Conflicted, annoyed and slightly irritated

[Jaylah]

I have an itazte vv 3, and three SmokTech Pyrex Aro II tanks. Three because I have three favorite e-juices, so one for each. One mint-y, one citrus-y and one dessert-y. That way, when I get dreaded vaper’s-tongue, I can just easily swap out.

But I’m starting to get slightly annoyed by all of this. I hate it when I go to take a drag and get….nothing. Well, virtually nothing.

All those quit-smoking “experts” (most of which I think have never smoked a day in their lives), talk about how the smoking habit has several parts. Part is the nicotine. Part is seeing the cloud of smoke when you exhale. And part is “the hand habit.” And they all talk about how smokers do all this fiddly stuff. (Which is why I don’t think any of them have ever actually been a smoker.)

When I smoked, I smoked Misty analogs, which only come in a box. I flipped open the top of the box, extracted a cigarette, put the filter end in my mouth, lit the other end with a disposable lighter, and smoked the darned thing. I didn’t twist the lit end around in an ashtray, removing every particle of ash and leaving the lit end in a perfect cone shape or whatever. I didn’t use a Zippo-type lighter where I had to fiddle around replacing the flint and refilling it all the time.

I don’t want to go back to smoking analogs because the first time I tried vaping I realized that this actually tasted good and I didn’t want to go back to putting nasty-tasting smoke in my mouth (or lungs).

But honestly!

It’s not bad enough that you’ve got to fiddle around with the wattage/voltage all the time. If that didn't work, then maybe it's time to replace the coil. Or maybe replacing the coil doesn't make a darned bit of difference and I've wasted that time, plus now I've got an oily coil and the old one was still good. I did finally give in and decide to clean and dry-burn coils. I mean, part of the reason I switched from smoking to vaping was to save some (a lot) of money. But I am friggin’ well not going to start messing around building coils. I already have a couple of hobbies.


And I’m not going to get Shiny-itis because, as I said, the whole point of this is to save money. (And stop wrecking my lungs.)

Is it really too much to ask for an e-cig that just works when I want it to?

As my friend from New Orleans used to say, “Sheesh!!”

 

[Chelonian]

Unfortunately, at that level of gear, it really seems to be hit or miss. Some folks on here report getting seemingly years of faithful hassle free service out of that sort of gear, but my experience, the people I know in real life's experience, and a lot of posters here experience, is very spotty insofar as wick replacement goes. (with clearos)

For a hassle free experience, try cartos. They are disposable, they only last a certain amount of time, but they are consistent, easy, and as unfiddly as it gets. The wick is included as part of the carto.

You can buy them with holes prepunched so that you can use them with a tank.

IBTanked tanks are economical, come in various sizes and colors. I own atomizers that are considered top of the line, and am still satisfied by a tanked carto, and they are dead simple.

 

[Blindtarm]

I know you said that you don't want to buy new things, because you want to save money, and I see that point of view. I agree with you as long as it works, you don't need to replace it. But it sounds like the tanks don't work that well. I haven't tried them at all, so I can't help you there.
But if you end up smoking again, that isn't any good, and you definitely won't save money, so what about getting a couple of new tanks instead?
The most reliable tanks I've tried has been mini protank 2 and the mini aerotank from kanger. The latter, I have never experienced burnt taste, nor leaking or gurgling. I just fill it up, and I vape. It gives taste almost like a kayfun, without being a rebuildable or the leaking which I have great trouble with on some tanks. And it will fit great on your Itaste vv 3.
Good luck! Hope I was helpful in a way!

 

[Jaylah]

Thanks for the suggestions, both of you.

Yes, when I said I didn't want to get Shiny-itus I just meant that I didn't want to always keep buying new stuff. I'm happy with my Itaste, but I think the problem I'm having is the tank/coil. I don't want to end up spending a bunch of money on different stuff, but once I get suggestions/testimonials by people that understand my "problem" and can recommend something else that will solve said "problem", then I'd be willing to spend the $$ required. One-time thing.

 

[rurwin]

I'm at the stage now where my backup is generally a spare battery, rather than a spare everything as it was when I was using the sort of stuff you are using. But an RBA is not zero maintenance. It does need to be cleaned every couple of fills. It does need a new coil now and again, and making coils, especially dual matched coils, takes a bit of practice.

