Every vape coil has an electrical resistance measured in ohms. The resistance of a component in a circuit expresses the extent to which the component restricts the electrical current flowing through it. A sub-ohm tank has a coil with a resistance lower than 1 ohm. Having a low resistance means that the coil causes very little restriction to the electrical current, which means that the coil can operate at higher power levels compared to above-ohm coils.
A sub-ohm tank always has a replaceable coil system. When the tank no longer produces an acceptable flavour, you’ll remove the atomizer coil and replace it with a new one. The two most popular materials for sub-ohm tank coils are kanthal and stainless steel. Both types of coils will work with all sub-ohm vape mods, but stainless steel is the only option that works for both wattage-based and temperature control vaping.
The world of sub-ohm tanks changes so rapidly that it’s impossible to recommend any one sub ohm vape tank for all people and situations. There are a few standouts, however, that are worth considering. Take a look at the SMOK TFV16 and the Horizontech Sakerz if you’re not sure what you want.
Although it’s always nice to have a few specific product recommendations when you’re shopping for a sub-ohm tank, it’s even more useful to understand what features every good vape tank should have. That way, you’ll have no difficulty choosing a tank that’s perfect for you.
Sub-ohm vaping devices aren’t like the electronic cigarettes of the past, and they’re not like the pod system that you might be using currently. A smaller e-cigarette is designed to work with high-nicotine vape juice, and it’ll deliver a throat hit that makes vaping feel like smoking a cigarette. That’s perfect when you’re new to vaping. You want vaping to feel as much like smoking as possible, because that’s what helps you quit smoking.
As you gain experience with vaping, though, you may decide that throat hit isn’t as big of a priority for you as it used to be. That’s because your cigarette cravings are likely to go away after you’ve been vaping for a while. Once you reach that point, you may decide you’d rather vape in a way that maximises flavour and cloud production – and that’s exactly what sub-ohm vaping does.
Compared to a small e-cigarette or pod system, a sub-ohm tank has a much larger atomizer coil that allows the electrical current to flow through more freely. A sub-ohm tank is also designed to operate at much higher wattages, so you’ll enjoy much larger vapour clouds with flavours that are richer and better defined.
RTA stands for Rebuildable Tank Atomizer. One of the benefits of using a standard sub-ohm tank is that it’s designed for convenience. As we mentioned above, replacing your coil is very easy when you use a sub-ohm tank. You’ll simply remove the tank from your mod, twist off the tank’s bottom hardware and remove the old coil. You’ll then twist in a new coil and reassemble the tank.
An RTA doesn’t use pre-built coils that you can install and remove on demand. Instead, you’ll use resistance wire and cotton to build your own vape coils from scratch. Using an RTA and building your own coils has two benefits. The first benefit is that you’ll save a lot of money buying wire and cotton rather than buying pre-built coils. The second benefit is that building your own coils means that you can customise the coils to your exact specifications. Coil building, however, is for expert vapers. Unless you’re comfortable with the safety implications of building your own coils, you should buy a sub-ohm tank rather than an RTA.
In general, you don’t need to worry about compatibility between vape mods and sub-ohm tanks. If you have a vape mod that you purchased within the last year or two, it’ll most likely work with virtually every vape tank on the market. It’s easy to confirm that, however, by checking the specifications of your vape mod on the manufacturer’s website and comparing that information to the specifications of the vape tank you want to buy.
The mesh coil is one of the most important technological advancements to occur in the vaping industry over the past several years. In a traditional vape tank, the coil head uses resistance wires to generate the heat that turns the e-liquid to vapour. The resistance wires are wound into coil shapes, which is why we use the term “vape coils.” The term “coil” actually refers to the wire inside the coil assembly.
More recently, though, manufacturers have begun to replace the traditional coiled wire with cylinders of metal mesh – and the improvements to flavour and vapour production with a mesh coil are so dramatic that almost every current vape tank either uses mesh coils by default or has mesh coils available. Compared to coiled wire, a mesh strip is lower in mass – so it heats up more quickly and requires less battery power. Most vapers find that mesh coils are better than traditional coils in every way. For that reason, we strongly recommend making sure that your next sub-ohm tank uses mesh coils.