I can try to help you although there are more qualified members out there (BJ, studiovap). My main atty is an AGA-T with a glass tank on a Telescope and I can tell you, its fantastic.
How many wraps are you making and whats the gauge of the wire and what type of wire (kanthal, nichrome). My setup process is as follows:
I cut 80mm mesh and torch it lightly and evenly.
Then I roll the mesh into a solid stick and roll it tight until it fits easily in the wick hole. I've bored mine out a bit so you probably wont get that much into yours but do your best. I find a tightness that goes in relatively easily, pull it out carefully, then torch the coil end very well until the wick doesn't want to unwind so easily.
Right after I remove the heat from the wick, I drip liquid into it which will vaporize and boil instantly.
That's all I do for wick prep.
As far as wrapping it, I do it a little differently but I have better results...I wrap counter clockwise around the wick 3 times so it's a 3/2 wrap of 28 AWG Kanthal and wrap the wire around the center pole CLOCKwise.
At worst I'll have a hot top coil until I poke it (while firing) and move the coils around until they all glow evenly.
Then I burn the coil dry until it heats evenly from a dead stop every time. So I heat until glowing entirely, let it cool 10 secs or so, then heat it again , etc, etc and I can usually see the progress being made...the first few fires wont be as even as the following ones, etc.
This probably doesn't help you much but maybe one of the tips might be the one you need.