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When it comes to vaping, whether you’re new to it or a veteran vaper we’ve all encountered coils. They’re what powers the flavours that we all know and love and what we aim to talk about in this article is the differences between traditional coils and mesh coils!

Throughout this article we are going to help you decipher the differences between traditional coils and mesh coils, whilst also aiding you in making the decision for which one you should go for in your next device!

What are Traditional Coils?

In order for us to describe the differences between the two we must first describe the design of a traditional coil. Traditional coils are typically made of a single wire wrapped around a cylindrical metal rod. This was the way that things were throughout the early years of vaping, until we reached a point where the developments in creating a ‘better’ coil were almost exhausted.

At this point any further ventures to create a traditional coil for high wattage Direct To Lung (DTL) vaping lead to unpleasant spitting and extreme heat being produced whilst vaping at high wattages. This is due to having to increase the surface area of the wire to allow for a lower Ohm rating and hence higher wattage vaping. Due to the fact that this heat was concentrated through one singular coil of wire, the heat then caused the spitting and popping.

What are Mesh Coils?

Mesh coils take a different approach to traditional coils, instead of a single wire coil like a traditional coil they use strips of wire mesh like the example shown in the image below. This strip is then wound into a tight cylinder and inserted vertically into the coil.

When you get into mesh coils for higher wattage DTL vaping sometimes the coils used contain multiple strips of mesh to increase the surface area and lower the Ohm rating of the coil, allowing for higher wattage vaping without the extreme heat, spitting and popping produced from using a traditional coil of a similar Ohm rating. 

The Benefits of Mesh Coils

When compared to traditional coils, mesh coils have 2 main benefits. These are the improved surface area to mass ratio as well as much better wick to wire contact!

Mesh coils have extremely high surface area, this allows for increased cloud production without the need for relatively dense single wire coils. The mesh also ends up being very light whilst maintaining the high surface area required for a low Ohm rating coil. This allows the production of coils that are capable of creating large clouds and intense flavour, without the need for extremely high wattage requirements. 

This also allows for the use of single 18650 battery devices for DTL vaping in areas where a dual 18650 would have been a necessity prior to the creation of mesh coils, as the wattages required are no longer as high as they once were. Lower wattages mean less battery power required to produce the desired cloud and therefore a longer life out of a single battery device.

The 2nd major benefit of mesh coils come from their profile. The profile of a mesh coil is much flatter than a traditionally wound vape coil, this allows the contact between the wick and the coil to be a lot more uniform. This will eliminate the problem of E-Liquid condensing in the wick and forming pools. Also due to the uniform profile, mesh coils burn much more evenly which can help increase the life of the coil compared to a traditional coil.

Mesh Coils and their Drawbacks

Although when it comes to general use mesh coils are mostly considered superior to traditional coils there are a few select instances where a mesh coil may not be right for you. 

Due to the fact that mesh coils heat so evenly, the vapour that they produce has a very small and uniform droplet size. This can lead to the vapour feeling dryer than that of a traditional coil with the same Ohm rating. If you enjoy more moisture in your vaping experience you may be better sticking with the traditional style of coil.

Mesh coils will also produce a larger vapour cloud than traditional coils of a similar Ohm rating. This can lead to a mesh coil vaping experience with a liquid which contains a high concentration of nicotine seeming overpowering. In this case it is always good to consider dropping your nicotine levels to allow you to fully enjoy the mesh coil. However if you are happy with the level of nicotine that you are currently using we would recommend that you stick to using traditional coils.

Our Favourite Mesh Coil Vape Tanks and Devices

Since this article has probably made you question and wonder about mesh coils we’ve decided to add this little section on to the end of the article to inform you guys of some of our favourite tanks and kits that utilise a mesh coil platform so that you can eye up what we enjoy! These are in no particular order, it’s just a list of our top picks.

The opinions listed here are those of us at ELQD ECIGS, and may not represent the opinions of others.

The HorizonTech Falcon Legend is HorizonTechs latest development in the world of DTL Vaping, the new M6 and M8 coils both utilise multiple strips of mesh inside of the coil to provide fantastic flavour and a really substantial cloud for vaping at in and around 70W! If you’re interested in an outstanding tank with some vaping pedigree behind it you can pick up the Falcon Legend on our website here!

The Vaporesso GEN PT80S is a brilliant little pod device with external battery compatibilty which can use any of the fantastic GTX Mesh Coil range from Vaporesso. This means you can enjoy the benefits of mesh coils for any style of vaping you would like to experience. Another unique little trick that the GEN PT80S has is the dual top system wherein the airflow and filling mechanism is at the top of the pod, this allows the vaping boffins at Vaporesso to add another level of leak protection so that all your juice stays exactly where you want it! 

If you’d like to learn more about Vaporesso’s outstanding GTX Coil range you can read all about them on their website here.

Does the GEN PT80S sound like something you’d like? Pick one up on our website here or if you want to treat yourself grab a Super Bundle here!

The Vaporesso iTank 2 is the tank at the forefront of Vaporesso’s plight into the world of DTL vaping. With it’s updated turbo airflow system and revamped top-fill mechanism the iTank 2 is a real DTL All Star! Pair one of these with your favourite shortfill for a surefire fantastic flavour experience, they’re available on our website here! Looking for a more in depth breakdown of the GTi Coil range used in the iTank 2? Find it on Vaporesso’s website here!

That has been our deep dive into the exciting little vaping development that is mesh coils! Thank you very much for reading, if you have any questions leave them in the comments and  we’ll answer them!