Burning through coils...

[Kittyntwinstarz]

Hi I am new to the forum but not new to vaping. I smoke for 25 yrs and started vaping then stopped and a year later went back to smoking. I have started up vaping again and have been going strong for a month now. I bought the Smok procolor kit with the big baby beast tank. After I went through the coils it came with in 4 days I researched what I was doing wrong.
When I used to vape years ago you didn’t prime your coil. You simply filled your tank and waited 30 minutes then vaped. Now I am priming. I first poke 3 holes in each side cotton panel with a needle. I then put a few drops of juice on the coil, place a napkin over the top and blow into the coil pushing all the juice down. I then add juice to the cotton on the side holes and blow again. I wipe off any excess juice.

Once that is done I fill up the tank and take 5 dry hits with the airflow closed and let it sit at least 30 min. I then reduce wattage and slowly increase it over a few hours. I usually vape around 55w. I then hit the fire button and do 5 quick hits with the airflow open. The results vary with taste. Sometimes it’s great othertimes there is no flavor. The longer I let it sit the better those first hits are. But I’m impatient so I just deal with it.

I usually vape lung hits about 2-2.5 seconds long. I try to wait 10-20 seconds in between hits but I was a long time smoker so sometimes this is challenging. I feel like I am doing everything right but within 2-3 days coil is burnt. I have tried the v8, v6 and q2 coils. When I go to replace the coil the cotton is pretty white but wire is charred in some spots. I’m currently using my Tobeco mini super tank with no issues but it seems much weaker in vape production and clouds. My juices are 70/30. What could I be doing wrong?

Sorry for the long post.

 

[BoogaWu]

What do you mean by burnt coils? Like, bad taste, they stop working, or what?
Sounds like you are priming correctly, so might need a little less power or a little more airflow. Also, with some really sweet juices or gunky stuff like WTAs 3-4 days might be all you get.
I don't have that tank so generic advise is all I have. Hopefully someone with it comes along that has more specifics for ya.

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

First the flavor diminishes then within a few hours I get the burnt charred hit. I start at like 20w and slowly increase to 55w. The coils say best at 70-80w but there is no flavor at that wattage.

 

[QcVaper]

First the flavor diminishes then within a few hours I get the burnt charred hit. I start at like 20w and slowly increase to 55w. The coils say best at 70-80w but there is no flavor at that wattage.

I HIGHLY doubt it's your fault, i've tried 2 smok tank and both times all the coils in the box were dead within a few days tops. Since then i stopped suggesting them to people because i've seen too many Qc control issues on these forums here.

 

[dom qp]

3 days seems about average for these coils.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Sounds like you're doing everything you can to ensure the head is primed and realize the recommended watt range isn't mandatory.
Pg 70 / 30 VG or 30 Pg / 70 Vg?
Are all the O rings & seals in place & undamaged?
If the tank doesn't seal well you will have wicking problems.
Sometimes the top cap seal / how it pivots to open doesn't seal well, the slight negative pressure doesn't build up in the tank which helps draw liquid into the head.

NET, WTA, colored or dark and especially sweet liquids tend to clog wicking material & gunk coils rapidly.
Not much you can do about it using most replaceable head type delivery devices.
There is always the possibility you got a bad batch / poor QC heads.

 

[papergoblin]

First the flavor diminishes then within a few hours I get the burnt charred hit. I start at like 20w and slowly increase to 55w. The coils say best at 70-80w but there is no flavor at that wattage.

Same issue, 3 days is about average for smok coils. I had the TFV8 and went through 3 coils in a week as well. I gave up on the tank, it shouldn't be that much work for a drop in coil system and the rebuild section didn't really taste well (for me) either.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

How much liquid are you going through? It's always best to gauge coil life by quantity of juice than by time.

Unfortunately, the juices that taste the best are the flavorful ones that funk a coil in just a few tanks.

Smok tanks are very good at vaporizing a lot of juice in a very short time.

An option is the RBA adapter that turns your BBB into a RTA tank. Instead of changing coils, you change cotton and rock on.

 

[MacTechVpr]

Single coil assemblies are hard enough to keep going. But wire warps people. Heat expansion and inherent uneven strain in segments of a wind conspire to induce its deformation over time. Variations in ideal contact then will char your wick. If severe you build accretion inside the coil. Now multiply that by xCoils. It doesn't take very long.

Good luck.

 

[Letitia]

The rba head for the BBB is good, but you need the kit to use it. If you don't want to build the Freemax FireLuke is great, my .25 coil is over 3 weeks old and still tasty. Think this coil will last 5-6 weeks.

 

[stols001]

Uwell crown coils get great reviews for longevity, although I don't know for sure the coils are at fault here, depending on how much juice you are using, and what type. It doesn't sound like a priming or wattage issue to me. Some smok coils do seem to be prone to shorter life although not all of them, and I don't know Smok well enough to comment on that.

