Bad taste from Pilot M401 atomizer?

[rsngfrce]

The first couple days after I got my Pilot, I was switching off between two atomizers. Then for about a week I was using just one of the atomizers. I got some Cash Pina Colada and since it is said to be a stalker, I decided to use it with the atomizer I hadn't been using. Underneath the Pina Colada flavor I get a bad burnt taste and it seems to somewhat produce smoke instead of vapor? I have tried other flavors with the atomizer with the same result.

I thought at first that I hadn't fully removed the primer from the atomizer since I hadn't used it as much, but I don't remember it tasting like that before and I can't seem to get rid of the taste. I have held it in the faucet under hot water, no help. I boiled it for a minute (probably not long enough I think now), no help. Haven't tried isopropyl alcohol yet, don't know if it would damage the black finish.

Is this atomizer just fried somehow? Still works after my cleaning attempts, but same bad taste. Any ideas?

 

[Spikey]

I have not had that prob with any of my 401 atomizers... but had it with a 4081 atomizer. Maybe some of them are just bad batch? After 4 cleanings (blowing and hot water running) and a boiling and some constant puffing off it (without inhale cause I could not stomach the taste) it seemed to be mostly fixed with only a faint hint of that burnt metal smoky taste (only when it ran dry). Not sure if that will help. U try dripping on it? It did seem to help after it hit the cleanign sycle (I puffed a LOT to get the taste out and it reached the cleaning cycle.

 

[rsngfrce]

Yeah, I've dripped (with Pina Colada even). I feel I have nothing to loose with it, I think I'll go boil it longer. It's so strange that I don't remember having a problem with it before I stopped using it! It may well have been overheated by the battery turning itself on while I was driving before I stopped using it. I read another thread where Cash said there is a difference between a primer taste and and bad atomizer, at least this is giving me a chance to to experiment with cleaning an atomizer...

 

[fenez]

My janty ini fogger had the same issue, I just kept vaping it & it went away

 

[Spikey]

Yeah, I've dripped (with Pina Colada even). I feel I have nothing to loose with it, I think I'll go boil it longer. It's so strange that I don't remember having a problem with it before I stopped using it! It may well have been overheated by the battery turning itself on while I was driving before I stopped using it. I read another thread where Cash said there is a difference between a primer taste and and bad atomizer, at least this is giving me a chance to to experiment with cleaning an atomizer...

The overheated atomizer taste seems to go away much faster than the primer taste that comes on the atomizer. At least it seems so to me...

 

[rsngfrce]

Yeah, when mine has gotten really hot, it tastes normally tastes bad for a few puffs then goes away, that is why I'm mystified about what happened to this one (when I wasn't using it, and did not have it connected to a battery!). That is basically what this one tastes like all the time now...

 

[rsngfrce]

Well, 10 minutes boiling the atomizer last night. Dripped Cash Cola, atomizer still works, once it got going the taste seems to be gone! I somewhat question if this had something to do with the Pina Colada now since it was what I used after having not used that atomizer for a while, so further research is called for...

 

[rsngfrce]

Well, now the burning taste has returned, apparently it was blocked a short while by the Cola. Isopropyl next I guess...

 

[CaSHMeRe]

Hmmmm... Make sure you don't have a dry cartridge stuck up inside the inhaler tube!!!! Other than that, not sure what to tell you.

Are you vaping too much inbetween refills? Drip or Use/Refill Carts?

 

[pdot]

I just purchased an e-cig and just joined website. I was searchin youtube and this website for help on maintenence and found a youtube video. Can't post link cause im new, but its about how you can damage atomizer if you twist it off. I dunno because i haven't got my e-cig.

 

[seededcrown]

Similar problem here! I own the dura, I love riskee yuice, I got a couple newer atomizer a couple weeks ago and have been vaping with them since they work better than my old one. vaping true menthol out of one and riskee out of the other. The one I use with the riskee starts tasting not quite burnt but just gross less than halfway through each cart. So i took out my old atomizer today to check if it was the juice....Now i remember why i bought a 30ml bottle of this stuff only prob is that atomizer sucks for vapor production Guess I'll have to get alhold of jeff.

 

[ninjapuff]

The first couple days after I got my Pilot, I was switching off between two atomizers. Then for about a week I was using just one of the atomizers. I got some Cash Pina Colada and since it is said to be a stalker, I decided to use it with the atomizer I hadn't been using. Underneath the Pina Colada flavor I get a bad burnt taste and it seems to somewhat produce smoke instead of vapor? I have tried other flavors with the atomizer with the same result.

I thought at first that I hadn't fully removed the primer from the atomizer since I hadn't used it as much, but I don't remember it tasting like that before and I can't seem to get rid of the taste. I have held it in the faucet under hot water, no help. I boiled it for a minute (probably not long enough I think now), no help. Haven't tried isopropyl alcohol yet, don't know if it would damage the black finish.

Is this atomizer just fried somehow? Still works after my cleaning attempts, but same bad taste. Any ideas?

I have a Pilot atomizer doing the exact same thing. I get about 3 good clean puffs from it, then on the fourth one it tastes burnt and I need to set it down to cool for a few minutes.

I've tried everything to clean it; hot water, boiling, steaming, soaking in isopropyl alcohol (70%). Nothing seems to fix it.

