Vaping Safety: Common Mistakes Beginners Make

All of us were vaping beginners once, and chances are that we’ve all made some of the common rookie vaping mistakes before we got the hang of maintaining and using a vaping setup. If you’re reading this as a vaping beginner, you are lucky.

Taking Hard Puffs

Deeper, harder puffs mean bigger clouds, right? Well, maybe, but you’re more likely to run into some issues if you try to puff too hard. If you’ve ever taken a big puff only to be met with e-liquid spilling into your mouth or your coil spitting back at you, then you need to relax a bit. Taking hard puffs can mean pulling in more e-liquid than it has time to absorb into the coil and vaporize, meaning you’re just sucking straight vape juice into your mouth. This applies to all vaping systems, too, from sub-ohm kits to vape pens.

Vaping Immediately After Refilling a Tank

This is a super common and understandable mistake since, naturally, once you refill your tank, you’re going to be eager to get back to vaping and possibly sample a new vape juice flavor from your favorite vape shop. Most beginners don’t know that they actually need to wait a few minutes – preferably 5 or so – before they should start vaping once they have a newly filled tank. The reason why is because of the coil. The coil needs time to get re-saturated with vape juice before it can turn your e-liquid into vapor. Trying to vape on a dry coil that hasn’t yet had time to absorb the new e-liquid can mean dry hits, bad flavor, and potentially burning out your coil entirely.

Vaping Like a Smoker

As a more general thing to keep in mind, vaping and smoking are ultimately two different activities. So, assuming that you can vape just like you used to smoke can backfire in a number of ways. One way is by chain-vaping, meaning taking a bunch of hits in a short period without any breaks. This causes the coil to work harder than it has to, as you’re not giving it a chance to cool down between puffs and catch its breath, so to speak, resulting in a burnt-out coil.

And, depending on the vape juice and hardware configuration you’re rocking, there’s a good chance that trying to inhale your vapor like you used to do with smoke can cause a lot of harshnesses that leads to a fit of coughing. Go a little more gently as a beginner to get a feel for this new style of nicotine delivery instead.

Choosing the Wrong Nicotine Strength

Choosing the right nicotine strength as a beginner can be confusing if you don’t have a guide. And it can lead to disappointment, as too strong of a nicotine strength can make you feel overstimulated and even dizzy or nauseous while going with too low of a strength can mean that you struggle to satisfy your cravings, even if you’re vaping a lot. Fortunately, there are guides out there that make recommendations based on how much you used to smoke. If you’re going the salt nic route, 50mg is a great starting point, and if you’re going with a freebase nicotine formula, start with about 12-16mg if you were a pack-a-day smoker, 16mg+ for heavier smokers, and 6-10mg for lighter smokers.

Not Keeping Your Vaping Gear Clean

We know that it sounds like a hassle, but the bottom line is that if you’re going to be using vaping equipment, you will need to take care of it to keep working to its fullest potential. The biggest culprit is juice gunk – aka the sticky vape juice residue that accumulates due to its sugar content and constant heat exposure. About once a week, if you can, you should take apart your tank and give it a thorough soaking in alcohol and clean it completely, and you should also make sure to wipe down the device, paying attention to the battery connections and buttons, where gunk can hide and interfere with the device’s performance.

Buying Low-Quality E-Juice and Hardware

Everyone wants to save money, so finding some super cheap vape juice at an eLiquid Depot, or an extremely inexpensive device on some vape shop online, may be tempting. But, if you’re not looking at the reviews and reading up on the manufacturer, then you may end up with products that are so low in quality they’re almost guaranteed to disappoint you in every way. It’s worth it to splurge a little when it comes to getting quality products for your vaping satisfaction – not to mention your safety.

Going to the Highest Setting

It’s exciting to find a vape device that offers a huge range of output modes and levels. But don’t assume that just because your mod can reach 220 watts, that 220 watts is the perfect starting point. In most cases, all you’ll do is kill your coil and burn your e-liquid. Stay within the wattage range with which your coil is compatible (which will be printed on the coil’s packaging), to make sure your vaping configurations are exactly where they need to be. Most vapers never use the highest output settings as their sweet spot is far below what’s offered.

Final Mistake-Free Vaping Advice

At the end of the day, most vaping beginners are going to make mistakes here and there. That’s a natural part of getting used to new technology and even finding what it is that you like and don’t like when it comes to your new hobby. But, by avoiding these very common mistakes, you’ll be less likely to end up with a disappointing vape, and you will be less likely to end up damaging your coils, e-liquids or equipment in some way, which could end up costing you a lot of money in the long run.