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 daunting subject at first glance.
It’s all Greek to most of us when starting with vaping, and even experienced 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 now-banned 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.
What is Wattage in Vaping?
Wattage is a unit of measurement for electrical power. In vaping, it's 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, which 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 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 to use as a guide to optimise 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 its 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. If the coil exceeds this range, it won't produce more vapour, instead simply 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 flavourful 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 from a low to medium wattage output as they are thinner, and the coils best suited to them perform best at around 10-20 watts.
High VG e-liquids will provide 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 because 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 throat 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?
Beginner Vape Kit Using 50-50 E-Liquid
In most cases, beginner-level vape kits will have automatic 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 coil's 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 for most daily users, this is impractical.
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, understanding 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 explain this further in our Ultimate Nic Salt guide.
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, making it 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, 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 are 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 Liquid?
50-50 e-liquids are thinner and are available in both lower and higher nicotine strengths. The devices that pair best with them are smaller and have lower power outputs. Many 50-50 devices won’t even give you the chance to customise the wattage very 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 principles 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 be certain that 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 requires more heat to vaporise, 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 requiring 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.
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, 0.4ohm, 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 finding the perfect wattage level for your needs.
Vaping Wattage Guide
Below is a list of the most common vape coil resistances you are likely to encounter and our recommended wattage range for each. If in doubt, cross reference the resistance of your chosen vape coil(s) with the information below to help you get set up.
Remember: This is a general guide for best practice, every vaper is different and there is no 'one size fits all' solution. Don't worry if your preferred setup doesn't quite match our recommendations - just take care not to go too far above or below the optimum range to avoid negatively impacting your experience.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.15ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.15ohms?
A 0.15ohm coil is considered one of the lowest resistance coils available and is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 100W+
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.2ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.2ohms?
A 0.2ohm coil is a low-resistance coil that is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 70-80W.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.3ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.3ohms?
A 0.3ohm coil is a low-resistance coil that is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 50-60W.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.4ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.4ohms?
A 0.4ohm coil is a low-resistance coil that is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 40-60W+.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.6ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.6ohms?
A 0.6ohm coil is a low-resistance coil that is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 40W+.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.8ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 0.8ohms?
A 0.8ohm coil is a low-resistance coil that is best suited to high-powered devices with a wattage of 40W+.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.0ohm?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.0ohm?
This is a higher resistance coil and delivers an MTL vape when used at a power setting of 15-25W.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.2ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.2ohms?
A higher resistance coil that delivers smooth MTL inhales at 15-20W.
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.4ohms?
What Wattage Should I Vape at 1.4ohms?
A 1.4ohm coil is a high-resistance coil that produces a mouth-to-lung vape when paired with low wattages of around 7-12W.
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Is Vaping at High/Low 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!
Knowing Your Kit Wattage and Coil Resistance is Important
It is always worth noting what wattage your device operates at, alongside what type of coil you're using, before adjusting settings or filling e-liquid. Too high or too low wattage can spoil your juice and possibly ruin your coils, so being sure is ideal. By following the above instructions in this guide and checking the compatibility between vape devices and different types of e-liquid, you'll be able to utilise your device to the maximum, without any need to swiftly change or replace e-liquid or coils gone bad.