I'd second the suggestion to use cartomisers. They are the most "just works" technology there is.

 

[Chelonian]

Jaylah

Not discounting anything that BlindTarm said, BUT

If you want to avoid the issues that you cited, then Clearomizers (anything with a replaceable prepackaged wick, Like the Evods, Aspires, Kanger, Vivi Nova) products will still give you, to some extent, the issues that you don't like.

If you don't want to fool with wicks, stay away from clearomizers.

 

[Bob Chill]

Itastes work as well as any basic vv/vw device. My wife has been using a pair of them for a year now and loves them.

Tanks can vary on performance. Some of the things that could cause hit and miss vaping is the center pin of your Itaste is pushed down a little and doesn't make good contact with the atomizer. Also, if there is juice in the pin well it also affects the connection.

A good tip with tanks is to try not to vape below 1/3rd full or so. Wicking works on a vacuum. If you run the tank low there is a lot of air space in the tank and it can assist in gurgling and flooding.

The variable wattage setting on the itaste makes it pretty simple too. Takes the different resistance of atomizers variable off the table. You can find your preferred watt setting or range. It helps with consistency of the vape. I usually stick around 7 watts over 90% of the time with my protanks and davides. But everyone has their own preferred # or range. You just need to find yours.

Your equipment is definitely capable of being consistent, satisfying, and simple. Keep at it and you'll find your sweet spot.

 

[Todai]

I recently tried one of the new Kanger Aerotank Minis at my local shop. I was surpised at how well it worked. Nice amount of vapor, throat hit and flavor for a $20-$25 tank! And a pack of 5 extra coils is about $10. Buy a eGo Twist and I'd think you'd be set.

Low cost, good performance, and changing a coil out is a snap.

Cheers, mate!

 

[autobiogphnation]

But I am friggin’ well not going to start messing around building coils. I already have a couple of hobbies.

I used to say the same thing. Then I got curious and bought a small RDA that was a few bucks. Resistance wire was the most expensive at 10 dollars, and I just used regular cotton balls to try it all and see if it was worth it all the hassle before getting all the better stuff in bulk to save money etc.

All I can say now is don't rule it out until you've tried it. I now build and it's simple, 2 kayfun 3.1's, a kayfun mini, and a origen RDA (all clones). Currently getting the best vape experience over anything else I've ever tried.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Vaping does have a learning curve and sometimes takes quite a bit of experimenting with juice flavors, pg/vg/nic ratios and delivery devices / toppers to find what works best for each individual.
Heavy or chain vaping and the tiny bits of wicking material in most if not all pre made clearo heads really don't go together well.
Thick & sweet liquids make wicking issues more pronounced by gunking up the coil & wick faster, sweet flavors also burn easier.

Might be your delivery devices / toppers aren't suitable for what you're looking for.
Could be your juice is too thick to wick in your current toppers as fast as you'd like to vape.

You shouldn't have to fiddle with V or W all the time, it should be more of a fine tuning bump here or there, which leads back to finding a delivery device that suits your vaping style.

I prefer carto tanks over any other delivery device because they fit what Im looking for from a vape and my lifestyle best.
But, just like the tons of recommendations you'll receive about various other delivery devices you won't know if they are what works best for you until you try them.


Vaping is all about personal preferences, experimenting with variables to find the combo(s) that work best for you is normal, unfortunately that does take buying stuff until you find what you like.

 

[Jaylah]

A good tip with tanks is to try not to vape below 1/3rd full or so. Wicking works on a vacuum. If you run the tank low there is a lot of air space in the tank and it can assist in gurgling and flooding.

Well that, I think, explains a lot of the problems I've been having. It does seem that if I'm sitting there vaping pretty continuously, things are usually fine. It's when I first fire it up after it being left alone all night, or when I've been doing something else and then come back to vaping, I take a hit and get nothing.

Is there some way of "priming" things?

And I do find that different flavors of e-juice seem to require more or less voltage/wattage. I can always tell if I've got things too high because it tastes burnt.

