Chasing the Dragon - RBA + Boba's Bounty Quest and Hardships

[ryknow4324]

Hi everyone,

I started vaping about 3-4 years ago and then went back to analogs. I've recently come back to vaping in the past few months once I realized the huge advancements in vaping hardware such as tanks, RBAs, VV mods, etc. I initially bought a Davide Clearomizer running on my old mech mod I had a few years ago. This worked just fine for most liquids till I ordered a sample of Boba's. Initially it was amazing and I'd found a juice I felt would be my go to, but after less than a day, the poor tank coil just couldn't handle Boba's anymore and I found myself wanting to replace the head almost every day. This lead me down the rabbit hole of RBA's.

I love tinkering with stuff, and already had a mech mod. I ordered a MM DiD, some 500 mesh, and some .28 kanthal. I've had very limited success. I've probably rebuilt the coil and or wick over 30 times now. Sometimes the vape is tolerable, sometimes its awful. I know from my limited time with the tank that the taste is just not quite right. I've tried sub ohm, I've tried microcoils, Peter K method, totally carbonized/oxidized wicks, nothing works. I feel like my technique is mostly right, and that I should be getting something that's at least "okay" and not be obsessively rebuilding several times a day and getting frustrated. Is there just something about this liquid that makes this harder than normal? I know its difficult to diagnose my problem without pictures of my builds or what not, but I guess I'm just looking for someone to say "oh, I have that same exact setup. Here's what I do". Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[justinonymous]

When you say the vape is tolerable/awful, what do you mean? Is it really harsh or does it taste funny?

If you're using nicotine, RBAs can actually make the throat hit a lot harsher, especially if it's going high. Or is there a really awful throat hit that almost seems burnt? If that's the case you may have a hot spot on your coils. I had some guy come in today saying that his build (a build I did the day before) was getting way too hot and it was burning his throat. Turns out he actually burned the cotton so there wasn't juice making contact with the coil which led it to burn red hot.

Sorry I couldn't be of that much help, but hopefully we can narrow down the issues you're having so they can be solved.

 

[ryknow4324]

Some of the builds were tolerable, as in they had vapor but little or no taste. Most of the builds are generally harsh and yeah they burnt my throat and cause me fiddle around trying to get rid of hot spots and then usually just trash them and start over. The tolerable builds are very poor, which I why I usually end up trashing those as well.

For starters, specifically for Boba's, are microcoils on SS mesh running 1.5-2.0 ohms a viable option? Or should I go with non touching coils and do 4-5 raps at around 1 ohm? Also, does coil size make a huge difference? Larger coils vs. smaller?

 

[justinonymous]

Some of the builds were tolerable, as in they had vapor but little or no taste. Most of the builds are generally harsh and yeah they burnt my throat and cause me fiddle around trying to get rid of hot spots and then usually just trash them and start over. The tolerable builds are very poor, which I why I usually end up trashing those as well.

For starters, specifically for Boba's, are microcoils on SS mesh running 1.5-2.0 ohms a viable option? Or should I go with non touching coils and do 4-5 raps at around 1 ohm? Also, does coil size make a huge difference? Larger coils vs. smaller?

Hmm well I don't think I can REALLY help you with Boba's specifically because I've never tried it, I just hear about it. Build wise I can though. Coil diameter/size doesn't necessarily matter, it's all about the actual length of wire you use. But it's better to go longer (more wraps) than bigger (inner diameter) because you'll be cover a lot more surface area which is essentially more vapor and throat hit (this page will definitely help you just by lurking lol). 1.5-2 ohms is a bit high if you're using a mech. If you're using a VV device there's charts online where to voltage you should set corresponding to a certain resistance range.

What rebuildable and device are you using? Also what kind of wire and what gauge are you using for your builds?

*Some tricks to getting rid of hot spots or hot legs would be compressing the coils firmly (but with some caution) with tweezers or pliers. Another method could be strumming the coils with a dental pick or the tip of a pair of tweezers, something that has a point to it. The strumming will break up hot spots and a lot of times even out the coil (it's some weird voodoo magic, but it does work).

 

[MattyB1503]

I ran a standard DID from MMV and Boba's for a long time, hang in there buddy there is light at the end of the tunnel. AWE's Boba's Bounty is what actually got me off the cigs, but it is a very thick juice (high in VG) and can wreak havoc on atomizer coil. Don't worry though, a genesis style atty (mesh and wire) once setup right can run and run and run before rebuilding.

