seeking Kretek advice

[Discord]

I started pretty early in my vaping experience with the TV Kretek. For the most part it has been enjoyable. I started with it in carts, and then clearos, and now tanks. My problem with it is how it seems to clog up anything in very short order.. carts, clearos, attys... I can't get 1/2 way through a 6ml tank without the cartomizer getting clogged to the point that it's nearly unusable. The best flavor I've gotten with it so far as been with a ProTank, but I'm nervous about it clogging that up too. The other issue I have with it is on a brand new cart it tastes pretty bad, almost a plasticy taste and odor (and yes, I make sure everything is saturated ahead of time)... then it seems fine for a while, until things get clogged up. I have tried this at different volts, different resistance carts, the clearomizers (which seem to get effected by the plasticy issues most).

I LOVE it when it's in that goldilocks zone, but to have to put up with a plastic taste to get there, then a slow process of having to drag harder and harder makes it hard to maintain a setup where I can just enjoy it. I haven't had this problem with the TastyFinger, which seems to perform pretty universally the same across everything.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? It gets frustrating if I have to go through 2 cartos per tank, and the first hour of vaping tastes terrible, then I get teased with clovey goodness (though I have to say it tastes a bit more cinnamon than clove) for a few hours till it slowly gets strangled off.

 

[Miss_H]

Did you ever find a solution?

 

[antlion]

Hi there, I'm an avid fan of TV's Kretek and have been for years now. I too have experienced that problem you're talking about... It's one of the downsides to Kretek it's a hardware killer. The only thing I have found that really keeps it in that "golden stage" is something you can refresh the wick with often. If you're using atomizers you can use PGA (Pure Grain Alcohol) soak your atomizer (Kanger Tank, ProTank, etc --NOT cartomizers) let them soak for an hour or so then take them out and let them air dry. But to be honest the best method to have a really good tasting Kretek all the time is get you a Rebuildable Atomizer and use organic cotton balls -- by doing that method you can just take out the wick after a day or so and use the same coil and then put in a new cotton wick it's a little extra learning curve to get into it but I promise you will be very happy with the results if you take the time -- Look up some RBA / RDA Cotton Wick rebuilds!