Caliburn A2 / Dinner Lady advice

[reeboo]

Hey everyone, newbie here looking for some advice… My new vape system is so different from my old one, I actually don’t know if I’ve got a faulty device or if I finally lost touch with technology and should just go live in a cave somewhere (could be nice. would miss my vape.)

Been using Vuse 5% disposable pods for a year and enjoy the mild flavours. Finally caught on that refillable pods are way cheaper to run, so upgraded (?) to a Caliburn A2 and filled it up with Dinner Lady 50mg watermelon nic salts.

I let the juice settle and was really surprised at how warm the vapour was on inhalation. Never had this before with Vuse, the vapour itself has no temperature at all. Whats normal…?

The vapour also didn’t really give a throat hit, just a tickle that makes me need to cough. And the super sweet aftertaste is so strong, I thought I was getting liquid in my mouth and spit it out. Maybe I’m just not used to this sweet stuff…

I was so excited about the new setup and all the money I’d save but it’s a bit of a disappointment so far. Any tips?

 

[somdcomputerguy]

Welcome to ECF, reeboo. I'm not familiar with either of your 'old' or 'new' gear but I'm positive that someone here will be able to help you out.

 

[Superuser187]

I dont have experience with both those devices but..

U should know that different vape devices will give u very different experience and some may not be for your liking...

First about vapor temperature...some of us like a warmer vapor others like it cooler...with more advanced vape devices u are able to change coils that have different resistance and also adjust the power to get the vapor u like in terms of temperature or amount of vapor...

Seems the caliburn produces more warm vapor than your previous disposable and i think comes only one option of pod with 0.9ohm resistance coil/pod so maybe there is nothing u can do to change that?????? Not sure tho havent used it...lets see what others will say that know it better...

About the sweet taste u get as long as there is no spitback and juice hits your mouth then it means that all is good and its just the juice is very strong in flavour and the caliburn produces good flavour.... something that most people want btw even tho to me same as u maybe its tooooo much sometimes...

Now about the throat hit u mention u dont get with this vape device and juice there are many reasons why...

First....some vape atomizers may help give u better throat hit so maybe the previous u had was just better in that.

also some flavourings produce more throat hit like for example cinamon flavours and menthol and more so maybe the previous had some of those inside...

There is also the amount of nicotine and the vg pg percentage of juice that can produce more throat hit i am guessing the old disposable was 50mg also tho...

 

[Hawise]

Welcome to ECF, reeboo!

There's no need to retreat to a hermitage (though I agree it has its appeal at times) for an 'I don't like my new vape' problem. Such problems are very common, but almost always solvable. Sometimes the solution involves buying more kit, but with the combined wisdom of ECF brought to bear on the issue we should be able to help you minimize expenditures.

@Superuser187 has the temperature issue covered. People prefer different temperatures. Some pod mods cater to this by offering different coils and/or different settings so you can adjust the temperature, but the Caliburn A2 doesn't seem to be one of them. If the temperature is a deal-breaker, you might want to try an adjustable mod.

About the juice, it may be as simple as needing a different brand. Flavours vary a lot from brand to brand - both the flavour itself and the sweetness. Someone else's watermelon might be milder and less sweet, suiting you much better. The best way to find out is trial and error. Most of us have countless bottles of juice that didn't work out.

Onto nicotine. Your conversion is correct - 5% is the same as 50 mg/ml. However, I believe there are different ways to make salt nic, so different manufacturers' salt nics can feel a little different even when they're the same strength. Again, a different brand of juice might work better for you. It's also possible that the warmer (and probably thicker) vape is affecting the throat hit and the way you're perceiving the nicotine, so a pod with a cooler vape might help.

Good luck, and keep asking questions!

 

[reeboo]

Ohhhh but I am so looking for an excuse to become a hermit! (Think I have lockdown fever ).

Thanks for the tips both of you. I hadn’t realised a good vape setup would need so much calibration, but defo keen to find the right one.

Good to know that warm vapour is normal and not going to burn my throat or anything. I’m sure I can get used to it! Must change up the flavour though.

If anyone has any insight on the ideal PG/VG/Nic ratio to avoid coughing that would help me along too. I’ll keep going with the Caliburn for now as I work all this stuff out.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[Superuser187]

Ohhhh but I am so looking for an excuse to become a hermit! (Think I have lockdown fever ).

Thanks for the tips both of you. I hadn’t realised a good vape setup would need so much calibration, but defo keen to find the right one.

Good to know that warm vapour is normal and not going to burn my throat or anything. I’m sure I can get used to it! Must change up the flavour though.

If anyone has any insight on the ideal PG/VG/Nic ratio to avoid coughing that would help me along too. I’ll keep going with the Caliburn for now as I work all this stuff out.

Thanks again for the info!

The problem with disposables is that we cant really know for sure what juice their contain...
I am gonna assume that it was 50/50 vg pg as its the classic juice for all mouth to lung vaping devices...
I assume the dinner lady u got is also 50/50 vg pg??? Or maybe 70vg 30pg????

Just so u know .....vg produces less of throat hit and produce more clouds of vapor....while pg helps u get more throat hit and produces less vapor

Sooo now about why u cough i am gonna have to assume that the juices are the same in terms of vg and pg percentage and its 50mg also salt nicotine soo the coughing u get can be one of few things come to my mind

1) most likely this vape device u use now its more powerfull and produces more vapor and that maybe is to much for you atm....u may get used to it or maybe u need lower the nicotine percentage u vape

2) the juice u bought its a very good brand but maybe this flavour is not for you cause myself i have some flavours that tickle my throat for example some brands of green apple flavour do that to me while others brands of green apple are fine....

 

[Superuser187]

Few things about vg pg and nicotine just to get an idea...

