Science Behind Vaping
Posted by Courtney McElligott on Jan 16th 2017
How Vaping Works: The Hardware Behind the Vapor
A lot of people pick up a vape device without ever knowing what is happening inside it. The parts are simpler than they look. Once you understand how a mod and tank fit together, choosing gear and troubleshooting it gets a lot easier.
There are several form factors out there, from pod systems to pen-style devices. To keep this focused, we will stick to the classic mod-and-tank setup, since that is where most of the moving parts live. You will also see thousands of eJuice flavors built to run in this kind of hardware.
The Mod
A mod-and-tank device has two main parts: the battery mod and the tank that holds your e-liquid. The mod is the part that supplies power to everything else. It is also the part you hold, so a good one is smooth, balanced, and easy to grip.
Size drives two things at once. A bigger mod usually carries a bigger battery, which means longer run time between charges. A smaller, more pocketable mod often runs a smaller cell, so you charge it more often. That is the trade-off in a nutshell: portability on one side, battery life on the other, and most devices land somewhere in the middle.
Some mods push hard on both fronts and pack strong battery life into a compact body, but in general you are balancing the two rather than maxing out both.
The Tank (Atomizer)
The tank is the second half of the device. There are several kinds of tanks used for vaping, and while they all do the same basic job, they perform differently. A tank does two things: it holds your e-liquid, and it turns that liquid into vapor. Power from the battery heats a coil inside the atomizer, and that heat is what produces the vapor you draw.
The other job of the atomizer tank is feeding e-liquid to the coil. A wicking material, usually organic cotton, soaks up liquid from the tank and carries it to the heating coil. Most of the real differences between tanks come down to how they handle that delivery, which is a deep enough subject for its own article.
Coil and wick basics
A coil has three parts: the heating element, the wicking material, and the housing that holds them. The heating element is resistance wire, either wound into a traditional coil or formed from a strip of mesh. When you fire the device and draw, the coil heats up, the cotton feeds it fresh e-liquid, and the liquid turns to vapor that mixes with air on its way to the mouthpiece. As you keep drawing, the wick pulls in more liquid from the tank to keep up.
Evaporation, Not Burning
Here is the part that explains why vape hardware behaves the way it does. A vape device does not burn anything. It warms e-liquid until it evaporates, the same way water turns to steam on a stove. Combustion is a different process entirely: it happens when a dry material is heated past its ignition point and changes chemically, and for tobacco that point is generally put around 600 degrees Celsius.
A coil works well below that. It heats the liquid just enough to flash it into vapor, then the cotton replaces what was used. This is also why running a coil far too hot, or letting it run dry, gives you that harsh scorched taste. The wick cannot resupply liquid fast enough, and you are heating cotton instead of e-liquid. Matching your wattage to the coil rating keeps the process in the evaporation range it was designed for.
What Is Actually in E-Liquid
Most e-liquids are built from about four ingredients: PG (propylene glycol), VG (vegetable glycerin), nicotine, and the part most vapers care about most, the flavor concentrate for e-liquid that gives a blend its taste. PG and VG are also the base you work with if you mix your own.
When you buy from an established, reliable maker, the e-liquid ingredients should be food-grade, meaning they meet the standards used for ingredients intended for human consumption. (As a general food-additive fact, PG and VG are recognized as safe for use in food by the FDA; that is a statement about those food ingredients, not a claim about vapor products.) Knowing what is in the bottle is half of being able to compare one juice to another.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main parts of a vape device?
A mod-and-tank setup has two core pieces: the battery mod that supplies power, and the tank (atomizer) that holds e-liquid and houses the coil. Inside the tank, a coil and a cotton wick work together to turn liquid into vapor when the device fires.
How does a coil turn e-liquid into vapor?
The battery sends power to a coil of resistance wire (or a mesh strip) inside the atomizer. The coil heats up, the cotton wick wrapped around or against it feeds in e-liquid, and the heat evaporates that liquid into vapor. As you keep drawing, the wick pulls in more liquid from the tank.
What ingredients are in most e-liquid?
Most e-liquids use about four ingredients: PG (propylene glycol), VG (vegetable glycerin), nicotine, and flavor concentrate. PG and VG make up the base and carry the flavoring. Buying from an established maker means those ingredients should be food-grade.
Why does my coil sometimes taste burnt?
A burnt taste usually means the wick is not getting enough e-liquid to the coil, so the cotton itself is being heated. Common causes are running the coil at too high a wattage for its rating, chain-vaping faster than the wick can resupply, or letting the tank run low. Prime a new coil, keep within the rated wattage, and let it re-saturate between draws.
What is the difference between a bigger mod and a smaller one?
It mostly comes down to battery capacity versus portability. A larger mod typically holds a bigger battery and runs longer between charges, while a compact mod is easier to carry but usually needs charging more often. Most devices balance the two rather than maximizing both.
Does a vape device burn the e-liquid?
No. A vape heats e-liquid until it evaporates, similar to how water becomes steam. That is different from combustion, which requires heating a dry material past its ignition point. A coil is designed to stay in the evaporation range, which is why matching wattage to the coil rating matters.
These products are intended only for adults 21+. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. This article is general product information and is not a smoking-cessation claim.