Best Mouth to Lung set-up for Smok AL 85

[Fredean]

So I just got an AL 85 yesterday and I've been playing around with it. I'm jumping from a joyetech Penguin so I've been an ''insert juice, coil and go" vaper, so I don't know a whole lot about regulated mods (please bear with me). I would like to know how to get the best mouth to lung set-up, so here is what I'm wanting to know:

-What is the best coil? 0.15 ohm should be better than 0.4 ohm, right? Is the lower, the better?
-What wattage should it be?
-What does the soft, normal and hard functions actually do?
-Is around 36-40 PCB normal?
-What should I watch for in Volts and Amps?

Finally, what is the best configuration for a .4 or .15 ohm coil (Which setting, so soft, normal, hard, which wattage, should I be playing around in anything else?)?

Since the coils aren't as cheap as the Penguin, I really would like to know which pack of coils I should get before shelling out 20-30 bucks! Thank you!

 

[Fredean]

 

[Hawise]

So I just got an AL 85 yesterday and I've been playing around with it. I'm jumping from a Joyetech Penguin so I've been an ''insert juice, coil and go" vaper, so I don't know a whole lot about regulated mods (please bear with me). I would like to know how to get the best mouth to lung set-up, so here is what I'm wanting to know:

-What is the best coil? 0.15 ohm should be better than 0.4 ohm, right? Is the lower, the better?
-What wattage should it be?
-What does the soft, normal and hard functions actually do?
-Is around 36-40 PCB normal?
-What should I watch for in Volts and Amps?

Finally, what is the best configuration for a .4 or .15 ohm coil (Which setting, so soft, normal, hard, which wattage, should I be playing around in anything else?)?

Since the coils aren't as cheap as the Penguin, I really would like to know which pack of coils I should get before shelling out 20-30 bucks! Thank you!

The tank matters more than the mod when it comes to the type of vape you'll get. I'm going to assume that you got the AL85 kit, which comes with the AL85 mod (the part with the battery in it) and the Baby Beast tank (the part you put juice in).

The Baby Beast tanks are meant for direct-to-lung (DL, DTL or D2L) vaping rather than mouth-to-lung (MTL) vaping, so my first suggestion is to try a different tank. The Nautilus 2 is probably the best-known MTL tank at the moment, although there are other good ones. Note that I'm just recommending a different tank - your mod, the AL85, will work fine with an MTL tank.

I expect you'll want to keep playing around with your AL85 before you start looking at other tanks, so I'll move on to the rest of your questions:

• The 'best' coil is a matter of preference. MTL coils are usually higher in resistance than DL coils - often over 1 ohm, though not always. I'd say try them both and see what you think of them.
• A recommended wattage range for a coil is usually printed on the coil itself. When you switch to a new coil, start well below the bottom of the range to break it in. After a few vapes, start increasing your watts gradually until it gets to where you like it. Then keep going up until it stops getting better and starts getting worse. The right wattage is wherever you liked it best.
• I'm not sure about the soft/normal/hard functions. I'd suggest starting with normal. Like everything else in vaping, the 'right' setting is about what you like best, so once you get used to normal, try the others to see if you like them better.
• PCB? Sorry, I'm missing something here. Not sure what that is.
• If you mean the volts and amps display on your screen, nothing. They don't really mean much on a regulated mod (which the AL85 is), so you can happily ignore them. On the other hand, knowing the CDR (continuous discharge rating - measured in amps) and your current draw at the battery (measured in amps, but a function of the battery's voltage and your wattage setting) is crucial to selecting a safe battery. Could you tell me what battery you have? If you do, I should be able to give you an idea of what settings should be safe for that battery.

 

[stols001]

It will be tough getting a MTL setup out of that tank (is it the baby beast?) and using proprietary coils, it's really designed for DL.

As far as resistance, you actually want HIGHER resistance for MTL and it's generally consider to be 1.0 or above (although you can go slightly lower on resistance with the right airflow and settings). I don't have a TON of familiarity with that setup as it's totally not my style of vaping (which is also MTL). I guess I would do some research (or someone will be along) to tell you the best coil to "try" in that tank, but I'd be aiming at the highest resistance you can. I would start out with the highest resistance coil that came with that tank, turn the airflow as low as you can, and try to keep your wattage low (start low and slowly increase, even if you aren't getting any visible vapor) and move up in watts by 3 or 4 every so often, and see where you wind up.

If it's not satisfying or too much vapor I'd say maybe purchase a separate MTL tank (the Nautilus 2 is a decent and not very expensive MTL tank for example) and put it on the mod, instead, and enjoy longer battery life.

With that said, everyone defines "MTL" a bit differently, so you may find yourself with a vape you can deal with at lower wattage settings. I'd say be cautious about whatever e-liquid you are using, as you may find that if you are inhaling too much vapor per puff, you may find yourself with nicotine overload (kind of typically, most DL sub0hm vapers are using 9 and below, and MTL setups typically use 12-- whatever the highest end is, which can be fairly high.)

