We’ve all been there at one point on our vaping journey, happily vaping away when you start to get that twinge in the back of your throat, what starts as a tickle soon turns into a cough and that is anything but pleasant. Which leads to the question “Why is my vape making me cough?” We’re here to help though! Throughout this article we aim to explain the different causes of coughing whilst vaping and how you can avoid experiencing this unpleasant phenomenon.
Throughout the UK and Ireland millions of people have made the change from traditional cigarettes to vaping and this can lead to many more quesrions like the one that we’re focusing on for this article, so feel free to scroll through the archive of vaping guides available on our website!
So without further ado, lets get to answering our first big question. “Why is my vape making me cough?”
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #1: Your Nicotine Strength is too high
When it comes to starting vaping, one of the most important thing that you have to decide is what nicotine strength you want to start with. When it comes to a new customer coming into one of our stores we’ll use how many cigarettes that they used to smoke as well as what kind of cigarettes that they use to make an recommendation on what nicotine strength they should start with. That’s the one major advantage to having a vape shop which you can call into locally. However in the event that you’re starting your vaping journey online, we’ve created a little infographic down below to help you make your decision.
As close as we’ll try to get to what nicotine strength suits you, it isn’t a perfect science so we may over or underestimate how much nicotine is perfect for you, so we’ll always recommend that you try a few different strengths until you find the one that suits you. Nicotine strength that’s too high will cause coughing as it’ll provide a much stronger throat kick than you’re used to.
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #2: Your Nicotine type doesn’t suit you!
When it comes to choosing your liquid as well as the strength another important decision that faces you is which type of nicotine suits you. If you make the wrong choice you can be plagued by coughing. There are 2 main types which we offer, Nicotine Salts and Freebase Nicotine. Freebase nicotine is the longest standing choice amongst the two and is designed to have a relatively high pH so that it can simulate the throat kick of a traditional cigarette. This one is perfect for heavy smokers that crave the familiarity of the feel of a draw of a cigarette.
Nicotine salts are the new kid on the block, these guys are desigend to have a much more neutral pH, this is in order to reduce the throat kick that the liquid provides and allows the nicotine to absorb into your bloodstream much quicker. This decreases the time between you reaching for your vape and taking a draw, to that annoying nicotine craving being quelled.
When you call into any of our shops to get started, in the same process that we’d use for giving you a strength recommendation we’ll ask questions in order to figure out which is best for you. However we’d always recommend that you try both before settling on one!. If you’re unable to call down to your local vape shop we’ve added this little infographic below for you to make an educated guess!
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #3: Your throat is still sensitive from your time spent smoking
When making the change from smoking traditional cigarettes to vaping the first few weeks are the toughest part of your journey. The itch that you’re getting constantly at the back of your throat when vaping is simply due to the fact that your throat is used to the sensation of smoking a cigarette, vaping provides a different sensation which causes irritation and coughing. It’s nothing to worry about, we’d recommend just sticking at the vaping as it should subside after a few days or at longest a week of vaping.
If the coughing is so intense that you can’t use your vape without coughing we’d recommend dropping your nicotine content down or choosing a higher resistance pod to lower the intensity of the throat kick. Another recommendation we’d make is giving nicotine salts a try, they provide a much milder throat kick whilst still delivering a nicotine hit that can kill cravings quickly.
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #4: You aren’t matching your preferred style of vaping to the kit you’re using
When it comes to vape kits unfortunately there is no one size fits all approach and the style of device that you’re using can greatly influence your experience whilst vaping. Whether it be MTL, DTL or somewhere in the middle of that with RDTL there is a style for everyone. However if you buy a device for a particular style of vaping and don’t use it correctly it can cause coughing. So where possible we’d always recommend that you call into a vape shop in order to get advice when you’re starting your journey, but we’ve prepared this table below to help you pick which style of device is right for you if you are starting your vaping journey online!
| Vaping Style | Recommended for |
| MTL | Those quitting traditional cigarettes who want something that’s as close to the sensation of traditional smoking as possible without the need for tobacco |
| RDTL | Those who crave the familiar feel of smoking a traditional cigarette but find that MTL devices are not giving them the kick that they need! |
| DTL | Those who want to chase some serious clouds and enjoy low nicotine vaping with some killer flavours! |
So when you ask “why is my vape making me cough?” It could be that you’re using a kit which doesn’t fit your preference so try making a change if you’re struggling!
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #5: You’re not drinking enough water whilst you’re vaping
There are 2 ingredients in E-Liquid which are Propylene Glycol (PG) and Vegetable Glycerin (VG) these subtances are both what is known as humectants, which means that they both attract & trap water. This means that even though you may have been drinking enough water whilst you were smoking, you should increase how much you’re drinking when you make the change. If you don’t you can often find yourself left with an irritating dry throat which can lead to coughing.
If you want to answer the question of why is my vape making me cough? You should use this calculator in order to get a rough estimate of how much water you should be drinking.
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #6: You have your power set too high for your device’s coil
When using any vape kit with variable wattage it is important that you always pay attention to the suitable range of the coil that you’re using in the kit. Like in the image shown below where it says on the front of the pack, as well as shown on the side of the coil a suitable range of 60 to 75W.
This means that the mesh inside of the coil reaches the optimum temperature for thoroughly heating your E-Liquid when supplied with wattages between this range. If supplied with wattages that are too low, the wire in the coil’s mesh will not heat enough to properly vaporise all the liquid that it comes into contact with and this can cause leaking or spitting. If supplied with wattages that are too high for this range, the wire in the coil’s mesh will get too hot, quickly vaporising all available E-Liquid and then beginning to burn the cotton which can cause irritation & coughing.
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #7: Your pod/coil may be burnt
If you’re happily vaping away when all of a sudden you can’t take a puff without getting irritation in your throat and coughing whilst you take a draw it may be due to your coil or pod being burnt. Most pods or coils have a lifeline of around 1-3 weeks but unfortunately they can go at any time.
This can be due to a number of different factors including but not limited to the type of E-Liquid that you’re using, how frequently you top up the E-Liquid that’s in your pod or tank & how heavily you use your vape. So we recommend that you regularly top your liquid up, ensuring that the liquid level does not drop below the wicking holes on the coil which look like those highlighted in the images below.
Why is my vape making me cough? Reason #8: You may be sensitive to one or more of the ingredients in E-Liquid
Although it is rare, coughing or irritation when vaping can be caused by a sensitivity to one of the four constituents of E-Liquid. This is highly unlikely however as all of the major consituents of E-liquid (barring nicotine) are used widely in products that most people use in the day to day of their normal lives such as cosmetics, coffee and yoghurt!
If you reckon this is what is happening to you, we’d recommend that you get an allergen test done for PG and/or VG.
Conclusion
So that bring us to a close for our article on our 8 answers to the question of “Why is my vape making me cough?” We hope you’ve found this article useful, there are many more where this one came from so take a look on our website here to view the rest of our guides and articles!
