Direct-dripping. The Ten Commandments.

[revolver]

This is a list of items which are to be taken into account as to make sure you are on the right track when direct-dripping. They are the result of the very many difficulties I have encountered within the natural learning curve to the dripping process and the experience I have gained in return. It may come in handy...
1. Do not drip an have a shorter session than that you have dripped for; meaning: if your drip is good for, say, six puffs, do not put your PV aside after your second drag. If you do so, liquid will drain and result in clogging.
2. Do not drip more than 2 'small' drops at a time. I know this may sound 'controversial' but, unless you are sure the exact amount of drops your atty will take and you can 'feel' that, do not over drip. Two drops will be OK in most cases and you will be good to go for around 4 average puffs. Even though there is a huge number of factors (such as size of drops; consistency of liquid; type and brand of atty; wattage, etc.) in the equation as to determine the amount you can drip, 'two' drops shall never be less than you need (they will at least provide you with a couple of puffs), and better be safe than sorry; avoiding flooding until you are 100 % sure how much your atty will take. Atties are likely to take around 4 'average' drops at a time but after a while, and depending on the intensity of your vaping rythm, that amount will result in 'a lot', so even three drops may be more than enough after the preliminary sessions. The bottom line is: with two drops you will be good to go; always! With more than that you may mess up. Of course that 901 and 510 will take less liquid, for the most part, than a 801, for instance, but then again, not every 801 or BE112 or similar will; the brand and model will not always determine that there is to be consistency in the manufacturing process to the very atty, so, the atomizer's 'personality' will vary from atty to atty. I have noticed that for the most part, in most cases, flooding or the lack of capacity of an atty to keep liquid will be due to how 'runny' or thick the liquid is and because of the placement of the heating element with regards to the center hole. In this latter case, it is possible to fix this but is risky and only possible at first with a debridged unit. And most atties lately have been coming 'displaced'. Ohhhh! And of course: debridged atties will only take one drop.
3. Try to hold your PV in a horizontal position when vaping as to avoid the possibility of draining.
4. Give your atty some minutes to cool both between drags and dripping sessions.
5. Remember that the difference between a dry and a flooded atty is ambiguous, so consider that in general, if you are in doubt it is certainly flooded. If its dry you will know... The thing is that certain signs which may 'sound' like your atty has a 'dry throat' are actually typical of flodding, such as 'rasping' drag; lack of vapor. Whereas, a lot of vapor, and no flavour whatsoever may very well indicate the need for some drops.
6. Last but not least: Remember that the quality of the drags you will get will not always be as those 'dream pulls' you get at the beginning due to minor natural gunking up. I do mention this as a reminder not to over drip in the search for those perfect drags which will only occur if the atty is completly perfectly-primed-broken-in-and-working for a few puffs. At least with most atties, the 'perfection' of puffs shall decrease and become 'average' eventually; after the first drippig sessions. Nevertheless, I would like some experts to confirm this...
So, summarizing, and adding some new golden rules, the drippers' commandments are:
1. Do not leave your drips unnattended;
2. Do not drip more than two ('smallish') drops (one if debridged...) unless you do know your limit;
3. Do not hold your unit in a vertical position when vaping;
4. Do not 'rush' when dripping and vaping;
5. When in doubt, it is not to be dry...
6. Do not aim at that perfect 'first drag' and be content with an average quality one;
7. Do not keep your atty too dry, by re-dripping at first sign of substantial loss of taste/vapor;
8. Give your atty a regular blow job; it will appreciate it!
9. Do not drip and drive.
10. Do never use cartos or carts! The Dripping Gods shall go mad..... Trust me, been there...!

 

[Skyway]

Very good post. I will inject something though since these are my findings. I use SLB LR 801's and I am not positive on how they differ in certain aspects compared to other 801's but the mesh that surrounds the ceramics for the heating element is rather large. For this I created a blog and I make mention of it in my sig. My 801's can in some ways be a small container for eJuice inadvertently. In my case if I do not know how long I will be vaping I just hold mine upright & vape normally. Whatever juice is left inside will end up going into the threads and can be used at a later time, kind of like a miniature carto. I just tip my pv at a downward angle at a later session to bring that juice back up to the heating element. I explain it further in my blog and if anyone needs further info here just say so.

 

[fallon74]

Very informative thank you!

