for what it's worth, from a member of the low-watt, tight draw toodle vapor club: On the subtank mini, I just build the rba deck and rebuild the OCC coils to 1.8 or 2 ohms. Gives me what I'm/we're looking for. I use the single air flow hole half closed. the 1.2 and especially the .5 ohm coil don't do it for me at all. hot burnt juice. I see a lot of folks saying these newer attys are simply designed for higher wattage. Don't believe it, it seems more related to the ohms of the coil, nothing particular about atty design.
Little itty bitty mods under $100.
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I do the same with the OCC heads to gain that extra .0001 ml of juice space compared to the RBA head
That's interesting........Thanks for sharing.
I'm going to wait for Kanger to make a new AFC control valve with another tiny hole for us low-watt, tight draw toodle vapor club members. Even Phil complained about too much air on the lowest setting--he's a Kayfun guy!
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Same here. Just a bit more than the kayfun draw... A tad, a smidgen.
You might want to try this RTA out then. I have the mini version (sadly discontinued), and love it. I only build the coil to 1.7 -1.8ohms, and vape all day at 8watts on the iStick. If i remember right that's really 10watts until the battery dies down. you can adjust the air flow to your liking. I am a straight lung hitter, so full bore it is really airy. Now i have never had a kfun, so not sure the comparison. it feels slightly more restrictive then my Lemo drop.
$20.27 Rebuildable Tank Atomizer (8ml) - stainless steel + PMMA tank & SS tank / 20.7mm dia. at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping
Don't even mention that... The mini sat in my cart at FT for over a month... when I finally pulled the trigger, it was too late. But I got an email from them that they will be trying to restock. Production problems.
Grrr.............
I'll probably just get a Lemo.
So there's very little additional juice capacity with the pre-builts, huh? I wondered about that. Also, on the OCC coils, the juice intake (little section of cotton hanging out) is significantly higher than the intake holes on the RBA section. This might actually make the RBA have more usable juice capacity if you don't count twirling/tilting in the occ/prebuilt's favor.
The fastech erlkinigin clone! So I have one, got the exotic wicking technique down pretty fast, love a lot about it (tiny, lower diameter than others I have, good capacity). What I would say is while it has LOTS of flavor, it does not have the best flavor. I detect a weird nuance to the dang thing, not quite machine oil, not quite fresh cotton taste ...just off. Now, I admit I washed it when new with dish soap that left a nasty after taste, which I then tried to eliminate using, in turns, alcohol, distilled water, etc. So I may be tasting my own attempts to fix the taste....
The fastech erlkinigin clone! So I have one, got the exotic wicking technique down pretty fast, love a lot about it (tiny, lower diameter than others I have, good capacity). What I would say is while it has LOTS of flavor, it does not have the best flavor. I detect a weird nuance to the dang thing, not quite machine oil, not quite fresh cotton taste ...just off. Now, I admit I washed it when new with dish soap that left a nasty after taste, which I then tried to eliminate using, in turns, alcohol, distilled water, etc. So I may be tasting my own attempts to fix the taste....
I don't think so. I wash all my tanks with hot water and dishwashing detergent Dove, Palmolive). Never had a bad taste from that. Ever.
OK, I'm feeling better now. Just a little better.
Excuse me folks, I haven't contributed to this thread, but I do scan it every couple-few days trying to keep abreast of the 'tiny' mods. Saw a number of you talking about low power & tighter draws as your vaping style. My wife is one of 'you'. After picking up a couple mini sub-tanks to try out, she gave up on hers until I did this:
Hey, hey ... for those following my sub-tank blog. I've come up w/ the "Toothpick Mod' and the tank and I are now getting along.
The sub-tank head has 4 LARGE air passages. For me trying to throttle down the air flow - this was the root cause.
So I took a toothpick and ran it through 2 opposing holes. Caution: Look for 2 holes that are not obstructed with any of the coil legs that might get messed up when inserting the toothpick.
Then cut the toothpick off flush with the bottom of the head on both sides. I mean flush, as close as you can, so it does not interfere when inserting the head into the bottom section.
So here's a shot of taking an easy single mouth to lung draw and exhaling. The air ring is set to the 1 hole exposed position. I can live with this. An easy double pull is even better.
This is with a DIY 1.8Ω coil with 30g Kanthal (2.5mm id) in a standard head w/ KGD wick. Vaping on an iStick at 3.7 volts (and we all know the iStick runs hotter than set - so probably closer to 4 volts. I actually like it. May have to get a Kanger Nano sub tank now which would be a better fit size wise on the small iStick.