I'm still not sure of all this ohms versus watts/volts thing. I mean, I just basically turn it up until just before things start to taste burnt. But what I don't understand is why my coils change their ohms all the time. There is a display, of course, on the Itaste, and a coil can show at 2.8 once and then, half an hour later, it's showing at 3.4. Or whatever.

 

[Todai]

I recently tried one of the new Kanger Aerotank Minis at my local shop. I was surpised at how well it worked. Nice amount of vapor, throat hit and flavor for a $20-$25 tank! And a pack of 5 extra coils is about $10. Buy a eGo Twist and I'd think you'd be set.

Low cost, good performance, and changing a coil out is a snap.

Cheers, mate!

Just to add to this, the Aerotank Mini has a nice airflow control ring also, so you can adjust the internal vacuum of the tank for wicking issues with thicker juice, or to get rid of gurgling with thinner juices.

I don't recommend Kanger stuff that often, but the Aerotank Mini was pretty impressive to me.

 

[Chelonian]

As the resistance wire is fired over and over, the resistance will change. Generally speaking, the older the higher it goes.

Also, between the gunk building up on it, and any juice seepage to you contacts between the battery and the tank, will cut down on conductivity, thereby raising resistance.

I went through the same thing you are. I chose to get into RBAs.

However, you will have to start building coils and threading wick materials. If you don't like replacing wicks now, then coils aren't going to be your bag.

My advice is to leave the clearos behind. For some folks, clearos are geat. But for people like me, and others who have the same complaints that you do, the usual path is to try clearo after clearo, looking for that one.

What you are experiencing are things that many do not notice, or are not bothered by what it takes to use clearos, and for them, it's great. They will honestly advise you along the lines that work for them.

However, I recognize the signs Chances are low that you will find a clearo to your liking. That doesn't mean that clearos are bad, or that you are strange.

That's why there are so many ways to vape

 

[Anarchy84]

Is it really too much to ask for an e-cig that just works when I want it to?

If you really want an e-cig that "just works", I would recommend a carto-tank (check out IBTanked) and a Provari (or other reliable, well-built, removable battery mod).

Cartos are easy to fill, disposable, and last 1-2 weeks at a time. There's very little "fiddling" involved. The up-front cost can be significant depending on the level of quality you want, but in the long run it's totally worth it - financially and emotionally.

 

[retic1959]

Jaylah , I'm going to play the devil's advocate and tell you something you don't want to hear just so you know . I have long since given up on tanks , clearo's and carto's , 100ft of 30 ga Kanthal cost me $5.50 delivered , a bag of organic cotton balls cost me $3.50 at CVS . I use 3 to 4 inches of wire to make a coil and a wisp of cotton for a wick , I'll get between 350 to 400 coils out of a spool of Kanthal wire , the coils in my Kayfuns are 3 months old and going strong , I simply dryburn and replace the cotton as needed .

You do the math , it takes me all of 2 minutes to dryburn and rewick , and I don't have the PITA issues that come with clearomisers or the expense of replacing heads or carto's , it's simple , I get 350 to 400 coils for what some people spend for just 5 replacements , and the flavor out of a kayfun surpasses any tank , clearo or carto available IMO , I'm sorry but learning how to rebuild is the most cost effective time saving thing you can do period .

 

[Todai]

retic is right, of course. Building takes some figuring out, but it's not hard. Only reason I suggested the Aerotank was because the OP said he/she didn't want to mess with rebuilding.

After a while, I'm willing to be he/she moves in that direction naturally, though.

 

[Jaylah]

.

However, you will have to start building coils and threading wick materials. If you don't like replacing wicks now, then coils aren't going to be your bag.

I don't mind cleaning and dry burning coils that much. I got smart and bought about 30, so I can wait until I have several that need cleaning, and then just do a bunch of them at one time.

But I really just don't have time to start getting into rebuilding coils. I garden (so more than 50% of my "lawn" is given over to flower beds); I do "miniatures" (fancy name for building doll-houses and their furnishings from scratch); I sew; I love to read; although I officially gave up my computer business when I had my stroke, I still have quite a few clients (mostly older folks) that simply refuse to allow anybody else to touch their computers/network. So I really don't have the time to sit around fussing with tiny wire and trying to thread stuff through tiny coils, etc.

I kind of felt like I was getting into more time than I wanted to devote to this just cleaning/dry burning coils.

