Mini-pipe, Second Impression

**Nick O'Teen** · 04-22-2009, 12:06 AM

well, I think both myEastmall test atomizer and the original atomizer have finally expired (after 9 days and several weeks of use respectively.) The vapour got distressingly low on both of them, so I gave them a 5 minute simmer in boiling water yesterday, and put them on the boiler overnight to dry. And now they don't work at all (no indication of heat at all.) I've boiled them before without mishap, so I guess it was just their time.

The 510 mod sounds good, but I'm still testing the white cig 801 atomizer, and it's holding out well so far (been just over a week cumulative vaping time so far.) I've got my lychee juice in it ATM, so it's getting by far the heaviest use out of the 3 devices I now have (SD and bargain Chinese 901 which both arrived this morning.)

Still no sign of the Phosphoric acid I ordered. I'll wait before trying another of the Eastmall atomizers until I have this available to clean without boiling.

**EDO** · 04-22-2009, 12:18 AM

Nick....Thanks for the update....I don;t know what me and surbitonPete are doing wrong...or if we got a bad batch. If I had atomizers that would consistently last 7-10 days on the minipipe I wouldn't use any other device. My 401 ato is still going strong...I thought I killed it last week...but when I took a closer look I had so much gunk built up on the bottom of the atomizer (where it connects to the battery) that the connection to that battery was lost. Once I cleaned it out...works perfect. Almost three months using that same atomizer with two months of exclusive use. Never cleaned or rotated with this atomizer.

Nick do you drip with the minipipe at all?....it seems to me that is the reason my 401 has lasted so long...I exclusively drip with it. I started to drip with my minipipe but I killed the switch in a couple of days of doing that.

**Nick O'Teen** · 04-22-2009, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by EDO

Nick....Thanks for the update....I don;t know what me and surbitonPete are doing wrong...or if we got a bad batch. If I had atomizers that would consistently last 7-10 days on the minipipe I wouldn't use any other device. My 401 ato is still going strong...I thought I killed it last week...but when I took a closer look I had so much gunk built up on the bottom of the atomizer (where it connects to the battery) that the connection to that battery was lost. Once I cleaned it out...works perfect. Almost three months using that same atomizer with two months of exclusive use. Never cleaned or rotated with this atomizer.

Nick do you drip with the minipipe at all?....it seems to me that is the reason my 401 has lasted so long...I exclusively drip with it. I started to drip with my minipipe but I killed the switch in a couple of days of doing that.

I don't drip (the coil's too far down the tube to hit it the mesh accurately, and most of my priming drips when I've cleaned it seem to miss and run down the sides - where I'm afraid they're going to pool and run out through the holes,) but I do overfill the cart a bit, and I top off as soon as there's room for another 2 or 3 drops. Because of the angle it sits at in my mouth (pointing much more downwards than a cig model without a big bowl on the end would,) it seems to be much more resistant to lbeing sucked up into the mouth (though there's always plenty of liquid on the outside of the cart when I take it out.)

I worried it might leak down into the bowl, but it doesn't seem to with the regular atomizers (I've tried poking twizzles of tissue into the holes, and they come out dry. And there's none visible below the spring under the battery.) The white cig 801 I've bodged in with a couple of links of chain does seem to allow a very small amount of liquid through into the joint around the chain links, but I've so far kept it from getting through into the bowl by vaping enough to remove the overfill before I lay it aside (and have reduced my overfilling a bit as well.)

There's a gap between the central connectors, where the chain links close the connection, so leakage seems to trickle down outside the core (possibly wicked away by the chain links,) in the brass cavity between the threaded sections. From there, it's easily wiped away and doesn't seem to do any harm.

I clean it almost every day by blowing, and several times a week with boiling water. Apart from that... maybe I'm, just lucky?
It'll last longer now I have a S/D and a 901 to supplement it - I can chainvape without hammering one device constantly.

**yvilla** · 04-22-2009, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by EDO

Yvilla...the loose cover problem for us was that it would constantly pop off....If that is the problem all you have to do is tweak the contacts with needle nose pliers and it will fit more snug. Also you can try to pull out the spring a little ( again with need nose pliers) and that should give the spring more bounce....making the fit better.

No luck with my needle nose pliers. Either the little metals tabs are too strong for me to bend, are too short for me to get a grip on, or I just suck at this.

Right now, I've got one of those super wide and strong rubber bands wrapped around the bowl to hold the cover pressed on the battery.

Not very aesthetic, but works for now.

Edit: Pulling gently up on the spring is what I was doing before, but that just lasts a short time until it gets compressed again. I wanted a more permanent solution, related to the cover, because constantly pulling up on the spring cannot be good for the health of my pipe!

**asidrave** · 04-22-2009, 01:13 AM

if someone would send me a pm tomorrow..i will post a pick of what i did to the minipipe bowl to hold the jewel lid snug in place

**yvilla** · 04-22-2009, 01:14 AM

Great, thanks! I'll be sure to do that.

**Nick O'Teen** · 04-22-2009, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by yvilla

No luck with my needle nose pliers. Either the little metals tabs are too strong for me to bend, are too short for me to get a grip on, or I just suck at this.

How about tinning the tabs with some solder to make them fatter? Even if it didn't work, you can take solder off again quite easily, but if the tabs were thicker, they'd be a lot more likely to wedge between the crossbar and brass rim on the underside of the lid.

**EDO** · 04-22-2009, 02:07 AM

Yvilla...I didn't try to bend the tabs ....rather I tweaked them....turning them clock wise or counter clockwise depending on which tab. Mind you have to careful and not tweak them too much....just a little bit.

**EDO** · 04-23-2009, 02:14 AM

I was going through my stuff today and I couldn't believe it, I found two more atomizers for my minipipe. I forgot how good this device really is.....wow...just wow. The amount of vapor is unbelievable and the taste....just like a real pipe. Lets see If I can make these two atomizers last a while.