Why does my vape taste like chemicals?

So last couple of days I've been vaping I'd been getting chemically/plasticky taste, the same sort of smell when you do a dry burn. And I'm kind of at a loss what to do here, I cleaned out my clearomizer and switched heads but I still get that same weird taste.

My setup:
Ego-T
Kanger Protank

I didn't notice it with the harsher tasting tobacco flavors, but with the Citrus Mix and Coffee liquids from LiQua I began to notice it more often, I even opened up a new kanger protank, but I still get that odd taste and I can barely taste a vague hint of the supposed flavor I'm supposed to be vaping.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong here, and I'm starting to think that this might be very dangerous if I'm burning the silicon looking wire and inhaling the fumes.

Huummm. Have you tried another brand of e-liquid? Maybe it's a Liqua issue. Maybe they are adding a sweetener that collects on the coils.

Couple of things come to mind. If it's a new juice, it hasn't been steeped enough, which will provide a chemical taste much of the time, until steeping is complete, or maybe never, if it's not a flavor you like. The other idea is that you may be vaping with too much heat. Different juices begin to die at different Wattages. Fruitier, darker, sweeter, pastry juice begins to burn above 7 Watts. Try lowering your Wattage, or your voltage (to match 7 Watts - see Ohm's Law), that may fix the problem. The last thing that comes to mind is that you did have a burnt wick/coil and when you changed it, you put another coil assembly in the tank that hadn't been cleaned yet. Sometimes, residue of machine oil is on the wicks from the manufacturing process. Always clean everything, every time before you vape anything. A lot of stuff does NOT taste great right out of the box. A good cleaning often corrects the problem. Summary:

1. Lower your Wattage (heat), or voltage to +/- 7 Watts (then adjust up or down)
2. Make sure your juice is steeped correctly and long enough. Try a new juice that you know to be good in the tank. If it's ok, then you know the issue was the other juice.
3. Clean all new gear, wicks, tanks, etc. BEFORE you vape with it

Good luck, and please share what it is that was causing this problem. There may be other reasons, but these are the ones that occur to me as I'm reading your post and responding. Best to you!

Any metal Dental fillings?

Is your sense of taste heightened lately?

Acidic + Metal can cause the effect if sensitive.

If you changed your atty head and are still getting that chemical, perfume, soapy flavor than most likely it is the juice you are vaping. Some of the juices I have tried have that flavor, and as you stated, the ones that did taste chemically were the fruit flavors. There are some juice vendors that use artificial flavors and combine that with alcohol and more than likely you will get that chemical, medicinal taste.
You can try to leave the cap off for a day so that the alcohol can evaporate. It might fix the problem...it might not. I'm not sure where you purchase your juice from, but I normally order from vendors that use extracted flavors, instead of using artificial flavorings and food colorings.

If you changed your atty head and are still getting that chemical, perfume, soapy flavor than most likely it is the juice you are vaping. Some of the juices I have tried have that flavor, and as you stated, the ones that did taste chemically were the fruit flavors. There are some juice vendors that use artificial flavors and combine that with alcohol and more than likely you will get that chemical, medicinal taste.
You can try to leave the cap off for a day so that the alcohol can evaporate. It might fix the problem...it might not. I'm not sure where you purchase your juice from, but I normally order from vendors that use extracted flavors, instead of using artificial flavorings and food colorings.

You were on point with the soapy flavor, especially noticeable in the fruit tastes, the tobacco tasting variants don't have the same issue.

I'm more worried about the juices containing diacetyl, especially after feeling some discomfort in my lungs after vaping (only have LiQua and RY4 dekang atm), I also got a headache and some mucus, but that might've just been me ODing on nicotine cause I was chain vaping..

Anyway, I'm gonna get some stuff from the vapor chef, I think its the juices that are causing the problem. Also, I emailed them asking if their juices contain diacetyl, because the wording seemed weird to me on their website, but my grammar isn't too strong so I might be wrong.

"Our flavor extracts come from reliable safe sources, are diacetyl, acetyl propionyl and acetoin free, and are specifically formulated for vaping"

Any metal Dental fillings?

Is your sense of taste heightened lately?

Acidic + Metal can cause the effect if sensitive.

I do have a couple of fillings, but I'm not sure if they're metal.

I'm by no means a veteran or any kind of expert, but is this a new e-juice or a new e-juice vendor for you? I'm leading to the "a vendor/juice loved by X is unvapable to Y" taste mystery.