Building your own coils for an RDA/RTA is going to be your least expensive option, after some start up costs. But the flavor is usually better (IMO) and it's far less expensive if you do use gunky juices as you can just dry burn the coil (in most cases, but if it's kanthal) or clean the coil and rewick. Cotton or rayon (go with rayon, is my advice, as it lasts longer and shines at higher wattages) is pretty inexpensive. But I am going to guess you may need a different tank with coils that can run more volume without incident, or to move in the rebuildable direction. There is a rebuildable atomizer section on the board if you want to learn a little more about it.

Best of luck, either way and welcome to ECF. Congrats on switching to vaping once more....

Anna

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

Sounds like you're doing everything you can to ensure the head is primed and realize the recommended watt range isn't mandatory.
Pg 70 / 30 VG or 30 Pg / 70 Vg?
Are all the O rings & seals in place & undamaged?
If the tank doesn't seal well you will have wicking problems.
Sometimes the top cap seal / how it pivots to open doesn't seal well, the slight negative pressure doesn't build up in the tank which helps draw liquid into the head.

NET, WTA, colored or dark and especially sweet liquids tend to clog wicking material & gunk coils rapidly.
Not much you can do about it using most replaceable head type delivery devices.
There is always the possibility you got a bad batch / poor QC heads.

It is 70vg 30pg 3mg nicotine fruit flavors grape, apple etc. Liquid is always clear. O rings and seals seem fine and secure.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Depending on how many ml's of liquid you use in a day it may be normal for your delivery device.
Best to gauge head life on the amount of liquid vaped per head in ml's, not days.

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

How much liquid are you going through? It's always best to gauge coil life by quantity of juice than by time.

Unfortunately, the juices that taste the best are the flavorful ones that funk a coil in just a few tanks.

Smok tanks are very good at vaporizing a lot of juice in a very short time.

An option is the RBA adapter that turns your BBB into a RTA tank. Instead of changing coils, you change cotton and rock on.

I was going through 2 60ml bottles of daze 7 reds grape apple juice in a week. With about 3 coil replacements.
I use to use a rebuildable but I hated dripping and building. I’m not familiar with the tanks that are rebuildable. My daughter has the Smok Prince tank and has no issues. I also have the Tobeco super mini tank and have similitude issues but it’s an older tank and I was using the aspire coils. You just have to draw so hard with that tank.

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

Depending on how many ml's of liquid you use in a day it may be normal for your delivery device.
Best to gauge head life on the amount of liquid vaped per head in ml's, not days.

So it’s a 6ml tank and I go through filling it about 5 times a day but I also don’t let it get lower then the cotton opening so I’m proposing only adding 3ml per fill.

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

I HIGHLY doubt it's your fault, i've tried 2 smok tank and both times all the coils in the box were dead within a few days tops. Since then i stopped suggesting them to people because i've seen too many Qc control issues on these forums here.

Any thought on better tanks?

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

Uwell crown coils get great reviews for longevity, although I don't know for sure the coils are at fault here, depending on how much juice you are using, and what type. It doesn't sound like a priming or wattage issue to me. Some smok coils do seem to be prone to shorter life although not all of them, and I don't know Smok well enough to comment on that.

Building your own coils for an RDA/RTA is going to be your least expensive option, after some start up costs. But the flavor is usually better (IMO) and it's far less expensive if you do use gunky juices as you can just dry burn the coil (in most cases, but if it's kanthal) or clean the coil and rewick. Cotton or rayon (go with rayon, is my advice, as it lasts longer and shines at higher wattages) is pretty inexpensive. But I am going to guess you may need a different tank with coils that can run more volume without incident, or to move in the rebuildable direction. There is a rebuildable atomizer section on the board if you want to learn a little more about it.

Best of luck, either way and welcome to ECF. Congrats on switching to vaping once more....

Anna

I used to have a rebuildable drip top prior to rebuildable tanks coming out. I found hemp was best for my coil great flavor and long lifespan. Just not sure I remember how to rebuild and the vape shops where I am at are useless.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

So around 15ml's per day? and around 2 - 4 days per head? 30 - 60 ml per head?
I hate to say, that sounds typical for sweet liquids & the big baby heads.

An older tried & true delivery device is the Original Crown tank, not v2 or v3.

 

[Kittyntwinstarz]

So around 15ml's per day? and around 2 - 4 days per head? 30 - 60 ml per head?
I hate to say, that sounds typical for sweet liquids & the big baby heads.

An older tried & true delivery device is the Original Crown tank, not v2 or v3.

I will look in to this. Thank you!

 

[QcVaper]

Any thought on better tanks?

Last tank I've used was the crown 3 it was good but i much prefer my rdas so can't help much there unfortunately.