Found something in my drawer ...

[Baditude]

I remember getting so fed up with the wicks starting to taste funny after a few tank fills...I was forever changing them and that was what started me off with rebuildables

It was the silica strings that were so bad. Took a while for the manufacturers to figure it out, but cotton is a much better wick material.

The only "good" characteristic about silica is it never burned. Cotton can, but it absorbs e-liquid faster and carries "flavor" better than silica.

 

[SonnyCooL]

those day one bottle of 10 ml can last me a week, now i can finish 60 ml in 5 day.

 

[Skeebo]

those day one bottle of 10 ml can last me a week, now i can finish 60 ml in 5 day.

I use to order 10ml bottles of Bobas Bounty and thought I was living large.... I'd go to the local vape shop and buy two 10ml bottles for $10 and be good for two weeks!

 

[oplholik]

My wife uses these, won't use anything else.

 

[Falconeer]

I not only had it in my "Remember Box" ... I had it in my Emergency Box along with a selection of different coloured spare plastic "glasses" plus one steel in both the small and large size versions accompanied by a couple of dozen spare heads ... and after all three of my good tanks hit the deck and were wiped out over the winter in Spain, I had to break into that stash and use the things!

Once I remembered how to do the "roll" to ensure the wicks were kept wet, actually they gave a not bad vape bearing in mind their coils came in around 2+ something silly ohms.

Mine were Vivi Novas and I have brought one back to try rewicking and rebuilding after I drill the coil hole out to 2mms - ideas I picked up online....

 

[Falconeer]

My wife uses these, won't use anything else.

Go into the vape shop in Fuengirola, Spain, of a Friday and you'll find a queue of Spanish Ladies of all ages buying single coils for these yet - they never went out of style there ... so much so that the folk behind the counter are standing by with their big scissors cutting up packs into singles to deal with the demand!

 

[Falconeer]

It was the silica strings that were so bad. Took a while for the manufacturers to figure it out, but cotton is a much better wick material.

You know, having been forced to revisit silica as a wick this winter and finding it a lot better than I remembered I ordered up three metres of the stuff to experiment with when I got back to the UK.

Heresy I know, but I've wound a 0.9 Ohm coil for one of my squonkers with a wick of 4 x 1mm strands of silica...and it's brilliant.

Next stage is going to be a trial with 3 strands that I have braided together and if that works I'll try ordering Ecowool - I actually like silica for it's neutral taste and fast wicking of juice.

Each to his own I know... but do I worry about getting silicosis? No i started off my working life in a refractory brickworks in the days before Health and Safety Regulations came in - you couldn't see 6' in front of you for dust when the band was running filling the machine hoppers with clay...and somehow I've made it to 68 going on 69 this April!

 

[Jet Knight]

I have one of those somewhere....hoping to make a ecig museum or evolution of ecigs

 

[bombastinator]

It was the silica strings that were so bad. Took a while for the manufacturers to figure it out, but cotton is a much better wick material.

Except silica has come back again. In pod mods. Iirc this type of device was eventually beat out by the kanger EVOD which also had a silica wick but a much much smaller one. The big difference though was the kanger had a replacable coil and the coil was cheap.

 

[bombastinator]

You know, having been forced to revisit silica as a wick this winter and finding it a lot better than I remembered I ordered up three metres of the stuff to experiment with when I got back to the UK.

Heresy I know, but I've wound a 0.9 Ohm coil for one of my squonkers with a wick of 4 x 1mm strands of silica...and it's brilliant.

Next stage is going to be a trial with 3 strands that I have braided together and if that works I'll try ordering Ecowool - I actually like silica for it's neutral taste and fast wicking of juice.

Each to his own I know... but do I worry about getting silicosis? No i started off my working life in a refractory brickworks in the days before Health and Safety Regulations came in - you couldn't see 6' in front of you for dust when the band was running filling the machine hoppers with clay...and somehow I've made it to 68 going on 69 this April!

My memory is the big advantage of silica is you can dry burn it. The big disadvantages are:
1. the fibers are both smoother and much larger so there’s a lot less total surface area for capillary action to act on.
2. Possible silicosis issues. This one may have turned out to be crap. Not sure.

