What Are the Biggest Vaping Trends of 2020?

The vaping industry matures with each passing year – but as far as the industry has come over its first decade, we continue to see evidence that there’s still plenty of room for innovation and development. New trends continue to pop up, and the things that used to be fashionable among the vaping community fade away and become niche products. So, what are the biggest vaping trends of 2020 – and which of those trends are here to stay? That’s what we’re going to explore in this article.

Mesh Coils Have Changed Sub-Ohm Tanks Forever

Out of the many trends that have shaped the world of vaping in 2020, the mesh coil is surely the most important one to owners of sub-ohm tanks. It’s also the trend that’s most likely to stick around for the long haul – at least until something better comes along.

All of the most popular vape tanks currently on the market – from the Freemax Mesh Pro and the Uwell Valyrian 2 to the SMOK TFV16 – use mesh coils. 

As soon as you’ve used a tank with a mesh coil for the first time, you’ll see why: Mesh coils are simply better than traditional wound coils in every way. They’re quieter.

They heat up and cool down more quickly. They produce just as much vapour – and sometimes more – with much lower power requirements. They don’t pop or spit. Mesh coils definitely aren’t going away unless atomizer coil technology experiences a major fundamental change. 

People Are Loving Fruit-and-Menthol E-Liquid Flavours

Malaysian vape juice companies like Nasty Juice and Horny Flava have become extremely popular around the world over the past year or so, and their popularity has made them incredibly influential within the e-liquid scene. 

Just a couple of years ago, it was unusual to find menthol used as a flavour note in an e-liquid unless the e-liquid had a minty or menthol-tobacco flavour profile.

Today, though, it’s increasingly common to find menthol and other cooling agents used in vape juices with fruit and candy flavour profiles – and Malaysian e-liquid has a lot to do with that.

Perhaps it has something to do with the region’s tropical climate, or maybe it’s just because Malaysia’s e-liquid makers have made it a point to defy flavour conventions.

Whatever the reason, Malaysian e-liquid companies add at least a little menthol to just about every flavour profile imaginable. It’s actually rare to find a Malaysian vape juice without menthol, and the Malaysian style of e-liquid making has begun to influence vape juice makers in the rest of the world.

Practically every vaping device with pre-filled pods now has at least one fruit-and-menthol flavour available, and some e-liquid companies have even gone so far as to create “On Ice” versions of their most popular flavours. It’s a great thing that the vapers of the world continue to have a steady stream of inventive new flavour profiles to try after all these years. 

Pod Systems Have Become More Like Full-Fledged Mods

Over the last couple of years, pod systems have really reached critical mass within the vaping community. In many markets, vaping devices with pre-filled pods have largely replaced the cigarette-shaped devices that beginning vapers once used.

Pod systems have had some interesting effects, however, on the vaping industry. One of those effects is that, for the first time, owners of larger vape mods have decided to stop using those devices and “downgrade” to smaller pod systems.

With so many long-time vapers now using pod systems, it’s no surprise that many of the industry’s hardware manufacturers have begun to develop more advanced pod systems designed to cater to the needs of vapers with a bit more experience.

Some of those pod systems, however, have really begun to blur the line between pod-based vapes and full-blown mods.

When does a pod-based vaping device stop being a pod mod? When does it become – well, just a mod? These are just a few of the features that you’ll find if you shop for an advanced pod system in 2020.

• Replaceable coils that can be swapped out without replacing the entire pod
• Coils of different resistance ratings to support different vaping styles
• Variable wattage settings
• Full customization of all settings by connecting the device to a computer
• Sub-ohm coils and adjustable airflow for direct-to-lung inhaling

It’s been fascinating to watch the evolution of pod-based vaping systems. Though it’s unlikely that traditional vape mods with glass tanks will ever go away, pod systems have enjoyed a meteoric rise and are likely to only become more popular in 2021 and beyond.

Coil Gunk Isn’t Going Away

Our final vaping trend of 2020 isn’t nearly as much fun as the previous ones. In fact, we’d call it downright annoying.

Coil gunk – the black residue that appears on a coil as a result of using e-liquid sweetened with sucralose – has only become a bigger problem as vape tanks have become more powerful and sweetened e-liquid has become more common.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that coil gunk is a problem with implications that can extend far beyond the annoyance of any individual vaper. If you look at the selection of vape juice at any mainstream vape shop, you’ll see that most of the e-liquid brands with wide-scale distribution use sucralose extensively.

People who have been vaping for a while know that, and they’ve already decided how they’re going to deal with that issue. They avoid sweetened e-liquids, or they put up with the gunk.

If they put up with the gunk, they either leave room in their budgets for frequent coil replacements, or they build their own coils.

The bigger problem, however, arises when new vapers buy sweetened e-liquids only to discover that their new coils are ruined after a day. If you were new to vaping and didn’t understand that coils don’t have to get gunky after a day, the experience could put you off from vaping for good. Sooner or later, the industry will need to find a way to solve the problem of coil gunk.