What Wattage Should I Vape At?
The Ultimate Guide To Vape Kit Power Settings
One of the most frequently asked questions in vaping is what wattage you should be vaping at. The wonderful world of watts, ohms and volts is one of the most inaccessible parts of the vaping journey, being a dautning subject at first glance.
It’s all Greek to most of us when starting out with vaping, and even confirmed vapers might not have their heads around it, owing to the many devices out there that don’t give you the option to tailor your power output, like beginner vape kits and disposable vapes like Elf Bars or Lost Mary BM600s.
Thankfully you don’t need to start taking night classes or have a degree in electrical engineering to get the most out of your vape. Follow some simple practices and you’ll be just fine – in fact if you get the hang of it, tweaking your wattage output just right can deliver a much better vaping experience.
Table of Contents
What is Wattage In Vaping? - How Wattage Affects Your Vape Kit And Experience
- What Wattage Should You Use When Vaping?
- What Wattage Is Best For MTL, DTL And RDTL Vaping?
- What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping 50-50 Freebase E-Liquid?
- What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping Nic Salt E-Liquid?
- What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping 70/30 High-VG E-Liquid?
- How To Choose The Best Wattage For Different OHM Vape Coils?
- Is Vaping At Low/High Wattage Bad?
- Why Buy Online From LiQuid?
What is Wattage In Vaping?
Wattage is a unit of measurement for electrical power. In vaping it is the unit that represents the power output of your chosen vape kit. The higher the wattage, the greater the electrical current that passes through your vape coil, and the greater the temperature the coil reaches.
This heat is responsible for turning the e-liquid soaked into the wick the coil is wrapped around into vapour. Different coils have different optimum wattage ranges to achieve the best experience in terms of both flavour and vapour production.
The wattage output of your device is often displayed on a screen, with many kits offering the ability to customise the output. Those that don't however still factor it in, they just automatically adjust their wattage output according to the resistance or Ohms of the vape coil.
Ohms are a unit of electrical resistance. In vaping the ohm rating of a coil essentially tells you how much power it is designed to handle. The higher the ohm rating of a vape coil, the less power is needed to heat it.
The resistance of your coil will almost always be written on the coil itself or its packaging along with a recommended wattage for you to use as a guide when optimising your experience - straying too far outside these guidelines will impact the lifespan of your coil.
How Wattage Affects Your Vape Kit And Experience
The Wattage output of your device can impact your experience in a number of ways, both good and bad. Every vape kit has an ideal power range dictated by it's coils, and making sure you get the balance just right is essential to maximising your vape experience.
How Does Wattage Affect Vapour?
- As a general rule, higher wattage settings will produce more vapour. There are limitations however depending on the type of vape juice you choose; 50-50 produces less vapour than HVG.
- Take care not to exceed the wattage range recommended for your coil, after a point it won't produce more vapour, instead just burning out.
- If you want more vapour, try opting for a higher powered device and a sub-ohm coil with High-VG e-liquid.
How Does Wattage Affect Flavour?
- Wattage plays an important role in how favourful your vaping experience can be. If you want to get the most out of your chosen vape juice, try to use an appropriate wattage.
- 50-50 e-liquids and nic salts benefit form a low to medium wattage output as they are thinner and the coils best suited to them perform best at circa 10-20 watts.
- High VG e-liquids will give you better flavour at higher wattages, which depending on the sub-ohm kit you use could be anywhere from 50-100 watts or even higher in some cases.
- Just becuase a vape kit can offer up to 200 watts doesn't mean you should crank it all the way up in pursuit of better flavour, instead just aim for the top end of your chosen coils wattage range and open up the airflow. Otherwise you may just burn out the coil leading to a bad taste.
How Does Wattage Affect Throat Hit?
- Throat hit is mainly dictated by nicotine strength and whether you opt for freebase or salt nicotine. However your wattage can also impact this - going too high can increase thraot hit to unbearable levels and make you cough, while going too low can reduce it to a level that doesn't satisfy.
- Experimentation with both nicotine strengths and wattage output is the best way to fine tune your throat hit to the ideal level for your personal preference.
What Wattage Should You Use When Vaping?
While personal preference dictates the best wattage settings for your needs, the vaping products you choose will make the decision a little easier.
Beginner Vape Kit Using 50-50 E-Liquid
In most cases, beginner level vape kits will have autmatic power adjustment as a feature, and in most cases don't even allow you to tailor the wattage. This is ideal as it makes the vaping process more foolproof and takes the need to understand watts and ohms out of the equation. Most setups like this will run at between 7-15 watts.
