My 510 has no throat hit, help please!

[miketr]

I've been using a 901 for several months and really enjoy it. It has good throat hit. I got a 510 about the same time. I used the same liquid, and it had no throat hit. I tried it several weeks, and gave up. I have used multiple 510 attys and batteries and different liquids. Given the popularity of the 510 and the fact that good throat hit is often sited as one of the factors in people preferring it, I find this pretty mysterious.

Well, I've learned a lot in the intervening months, so I thought I'd try it again. I recharged my 510 the other day, stuffed a cart with polyfill and the straw mod, filled it with juice, lined up the atty and started vaping. The atty became pretty warm/hot, as I understand 510 attys do. I felt that it had a reasonable flavor, tho not as much as the 901, and it had a lot of vapor.

Clearly it was vaporizing the juice just fine (the flavor, the clouds of vapor). It was in the 14mg range, what I normally use. But I could not feel any throat hit, again. I am being quite literal here, it was like breathing warm lightly scented air.

A PV just won't work for me if I can't get throat hit off it, and with all the PV parts put together and working properly, and the liquid vaping normally, I can't figure out why I don't feel a throat hit.

I hate to think I have wasted my investment in the 510, and I hate to give up on it since it's clearly the portable PV of choice for so many on the the forums.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this? Has anyone else experienced this? Basically, a 510 with nic liquid but no throat hit. Thanks for any responses on this.

[Scottbee]

Completely dry your atty out... blow it out, clean it.. whatever.. make 100% sure that it is dry.

Drip the atty and either tailpipe it or use a cartridge with no filler. If you don't get a throat hit off of dripping... then you're not going to get one at all.... ever.

I'm just suggesting this as a test to get the cartridge out of the equation. If you get a throat hit with dripping.. then we can figure out what is wrong with your cartridge wicking.

[Okio]

I found in my case probably not the same for you if you have tried a few different attys. But with the 2 510's that came in my kit one gave a good hit and the other sucked, both gave good vapor when tested the one with the good hit was a 2.4 ohm and the one with out was a 7.6 ohm

[highping]

This may not be the case for everyone, but I have noticed that I have developed a tolerance for the throat hit that seems to come and go. Some days I get nothing. I have found that (with all other things being equal; same model, same atty, same flavor, etc) it is directly linked to the nic level.

For this reason, I keep some 48mg juice on hand for those 'no-hit' days. Trust me, you WILL get a throat hit on that. I'm not saying that YOU should try strait 48, but rather just bump up from whatever nic level you are used to. If you usually use 16mg, get some 24mg for these occasions. (I usually use 24-36 so I need the 48 to get the step up.) If you are like me, this will go away and you can go back down to your comfort nic level.

[eclypse]

I've found that sucking too hard will kill throat hit. If its a manual battery, try drawing the least amount of air possable. Just enough to pull the vapor off the atty and very little air. Do that and i bet you'll find yourself coughing after a couple of draws.

You dont want to add air to your vapor as it will thin out the flavor and thrat hit. Dont worry about the atty overheating as it will draw in air as it heats up anyways.

Oh, just like to add that i vape "Low nic" 12MG. Good throat hit.

Keep the atty and battery connection clean with some rubbing alcohol and a Q-Tip. It does make a difference if the atty isint getting the proper voltage. Clean them once a day.

[miketr]

Scottbee:

OK, I blew out the atty, dripped 24mg Dekang Flue Cured and got a good throat hit. Thank you for an excellent diagnostic step! It didn't occur to me because I never drip. I assume I can conclude from this that at least one significant problem, maybe the main problem, is inadequate wicking of efluid to the 510 cart wick?

I am aware of other cart stuffing approaches that are supposed to work better like blue foam and fluval and am open to trying anything. I've tried the Lipton PTB and haven't had luck with it.

I am posting pictures of a few of my 510 carts stuffed and with the stuffing and straws removed for examination and comment. The straws are pieces of little cocktail straws, the polyfill is the standard big bag used by hobbyists for stuffing pillows, etc. I roll it between my hands to get the fibers aligned parallel to the flow of liquid to the wick then cut it to size.







Okio, I get the exact same thing with all my attys. I have four and got 2 from a different supplier.

Highping, I usually use 14mg in my 901 and get a reasonable throat hit/nose hit for a little while that gets less and less as I vape more then goes away, so I stop for 10-15 minutes and it's back after that. but 24mg always gives me very solid throat hit. But it does not on the 510 with a cart as yet.

Eclypse, I will try your suggestions of cleaning the atty and battery connections, although they do look OK. My 510 came with automatic batteries, so I have to draw at least with at least a certain minimum force/speed, and if the pressure falls off slightly, the current to the atty stops relatively easily. These issues could be part of the problem.

And thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I think this process is helpful, I've already made some progress in isolating the cart as a major issue.

So what is the next step? Is there any additional information I can provide?
If you have other or further suggestions or steps, please respond!

Thanks!

Miketr

[Scottbee]

Mike,

I'm glad the dripping gave you good results! That tells us a lot, eh?

Here's the problem with your filler material.. I don't really know what it is! I have played with all kinds of different material and it all gives different results. IN the end I settled on the filler that comes with the 901 carts.. but I can't really tell you why it is that much different or works that much better than the stuff that came in my 510 carts... but it does!

I will say that your straws are much larger in diameter than the ones that I am using. Can't be sure if that is adding to the problem.....

If I were you, I'd start by reducing the amount of filler that you are using... going down to the point where the atty floods or leaks.. and then slowly adding material back until those problems just go away. Then you'll be pretty sure that your material is feeding the atty bridge.. at least initially!

P.S. I actually use 901 carts on my 510. If you have a 901, I strongly suggest you try the same thing! I love the thin whistle tips on my 510!

[eclypse]

Yeah i got another thing for you to try.. Loose the straw and try my cart vent mod.

The blue foam didnt work good for me and i tried everything to get it working. Wasted $10 on a big bag of it. PTB Shredded was the best but the cost involded and people reporting that it has PET in it.

I tried Wool as well.. I blew $15 on 8 ounces of it and no good.. Too limp and the juice gets stuck in it as it squishes down in the cart. Could not find a way to pull apart a "nib" without spending way too long.

Poly works great with my cart vent mod. Make sure the stuff you buy is not fire treated as you dont want added chemicals. Check for a lable on the bag. You want some nice stiff stuff.

[eclypse]

Forgot.. Try the manual batteries! Or even better a "Mod" like the new Protege from www.puresmoker.com. I new love! Vape all day long on one battery.

[Scottbee]

Originally Posted by eclypse

Forgot.. Try the manual batteries! Or even better a "Mod" like the new Protege from www.puresmoker.com. I new love! Vape all day long on one battery.

Ummm... it's pretty clear he is having a e-liquid delivery problem. A different battery or going to a mod isn't going to change that at all.