Ceramic Vape Coils – Advantages and Disadvantages

If you have been vaping for any amount of time then you know that one of the most important parts of your vape pen is your vape coil.

It’s the part of your set-up that heats up the e-liquid, vaporizes it, and creates that succulent, sweet-smelling vapor that you inhale. It’s also the most controversial part of every vape set-up because there are many routes that you can take with coils, depending on your preferences That said, probably the most controversial type of coil is the ceramic coil [close second is a quartz coil], which has gained popularity in the last few years but has also drawn criticism from skeptics who believe that it could be a health hazard.

So, what’s the truth?

Are ceramic coils the best thing that happened to vaping since the invention of rebuildable decks? Or are they just a new gimmick designed to take your hard-earned money while putting your health at risk?

Let’s find out!

PS. Find our E-Juice products here and 510 battery options here.

What Are Ceramic Vape Coils?

We’re sure that you’re all familiar with various vape coil technology that’s been on the market for the last decade so we won’t go into details of what makes a coil a coil.

However, the ceramics part might need some explaining. Ceramic is a solid compound that’s made from non-metallic, metallic, or other components. Common examples of ceramics are earthenware, brick, and porcelain.

Ceramic vape coils, however, are special because the materials used to make them go a long way when it comes to improving longevity and protecting against issues such as oxidation of the metal (which can be a serious problem with regular metal-only vape coils).

Basically, there are two types of ceramic coils:

• Ceramic cylinder coil – the coil itself (which is made from metal such as Kanthal, SS, or Titanium) is encased in a cylinder of porous ceramic. This both protects the coil and means that the ceramic also serves as a wick – no other wick is really needed because the ceramic from the coil can soak up the juice and feeds it to the coil.
• Metal ceramic coil – the wire itself coated in ceramic, so the coil looks basically like any other except it has an outer layer of ceramic. This design uses a cotton wick like any other coil.

The approach that a manufacturer opts for is a question of design and technology. With both designs mentioned here, the coil is surrounded by a ceramic material – the only question is how much of that material is there, and is the coil wicked or wickless. Both the advantages and disadvantages of these ceramic coil designs are pretty much the same.

Why Use Them…

Vapers are a picky bunch so they won’t really change up their vape set-up just because something new hits the market. With most vaping gear, there’s experimentation included in the process (and, sometimes, a steep learning curve). So what to ceramic vape coils have to offer that’s so good that you won’t resist trying them out?

Here are some advantages associated with using quality ceramic coils for vaping that might nudge you towards buying a pack next time you visit a vape shop.

• Improved flavor – with ceramic coils, vape users typically report improvements in flavor. There is nothing in a ceramic coil that will interfere with or react with your e-liquid’s flavor. Metals tend to leave an aftertaste that keen vapers can learn to detect. Nickel and titanium wires are especially troublesome in that respect. If you’re looking for clean, crisp flavors then ceramic coils for vaping are just what you need.
• Longer lifespan – they are not as sensitive to high temperature changes as much as metal coils. Because of the fact that they expand and shrink far less, they tend to last a lot longer, and will not become brittle and break after a couple of weeks of use.
• No dry hits – dry hits are a vaper’s nightmare. With a ceramic coil, the chances that you will get a dry hit are minimal because ceramic is so porous that it’s great when it comes to wicking. Of course, this means that you will see a marked improvement in the quality of your daily vapes, and will not have to suffer through burnt taste that’s associated with dry hits.
• Reduced spit-back – with a ceramic coil, there is less of a chance of a spit-back – which is when juice shoots up the chimney and ends up in your mouth. Since a ceramic coil heats with its entire surface, it’s much better at vaporizing liquid before this unfortunate event happens. Also, ceramic coils prevent the juice from pooling, making it harder to inhale.
• Better clouds – with them, you can use a high VG vape juice that creates much better clouds without the fear that it won’t wick properly. This is because ceramics is much better when it comes to heating and vaporizing larger amounts of highly viscous e-liquid than regular metal coils and cotton wicks.
• Easier to clean – with purely ceramic coils, there’s nothing there for the dirt and guck to stick to. You simply use a cotton swab to wipe the coil down and that’s it. If your ceramic vape coil is wicked, all you need to do is to periodically change the wicking material and you’re good to go.

