How to prime a coil properly so your first puff is not your worst

A brand new coil has bone dry cotton. If you fill the tank and fire straight away, the liquid may only have soaked the outside of the wick while the cotton touching the metal is still dry. One press of the button and you have scorched it.

A burnt patch never recovers. Even if later puffs taste fine at first, that singed cotton wicks poorly, carries a faint charred note and gives up early.

Priming fixes this by getting liquid right into the cotton before any heat arrives. It is the cheapest way to make replacement coils go further, and once it becomes habit you will never think about it again.

Tank coils have two places to prime: the hole down the centre, which is the inside of the coil, and the wicking ports on the side, where you can see the cotton.

Do the drops gently and slowly, one at a time. You want the cotton to darken all the way round, not a puddle sitting in the base of the coil. Flooding the middle is one of the main reasons a freshly primed coil gurgles and spits on the first few puffs.

Follow these steps every time you fit a new head.

Pods with a built-in coil are easier because you cannot get at the coil directly. The trick is simply patience: fill the pod, push the bung in firmly and leave it alone for at least five minutes before your first puff.

If your pod has a removable coil, like the Caliburn G coils, take it out first, put a couple of drops on the cotton visible through its holes, then refit, fill and wait.

On auto-draw pods it is easy to fire by accident while doing primer puffs. Cover the airflow hole with a fingertip and suck gently with the pod out of the device, or skip primer puffs and simply wait a little longer.

The waiting time depends almost entirely on liquid thickness. Thin 50/50 liquid moves into cotton quickly, while 70/30 and 80/20 shortfills crawl in more slowly. Cold liquid is thicker too, so a bottle that spent the night in a chilly car needs longer.

Coil size makes a small difference. Big sub-ohm heads carry more cotton, which takes more liquid to saturate, but they also have larger ports, so the two roughly balance out.

If in doubt, wait longer. Nobody has ever ruined a coil by letting it soak for an extra five minutes.

Most priming problems come from overdoing it rather than skipping it. Pouring liquid down the centre until it pools means the first puffs pull neat liquid into the chimney, which is where that crackle and spit comes from.

Primer puffs can overdo it too. Five or six hard draws without firing can flood the coil. Two or three short, gentle ones are plenty.

Then there is the classic: priming beautifully, then opening the dial to the top of the range. Give a fresh coil a few low power puffs first. Our guide to breaking in a new coil explains why. Tap the cards to clear up the usual myths.

Run through this list before the first puff on any new coil or pod. It takes about as long as reading it, and it saves you from the scorched first hit that ruins an otherwise fine coil.

If you ever get a burnt taste despite following every step, the coil may simply be faulty, which happens occasionally with any brand. Try another from the same pack before blaming your technique.

Also check you are using a liquid that suits the coil. A thick high VG juice in a tight MTL coil will dry hit however carefully you prime it, so match the liquid first, then prime.