Charred Taste from new stainless wicked AGA-T

[cghildreth]

I recently acquired a Birkshire/AGA-T. This is my first rba, and I seem to be having some issues. I've rewicked four vivi nova heads with stainless with great success on a couple and marginal success on the other two.

Long story short, I am getting a highly metallic, slightly charred taste with my coil setup on the Birkshire and on the two marginal vivi nova heads. I am figuring that my issue is somewhere in my oxidation process, but am hoping for some help so as to avoid many hours of experimentation and a correspondingly grumpy wife.

FYI, my typical oxidation process is as follows:

1. Wrap appropriate size 400 stainless mesh around paper clip;
2. Heat until glowing with propane or butane torch (I've had the metallic/charred taste with both), douse in water, repeat five more times;
3. Drip several drops unflavored 50/50 pg vg mix, light with bic lighter and let burn off. Repeat three more times.
4. Test fit, build coil (typically a 5/4 wrap of 32g A-1 Kanthal that ohms at about 3.0) and fire away.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

 

[RudestBuddhist]

Are you running a lighter over the wire (until it glows red) before wrapping? It will make it easier to wrap and takes some of the metallic taste out.

Also, how much have you vaped? If there is a metalic taste, it should eventually start to go away as the coil/wick become seasoned.

 

[CountSmackula]

Is the wick snug on the coil? Gaps can cause funky taste.

 

[cghildreth]

@ Rudest Budist

Nope - I will try that this evening. On the AGA-T, between 20-30 drags. On the vivis that I'm getting metallic tastes from, a LOT more than that - between two and three full tanks. The metallic taste is fading on the Vivis, but its still pretty pronounced.

@ CountSmackula - coils are snug without being overly tight. Wick can slide in the coils, but not freely.