 

[revolver]

Up-date in connection with most doubts and difficulties of beginners:
Dripping is a no-brainer; basically, there is nothing to it; quite easy. But, then again; it is an 'art'. And it does take some time to go through its natural-learning curve. And especially with the latest series of atties with a terrible bad-quality to their manufacturing process, no matter what. So, my piece of advise, for newbies, for the most part, would be NOT to take anything for granted because of the multiple factors to the equation when it comes to determine what they are doing wrong - for it will be very missleading.
The behaviour to many of the latest atties is that of getting easily clogged too fast too soon. This guide will help you to make the most out of your dripping experience until you get the 'feel' to it; hopefully it will simplify and ease you natural learning process which can get very frustrating at times.
Remember that clogging does occur because it is a natural building up process and it cannot be fully avoided, but the rules here will minimize the effects of 'early clogging'. Also bear in mind that even the best of the average draws will not be as good as the initial ones and sometimes the pull tension required will increase. The other reason for 'early' clogging is to be found in a diplacement of the coil from the center hole which ends up translating a higher factor which combined with other results in an air-channel obstruction.
De-bridging is not necessary though de-wicking might help, in many aspects (for the most part: You could fix the displacement from here plus the atty will become more 'intuitive' to use...) but is risky and you will end up with a one-droppie-at-a-time only atty.
All the aspects, such as heat, flavour, even tightness of pull, will indicate you the right dripping rythm. But you will have to learn this on the go. And trust me, it sucks....heee!

PS: If using a drip-tip: Beware that if not modded, the drops are very likely to stay down the tube forming a bubble. So, you should blow them down but very gently, as this may flood your atty. Or you can always drip down one side of the drip-tip wall letting liquid flow gently on the surface rather than dripping. And another tip would be that the harder you pull when puffing, the more liquid from the mesh/wick will be 'moved' maybe dropping altogether into the ceramic-cup which may result in flooding, so this is another good reason not too drip too much at a time. Oh! And back to the drip tip: It does affect the vapor production and the dripping experience so learn how your atty behaves with it.

PS bis: DISCLAIMER: This thread is for Drippers only. It is not meant to foster dripping in any way, but to guide people willing to it. Many mods mentioned here, such as de-bridging/wicking are not directly recommended for there is a great risk of destroying your equipment while doing so; so if you do it, it shall be at your own risk. Bear in mind that dripping with a non-sealed battery (automatic ones; most manuals are sealed but check, just in case!) will ruin it.

 

[Jackinkc]

Get a Super T Drip tip. I never get bubbles in my tip with this thing. It works perfect everytime.

 

[Java_Az]

Forgive me Drip Gods But I am a Sinner. I break at least 7 commandments every day. Some days 8 of them. Whoops sorry is this a confessional thread too.I should have asked but I need me some redemption

 

[my2heartboys]

I know I am relatively new at this, but one experience I have had....trying to drip into an atty with an automatic battery. Do not do this, if you accidentally flood the atty, you will fry your battery. Found this one out the hard way and ruined a good pv.

Anne

 

[N2rock]

Newb Alert

De-bridging??? Say what???

De-wicking??? Say what???

I'm about to totally give up on dripping. I really preferred it UNTIL I bought a box of LR cartos. Ever since then, the dripping has been disappointing. I even bought a couple LR attys hoping they would keep me dripping. But last night, after a couple disappointing rounds of dripping, I went down the road of cleaning the attys. I was still completely disappointed. So I just filled up another carto and sat contently vaping the carto.

 

[revolver]

Forgive me Drip Gods But I am a Sinner. I break at least 7 commandments every day. Some days 8 of them. Whoops sorry is this a confessional thread too.I should have asked but I need me some redemption

(LOL)
This is not meant to be a funny thread, by any means. Please be serious... Here we praise... lets just say that The Dripping Gods are not to be offended. Period.

 

[revolver]

Get a Super T Drip tip. I never get bubbles in my tip with this thing. It works perfect everytime.

Yep, some tips work better than others... You can always mod them by making a wider pyramid-like opening down the bottom to avoid any bubbling...!

 

[revolver]

I know I am relatively new at this, but one experience I have had....trying to drip into an atty with an automatic battery. Do not do this, if you accidentally flood the atty, you will fry your battery. Found this one out the hard way and ruined a good pv.

Anne

Yep, I have edited the up-date to the first post of this thread by including a disclaimer, because any experienced dripper takes this for granted but begginers do not know...
On a personal note: Sometimes, it is possible to drip with an auto-batt, but requires a special technique. Then again, it is very dangerous and as to develop it you may very well destroy many batts.

 

[revolver]

Newb Alert

De-bridging??? Say what???

