give Your Vape More Time to Absorb E-Liquid Between Puffs
Are you experiencing burnt hits intermittently during lengthier sessions with your disposable vape? Maybe the flavor seems completely normal on some hits, but on other hits, your vape will taste burnt with seemingly no warning. If this is what’s happening to you, it’s very likely that you’re chain vaping.
Chain vaping means that you’re hitting your vape over and over without pausing for an appropriate length of time between hits, and the reason why it’s a problem is because of how a vape works.
- A typical disposable vape stores its e-liquid in a fairly large container that has a wick in the middle.
- When you hit your vape, the coil vaporizes the juice in the wick, leaving the wick dry.
- The wick absorbs more e-liquid from the container. Once it’s completely wet, the vape is ready to be used again.
Intermittent burnt hits can happen when you chain vape because you’re hitting your vape while the wick is still partially dry – but this problem is easy to avoid. Because vape juice is very viscous, it takes a few seconds to absorb into the wick – so don’t chain vape. As long as you wait several seconds after each puff, your vape should deliver top-quality flavor every time you hit it.
Don’t Use Your Vape in Direct Sunlight
Another reason why a disposable vape can taste burnt is because the device itself is overheating. This can happen, for example, if you’re using your vape in direct sunlight on a hot day or if you’ve just picked up your vape after leaving it in a parked car for a while – two things that you shouldn’t ever do.
Both for safety and for the health of your device, you should always avoid using or storing a disposable vape in elevated temperatures. If your vape has overheated because you’ve been using it in bright sunlight, move the device to a cooler environment and don’t use it again until it’s had enough time to cool down completely.