Good luck, hopefully someone more familiar with that setup can be of more assistance.

Anna

 

[Eskie]

The mod is fine. I would just place the tank included in a drawer until you want to play around with DL/higher airflow vaping as it is a perfectly good tank.

Check out the tank section on this board for specific tank discussions as well as the tootle puffer thread.

 

[Fredean]

The tank matters more than the mod when it comes to the type of vape you'll get. I'm going to assume that you got the AL85 kit, which comes with the AL85 mod (the part with the battery in it) and the Baby Beast tank (the part you put juice in).

The Baby Beast tanks are meant for direct-to-lung (DL, DTL or D2L) vaping rather than mouth-to-lung (MTL) vaping, so my first suggestion is to try a different tank. The Nautilus 2 is probably the best-known MTL tank at the moment, although there are other good ones. Note that I'm just recommending a different tank - your mod, the AL85, will work fine with an MTL tank.

I expect you'll want to keep playing around with your AL85 before you start looking at other tanks, so I'll move on to the rest of your questions:

• The 'best' coil is a matter of preference. MTL coils are usually higher in resistance than DL coils - often over 1 ohm, though not always. I'd say try them both and see what you think of them.
• A recommended wattage range for a coil is usually printed on the coil itself. When you switch to a new coil, start well below the bottom of the range to break it in. After a few vapes, start increasing your watts gradually until it gets to where you like it. Then keep going up until it stops getting better and starts getting worse. The right wattage is wherever you liked it best.
• I'm not sure about the soft/normal/hard functions. I'd suggest starting with normal. Like everything else in vaping, the 'right' setting is about what you like best, so once you get used to normal, try the others to see if you like them better.
• PCB? Sorry, I'm missing something here. Not sure what that is.
• If you mean the volts and amps display on your screen, nothing. They don't really mean much on a regulated mod (which the AL85 is), so you can happily ignore them. On the other hand, knowing the CDR (continuous discharge rating - measured in amps) and your current draw at the battery (measured in amps, but a function of the battery's voltage and your wattage setting) is crucial to selecting a safe battery. Could you tell me what battery you have? If you do, I should be able to give you an idea of what settings should be safe for that battery.

Okay! Thanks so much for clearing all that up! I was having issues and I didn't even know there was such a thing as a MTL only tank! Goes to show how much I know about all of this ahaha! I'll definetly get myself a Nautilus 2 with my next batch of juice! I have an Efest 3000mAh, 35A, 3.7V battery. 18650 of course.

You say that the higher the ohm, the better. Why am I getting a better draw from a .15 over a .4 then? What I mean is that I can only do DTL with my .4 coil, but I can MTL with my .15 (If I put the mod at 50 watts)! Could my .4 coil be defective, or am I missing something?

Sorry for all the questions, I don't mean to be a bother! And thank you again for all the details!!!

 

[stols001]

You may actually be getting less vapor with the 0.15 coil at that wattage, as it's likely below the "recommended" wattage-- which is totally fine, if it's working. If anything, it will only increase that coil's life, so don't worry about it, but that's the only thing that would make sense to me. However, if that's the one that is working best, just keep vaping that one. Who knows, you may end up preferring that coil and wattage over something much higher resistance but lower wattage, which is why it's great to experiment, and at worst, if you love the N2 WAY more, you'll have a backup tank.

Anna

 

[Fredean]

You may actually be getting less vapor with the 0.15 coil at that wattage, as it's likely below the "recommended" wattage-- which is totally fine, if it's working. If anything, it will only increase that coil's life, so don't worry about it, but that's the only thing that would make sense to me. However, if that's the one that is working best, just keep vaping that one. Who knows, you may end up preferring that coil and wattage over something much higher resistance but lower wattage, which is why it's great to experiment, and at worst, if you love the N2 WAY more, you'll have a backup tank.

Anna

Yea, I guess I only have to play around with it... Thanks again

 

[Hawise]

Okay! Thanks so much for clearing all that up! I was having issues and I didn't even know there was such a thing as a MTL only tank! Goes to show how much I know about all of this ahaha! I'll definetly get myself a Nautilus 2 with my next batch of juice! I have an Efest 3000mAh, 35A, 3.7V battery. 18650 of course.

There's no shortage of things to learn about vaping now. There weren't as many choices when I started, but even then it was confusing enough. Then I upgraded my setup a year ago and found that most of what I'd learned was now useless and I had to start all over again. It looks like you're working your way through the essential bits, so here's another one for you:

Batteries - There are only four manufacturers that make batteries that are suitable for vaping. They're Samsung, LG, Sony/Murata, and Sanyo/Panasonic. Anyone else selling vaping batteries is called a "rewrapper". They either bought their batteries from one of those four and put their own branding on it, or they're using a battery that really isn't suitable (or safe, for that matter). Most buy from the legit manufacturers, but even then the batteries they buy are usually the ones that didn't pass the quality assurance tests to be sold under the manufacturer's own name. Worse still, the rewrappers often give inaccurate specs for their batteries. To complicate matters, even if you find out what battery a rewrapper is rewrapping, they can change it at any time so you can never be sure.

