Vaping for Beginners – What Is Dripping?
In the early days of e-cigarettes, decent atomizers and tanks simply didn’t exist. Resourceful hobbyists supplied vapers with rebuildable atomizers handmade in garages and basements.
One example was the Bulli, which became legendary a few years ago. Here’s an old YouTube video from 2011 by Phil. And because tanks back then weren’t really up to the job, some vapers swore by dripping. Right at the start of e-cigarettes, all you had were tiny filler cartridges with a simple coil – you’d take a few puffs and the atomizer would already taste burnt. Then people realised that building your own coils tasted better, and that’s how dripping came into the picture. You simply put 4 to 5 drops of e-liquid directly onto the mesh wick, popped the mouthpiece back on, and that was it. A more modern approach was to drip 10 to 20 drops onto the cotton in the coil. Today we have tanks, so there aren’t really many reasons left to drip, unless you’re convinced it tastes better.
Some vapers swear by the pure flavour of the e-liquid. They’re not entirely wrong: if you slowly vape your way through a 5 ml tank, the flavour of the e-liquid really does change a little. The reason is simple. If you’ve ever cooked a stew, you’ll know that the longer it simmers on a low heat, the thicker it gets and the more intense the flavour becomes. Not everyone likes that.
Dripping does have one major downside, though: because you only use a small amount of e-liquid, you only get a few puffs before the wick runs dry. Vaping a dry wick is anything but tasty. As mentioned, in the early days of vaping there simply weren’t any good tanks, and the cartridges had to be topped up by dripping. That’s also where the term “leaking” comes from: those cartridges really did leak, and later on the first clearomizers and then tanks often did too. Today, that’s a problem that’s largely under control.
Really want to know what dripping tastes like? My tip: look for a local vape meetup — informal, friendly get-togethers that are usually organised through vaping forums. A seasoned vaper will almost certainly be happy to show you exactly what dripping is all about.
If you’re a beginner, I’d advise against it. A good tank and ready-made coil heads are much more enjoyable and won’t give you any technical headaches.