For instance, I can't find a Halo tobacco-line flavor that tastes good to me, while many others love them. Halo tobaccos taste like chemicals or perfume to me - and it's clearly a tastebud wiring quirk of mine, not Halo's e-juice. I switched coils, tanks..everything - no dice - I'm still flummoxed by it.

('prolly over-explained it, but I've had the experience you're describing, and the above was what I learned)

Having similar issues with the Kanger T3S. While I think it's likely stronger flavored juices will cover up tastes that may come through in others, even when I run the same juice in the Kanger as my iclear the kanger still gives the taste of burning plastic after the 3rd or 4th drag while the iclear doesn't. I've tried different T3s and switched heads on them. Turned voltage clear down to 3.2. I've boiled and even soaked in vodka. Still same nastiness. Searching the web reveals this is not uncommon. Yet some people love them. My conclusion... much of this gear is Chinese crap and quality is hit or miss. If and when you find something that works well, stock up on it. Hopefully as time goes on and demand increases we'll see better products.

Having similar issues with the Kanger T3S. While I think it's likely stronger flavored juices will cover up tastes that may come through in others, even when I run the same juice in the Kanger as my iclear the kanger still gives the taste of burning plastic after the 3rd or 4th drag while the iclear doesn't. I've tried different T3s and switched heads on them. Turned voltage clear down to 3.2. I've boiled and even soaked in vodka. Still same nastiness. Searching the web reveals this is not uncommon. Yet some people love them. My conclusion... much of this gear is Chinese crap and quality is hit or miss. If and when you find something that works well, stock up on it. Hopefully as time goes on and demand increases we'll see better products.

Perhaps it's due to the silica wick in the atomizer? Just got the plasticky hit again...with the tobacco flavor, it's really inconsistent sometimes I'll be getting good tasting hits, then it's some plasticky flavor, I can't imagine this being better for my health than analogs..

Perhaps it's due to the silica wick in the atomizer? Just got the plasticky hit again...with the tobacco flavor, it's really inconsistent sometimes I'll be getting good tasting hits, then it's some plasticky flavor, I can't imagine this being better for my health than analogs..

Which is worse? Don't know or even bother to consider. I still have a cigarette every once in a while, but since I started vaping they taste about as bad as my burning Kanger. I just look for a set up that is workable, yet understand why some give up. So far the iclear16's are okay for me. They have their quirks to be sure, though nothing like the burned rubber/plastic of my Kanger. That's a deal breaker for me. ICs definately aren't at their best until some time/use/saturation has set in, but they're useable from the get go. That's my experience, though I don't doubt some have had problems with them. Inconsistency seems par for the course in the industry. Every piece of gear I do a search on seems to fail someone. I'm a minimalist, but believe in being prepared for rainy days. Given the inconsistency, that makes it hard to stock up on vape stuff. When I find something that works I immediately buy more from that same source. Test it out and if it's good, buy more. That's my current MO to build up some stock.

Only time I had any burned or chemy taste when using a cartomizer was when it ran dry. Didn't hit nearly as good as the clearos. Still, it's another option to try. No doubt juices make a difference too. I've tried 8 that are highly recommended. 1 I like. 1 is tolerable. The other 6 are God awful. Even after steeping for a few weeks they taste chemy. There's a vape shop in a town near here that will let you taste test all 50 of the flavors they carry. That's my plan before I waste any more money on juice I don't like. Maybe you can find somewhere similar.

Which is worse? Don't know or even bother to consider. I still have a cigarette every once in a while, but since I started vaping they taste about as bad as my burning Kanger. I just look for a set up that is workable, yet understand why some give up. So far the iclear16's are okay for me. They have their quirks to be sure, though nothing like the burned rubber/plastic of my Kanger. That's a deal breaker for me. ICs definately aren't at their best until some time/use/saturation has set in, but they're useable from the get go. That's my experience, though I don't doubt some have had problems with them. Inconsistency seems par for the course in the industry. Every piece of gear I do a search on seems to fail someone. I'm a minimalist, but believe in being prepared for rainy days. Given the inconsistency, that makes it hard to stock up on vape stuff. When I find something that works I immediately buy more from that same source. Test it out and if it's good, buy more. That's my current MO to build up some stock.

