How To Prime Your Pod Mod and Tank Coil

Did you know that vape coils are a critical component of any vaping setup?  So important, in fact, you simply cannot have a vaping experience without one.  People even go to meticulous efforts, in order to find the absolute best coil to support their vaping mod and atomizer, knowing that by choosing carefully, they’ll be rewarded with delicious flavor, and the clouds of their dreams.

Choosing the best coil is half the battle – and hardware manufacturers make that easier than ever with starter kits, which include a coil carefully developed or selected by the brand specifically for the vaping device that you’re using – but, preparing and maintaining that coil are equally important.  One step that many people mistakenly skip when first starting out as a vaper is priming.  That’s why we want to fill all you vapers in on the ins and outs priming your coils, and how to do it properly depending on the type of vaping setup that you’re using.

What is the Correlation Between Your Coil and Your Vaping Setup?

First, let’s discuss what the coil means to the greater vaping experience.  The coil is that tiny metal piece that screws into your vape tank, or snaps into your pod cartridge – if the cartridge doesn’t have a coil built in.  This seemingly flimsy piece of hardware enables the vaporization process to happen.  It’s the heating element, which takes the power of your vaping device, via the battery, and uses that power to produce heat, which in turn vaporizes your e-liquid so that you can breathe in smooth vapor rather than liquid.

The coil structure consists of the outer chassis, made of metal, and an interior coiled wire, made from one of many types of metal.  There’s also a wick inside, which constantly absorbs e-liquid inside of the tank or cartridge.  When you fire your device, the battery sends power to the interior coiled wire, and that heats up.  This heating process converts the e-liquid absorbed in the wick into vapor.  Simple enough, right?

Well, it’s not a foolproof process.  For one thing, the wick needs to have enough e-liquid absorbed in it to vaporize.  Otherwise, you’re just going to burn that coil out, because the heat has nothing to transfer to.  Besides that, your coil needs to be fresh enough that the wire is still capable of doing its job.  This is why all coils need to get replaced somewhat frequently – they can only transfer that heat properly so many times before the wire is finally done.

This is why we prime a coil.  Priming a coil simply means preparing it for use, by ensuring that the wick is saturated with e-liquid.  Otherwise, you’re heating a dry wick, and the coil will either burn out completely, or burn the e-liquid, creating a nasty flavor, and a dry hit, which can feel really harsh while you inhale.

Is Priming a Coil Totally Necessary?

Well… technically, yes, you can vape without priming your coil.  Your device will still work, and the coil will still heat up.  But, failing to do so can put you at a high risk of burning out your coil immediately, which then leads to having to replace it, or, at the very least, getting dry hits that taste and feel awful.

Again, for the vaporization process to effectively take place, you have to have a wick that’s saturated with vape juice, as that’s what’s getting heated and converted into vapor.  The less saturated the wick, the more burning is going to take place, rather than vaporizing.  So, because of that, we never recommend vaping without first priming your coil.

How to Prime a Coil for Your Sub-Ohm Tank

Now, luckily, priming your coil is not a complicated or time-consuming process.  Sure, if you’re in a hurry to vape, you might not enjoy having to do this extra step, but trust us when we say, those couple of minutes that it takes is nothing compared to the frustration of unsatisfying hits of vapor, or killing your coil off instantly, and then once again, having to replace it – all leading to wasted vape time and money.

Now, let’s start with priming a sub-ohm coil – that is, a coil that goes into a sub-ohm tank, to be used with a box mod.  These coils are cylindrical, and even have little “holes” around them that reveal the interior wick, which will look like white cotton. 

To prime your coil, just follow these easy steps below:

1. Take your fresh coil out of its pack.
2. Have your bottle of vape juice handy, along with an empty tank that contains no e-liquid or coil inside. Note: If you leave remaining e-liquid inside, the coils e-liquid can pick up the old e-liquid flavor, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on whether or not you’re using a new flavor with the fresh coil.  Either way, replacing your coil with a full tank will be messier, in that the e-liquid will get all over your hands.
3. Now, holding the coil in one hand, pour a couple of drops of vape juice directly onto those holes that reveal the coil, one at a time. This will start the saturation process.
4. Next, find the airflow hole that runs down the center of the coil, which also exposes the wick.
5. Pour about 4-5 drops of e-liquid directly in there.
6. Install the coil into your tank, securely.
7. Fill the tank with e-liquid.
8. Allow the coil to sit for about 2-3 minutes in the tank filled with e-liquid, to complete the process of saturating the wick fully.
9. Time to attach the tank to your device and turn the device on.
10. Go to a low wattage setting – no higher than 20 watts – and take a few puffs.
11. Then, bring it up to about 30, and take a few puffs.
12. Continue increasing the wattage incrementally and taking a few pulls at a time until you get to the ideal wattage. This will ensure that you don’t burn out the coil by supplying more heat than its wick can handle.

How to Prime a Replaceable Pod Mod Coil

Pod mod coils often look different from sub-ohm coils, but the process is actually identical.  Because pod mods operate at lower wattages, however, you don’t need to go through the process of gradually increasing the wattage and taking a couple puffs at a time, unless the pod mod is particularly powerful and goes up to, say, 50 watts or higher.

How to Prime an Integrated Pod Coil

Some pod systems come with pod cartridges that use integrated coils – in other words, coils that are built into the pod cartridge structure itself.  Naturally, this would mean that you can’t prime the coil separately before you install it.  But, that’s okay!  All you need to do is fill the pod cartridge with e-juice, and then simply wait for about 5-7 minutes before you begin vaping.  This will offer enough time for the coil’s wick to properly saturate with e-liquid.

Priming Vape Coils: A Quick Process That’s Totally Worth Doing

Overall, priming your vape coil is basically critical if you want to protect the coil and ensure a satisfying puff of vapor from the get-go, rather than an unpleasant dry hit.  Plus, the process is pretty simple, whether you’re using a pod system or a box mod system, so it’s worth getting into the habit of priming every coil that you’re about to install into your tank or open cartridge.