I love my Erlkonigin clones, all eight of them. Compared to the original, some of the clones are actually dirt-cheap---my last five were bought for $7 each shipped during the clearance at angelcigs), and they're brilliant! Single coil, Kayfun-style (with a draw that's adjustable from tight to very airy), easy to build once I understood how to wick 'em properly with cotton or rayon (a single vid on YouTube, and I was set), and quick to refill from the spiffy top-fill system. Flavor is terrific. I bought Nano kits---short chimneys and tubes---for all eight from fasttech (about $2.50 each), although I keep four of my Erls full-size, which holds 6-8ml, versus the Nano's 3.5ml capacity.
I build mine mostly around 1 ohm/26-guage, but I've gone as low as .07 and as high as 1.6. As I compose this post, I'm happily vaping a 1-ohm full-size Erl at 22 watts on an iPV mini 2 70w mod. It's delicious! (And no, I don't direct lung inhale.) While I use various Aspire BVC tanks on my iStick 20s, my 30-watt and higher mods are all running Erls. Yes, I have Atlantis and Subtank Mini clones on the way from FT now that they're available, but I'll be surprised if those tanks are better than the Erls.
Compared to my PMMA Kayfun Lites, the Erls have slightly better flavor, airier draw, no leaks, and are much easier to refill. And their low cost---less than a hundred bucks for eight of them, all interchangeable from full-size to nano---makes me like them even more. I don't need or want any $40-50 tanks with the Erls in my arsenal.
Bill, could you be so kind and post the links to the full size Erls that work with the FT nano kits? I considered frankensteining the big ones (I don't want an 8 ml tank), but I had no idea if that was feasible.
Thanks.
toothpick fix is brilliant. Question: does the area around the toothpick get hot enough to burn the toothpick or contribute any hot-wood taste?
gmoney,
Sorry to read that your Erl isn't quite cuttin' the flavor mustard for you. I examined mine when I got 'em, and they seemed clean, so I didn't wash them, but it's hard for me to imagine that you inadvertently caused the off-flavor by washing yours.
I've never been able to account for the major differences in satisfaction encountered by individual vapers with seemingly identical hardware. Sometimes the reasons are apparent, but often it's quite mysterious why one device works perfectly for one vaper and not so great for another. C'est la vie, I guess. I'm just happy for anyone who gets pleasing results and loves his or her gear. I've certainly had my share of flops, but overall, my hits-to-misses ratio has been acceptable and is improving over time. Heck, I've thrown out enough hardware and juice to stock a brick-and-mortar vape shop, although I'd never foist most of it on anyone.
taste and the perception of taste is extremely individual and might not have a thing to do with the equipment
i read on the Fastech discussions. The clone i posted does work with the nano kit.
My wife's been using it for a couple days and I've not heard her complain about any 'off' flavor. What with all the air being drawn right around it - I'm doubting it would get hot enough to char yet alone burn. Just my
You might want to check your wicking. It is the only thing i can think of. I wash anything i order from Fastech. before using. Hot soap bath for 30min. I do not get a weird taste from my Erl. I have had it give off a slight couton taste, but a quick rewicking, and i was back to full flavor.
Katya,
The various Erlkonigin clones come in two diameters---20.5 and 20.7mm, but that seems to be merely a difference in the thickness of the tank section. All the bases, O-rings, and caps are apparently identical in size and interchangeable. Mine are all 20.7mm, and the Mini kits fit all eight of them perfectly (same threading on the chimneys and bases, and the shorter chimneys/tanks are the right length to seal exactly as they should).
I can attest that the FT Mini kits fit both the $10 Erl and the various $5 Erls in the angelcigs sale. Those ship from the U.S., so they arrive really fast, but shipping is ten bucks, which is why I bought five of the five-buck ones. The two cheapies I've put into service so far work beautifully, however. No difference in vape quality that I can tell between the $5 clones and the two $10 ones I bought a month ago or my first $14 Erl clone from FT purchased in November. In fact, the draw on the cheapest ones is "cleaner" (meaning airier but less noisy) than the draw on my first Erl. Even though I don't direct lung inhale, I like an airy draw. Go figure. The Erls don't have as ultra-smooth a draw as my Nautilus BVCs, but they're easily good enough to keep me happy. Anyway, the draw is infinitely adjustable on Erls, so if you want just a smidgen more airiness than with a Kayfun, you can get that from an Erl with ease. Tight, medium, or very airy---whatever you like.
Below is a link to the full-size Erl clone tanks in the angelcigs clearance, and then another link to the Mini conversion kits from FastTech:
Erlkonigin clone tanks on clearance at angelcigs
Replacement Chimney and Tank for Mini EK RTA at fasttech
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