Intermediate Vape Kit Using 50-50 E-Liquid
This kind of setup is more common in vapers with a little more experience. While many intermediate vape kits with adjustable wattage still have the auto-power setting function, the ability to adjust it can give your experience the edge. So long as you stay within your chosen coils optimal range, pushing the boundaries for 50-50 freebase vape juice to around 20-25 watts can give you a little more flavour and throat hit depending on your preference.
Advanced Vape Kit Using High-VG E-Liquid
Typically reserved for hobbyist vapers of significant experience, sub-ohm vape kits or mods offer the greatest range of wattage options. In order to get the biggest clouds and boldest flavours from High-VG e-liquids the power needs to be a little higher, meaning, depending on your coil, the optimum range could be anywhere from 50-100 watts and above. Vapers who enter cloud competitions often use custom built kits that run at over 200 watts, although fo most daily users this is impractical.
Learn more about the differnet types of vape kit in our complete guide!
What Wattage Is Best For MTL, DTL And RDTL Vaping?
You may have heard the terms MTL and DTL used by vapers when describing their inhale style. There is also a newer style that has become more popular since the rise of disposable vapes called RDTL. We know this can all sound like jargon, however understandning what these initials mean can give you an edge when working out what wattage to use and how best to enjoy your chosen e-liquids. We also have a full guide on this subject if you would like to learn more about mastering the perfect inhale.
What Wattage Is Best For MTL Vaping?
MTL means mouth-to-lung and is the preferred way to inhale freebase and nic salt vape juices paired with an appropriate device. This is where you inhale, hold the vapour in your mouth before drawing it into the lung and exhaling – similar to smoking a cigarette.
Lower wattage settings are best for this kind of inhale, ranging from 7-25 watts at most to ensure good flavour, vapour and minimal risk of coughing.
The benefits of using a low wattage with a high resistance coil include:
Cooler vapour – less wattage equals less heat, making menthol flavours cooler than ever.
Discretion – with less vapour production, mouth-to-lung vaping is the more discreet option.
Efficient – higher resistance coils require less power and help your battery last longer.
What Wattage Is Best For DTL Vaping?
DTL stands for direct-to-lung and is more typical of HVG vapers, so less preferable when using nic salts. This is simply the act of drawing the vapour directly into the lung and exhaling in one motion.
This technique is better for experienced HVG users as it allows the higher volumes of vapour to be inhaled without coughing.
This style of inhale has the widest range of optimal wattage output, with different sub ohm coils working well at 50 watts all the way up to 200 watts.
The benefits of using a higher wattage with low resistance coils include:
Warmer vapour – high wattage means more heat, making flavours more prominent.
Increased vapour – more wattage means more vapour which is ideal for vape tricks.
What Wattage Is Best For RDTL Vaping?
As pod devices have become more tailored to nic salt vaping, particularly those trying to capture the open draw typical of a disposable vape (which you can learn more about here) some brands offer sub-ohm coils that are still designed for vaping with nic salts like the VooPoo Argus 0.7ohm pod.
These are called RDTL which stands for restricted-direct-to-lung. This is where you inhale as if it were a DTL vape, but with less of an impact to reduce irritation at higher strengths - think of it as a middle ground.
RDTL coils most commonly work best with a wattage range of 15-30 watts.
The Benefits granted by choosing a mid-range wattage setting for RDTL coils is a blend of those offered by both DTl and MTL, depending on how you refine your settings, meaning this style gives you the broadest range of benefits in all.
What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping 50-50 Freebase E-Liquid?
- 50-50 e-liquids are thinner and are available in both lower and higher nicotine strengths. The devices that pair best with then are smaller and have lower power outputs. Many 50-50 devices won’t even give you the chance to customise the wattage that much, sometimes having one to three presets at most, if at all.
- 50-50 juices are best vaped at lower wattages, and that goes double for higher strengths. Unless you are looking for an intense experience, high watts with a high strength juice like 18mg can be harsher with a strong throat hit.
- Follow your device's guidelines, but aim for between 7 and 20 watts at most when experimenting to find the best balance of smoothness, flavour and vapour production.
What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping Nic Salt E-Liquid?
- The principals for 50-50 freebase e-liquids apply to nic salts too. Keep the power settings low and carefully experiment to find the best balance for your needs. An ideal range is between 10 and 30 watts.
