How long do vape coils last, and what quietly kills them early?

There is no expiry date printed on a coil, because its life depends on how much liquid passes through it and what that liquid leaves behind. A light vaper who sips a 1.2 ohm MTL coil through a 50/50 menthol might get three weeks. A sub-ohm vaper running a 0.15 ohm head at 60W with a custard shortfill might get four days.

As a rough benchmark, most daily vapers replace coils every 7 to 14 days. Measured in liquid, many coils give up somewhere after 20 to 40ml has gone through them, though heavily sweetened juices can finish one far sooner.

If yours last much less than a week, something on the list below is the reason.

Sweeteners are the headline culprit. Sucralose does not vaporise cleanly, so it caramelises on the hot metal and builds into a crust that chokes the wick. Dessert, candy and many fruit liquids are the worst offenders.

Power comes next. Living at the top of a coil's range, or beyond it, cooks the cotton faster. Then there is chain vaping: puffing again before the wick has re-soaked dries and singes it a little each time.

Smaller factors add up too: letting the tank run nearly empty, forgetting to prime, and using thick high-VG liquid in a coil built for thin juice. The good news is that every one of these is in your hands.

Pick the answer that matches your experience and you will get the most likely cause. These patterns come up again and again, and once you know which one is yours, the fix is usually quick.

It also helps to keep a little mental log. Note the date you fit a coil, the liquid you used and the power setting. After two or three coils you will see whether one flavour or one habit is doing the damage.

When you do swap flavours to test, change only one thing at a time. If you change liquid, wattage and airflow all at once, you will never know which one helped.

Coils are a running cost, so it is worth knowing the true figure. Most packs in our range cost about £7 to £12 for three to five heads, so a single coil works out at roughly £1.40 to £3. Change one weekly and you are looking at well under £15 a month.

Use the calculator to plug in your own numbers: how much you pay, how many coils come in a pack and how often you swap. It also shows how much a small habit change, like getting ten days instead of seven, saves over a year.

Pod kits with built-in coils cost a little more per change, because you replace the whole pod. Our guide on changing a pod covers that side.

Forums are full of tricks for reviving tired coils. A few have a grain of truth, most are wishful thinking, and one or two can damage your kit. Tap each card for the real story.

The persistent one is soaking a gunked coil in hot water or alcohol to bring it back. It might shift a little residue, but the cotton has already been heat damaged and will never wick like new. A fresh head from the coils range costs less than the liquid you would waste trying.

Likewise, dry burning a pre-built coil to clean it simply scorches the cotton inside. That trick only applies to rebuildable coils with the cotton removed.

None of these require new kit. They are small routines that, together, make a real difference to how often you reach for a new coil. Tick them off as you build them into your day.

If you love dessert liquids and do not want to give them up, try alternating: a clearer flavour like menthol or tobacco for half the week, your sweet favourite for the rest. Many vapers find that alone stretches coil life noticeably.

And keep a spare coil in your bag. A dying coil is far easier to live with when you know the fix is in your pocket.