Last week a new member of the GuideToVaping Facebook group asked us to explain the power versus airflow difference. As a new vaper when she had purchased her kit, she had been given almost no information about the fundamentals of vaping, and this was a topic we couldn’t easily point out an answer for. Rather than putting the long answer into a reply on a thread that may disappear on a social media platform, we decided to insert it here so that we can point back to it in the future. Let’s take a couple of minutes to look at how we define power, how we define airflow, and how the two correlate with each other.
We’ll keep this as short and sweet as possible.
How Do We Define Power
The most basic principle of vaping is the concept of pressing a switch and enabling power to flow from the batteries in the device to the coil head. No different from flipping on a light switch to illuminate your home, electricity is something we are surrounded by in our daily lives. Clicking the fire button closes a circuit that allows electrons from the power source (the batteries) to travel to the coil head, where the energy they have is converted into heat and light.
The lower the resistance (in a mechanical mod especially), or the higher the wattage applied to the coil, the faster those electrons can travel across the circuit. This is essentially why as you turn up the power, the heat of the coils go up and more vapor is produced.
Increasing The Airflow
As users required more vapor at lower resistance, the older style of tanks were found to be severely lacking. Too much heat with inadequate airflow passing over the coils will result in a vape too hot to handle, so tanks and RDA’s were created with larger holes to combat the problem. This was a great solution to the problem, however people’s vaping styles vary as much as the people who are holding the device. Adjustable airflow ensured that, as you increased the power, you could increase the amount of air getting to the coils.
The Perfect Balance
Getting the balance just right is a game of trial and error. If you enjoy cool vapes, keeping the power low and the airflow open may be what you need. However, opening the airflow too much may actually be harmful to your vaping experience. There is no perfect balance unfortunately, and no special formula that can immediately tell you what settings to put your device on to get it right the first time.
Experimentation with the settings on any new device is a large part of the fun (just my opinion), but you will quickly learn what works best for you. As long as you remember that turning up the power means turning up the heat, you should be fine.
My personal preference on most devices is a warm, airy vape that produces thick dense clouds. It took a few weeks of trial and error to find that my daily vape is 0.3Ω at around 60 watts (with medium airflow on a 30mm RDA and airflow wide open on a 22mm). Keep vaping and experimenting during the process, and we’re sure you’ll find yours too.