I just remember how easy smoking was. No need to mess with fiddly stuff. However, I don't want to go back to smoking analogs. Just finding the best combination for the way I vape.

And, to be honest, when my current set-up is working...like when I've been vaping for a couple of minutes ...things seem to work fine. It's more like when things start to go south, it takes several attempts to get things working right again.

But then, as I said, I'm sort of figuring out that when things aren't working well for me is when I haven't been vaping for a while. And I'll probably get "smarter" about this as I go along. I'm still at the point where I have to figure out, is it a case of vaper's tongue? So I have the voltage/wattage set high/low enough for this particular juice? How long have I been using this coil? Is it time for a new/cleaned one? I did, last night, end up removing one of the flavor wicks from a coil. They had so much flavor wick stuffed in there it was no wonder nothing was getting through!

I think I'm going to have to accept that there's just a bit more futzing with vaping that there was smoking. And I'm okay with a certain amount of that. I'll accept that as a fair trade versus spending so much money on analogs and gunking up my lungs. (Far better to gunk up a coil. ) But I would like, eventually, to get this down to the least amount of futzing to accomplish a comfortable vape.

 

[Chelonian]

And for the "priming" question:

YES

There is a way to prime it.

Cover up the airholes on your tank. Since may clearos are bottom vented, wrap your hand around the part that screws into the battery, making sure to cover any holes in the side of the tank base as well.

Give it a good suck, short and sharp. (dang that sounds bad)

Then vape per normal. The first coupla times you may flood it, but you will get the hang of it. If you do flood it, turn it upside down until all of the juice runs to the top, put a paper towel over the air holes, and blow the juice free of the vents. DO NOT DO THIS with the tank right side up. You will blow the juice out of the air holes.

I love to read as well

And from your last post, I would invest $6-$8 and try cartos. I truly think that it will be what you are looking for. If it is, $20 -$30 gets you a good tank, and you are set.

It's as simple as screw on, slip on the tank (or insert carto into tank, then screw on, depending on setup)fill, let sit for a couple of minutes, vape.

 

[yzer]

I hate vaping fuss. I have two Sigelei Zmax telescopic V3s and a V5. Paid less than $150 for all of them. One V3 has been in use for most of the last 14 months and still works fine just like the others. I've been using an IBTanked carto tank for over a year, too. Haven't even changed out the o-rings on it. The rest of my vaping experience is also pretty fuss-free. I change out a carto and clean the tank once a week and top off the IBTanked once a day. I fuss a little... I DIY my juice but but I don't fuss with flavorings and use unflavored.

 

[Bob Chill]

Well that, I think, explains a lot of the problems I've been having. It does seem that if I'm sitting there vaping pretty continuously, things are usually fine. It's when I first fire it up after it being left alone all night, or when I've been doing something else and then come back to vaping, I take a hit and get nothing.

Is there some way of "priming" things?

And I do find that different flavors of e-juice seem to require more or less voltage/wattage. I can always tell if I've got things too high because it tastes burnt.

I'm still not sure of all this ohms versus watts/volts thing. I mean, I just basically turn it up until just before things start to taste burnt. But what I don't understand is why my coils change their ohms all the time. There is a display, of course, on the Itaste, and a coil can show at 2.8 once and then, half an hour later, it's showing at 3.4. Or whatever.

You can try a couple gentle pulls without firing the battery before your first vape. Do you lay your itaste on the side overnight or keep it upright? Keeping it upright can help because with a low tank and battery laying on the side, juice may not be touching the wick.

The beauty of watts is that ohms no longer matter much. A 6 watt vape should be about the same with a 1.8ohm coil or 3.2ohm coil. I don't even think about ohms anymore.

If you don't want to learn to build your own, good advice is to learn to dryburn. You can get much more life out of a head by doing that. It's pretty simple. Pop the top off the coil, remove the little strands of wick to expose the coil, pulse on your battery until the black stuff burns away and the coil glows orange again. Then just replace the little wicks and pop it back together. You can do a bunch in a short period once you get the hang of it. I like to soak mine in grain alcohol after dry burning to get rid of any burnt flavor. However, if a coil tastes bad after dry burning then it's shot. They have a lifespan. Dry burning extends it but they all crap out over time.