What to Do With Extra E-Liquid Left in the Tank

July 04, 2019

woman holding vape liquid and vape pen

The key to happy vaping is a squeaky-clean vape rig. Even if you vape constantly, we all soon learn that cleaning your tanks, coils, and batteries are what makes the e-liquid taste best. A clean hit must come from a clean vape and if you want to get all the delicious overtones and undertones of your favorite vape flavors, then there's nothing like a clean tank and a fresh or flavor-dedicated coil.

You know you should empty and wipe down your tank at the end of each day (or week) to make sure that the e-liquid is fresh and there is no lingering residue aging over time. Most of us know better than to top-off an old tank over and over again (though we do it anyway). And many of us have discovered the kinda horrifying result of leaving a full tank of e-liquid on your desk or (worse!) in your car for a few weeks until it turns a deep creepy cola color.

But that does leave one important quandary for fastidious vapers: What the hell to do you do when you're done vaping and there's still a little liquid left in the tank? Should you dump it out? Should you try to save it for tomorrow? Is it safe to just leave it and top-up in the morning? For some people, it's no big deal and they just dump or vape as they see fit. For others, that last little bit of tasty e-liquid is so maddening it will keep you up at night. Fear not!

Today, we're here to share our pro vaper tricks for dealing with the e-liquid at the bottom of your tank.

Can You Vape It?

As huge fans of e-liquid, we'd love to say "Just vape it!" Vaping a little extra e-liquid should be no problem for veteran vapers. A few huge delicious lungfuls should be all you need to get that last fraction of an inch of liquid from the bottom of the tank. And if your tank can accomplish a low-vape, that's great! Vape it! Vape it all up before you clean the tank.

But if you start to hear a gurgle... 

 

The Dreaded Gurgle

If you start to hear a gurgle when you're trying to vape those last few tasty drops, stop. Yeah, we know. Normally, we'd never tell someone to stop vaping but this is about your wicks. 

Many vape coils are designed to soak the coils from an intake near the bottom of the tank. But unless that intake is right at the bottom of the tank, at some point, you're going to have too little juice to soak the wicks. And if the wicks can't take in new liquid, pulling a vape dries them out. And if the wicks are dry, heating the element can cause them to scorch. 

This is actually why we so-often wind up with that maddening tiny amount of e-liquid left at the bottom. Because the vape coil simply cannot handle pulling that last little bit out of the tank. So ultimately, if you hear that gurgle, the following solutions were hand-crafted just for you.

 

To Pour or Not to Pour?

The first question is whether or not to pour out the e-liquid. It's probably still good. You'd vape it if you could, so naturally, you'd vape it tomorrow after you clean the tank, right? There are a couple of different ways to handle saving e-liquid when your coil can't handle finishing a tank. You can save it in the original bottle, mix it up into a cocktail, or just put it aside until you're ready to start a new tank.

 velvet cloud vape liquid in original packagin

Put It Back in the Original Bottle

One option that vapers can't really agree on is putting the tank-remainder back into the original flavor bottle. If you believe in maintaining the sanctity of each individual flavor, then this can be a pretty appealing choice. After all, you're keeping fresh e-liquid already in the bottle with gently-used e-liquid that was very recently in the bottle. 

Putting e-liquid back into its original bottle is also easier than you might think. And no, you don't need a syringe to do it. The unicorn tips of e-liquid bottles can be removed, usually by twisting or pulling to release the tip. This then leaves a slightly larger aperture where you can pour the spare e-liquid in from your tank. As long as the liquid in your tank really is fresh.

Of course, some vapers feel that vape is 'contaminated' once it hits the tank or once you start puffing so this might not be your jam. If not, mosey on to option two.

Make a 'Suicide' Mix Bottle

Do you remember when you were a kid and you made soda-fountain 'suicide' cocktails with every drink in the row? We do too. And a lot of the time, it didn't taste that bad. In fact, if you're good at soda fountain mixing, you can come up with some truly delicious concoctions that no one else was drinking.

E-liquid saving can turn into something a lot like that. In fact, some vapers have a variety of 'cocktail' bottles separated by flavor type so they can save the last of each tank. One bottle each for mint, tobacco, fruity flavors, dessert flavors, and sour flavors. Whether you choose to mix all your flavors or design special mixes to try, cocktail flavors are a great way to save that last bit of e-liquid in a tank and get the most out of every flavor you try.

Create a Tank-Saver Container

Or you can keep that e-liquid active, just not aging in the tank. If topping up with the same flavor or the next flavor is your way, just save your tank remainder in a separate container. One tiny e-liquid bottle can hold the tiny amount of liquid you want to save before cleaning your tank for the night. Then, when you're ready to start vaping again with a clean tank, you can start right back where you left off without wasting a drop.

A tank-saver container is the perfect in-motion solution to that vape tank remainder that your coils can't reach. You can roll your tanks of e-liquid together like many vapers prefer to do while also gaining the freedom to clean your tank without wasting.

 

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Wasting great e-liquid is always a tragedy, and keeping your tank clean shouldn't come with a cost. If you've been looking for a way to stop dumping out a milliliter of perfectly good vape juice every time you clean your tank, try any one of these tips and let us know how it turns out!






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