The nicotine we use depends on how much we need to keep us off cigs but also depends what device we use...

small devices produce low amount of vapor and need high nicotine to be able to satisfy someone to stay off cigs ofc depending how heavy smoker they were...and other more advance devices produce large amounts of vapor that in this case even 3mg nicotine can be enough...

"Classic" nicotine produces lot of throat hit and propably couldnt vape it at 50mg and thats why nicotine salts showed up and those produce low throat hit and that way we can vape high amount of nicotine without be very harsh on the throat...so even smaller devices can be very efficient this way...

For example i use vape devices that produce large amounts of vapor and i use 3mg nicotine or 6mg nic cause anything more than that would be tooo much for me and most people...

With that being said if u see in future u try other types of flavours and see that u still dont like them or wanna cough....i would suggest maybe try any classic nicotine juice at 12mg or more if u can find.....even tho wont be 50mg or anything close to that in my opinion maybe this device produces enough vapor to be able to satisfy u at less that 50mg.....plus normal nicotine produces the throat hit that u seek for....
Ofc whatever juice u get make sure its 50/50 vg pg percentage cause most likely its what u have vaped so far...and suits the vaoe devices u use....

Also last thing...maybe its not a bad idea to lower the amount of nicotine u vape assuming u are strong enough to deal any withdrawal u may experience....cause if u lower the amount of nicotine u vape u then get lees hard withdrawal symptoms when u dont vape...and life is little easier

 

[BrotherBob]

Hey everyone,

Welcome and glad you joined.
Could reask same question in this appropriate forum:
Vape Pod Systems

 

[ShowMeTwice]

Hello reeboo and welcome to ECF.

I don't own any pod devices so have nothing to offer there. It looks like you have received some really good advice above.

As suggested above, a tank with drop-in coils might suit you better. The next step after drop-in coils are rebuildables. With those you can customize your vape until the cows come home.

As to juices, when I first started vaping I found all commercial juices to be seriously over flavored and way too sweet. I started making my own DIY juice very shortly after I started vaping. By doing DIY you can control the percentages of flavorings. For me, less is more with flavorings. I am no fan of sweet juices so I very very rarely use any sweetener. And to be 100% honest there are a good number of flavors that are sweet to begin with.

The combination of rebuildables, DIY and plenty of supplies would easily allow you to "go live in a cave somewhere". Best of all worlds there! A few times a year I go live off-grid for weeks at a time, totally love it, no technology, no people, just Nature.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Welcome to the forum, reeboo.

I see a lot of good advice has already been given, so I don't think I have anything to add, except that you will find the right balance of power, flavor and temperature.

I find that hermit's cave a tempting idea too sometimes, not because of vape problems though. Because of people. Give me real vapes I can turn on, virtual people I can turn off.

Sometimes.

 

[reeboo]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I think you nailed it with the nic content. My new pod vape is higher powered and staying at 50mg is probably too much! I’ve scoured the net for less sweet flavours and am trying a 20mg nic next, we’ll see how that goes.

So far I’ve been using 50/50 PG/VG…

If anyone has a go-to resource for understanding vape tech that would defo come in handy! Thanks for helping me with my noob questions, you guys are great.

 

[fatPanda]

Hi reboo,

maybe I can give you some input here since I use both, the Caliburn G and the Vuse ePen3 devices.

I think your A2 has 0.9 Ohm, my Vuse ePen3 e.g. has a coil resistance of 1.0 Ohm. Tough I do not know which Vuse device you use your Vuse's coil could be different. This might be one reason your vapor is warm.

An other ting is the distance from the coil to the mouthpice outlet. In the vuse is at least twice as much as the Caliburn Pods, so this together with the difference in the resistance might also explain the temperature difference.

The composition juices are also different, the Dinner Lady is 50PG/VG and the Vuse apears to be higher in VG, also I remember to have read somewhere that they say its's 50/50... Unfourtunately I do not remember where...

I also like the vuse juices very much, since its not so intense in sweetness. I started to experiment with some other juices and also tried to mix myself a few ones.

First findings im my case to get closer to the Vuse juices vape experience was to add more VG (close to a rate of 60VG/40PG) and a few drops of 5% saline solution. This made the juices less intense in aroma and smoother, a little bit more similar to the Vuse ones (yet still far away from it...).

I hope this helps.

 

[reeboo]

Thanks for the advice! I started using a Caliburn Koko recently, with a 1.0 Ohm coil and some lighter flavours made here in NZ (Vapure). Much better experience. Far less heat to the vapour and a good hit. I really like that you can change the draw resistance too, just by turning the pod around which puts the internal airflow closer/further from the external airflow.

Hopefully this will help others in a similar spot. Just have to tweak the variables and find what suits you. I still like Vuse a lot as its such a simple setup and gives the solid throat hit I crave, but its not so cheap to run and you're ultimately limited to their lineup of flavours. I believe the Koko is similar to the Caliburn G but just in a box shape, so they might well give similar effects. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[fatPanda]

Hi reboo

I have a short update for you. Yesterday I bought some 1.2 Ohm coils for my Calibrun G and I also did some experiments for a with the vape shop juices since they are much more harsh compared to the Vuse juices.

With the 1.2 Ohm coils i have a little bit less vapor but also not too hot, I am fine with less vapor since i use 12 mg atm. Ah and I forgot to say, may vape shop guy told me not to put the mouthpice on the lips but in the mouth because of the heat. I had the same problem at the beginning when I started with my Caliburn G.

If the 1.2 Ohm is also available for the Koko, maybe you can give it a try.

And last but not least it helped in my case to add three drop (I used a empty juice bottle) of 0.9 % saline solution to a full pod, this made my juices less harsh and a lot of smoother.