Mooch, our local battery guru, has tested a lot of batteries. He found the Efest 3000mAh 35A battery to be a 20A battery (although as I've just said, that could change at any time). A 20A CDR battery isn't bad. On a regulated mod, you should be OK up to about 60 W per battery with it.

This link will tell you how to calculate the maximum wattage you should use depending on your battery's CDR:
Calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod | E-Cigarette Forum

In the future, I'd recommend sticking to Mooch's recommended batteries. He makes a very handy chart of good vaping batteries, but sadly he's updating it at the moment and it's not available. When it's ready it'll be here:
Mooch's Recommended Batteries | E-Cigarette Forum

Off hand, if you're staying below 50 watts or so per battery some of the top choices are:

• Samsung 30Q
• Samsung 25R
  
• LG HG2
• Sony VTC6

It's also important to stick to a reliable vendor because there are a lot of counterfeit batteries about. Never buy batteries from Amazon or eBay. Mooch's chart has a list of good vendors on it, which will be helpful when it's back up but doesn't do much for you at the moment. There aren't any Canadian vendors on it and experiences importing batteries have been mixed. A lot of people have bought numerous batteries with no problems at all, while others have had nightmare experiences with customs. My own preference is to avoid potential customs pitfalls. I've had good experiences with Dashvapes.

You say that the higher the ohm, the better. Why am I getting a better draw from a .15 over a .4 then? What I mean is that I can only do DTL with my .4 coil, but I can MTL with my .15 (If I put the mod at 50 watts)! Could my .4 coil be defective, or am I missing something?

Sorry for all the questions, I don't mean to be a bother! And thank you again for all the details!!!

While MTL usually involves higher resistances, there are a lot of contributing factors. Airflow is one, and, as Anna mentioned, your power setting is another. The Nautilus 2 that was mentioned has coils ranging from 0.7 to 1.8 ohms. They're all MTL, and people's preferences are all over the place. If it works for you, you're doing great.

There's no need to apologize for questions. We're all here because we're happy to help.

 

[Fredean]

There's no shortage of things to learn about vaping now. There weren't as many choices when I started, but even then it was confusing enough. Then I upgraded my setup a year ago and found that most of what I'd learned was now useless and I had to start all over again. It looks like you're working your way through the essential bits, so here's another one for you:

Batteries - There are only four manufacturers that make batteries that are suitable for vaping. They're Samsung, LG, Sony/Murata, and Sanyo/Panasonic. Anyone else selling vaping batteries is called a "rewrapper". They either bought their batteries from one of those four and put their own branding on it, or they're using a battery that really isn't suitable (or safe, for that matter). Most buy from the legit manufacturers, but even then the batteries they buy are usually the ones that didn't pass the quality assurance tests to be sold under the manufacturer's own name. Worse still, the rewrappers often give inaccurate specs for their batteries. To complicate matters, even if you find out what battery a rewrapper is rewrapping, they can change it at any time so you can never be sure.

Mooch, our local battery guru, has tested a lot of batteries. He found the Efest 3000mAh 35A battery to be a 20A battery (although as I've just said, that could change at any time). A 20A CDR battery isn't bad. On a regulated mod, you should be OK up to about 60 W per battery with it.

This link will tell you how to calculate the maximum wattage you should use depending on your battery's CDR:
Calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod | E-Cigarette Forum

In the future, I'd recommend sticking to Mooch's recommended batteries. He makes a very handy chart of good vaping batteries, but sadly he's updating it at the moment and it's not available. When it's ready it'll be here:
Mooch's Recommended Batteries | E-Cigarette Forum

Off hand, if you're staying below 50 watts or so per battery some of the top choices are:

• Samsung 30Q
• Samsung 25R
  
• LG HG2
• Sony VTC6

It's also important to stick to a reliable vendor because there are a lot of counterfeit batteries about. Never buy batteries from Amazon or eBay. Mooch's chart has a list of good vendors on it, which will be helpful when it's back up but doesn't do much for you at the moment. There aren't any Canadian vendors on it and experiences importing batteries have been mixed. A lot of people have bought numerous batteries with no problems at all, while others have had nightmare experiences with customs. My own preference is to avoid potential customs pitfalls. I've had good experiences with Dashvapes.




While MTL usually involves higher resistances, there are a lot of contributing factors. Airflow is one, and, as Anna mentioned, your power setting is another. The Nautilus 2 that was mentioned has coils ranging from 0.7 to 1.8 ohms. They're all MTL, and people's preferences are all over the place. If it works for you, you're doing great.

There's no need to apologize for questions. We're all here because we're happy to help.

That's good to know for my future battery purchases! I just asked for a battery and that's what the guy gave me! My problem with my .4 ohm coil is that it doesn't give off any vapor if I do not do DTL. Maybe it's a faulty coil...

Thank you for the detailed response.