. . . . I am a bit worried about the narrowness of the Mini tank resulting in kinks in the stainless mesh, but I've seen folks rebuilding the stardusts with mesh wicks and the stardusts are a bit narrower even than the Mini Vivi Nova, so hopefully I can make it work. I am going to try it regardless.
Any thoughts on this? If anyone has done it and has some tips or tricks, I'd love to hear them.
I work in a smoke/vape-free hospital. I wear scrubs. I must stealth-vape on my breaks. My preferred Provari and the rebuildable stainless and glass AGA-T Atomizer I use at home and in the car are just too heavy and bulky to carry in the pocket of medical scrubs. For a lighter and more portable solution I dug out some Ego-C Twist batteries and an old Vivi Nova. I tried numerous stainless steel wick and coil fabrications and settled on one just right for me. I tried several curved S/S wicks and this works better for me. I roll a standard wick like I'd use for my AGA-T, oxidize it thoroughly, and snip it into three short sections with a pair of nail clippers - the length of these short wicks is just short of the inside diameter of the Vivi Nova tank. I like the nail clippers because they pinch the ends of the wick which helps prevent flooding if you invert it. The capillary action of the 400 mesh S/S is quite sufficient to keep the wick wet without the need of a central lumen.
I did enlarge the wick slot on the Vivi atty slightly - using 4 layers of folded 280 grit sand paper. I just sanded it bigger. The metal is quite soft - chrome plate over brass - and it only took a few minutes to make the slot about the same size as my wick diameter. I wind a 4-wrap coil with 32 ga Kanthal wire onto this short, stubby wick and drop it into the slot. This gives me a 2.0 ohm coil that I fire at 4.0 to 4.8 volts with the Ego batteries.
Rewiring the Vivi Nova is easy - no tools required to disassemble. You route one wire to the outside of the rubber gasket for the ground and the other down the center hole of said gasket to engage the positive terminal when you push it back in. Sounds hard - but it's REALLY easy. Easier, in fact than rebuilding my AGA-T which is designed to be rebuilt - not to mention being incredibly easy to refill. Just to be clear, the wick is short, straight, and perpendicular to the main axis of the device - looks like like the letter "t"
It works like a dream! No dry hits, never a burned taste (which is a big problem with the Vivi using glass fiber wicks IMHO), and with the securely screwed on end caps it does not leak in my pocket like the friction/O-ring assemblies of the carto tanks that originally came with my ego twist batteries. A very occasional tip of the e-cig combined with an unfired draw keeps the short wick loaded with juice even when the tank is nearly empty. The Ego-c Twist and the Vivi Nova is a very light weight and compact alternative to the heavy, bulky Provari with the glass and stainless tank atty. The 3 ml tank lasts me all day. As a bonus, I found a black anodized pocket clip that came with a small LED flashlight that snapped perfectly onto the Vivi Nova tank. I replaced my preferred curvaceous drip tip with a more industrial looking cylindrical tip that could pass as a thumb switch, and can now even carry it in my scrub shirt pocket. People just assume it is a medical pen light.
