What is Sub-Ohm Vaping?

For direct-to-lung (DTL) vaping, also known as ‘Sub-Ohm’ vaping, it’s the last technique or style used before giving up vaping for good. It involves a warmer vape experience with plenty of flavour and huge cloud production to match at a higher wattage. If you’ve ever witnessed these billowing clouds of vapour and wondered how or why it’s done, read on to understand everything you need to know about Sub-Ohm vaping.

What Does Sub-Ohm Mean?

A very simple explanation is that Sub-Ohm vaping relates to any coil resistance inside a vape tank or pod below 1.0 Ohms. The coil is used to heat e-liquid and every 0.1 Ohms that you drop in resistance creates a different reaction.

To produce bigger clouds of vapour, you would need to pick a Sub-Ohm coil and vape directly into the lungs (DTL) instead of mouth-to-lung (MTL) style, which is commonly used with cigarettes. While some mathematical equations and formulas can boggle the mind, Ohm’s Law is pretty straightforward.

Essentially, the more resistance a coil has, the less electrical energy will be able to pass through. Sub-Ohm vaping creates more energy, heat and power. MTL vaping creates a different reaction with a cooler e-liquid, using less energy and works better with thin e-liquids.

What are the Benefits of Sub-Ohm Vaping?

1. Much better flavour because you’re able to draw more e-liquid with a higher concentration of flavour.
2. Increasingly larger clouds as you drop the resistance of the coil. This is a key reason why many turn to Sub-Ohm vaping.
3. Sub-Ohm vaping only works with low levels of nicotine, so it’s a great way to reduce the addictive ingredient in vaping.
4. Quicker heating ‘ramp-up’ times.
5. Greater levels of customisation with a high wattage Sub-Ohm vape, with different types of wicking and coil wires.

Is Sub Ohm Vaping More Harmful?

It’s not more harmful than mouth-to-lung vaping but it is important to prevent ‘dry hits’, which is common with Sub-Ohm vaping when the cotton desaturates quicker due to the excess heat. Keeping the cotton soaked at all times will help to prevent this issue and a nasty burnt taste when vaping. It will also prevent carcinogens from entering the body, which can occur with dry hits too. In addition, because Sub-Ohm vaping means generating more power, keep an eye on your e-liquid and battery levels, which diminish much faster than MTL vaping with a thinner nic salt vape juice at a lower wattage.

How is Sub-Ohm Vaping DTL Different to MTL?

The way you Sub-Ohm vape will be slightly different to the way you would vape a standard e-cigarette or vape pen. Similarly, to how you would have smoked back in the day, many of the lower-powered devices involve mouth-to-lung (MTL) vaping. This means that vapour travels from your device to your mouth, holding for a few seconds, before moving to your lungs. In contrast, Sub-Ohm vaping involves the vapour travelling directly to your lungs (DTL), bypassing the mouth altogether. Due to the extra power, adjustable airflow and high VG vape juice, your vape mod will create much more vapour.

Do I Need a Particular Vape Kit?

This depends on your level of knowledge as a vapour. Because you’re flirting with a higher degree of wattage and a lower coil resistance, your calculations need to be correct to avoid any disasters like battery explosion or device malfunction. Luckily now there are tons of regulated Sub-Ohm devices out there ready to go that make Sub-Ohm vaping pretty simple.

You can even find some higher-wattage devices that support multiple coils made from materials like mesh to increase the user experience. However, some vapers like to build their own coils - each to their own. Ensure you educate yourself on everything you need to know, allowing safe vaping to avoid any injuries.

Vape Mods are part of the natural evolution of vaping and were explicitly designed with sub-ohm vaping in mind. They essentially allow you to modify your vaping experience; be it airflow, wattage or temperature, hence the name ‘mod’. More importantly, it is all these different kinds of functions that enable you to create the vast plumes of vapour suitable for cloud chasing. Vapers have more options when Sub-Ohm vaping if they pick from one of the many highest wattage devices available from leading brands such as Vaporesso, Innokin and Geekvape.

Smok Morph 3 Vape Kit

Geekvape Aegis H45 Classic

Innokin Coolfire Z60 Mod Kit

Which E-Liquid is Best for Sub-Ohm Vaping?

As you’ll know, there is a massive range of different e-liquids that exist. You could try Shortfills, where you dictate how much nicotine to add. But some people are in the vaping game to reduce nicotine completely. Because you inhale more vapour, too much nicotine will feel too harsh on the throat. If you can manage to cut down nicotine slowly to complete removal (nicotine-free vapes do exist), the addiction will eventually pass but the Direct to Lung technique can remain.

It’s not advised to use nic salts for example because the nicotine content will be too high. Vaping thick clouds of that at a low coil resistance will be harsh on the throat and difficult to manage, especially when using a high-wattage vape. The greater PG ratio will reduce your chances of large cloud production too.

Just remember to select a vape juice that has a favourable VG ratio or even a 100% VG such as VSAVI’s Gourmet Range of e-liquid is what you should be looking for. At the very least for Sub-Ohm vaping it should be a 70/30 VG to PG ratio. Match the low-resistance coil with the recommended wattage on the side of that coil and don’t forget to change your technique to DTL. Keep the nicotine low and away you go!