Sub Ohm Vaping Guide
You’ve heard about sub-ohm vaping and you’ve seen the big clouds of vapour. But what is sub-ohm vaping? Is it safe? What e-liquid should you use? What on earth is DL and MTL.
Let’s take a deep dive into sub-ohm vaping and cover everything you need to know.
What Is Sub Ohm Vaping?
Sub-ohm vaping is a style of vaping. It is characterised by large clouds of vapour and a huge amount of flavour from your juice. To do this you need a sub-ohm e-cig that delivers a higher wattage and a coil with a resistance of below 1.0ohm.
The way that you physically vape is different when sub-ohm vaping. It requires a different style of inhaling. Vapers do what is called DL (Direct Lung) inhaling, which means breathing the vapour straight into your lungs.
What Are The Benefits Of Sub Ohm Vaping?
Vapers lean towards sub-ohm vaping for various reasons, but what are the main benefits for this style of vaping
- Big vapour clouds - Have you seen the vapour chucking huge, thick clouds of vapour from their e-cig? They are sub-ohming. You can’t achieve that level of vapour production without sub-ohm vaping. They will have an e-cig that outputs high power and low resistance coils, below 1.0ohm. The e-cig gives out a high power to the coil and because it has less resistance it heats up very quickly. In turn your e-liquid heats up quicker, hotter thus producing those thick clouds you see.
- Better e-liquid flavour - High resistance coils and lower powers are primarily there to provide a vaping experience that is really similar to the sensation of smoking. This means the main focus is throat hit. One of the attractions to sub-ohm vaping is the flavour you can pull from your favourite e-liquid. The enhanced flavour happens because each draw on your e-cig when sub-ohm vaping, vapourises more e-liquid, so you are getting a more concentrated hit of flavour. Remember to use a lower nicotine strength though.
- Smoother vape - When sub-ohm vaping, you will use a lower nicotine strength e-liquid. This is because if you use a high nicotine strength the hit will be too much. Also, the type of e-liquid to use when sub-ohm vaping is one that has a high VG content. This makes the juice thicker and will produce bigger clouds. When you couple a lower nicotine strength with a high VG content you get a smooth vape.
- Warm vapour - While I have said previously that the sensation of smoking is best mimicked with high resistance coils and high nicotine strength, one thing that sub-ohm vaping does is warm vapour. As the e-liquid heats up faster and hotter, the vapour you inhale is warmer than a regular e-cig. This warm vapour does give a part of the sensation of smoking.
How Do I Know If My Vape Is Sub Ohm?
Any e-cig that has a coil with a resistance below 1.0ohm is technically a sub-ohm e-cig. But to get a true sub-ohm vape, there are a few factors needed.
Usually higher output powers are used. So, you need a battery or device that can output these higher powers. Also, the e-liquid you are using ideally needs to be a ‘high VG’ juice. This means that the ratio of VG is more compared to the PG ratio.
All of these things combined give you the ideal sub-ohm vape.
Is Sub Ohm Vaping Safe?
Done correctly sub-ohm vaping is perfectly safe. But you are using high powers and low resistance coils so there are some things to look out for when sub-ohm vaping.
Research is key. A lot of vapers like to sub-ohm with a mechanical mod. This is essentially a tube that holds a battery and delivers power to your coil, with no internal regulation. If you don’t know anything about ohms-law or battery safety this is the riskiest way to sub-ohm vape. If you put too much load on the battery with a very low resistance coil, there are no internal battery protection features to help you.
The safest way to sub-ohm vape is with a mod or device that already has vaping safety features built in.
Read, read and when you think you have read enough, read some more.
What Is The Difference Between Sub Ohm Vaping And MTL Vaping?
DL vape – Direct lung vaping. You inhale the vapour directly into your lungs in one big breath, like breathing in.
MTL vape – Mouth to lung vaping. You first draw the vapour into your mouth, then you inhale it into your lungs. This is the traditional way to vape and how most people smoked.
When sub-ohm vaping, most people DL. This is because there is so much vapour being produced so quickly, the easiest way is to directly inhale the vapour. MTL vaping doesn’t really work as you can’t draw enough vapour into your mouth.
What Juice Is Best For Sub Ohm Vaping?
The best e-liquid for sub-ohm vaping is one with a high VG content and a low nicotine strength. A lot of vapers who sub-ohm vape, will use the lowest possible nicotine strength available or even a zero. Because nicotine delivery is not the goal for this style of vaping.
A high VG content means that the clouds of vapour will be much thick, the VG diluent in the e-liquid is responsible for the vapour production. So, the more VG, the more clouds are produced.
E-liquids with higher nicotine strength, a high PG content or nic salt e-liquids are all better suited to a lower powered e-cig with higher resistance coils.
Why Can’t You Use Nic Salt In Sub Ohm Vapes?
Nic salt e-liquids are designed to allow a vaper to have a high nicotine strength, without the harsh throat hit. They don’t use a traditional ‘freebase’ nicotine as a regular e-liquid does. It uses the ‘salt’ form of nicotine, so the sensation when you vape it is very different.
Because of this much smoother vaping experience, it means that you can vape a much higher nicotine strength than you would if you were using a traditional nicotine. For this reason, it is not recommended to use nic salt e-liquids in a sub-ohm e-cig. You will be getting much more nicotine than you realise, as the usual trigger you get from a high nicotine strength is removed.
Is Sub-Ohm Vaping Right For Me?
Vaping is an extremely person thing, each vaper wants different things from their overall experience. Some want it to feel like they are smoking a cigarette. Others want a satisfying cloud of vapour, sub-ohm vaping will not be for everyone.
It is ideal for vapers who want that ‘maximum performance vape’. Anyone who enjoys the sensation of exhaling a large cloud of vapour, also for any vaper who wants to get intense flavour from their e-liquid.
Sub Ohm Vaping With Totally Wicked
We want to make sure that every vaper is catered for at Totally Wicked. So sub-ohm vapers can find a range of e-cigs and devices on our site.
Don’t worry we have you covered in the e-liquid department as well. We have ranged of juice that are high in VG and perfect for your sub-ohm set up.
Have you read all of this and decided that sub-ohm vaping isn’t for you and you want an e-cig and e-liquid that gives you the sensation of smoking? The stop off at our starter kit section, while you are there have a look at our e-liquid ranges and nic salts.
