Anyone who has been vaping for a while has most likely experienced a dry hit and how frustrating and unpleasant it is. A dry hit is caused when there is either not enough liquid soaked into the atomiser causing the cotton to burn, or if the atomiser has been used past its life span.

A dry hit can be very off putting and even turn a new vaper away from using their E-Cig completely. Fortunately they can be easily avoided with a few simple steps. And we’re going to go through them today.

One of the most common reasons for a dry hit to occur is using too high of a Wattage/Voltage for the atomiser, this can cause the coil within the atomiser to heat up to much and burn the cotton within the atomiser. The best thing to do is to check the Wattage/Voltage rating printed on the atomiser or the box they come in and set your mod to that power. For those using a non-adjustable battery make sure the tank is suitable for that specific battery. This can be done by looking at the rated output of the battery on the manufacturer's website.

Another thing which may be obvious but sometimes is easily overlooked is to make sure your tank has enough liquid in it, without liquid the cotton will dry out and burn giving you a dry hit. If your tank has a ‘min’ mark on it make sure you keep the liquid above that level. However not ll tanks has this and in this case we recommend keeping the liquid at a level where it has contact with the cotton on the atomiser.

Something which is harder to judge but comes with experience is that some E-liquids can cause atomisers to burn out quicker than others. A rule of thumb is that sweeter liquids tend to cause burnt atomisers sooner than those which are not as sweet, however there are some sweeter liquids which do not affect the life of an atomiser at all. If you are a fan of sweeter liquids then you can always try lowering the power of your mod slightly and that will help preserve the life of an atomiser.

A common reason we find people experience dry hits especially newer users is not letting your coil soak for long enough before using it for the first time after replacing the atomiser or filling it up for the first time. This is probably the easiest cause to remedy, we recommend letting your tank sit for at least five minutes before use however the longer you leave it the better. Bear in mind larger atomisers will take longer to soak than smaller ones so may need longer than five minutes so fully saturate.

By far the biggest reason for a dry hit is not changing your atomiser when it needs to be changed. Atomisers are estimated to last between a week to three weeks depending on how much you use it. If your atomiser has been in your tank for more than three weeks it's always good to change it anyway. You’ll find as the atomiser becomes older the cotton will start to darken and you will start getting a muted or even a bitter taste to the E-liquid you are using

If this happens it is time to change your atomiser.

These are a few reasons why you could experience a dry hit. If you do get a dry hit the best thing to do is the change your atomiser as you’ll likely find the burnt taste to continue with that atomiser as it would’ve burnt the cotton in the atomiser.