De-wicking??? Say what???

I'm about to totally give up on dripping. I really preferred it UNTIL I bought a box of LR cartos. Ever since then, the dripping has been disappointing. I even bought a couple LR attys hoping they would keep me dripping. But last night, after a couple disappointing rounds of dripping, I went down the road of cleaning the attys. I was still completely disappointed. So I just filled up another carto and sat contently vaping the carto.

Dripping is not for every one. If cartos work for you that is ok. Some people prefer them better.
In my opinion cartos, when working properly (right carto, right batt, etc) can provide a very satisfying experience, and maybe a closer 'feel' to analogs. Atomizers are more 'vaping' like.

 

[tabithad]

humm... I have only been dripping/vaping for 5 days now. I love dripping. One thing I have stopped doing over the last few days was holding my PV horizontal though, I have been leaving it pointing down when vaping.... this is a no no ?
I think I started doing that because I occasionally got some juice in my mouth, so I thought I was keeping it from doing that ??

 

[Girl4givn]

K. This was very helpful. But, I thought I had dripping down after 2 weeks. But now I'm so confused!!!!! Now you have to answer more questions....

I'm with Tabitha. I thought we were supposed to keep the thing pointed down?

Secondly, I'm trying to understand why over-dripping to the point you hear bubbling would be bad. I believe you if you say it, but I'm not sure I understand why.

I have a Volcano inferno. I'm not sure if I have a 510, 901, 444, 981, or 200,401. I have been blowing mine out (Commandment #8) with the air compressor about every 3 days and do get dark fluid out of it. Then I do the whole twisted paper towel thing gently around the atomizer. Tried soaking it in coke once - didn't seem to make much difference so I haven't gone there again.

Why would someone "mod" their PV? This is a real, honest to goodness question. Do they work better?

I would absolutely LOVE to take one of my atomizers apart to see the anatomy, but I only have two at this point. Does anyone out there know where I can find a diagram of one?

 

[Girl4givn]

Yep, I have edited the up-date to the first post of this thread by including a disclaimer, because any experienced dripper takes this for granted but begginers do not know...
On a personal note: Sometimes, it is possible to drip with an auto-batt, but requires a special technique. Then again, it is very dangerous and as to develop it you may very well destroy many batts.

I'm not familiar with the "auto" battery. Is that the kind that just comes on when you drag off of it automatically? Mine has a push button - assume that is not auto?

 

[Hogie]

I do like the taste when dripping and I am getting better. It is less often that I end up with juice leaking out the bottom and on my hands.

I had heard that 306 attys were good so I bought a couple for dripping.......I have only used one of them but i must say I am not impressed. Very little vapor no matter how many drops I add. And the drip tip I got for it fits SO tight that I do not fully seat it otherwise it is almost impossible to get off! Also, I find that it is really hard to get the drops to go down the drip tip. I have stopped using in altogether and await my Provari to see if more volts will make it come to life. I do like dripping! I use a 510 now and it works GREAT!

 

[malyden]

I'm not familiar with the "auto" battery. Is that the kind that just comes on when you drag off of it automatically? Mine has a push button - assume that is not auto?

Yes one with a button is a manual battery. I have found that with most 510s you need to hold it at a slightly downward angle.
I also like to drip using cartomizers as I like long vaping sessions.
Good advice and best of luck to all!

 

[Wench]

Forgive me , I had to go here because op reminded me of this lol

And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Drip Tip. Then, shalt thou count to two. No more. No less. Two shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the dripping shall be two. Four shalt thou not drip, neither drip thou one, excepting that thou then proceed to two. Five is right out. Once at the number two, being the second number to be reached, then, vape thou thy Holy PV of Antioch towards thy mouth, who, being naughty in My sight, shall vape it."

 

[Girl4givn]

Forgive me , I had to go here because op reminded me of this lol

And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Drip Tip. Then, shalt thou count to two. No more. No less. Two shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the dripping shall be two. Four shalt thou not drip, neither drip thou one, excepting that thou then proceed to two. Five is right out. Once at the number two, being the second number to be reached, then, vape thou thy Holy PV of Antioch towards thy mouth, who, being naughty in My sight, shall vape it."

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That is toooooo funny!!

 

[my2heartboys]

You are right about what an "auto" battery is and yes, yours is a manual battery.

Anne

I'm not familiar with the "auto" battery. Is that the kind that just comes on when you drag off of it automatically? Mine has a push button - assume that is not auto?