E-Liquid Friendly Fire and How to Avoid It

It’s friendly fire. You’re the vaper and you love your e-liquid. So why is it shooting back at you? This question comes up now and again because of this phenomenon and how little is known about it. Friendly fire isn’t something that happens all the time. In fact, many people who vape will never encounter something like this and might have no idea what we are talking about. But for those who are familiar with it, they will be nodding their heads along while reading. Let’s get to the heart of what it is and give you some tips on how it can be avoided.

What Causes It?

First off, we may be labeling it e-liquid friendly fire, but there really is no name for it. We’ve seen it called many different things, but what we have always liked to term it as friendly fire. This is your vaping device that you love so much, shooting back e-liquid at you. It seemed appropriate.

As for what causes it, that part is rather simple too. E-liquid has a tendency to accumulate on your coil where it will simply sit for a while. But, eventually, that pooled bit of e-liquid will get heated to a strong enough level where it will essentially boil over. That’s when it will bubble and pop, and the result will be droplets of e-liquid that will be sent shooting back up into your mouthpiece. If you’re taking a nice puff on your device, you’ll be met with a couple of those droplets on your lips. That rude awakening isn’t nice for anyone to experience.

Tips to Avoid It

Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to avoid e-liquid friendly fire that have been proven to work quite well. Try some or all of these, and you can escape that dreaded e-liquid friendly fire.

1.Wick Work. If you’re operating a device with a rebuildable tank atomizer, this is probably the first thing you should check. If you aren’t careful with wicking your atomizer, you could very well experience some friendly fire. Be sure to not leave any gaps between your coils because that is where e-liquid will escape into your chamber. You’ll flood it and get that dreaded friendly fire.

2.Easy with Your Inhale. It’s common to excitedly take a nice long drag on your vapour device, especially if you haven’t had one in a while. This is another recipe for how you can flood your chamber. Take it easy! A nice and slow inhale will prevent this. Alternatively, you could reduce the airflow of your device with the same aim in mind.

3.Clear Out the Chamber. This is probably the easiest solution, and hence therefore might be your first step. If you’re prone to experiencing friendly fire, you may have primed your device too much. Go ahead and hit the power button for a second or two before you inhale. You’ll hear some popping as the extra e-liquid vaporizes, and then you can take your drag safely.

4.Cut Back on Priming. Speaking of priming, you may want to think about cutting back on it in general. If you drip too much e-liquid onto your tip, or fill your chamber with too much, there is a good chance you’ll experience some friendly fire at some point. You should make sure your wick has enough e-liquid, but not to the point where it is overflowing onto your coils.

5.Power Problems. Lastly, you may simply be vaping at too low a wattage. If this is the case, your device will not be vaporizing your e-liquid fast enough. What you’ll get is some vapour, but also some e-liquid that will make it through “un-vaped” so to speak. Pump up your wattage some and that may very well fix your problem.

It’s important to note that this issue of friendly fire may not ever happen to you. You need not worry about it so much. Chances are, if it hasn’t happened to you yet, it may never happen. So, you can rest easy. If does happen, though, just follow the above tips and you’ll be able to avoid that uncomfortable sensation that we’ve decided to call e-liquid friendly fire.