I'm wondering if it could be residue from eliquid burning off? I don't have pina colada, but I know I was using Cash Cola exclusively with that atomizer until it started to taste burnt. Then I started using Riskee on it because it covers up the burnt taste better.

I have a few extra atomizers now, but I still want to figure this out... both to get the atomizer tasting right and to prevent doing it again in the future with another atomizer.

 

[Spikey]

Okay... this is my theory on this.... someone in another thread used a macro lens and took close up pics of the atomizer coil. The burnt black goo on it just hasta be sugar. No other way it could look like that... so my guess is that the sweet flavors that tend to "stick" around... will gunk up the atomizer and repeatedly burn the same gunked up goo over and over, making that taste (I noticed it with Riskee a little.. but NOT with my menthol which is not too sweet!).

So... my suggestions?

-Keep atomizer moist so it does not dry up and cook the "goo" so it gets burnt on.
-wash every night so it is not sitting without being re-moistened for so many hours
-once wet... keep it wet instead of using one for a few hours and then switching to another device and leaving the other one to dry out and "crust up".

Hope this solves the problem... if not... bump the thread back up and see if anyone else can think of anything.

I have a Pilot atomizer doing the exact same thing. I get about 3 good clean puffs from it, then on the fourth one it tastes burnt and I need to set it down to cool for a few minutes.

I've tried everything to clean it; hot water, boiling, steaming, soaking in isopropyl alcohol (70%). Nothing seems to fix it.

I'm wondering if it could be residue from eliquid burning off? I don't have pina colada, but I know I was using Cash Cola exclusively with that atomizer until it started to taste burnt. Then I started using Riskee on it because it covers up the burnt taste better.

I have a few extra atomizers now, but I still want to figure this out... both to get the atomizer tasting right and to prevent doing it again in the future with another atomizer.

 

[rsngfrce]

Here is the best pic I could get of mine:

It's hard to tell, but I think it looks OK... it's sitting in isopropyl alcohol right now, we'll see if that makes a difference.

 

[ninjapuff]

Thanks Spikey and rsngfrce! I'm quite positive that I figured out how to fix this problem, with the help of this thread and Terraphon. Here's what I did to fix it: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...omizers-broken-wiring-nope-17.html#post147197

 

[rsngfrce]

Thanks Spikey and rsngfrce! I'm quite positive that I figured out how to fix this problem, with the help of this thread and Terraphon. Here's what I did to fix it: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...omizers-broken-wiring-nope-17.html#post147197

Thanks for pointing that out! Haven't tried my atomizer after the isopropyl soak yet (didn't hurt the black paint) but if that didn't work I will try this!

 

[jennydotz]

I am hesitant to add my 2 cents here because I'm still in the experimental phase and I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing yet. BUT, one of my 401 atomizers (the brass extra one I got from PS) has a horrible metallic taste. The black one from the kit was fine, so after a day or so of testing that one, I tried the brass one. It was fine until day 2 of light vaing, the taste appeared. If it was the primer wouldn't I have noticed it right off? No way did I use it enough to get crud on the atomizer, and I kept it moist. I will admit that I am no good with 401 carts, I probably overfill, they are so tiny compared to the 901. I also could have let it sit too long between vapings. When the taste first appeared, I thought it could be dry, so I put a drop of riskee right on the metal wick. It was fine for a few drags, then the metal taste came right back.

THat taste freaked me out. Haven't tasted anything like it in 5 901 atomizers, or the first 401 atom.

 

[rsngfrce]

I am hesitant to add my 2 cents here because I'm still in the experimental phase and I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing yet. BUT, one of my 401 atomizers (the brass extra one I got from PS) has a horrible metallic taste. The black one from the kit was fine, so after a day or so of testing that one, I tried the brass one. It was fine until day 2 of light vaing, the taste appeared. If it was the primer wouldn't I have noticed it right off? No way did I use it enough to get crud on the atomizer, and I kept it moist. I will admit that I am no good with 401 carts, I probably overfill, they are so tiny compared to the 901. I also could have let it sit too long between vapings. When the taste first appeared, I thought it could be dry, so I put a drop of riskee right on the metal wick. It was fine for a few drags, then the metal taste came right back.

THat taste freaked me out. Haven't tasted anything like it in 5 901 atomizers, or the first 401 atom.

What you describe is pretty much exactly what I have. I had used this atomizer for a few days and it seemed fine, then stopped using it for a number of days, then the horrible metallic taste since then.

Despite the fact that it LOOKS OK to me in my picture, I can only think that Spikey is right that I allowed liquid to dry up on it by not using it (and I did not blow it out before I stopped using it for a while).

Running under hot water did not fix, boiling for a minute did not fix, boiling for 10 minutes SEEMED to help A BIT but did not fix.

Soaked overnight in isotropy alcohol, haven't tried it yet since I did that. If that doesn't work, I will try Coke soak and hot atomizer plunge into cold water...

 

[Adik Ted]

Identical problem here with 2 new Evo atomisers. They were fine for a couple of days then the burnt taste appeared with both today. One I had been using with carts and the other dipping (36mg TW menthol and I can't even taste the menthol).

 

[Adik Ted]

Thanks Spikey and rsngfrce! I'm quite positive that I figured out how to fix this problem, with the help of this thread and Terraphon. Here's what I did to fix it: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...omizers-broken-wiring-nope-17.html#post147197

I tried that ninjapuff but it didn't work for me. With one of them I thought it had but the burnt taste returned after 5 mins.