Only time I had any burned or chemy taste when using a cartomizer was when it ran dry. Didn't hit nearly as good as the clearos. Still, it's another option to try. No doubt juices make a difference too. I've tried 8 that are highly recommended. 1 I like. 1 is tolerable. The other 6 are God awful. Even after steeping for a few weeks they taste chemy. There's a vape shop in a town near here that will let you taste test all 50 of the flavors they carry. That's my plan before I waste any more money on juice I don't like. Maybe you can find somewhere similar.

I'll be getting some juice from the USA, since the options here are fairly limited, and I can't be bothered to be ordering all these juices online which are probably just rebranded dekang. If I'm still not content with that, I'll just be quitting cold turkey which seemed to have worked for me other than smoking the occassional cigarette at a barbecue or social environments (I'm not too social anyway).

I just can't be bothered spending more money on trying out different clearomizers/cartomizers or VV batteries, I just want something with consistency and just works from the get go, the Protank had been recommended to me by lots of people but so far I'm pretty disappointed and the chemical taste really freaked me out (and it's probably not just the juice since I get the same taste with every juice I've tried so far).

In fact, I'm just gonna give up on it altogether, because I don't think it would make sense to try another juice when I get the chemical taste with all the juices I already have (the same kind of smell when you do a dry burn).

I suppose it would still be a healthier alternative to people who are heavy smokers, but for me I haven't noticed any improvements in health whatsoever, in fact it left me with a soar throat, excess mucus and heavy feeling in my lungs.

So screw it, I'm gonna stay nicotine free from now on.

Clean the snot out of the carto, rinse it, blow it out, rinse it, blow it out, then let it dry (put in a spare), then change your drag technique

I have a Totally Wicked Tornado RCS, found I was getting the nasty burnt/chemical taste...problem was I was hitting it like a cig, hard slow draws and after a while the carto started tasking like crap.

I found that if I start with a clean tank and carto, then triple tap my hits (like trying to puff start a 1/2 lit analog) the taste lasts longer and I get MUCH better vapor, no longer hit it with hard long analog type drags...more like a pipe or a choo choo train.

I've found that a lot of the mt baker juices have that chemical taste, which is why i stopped ordering from them, with the exception of hawk sauce...still love that stuff. I bet it's the juice.

Clean the snot out of the carto, rinse it, blow it out, rinse it, blow it out, then let it dry (put in a spare), then change your drag technique

I have a Totally Wicked Tornado RCS, found I was getting the nasty burnt/chemical taste...problem was I was hitting it like a cig, hard slow draws and after a while the carto started tasking like crap.

I found that if I start with a clean tank and carto, then triple tap my hits (like trying to puff start a 1/2 lit analog) the taste lasts longer and I get MUCH better vapor, no longer hit it with hard long analog type drags...more like a pipe or a choo choo train.

Good explanation. I've experienced the same thing.

Something else to think about.

If you're still smoking a bit, the flavors can be greatly affected. I'm still transitioning, and I thought I had a burnt cart the other day. It turned out to be my taste buds or something, because later on it was fine. I had even put it aside as a dud. I don't know what made me try it again but it tasted completely different AFTER not smoking for a few hours.

Something else to think about.

If you're still smoking a bit, the flavors can be greatly affected. I'm still transitioning, and I thought I had a burnt cart the other day. It turned out to be my taste buds or something, because later on it was fine. I had even put it aside as a dud. I don't know what made me try it again but it tasted completely different AFTER not smoking for a few hours.

I haven't smoked an analog in more than 11 days, so I doubt it's that.

Clean the snot out of the carto, rinse it, blow it out, rinse it, blow it out, then let it dry (put in a spare), then change your drag technique

I have a Totally Wicked Tornado RCS, found I was getting the nasty burnt/chemical taste...problem was I was hitting it like a cig, hard slow draws and after a while the carto started tasking like crap.

I found that if I start with a clean tank and carto, then triple tap my hits (like trying to puff start a 1/2 lit analog) the taste lasts longer and I get MUCH better vapor, no longer hit it with hard long analog type drags...more like a pipe or a choo choo train.

Not sure what you mean by triple tapping, but I'm not using a cartomizer.

I haven't smoked an analog in more than 11 days, so I doubt it's that.

Not sure what you mean by triple tapping, but I'm not using a cartomizer.

If you have a tank, it has a coil and a wick...so more or less it's a carto...even atomizers get funkied up and need to be cleaned out

Triple tap...puff, puff, draw