captain, you're right,throat hit and harshness are 2 different things but I think the line between them is blurred for many and I think many associate throat hit with harshness, in that I think many will favor a little harshness and say that it is increasing throat hit. the harshness gives the vape a bit more bite and substance, you can "feel" it more, as a hit. that's why I'm just using the term "added throat hit", because I think many will relate to what I'm talking about in this context.
Aal, I have tried to think of good ways to illustrate my thoughts and I think I have a few good ideas for ways to illustrate some of my theories but for now here is a quick sketch, just to kind of show what I mean by "stagnant pocket"
this first diagram is a coil that's slightly below center on the air inlet, the main airflow through the atty extracts fresh prime vape from the coil and brings it out the driptip, most of the dead space that is not in the higher velocity air stream is what I am labeling as stagnant, it's largely and for the most part stagnant, although some will always wind up being mixed back into the slipstream, exactly how much is what determines the overall vape and flavor. I don't mean to try and illustrate that it's really this cut and dry and that all of the airstream is like I'm showing because there are still many other areas of turbulence combined with pressures created from vapor shooting from the coil and many other factors, this is just illustrative of the main bulk of the airflow. as you can see the main bulk of the airflow leaves the stagnant pocket largely still for the most part
now here in this diagram the coil has been moved up to slightly above centerline of the inlet, now when the incoming rush of air "hits the coil" more of this airflow is deflected below the coil, this in turn adds movement and flow and turbulence through the otherwise still stagnant pocket and causes much more of this stagnant aftervapor to mix with the airflow that exits the chamber
I'm reducing some things down to there simplest form for illustration and to not try to confuse things but in doing so there will be technical inaccuracies, calling it throat hit is def one but there are many others, for example, air doesn't really come in and hit the coil, what really happens is by sucking on the driptip you are creating a vacuum and all air movement is really more just a result of pressure differentials, pressure will always equalize with the path of least resistance and this is actually what creates our airflow. this can get very deep and scientific and I really love discussing this because more eyes means more thoughts and more thoughts can help to get an even clearer picture of what is going on. not so sure this is the right thread for it but for now I'm happy to discuss it here.
I have thought of making a thread outlining all of my theories so guys can try to poke holes in it and add to it and bring it to an open discussion but I never got down to really trying to do that, I think that will be one very long first post