Vape Tanks

Early liquid vaporizers used a cartomizer or dripping atomizer. With the first, an absorbent material known as a wick was soaked with e-liquid, which was then drawn to the atomizer or heat source, where it was vaporized. Dripping atomizers involved dropping a tiny amount of liquid directly onto the atomizer every few draws. The clearomizer, which we commonly call a 'vape tank' today, incorporated an atomizer in the center of a clear tank that could be filled with liquid. A wick still draws that liquid to the atomizer's core, where a heating coil creates the vapor, but tanks only need to be refilled once or twice a day instead of every second or third draw.

As with many things in the vape world, 'coil' can have multiple meanings. At its simplest, it's a length of round wire wrapped into a coil that's heated by a vaporizer's atomizer in order to convert liquid into vapor. More broadly, a coil could refer to an entire disposable atomizer, including the positive and negative posts, the wicking, and the housing - sometimes you'll hear this complete assembly referred to as a coil or a 'coil head.'

When a tank coil is properly primed (broken in), a coil head can last through many tanks' worth of liquid. How long a coil lasts depends on how much you vape and what kind of liquids you prefer - liquids with a high concentration of artifical sweetener or color will tend to clog up the wicking material surrounding the actual coil more quickly. If you vape a lot of very sweet e-liquid flavors you might be changing a coil every few days, but if you vape sparingly you could go two weeks or more between head changes. Allowing your tank to run dry, however, will lead to the wicking material burning where it contacts the coil, which will ruin a head almost instantly.

Certain tanks, usually those with a complex acronym appending the name like RTA (rebuildable tank atomizer) or RDTA (rebuildable dripping tank atomizer), have an atomizer that can be fully disassembled. This allows the user to build their own custom coil of a size and resistance to their liking, and also to remove and replace the wicking material, re-using the same coil over and over after a brief cleaning. These are advanced user devices, as coil-building requires specialized equipment of its own and a working knowledge of basic electrical theory to avoid building a coil that's dangerous to vape.

The advantage of 510-threaded clearomizers is that they're interchangeable between other models and brands. That's because the vast majority of advanced personal vaporizers have adopted the 510-style thread pattern, meaning you can swap tanks and mods at will. Newer 'pod mod' style compact systems usually require you to purchase a proprietary tank style that's only compatible with one battery and usually isn't even interchangeable between different models offered by a single manufacturer.

There are general best practices for filling your vape tank to avoid leaks, but do check the instructions for your particular model. Refillable tanks have a 'fill port' accessed from the top or bottom of the tank. Remove either the top or bottom cap to access a hole where you can use a dropper or needle-tipped bottle to refill your tank.

Liquid capacity varies quite a bit from tank to tank. Some pod mods use a proprietary system that holds as little as 1 ml of liquid, but keep in mind these low-powered devices also consume liquid more slowly. Meanwhile, actual mod tanks begin with a capacity of 2 ml (the European Union has mandated tank capacity be limited to 2 ml) and in the US go as high as 7 or 8 ml.

Some tanks contain components that can be altered by the vaper, but let's stick with tanks comprised of factory-built parts for this one. At the bottom of your tank is the base, which screws into a vape mod via 510 threads and has a contact pin at the bottom to convey electricity from the mod to the tank. An atomizer, or 'coil head,' threads into the center of the base. The atomizer consists of positive and negative poles connected by a metal coil or strip of wire mesh. When electricity is applied to the coil, resistance between the positive and negative terminals generates heat, which is used to turn liquid into vapor. The coil is then surrounded by a wick of organic cotton or similar material that draws liquid from the reservoir tank to the coil. Outside the atomizer, a clear bulb typically constructed of glass forms the outer wall of the tank, and a top cap with removable mouthpiece is screwed onto the top to hold the tank together. The top cap will usually be comprised of two pieces, with one being removed to expose 'fill ports,' or holes which can be used to insert a dropper bottle tip to fill the tank with liquid.