Here is what I would try: MMV's Standard DID has 3.5mm wick hole so grab a 1/8" drill bit and wrap touching coils onto the bit. I would recommend an exact number of wraps but I'm not sure it you have 28 awg or wire from MMV (I think they include 30 gauge ?). But anyways I would start with ~ 4 - 6 wraps. Pay attention to the way that you are winding the wire, the DID's ground connection is on left side of the deck so start your wrap with the wire under your thumb but on top if the bit and short end pointing left. wrap your wire with the bottom coil not touching but all the rest touching (like a micro), drop the bit into the wick hole and fasten down you ground and positive connections. Cut a piece of mesh (it's good that you have 500) to about 1.5" wide by a length that will almost touch the bottom of the tank and end just bellow the center post. Torch the mesh, roll it, try to side it into the coils; if it too big rolling it in one direction will slim it down, the other will open it up. Once the mesh will slide into the coils with out too much resistance torch it again and slide the wick all the way in. The wick should be in contact with all the coils but not a press fit. Once the wick is in pulse the fire button, after a while the all the coils will light up but the touching coils will light up first. That's it, fill the tank and vape it.

 

[ryknow4324]

Sadly I've read through that link a thousand times. I'm using a DiD RBA with 500 mesh and .28 kanthal. I understand getting rid of hot spots, but it seems like sometimes I get a burnt taste, and other times its as if the liquid evaporated and condensed in the back of my throat. I know that sounds weird, but its like I inhaled a huge amount of flavored water vapor and now there's liquid in my airway?

I just did another rebuild but decided to give up on the Boba's. I stuck some Ry4 in that is a lot less thick and it is vaping sort of okay, but the hit I'm getting has that "wet throat" feeling I just described. I figure maybe if I can solve this issue with a thinner and easier to work with liquid, it might get me closer to diagnosing the problem with Boba's. Sorry, I know I'm mentioning a lot of issues at once, but I'm not sure where to start.

 

[Lastlokean]

I couldn't get ss wicks to work for me until I tried this: (not my video just my favorite technique)

Micro Coil In A Genesis Atomizer Using Cotton & SS Mesh - YouTube

Pretty much the peter K method up until inserting the ss wick into the coil. First you add a tiny bit of cotton to the ss wick (see video for technique), and this really gets squeezed between the coil and the mesh eliminating all hot spots...

Edit: I also only vape 100% vg as I have a negative reaction to even 5% pg... I knew this before vaping from some toothpastes/lotions... Anyways... 500 micron mesh wicks 100% vg like a champ. I doubt the juice is your issue.

 

[ryknow4324]

Matty, how heavily are you torching the wick before use? And are you pulsing the coil until everything is glowing and it sorts out its own hotspots? Also, you said like microcoils, does that mean that the ohms will be fairly high? 1.5-2.0ish? Thank you both for your replies.

 

[MattyB1503]

One issue you might be having is with the VG, mostly people have problems with PG but I did notice when I was vaping Boba's I was getting a fair amount of flem, it was defiantly less than smoking though.

I do a quick torch on the fist pass, then once the wick it rolled ~ 5 - 6 seconds. And yes, pulsing should get rid of any remaining shorts/hot spots. basically what you are doing is oxidizing the mesh with the coil. You want be careful and do quick pulses, if you do have a hot spot a long pulse can pop the coil. You can always nudge the coil were the coil stops glowing if pulsing is taking a long time. Another thing to watch out for is a ragged edge on finishing wrap of the mesh, a stray mesh strand can defiantly give you trouble.

.28 kanthal, like 0.28mm? I believe that is ~ 29 gauge (awg) so if my assumption is correct 6 warps on a 1/8" bit = 1.50 ohms, 8 wraps = 2.00 ohms. I'm gonna sign off but post or PM me and I'll hit you back tomorrow. Hope you get it.

 

[ryknow4324]

Its not really like flem, its a lot like when water goes down the wrong pipe and you have water stuck in your airway and need to cough. I usually get a lot of "fireworks" coming off of my coil and it makes me wonder if the liquid is being boiled inside in the wick instead of vaporizing on the coil. I'm not totally sure that's possible, but just a thought.