… and Why Not?

Of course, where there are advantages there are disadvantages, too.

The same holds true for ceramic vape coils.

They are definitely not the Holy Grail of vaping coils, and there’s much that can be done to improve them, and to make them more attractive to everyday vapers. The biggest concern with ceramic coils for vaping are the presumed health hazards. There are very speculative, at best, so we will address them separately after we’ve dealt with more common disadvantages.

Here are two downsides to using ceramic coils that most vapers will agree with:

• Limited tank options – first of all, the truth is that ceramic coils still aren’t especially common. While you can find ceramic coils for many tanks, not all manufacturers are eager to come up with ceramic versions for their products. If you want to try vaping on a ceramic coil but there’s no option for that on your current tank, you might need to invest some money and buy a brand new tank.
• Faster juice consumption – the benefits of ceramic coils when it comes to flavor stem largely from the greater juice consumption per puff, but this also has a related downside: you’re will be going through more juice per vape session. This might not be all bad – with the increase in consumption, you will get more nicotine into your system so you might need to vape less throughout the day. In any case, slightly increased juice consumption is not a deal-breaker but you should be aware of it if you’re considering vaping on ceramic coils.

Speculation Around Health Hazards

A few months ago Uwell, a manufacturer of a popular vape tank, published a post about the health hazards of vaping on ceramic coils. Apparently, they did some research and found that most ceramic coils have very jagged edges when placed under a powerful microscope.

Now, what’s important to emphasize here is that all materials look jagged when observed through a 1000X magnification lens, even smooth glass. The idea that ceramic should somehow appear perfectly polished is simply ridiculous.

Similarly, the post draws attention to dark spots on the coils, which resulted from impurities, pointing out that “The black spots could also be unrefined toxic material.” However, they could also be non-toxic material, since they didn’t actually find out what it was. This is simply flagrant speculation which has little place in an apparently scientific investigation.

Uwell’s investigation did, however, raise one valid point. Poorly designed ceramic coils that are made using substandard materials tend to break and crumble when heated repeatedly. Take a look at the photo below that was posted on E-cigarette Forum a couple of months back (Link: https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/ceramic-coils-safety-hazard-your-opinion.911163/):

Reviewers GrimmGreen and Phil Busardo both sounded the alarm about the potential risks of ceramic coils upon testing out the Vaporesso cCell coil, but a subsequent test revealed no apparent concern about particulates from the ceramic coils. This isn’t conclusive by any stretch of the imagination, though – it’s just one test of one ceramic coil.

Of course, you wouldn’t want to inhale anything that might be classed as microscopic ceramic particles since that could have unwanted health consequences. One of those consequences is an illness called silicosis, which is very damaging to the lungs.

We need to point out here that there were no reported cases of silicosis caused by vaping ever. Not a single vaper that uses ceramic coils has been diagnosed with it. It’s usually observed in industrial settings where exposure levels are very high (stone-cutting and similar), and easily go up to pounds of inhaled material over the course of several years. That said, we wanted to point this out because it’s important that you buy quality ceramic coils for vaping which have been properly manufactured and tested so you can rest assured that you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

In the future, we need better testing of all ceramic coils on the market to put this concern behind us. The concerns that Uwell is raising are most likely overplayed but there’s no denying that there are some shady manufacturers out there who are not putting in the time and the money needed to thoroughly test out these things, which is something that we take seriously here at the Kind Pen.

The Final Verdict

Although there are some concerns related to vaping on ceramic coils that stem mostly from the Uwell research that we mentioned and some chatter on forums, we can hardly deny that these coils seem to be the height of vaping technology. This is especially true if we take into account their longevity and the pure flavor that they produce.

If you choose to vape on ceramic coils, you will be treating yourself to:

• Better and cleaner flavor profiles,
• Denser and fuller clouds,
• Maintenance and clean-up made easy,
• And coils that last for weeks instead of days.

We don’t know about you, but this makes ceramic vape coils definitely worth a look in our book!

If you have any questions about these coils, or need a vape tank that supports them ASAP, make sure to contact us here at the Kind Pen! We’re always manning our email so you’ll get a quick response to all your vape-related questions!