UPDATE: remembered another thing: the high heat resistance is a double edged sword. Because it will take high heat you can vape easily at temps high enough to cause (again maybe crap maybe not) issues with juices. Cotton, like all cellulose starts to burn at 451f so it’s sort of a built in fuse for high heat.

 

[Shawn Hoefer]

Ego batteries? They used to be everywhere. I suggest getting one of the ones with its own internal MicroUSB2 connection for most pod like behavior, if they’re still made. There were issues with the ego charging setup. I spent a minute or two perusing FT, and had trouble finding the ones with the MicroUSB2 port in the bottom. It’s possible they’re no longer made.

The issue with the ego battery/ charger system is that there unmarked incompatibilities between various chargers and various batteries. You need to make sure your charger and your battery are actually “made for each other “

That said there seems to be tons of them at various prices.

They're still made and my local B&M still stocks 'em. They've become all the rage since many companies are selling little CBD cartridge tanks.

 

[Skeebo]

I not only had it in my "Remember Box" ... I had it in my Emergency Box along with a selection of different coloured spare plastic "glasses" plus one steel in both the small and large size versions accompanied by a couple of dozen spare heads ... and after all three of my good tanks hit the deck and were wiped out over the winter in Spain, I had to break into that stash and use the things!

Once I remembered how to do the "roll" to ensure the wicks were kept wet, actually they gave a not bad vape bearing in mind their coils came in around 2+ something silly ohms.

Mine were Vivi Novas and I have brought one back to try rewicking and rebuilding after I drill the coil hole out to 2mms - ideas I picked up online....

I loved Vivi Novas.... before the first Nautilus came out the Vivi Novas were all I used.

 

[CasketWeaver]

Nooooooo... those things... HORRENDOUS! Protank Mini-2 was awesome.

 

[gpjoe]

I have one of these, can't bring myself to toss it.

 

[jwbnyc]

iCear 30 & 30S were pretty good for that type of clearo.

Still available as far as I know.

Got a 30S and 30B here wherever the 16 is.

 

[Falconeer]

I learned a lot on my first time round on this board - particularly about having back ups for your back ups!

The old Vivi Novas that I'd laid in a stock of when they were being discontinued and sold off cheap, and took to Spain for Emergency use turned out to be life savers during my last few weeks there after the last Triton Mini hit the deck.

As well as the complete Vivis I'd stashed heads, plastic replacements for the tanks and this metal one which I used as it was more bombproof and floor resistant. It has no sight glass in the sides and you do have to take the top off from time to time to see how much juice is left, but as the thing is larger that a Euro TPD size it ran for more than a day with me.

I'd forgotten one thing though ... never ever turn it upside down when you want to unscrew the base UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY KNOW that it is empty - I rediscovered this back home when I was taking it apart with a view to modifying the head and got the bulk of the tank contents on my lap as the juice poured out of the drip tip!

Here's a couple of pix to take you down Memory Lane!

 

[stols001]

And then Rayon came on the scene....

I still want to try hemp but that is just because I'm a loser. Eco wool the idea is tempting LOL. Also I have a super short piece of ceramic wick I have not yet tried.

Sally's has just never let me down yet!

Anna

 

[Belhade]

I think I tried giving those to my brother, and my wife, they never used it. I never used those types either, I was only ever into the EVODs.

 

[DavidOck]

The CE4/5 line got me off cigs, but shortly after I switched to Evods and T3S (higher capacity ), preferring the bottom coil. So never umped on the Vivi Nova train. Other things being equal, bottom coils run a tad cooler vape, or the same temp vape at a higher power, since the coil is further from the tip.

 

[CasketWeaver]

I had one of those. I found it to leak and the flavor to be horrendous. Like... who the hell puts an air hole on the bottom of something that holds liquids? Yeah even the Protank 2 Mini had similar issues. So, when push came to shove, I dumped both my silica wicked tank and my Protank 2 Mini and got an Aerotank which then upgraded to a Genesis and a Kayfun Lite+. I had my eGos and my VV eGos. Thank God I found ProVape and Svoe Mesto... That's all I'm saying about that. LOL!