- Remember that nic salts are designed to be super-smooth, even at the highest strength: 20mg. Because of this, you can crank up the watts a little for more flavour and vapour without unintentionally increasing the throat hit. Just make sure you stay within the safe limits described on your coil or device.
What Is The Best Wattage For Vaping 70/30 High-VG E-Liquid?
- 80-20, 70-30, high-VG: these extra thick vape juices are designed to be vaped in higher powered devices to produce massive clouds and bold flavour.
- Sub-ohm vaping devices are needed to make the most of high-vg e-liquid. They are larger in size and have a much higher power output than those intended for 50-50 vaping. This is because the thicker juice needs more heat to become vapour, and so the devices use heavy duty sub-ohm coils which can be anywhere from 0.1 to 0.9ohms.
- The large batteries heat the coils which can vary from needing 40-60 watts, and even as high as 100-200+ watts. There is a lot more room for customisation with these kits, and it’s vital you read the coil you are using to ensure you don’t burn it out by going above the safe limits.
- Checking the coil is so important when sub-ohming, because the devices can often support different types that all perform bets at different wattages – if you want to sub-ohm without this fuss, choose a device that automatically adjusts the power depending on the coil it detects you have inserted (don’t worry, this sounds fancy but even cheap vape kits have this tech in them nowadays!). Check out our sub-ohm guide to learn more.
You can learn even more about e-liquid types in our full guide here.
How To Choose The Best Wattage For Different OHM Vape Coils?
The best wattage for vaping depends entirely on your vaping preferences. For mouth-to-lung vaping, pair high-ohm coils (This includes 1.0ohm, 1.4ohm, 1.6ohm, 1.8ohm and 2.0ohm) with a wattage of 7-20W. For direct-to-lung inhaling, pair low-resistance coils (This includes 0.8ohm, 0.6ohm, 0.6ohm, 0.2ohm and 0.15ohm) with a wattage of 40-50W or more. This is of course a general rule of thumb and there is always crossover and room for experimentation when fidning the perfect wattage level for your needs.
You can learn even more about vape coils in our full guide here.
Is Vaping At Low/High Wattage Bad?
Having your wattage too low or too high can lead to a few issues, ranging from subtle to dramatic, so it is worth staying within your chosen device/coil's recommended power range to avoid the pitfalls. Learn more about troubleshooting coil issues in our guide!
Having Your Wattage Too Low Can:
- Mute e-liquid flavour
- Reduce vapour production
- Cause your vape to gurgle as it struggles to heat the e-liquid
- Cause uneve atomisation of e-liquid leading to coil flooding issues over time
Having Your Wattage Too High Can:
- Spoil e-liquid flavour by burning the wick
- Cause coughing by producing too much hot vapour
- Drain your battery far too quickly
- Permanently damage you coil by overheating it forcing you to find replacements
Why Buy your E-Liquids & Vape Coils Online From LiQuid?
Quality, Safety, Price - these are the three best reasons to choose the LiQuid brand as our trusted vape supplier, whether you are looking for vape juice or indeed any vaping product.
We have been proudly serving hundreds of thousands of customers every month for ten years, selling millions of bottles of e-liquid and constantly evolving our ranges through extensive testing, R&D and customer feedback. When you buy a bottle of e-liquid from LiQuid, you get the benefit of a decade of industry expertise, dedication to quality, and a commitment to low prices. You simply won't find a higher quality e-liquid for less in the UK.
We have developed an end-to-end manufacturing process that gives us unmatched control over the quality of our raw ingredients and e-liquid blending. This is combined with our full scope of laboratory testing that allows us to ensure the strictest standards are upheld at every stage of production to guarantee your satisfaction.
Beyond our promise of quality and value, becoming a member of the LiQuid community gives you acces to unique benefits as a vaper, including our subscription service and LiQuid loyalty point scheme to help you get even more from your vaping journey.
Written By Oliver Norman
Our resident vaping expert with 9 years of industry experience. Ollie has worked in a massive range of roles over the years; from bottling on the shop floor to mixing e-liquid in the cleanroom, heading up Tech Ops and flavour development in the lab and beyond; Ollie has been with LiQuid for nearly a decade and now heads up our content marketing team making sure our customers get the best quality information to make informed choices on their vaping journeys.
He is a one-stop-shop of vaping knowledge from scientific technical info to current vaping trends, vape juice to vape kits and all points in-between - he's keen to share it all with you, from one vaper to another! As an avid user of nic salt e-liquids for several years, Ollie has compiled this guide to help other vapers learn everything they need to know to get the most from a nic salt vaping experience!
