Why Does My Throat Hurt When I Use a Wax Pen?

Using a wax pen has one enormous benefit along with a drawback that’s potentially just as huge for some users. The benefit of using wax-based concentrates is that there’s simply nothing to rival their potency. You can smoke or vape dry herbs for an hour, or you can use a wax pen for a few minutes and get the same result – and probably for a lower price.

The drawback of using a wax pen, though, is that wax-based concentrates vaporize at extremely high temperatures. Some people find the experience quite harsh. So, if your throat hurts when you use a wax pen, you definitely aren’t alone. When you inhale a substance that’s been heated to over 400 degrees, it’s not surprising that you might experience a bit of throat irritation in the process.

Here’s the good news: Using a wax pen can certainly be an intense experience, but it doesn’t have to leave you with a sore throat. In fact, there are several things that you can do to make your experience smoother and more enjoyable, and it’s also possible that you’re making one of a few common mistakes when you use your device.

So, what can you do to prevent a sore throat when you use your wax pen? Try these simple tips.

Get a Wax Pen with a Bubbler

Getting a device with a bubbler like the one on this page is one of the most important things that you can do to make your wax vaping experience as smooth as it can be. A bubbler is essentially a tube of water that’s positioned between your wax pen’s heating element and your mouth. When you inhale, the vapor travels through the water before it reaches your mouth. The water cools the vapor dramatically, and it can also remove some of the compounds that cause harshness in your throat. Many people would never even consider using a wax pen or dab pen without a bubbler, and you’ll find that it makes a dramatic difference in your experience.

Melt Your Wax Before You Inhale

If you’re using a traditional wax pen, you’re probably using a metal dab tool to take a small piece of wax on your device’s heating coil before you vape – and this is the point where an extremely common mistake can occur.

 If you use a dry herb vaporizer or a vape pen with a pre-filled cartridge, you’re used to turning your device on and inhaling immediately. That, however, is the wrong way to use a wax pen.

Before you inhale from a wax pen, you need to warm the wax to turn it into a liquid. Otherwise, the wax will only cover a portion of your device’s coil, and the portion that has no wax will overheat. That’ll cause an intensely harsh sensation in your throat. After you put the wax on the coil, pulse the coil briefly by pressing your device’s fire button a few times or by puffing on the device a few times without inhaling. This causes the wax to melt and spread over the coil. Once you’ve done this, you can start inhaling, and you’ll find that the harshness is greatly reduced.

Keep Your Wax Pen Clean

A wax coil doesn’t last forever. Wax-based concentrates always leave some residue behind, and that residue will eventually cause a dark layer to form on your wax pen’s coil. If you don’t keep your coil clean, you’ll eventually notice burnt flavors when you use your wax pen and may experience increased throat harshness as well. If your device’s coil is removable, you can clean it by soaking the coil in rubbing alcohol for a few hours. Remove the coil from the alcohol and rinse it to remove any leftover residue. After the coil dries, it’s ready to use again.

Reduce Your Device’s Temperature

It’s very common for a wax pen to have multiple voltage settings, and you can usually switch between those settings by pressing your device’s fire button two or three times quickly. When you do this, your device’s indicator light may change color to indicate the current voltage. If you’re dealing with throat soreness when you use your wax pen, try lowering its voltage.

Although it’ll take a little longer to vaporize the material, you should find that it’s significantly less harsh.

Drink More Water When You Vape

Before you bought your wax pen, was smoking your preferred method of herbal consumption? If it was, you probably experienced mouth dryness. Dry mouth is, in fact, one of the most common side effects caused by the main active ingredient in everyone’s favorite herb. Since wax-based concentrates have even more of that ingredient, it’s natural that your mouth might feel even drier when you use a wax pen compared to smoking. When you vape, you should always drink plenty of water to keep your mouth and throat moist.

Make Sure Your Wax Concentrate Is Solvent Free

If you know that you’re doing everything right with your wax pen and are still experiencing harshness when you vape, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re not using a low-quality wax that still contains residual solvents. Wax concentrates are generally made with solvents because a solvent makes the extraction process more efficient. The problem is that the solvents typically used to create the concentrates – chemicals like butane and ethanol – are extremely harsh and definitely aren’t things you want to inhale.

Although wax vaping has many benefits, one drawback is that unlike with whole dried herbs, you don’t know exactly what you’re inhaling and need to trust that you’re buying a pure and unadulterated product. With a wax concentrate, it’s crucial for any solvents used in the extraction process to be completely removed before you use the product. It’s wise to buy your concentrates from a licensed dispensary or from an online seller that sends its products to a third-party lab for testing and publishes the results for customers to read.