Got some new gear, now have some questions....

[subliminalurge]

Hey all, received my order from Hoosier yesterday after waiting what seemed like an eternity for somebody out there to get the KGO kits back in stock. So now after using the new gear for a day I have a few questions.

KGO kit: Awesome. Couldn't be happier. Glad I decided to wait for it to be in stock rather than settle for something else that I could have gotten sooner.

Atomizers + cartridges: (these come with the kit) Are these a joke? They work great, and give a good vape with lots of flavor, but I can only get like 3 drops of juice into one, which means I'm refilling them almost as often as if I'm just dripping. Plus they leak like crazy when you set them down on their side. Sticky mess.

Smok 1.7 ohm XL cartos: Awesome. Great vape, lots of flavor. But is Smok's quality control really that bad? I would like to make these a primary part of my setup, but that'll get expensive if 3 working cartos out of a 5 pack is typical. Hopefully just a bad batch.

Smok Dual Coil Tank: Yikes. I wanted to like this SO damn bad, but the 1.5 ohm dual coil carto produces a cool, unsatisfying vape with zero throat hit and no discernable flavor. Now, I know they make a selection of cartos for this tank, and I'll probably try at least one or two more, but I fear it may be wasted effort because of problem number 2. So far I've had to refill the carto 3 times the regular way and as far as I can tell it hasn't drawn even a single drop of juice from the tank. I've tried every suggestion I could find by searching this forum, and a few ideas of my own, and so far the only thing that worked even a little was to take some dry draws on the carto. Unfortunately, I had to do it hard enough to make me light headed in order to be rewarded with two tiny little bubbles being added to the airspace in the tank. This item is my main source of questions, because I know some people really like it, so I'm left to wonder what the heck I'm doing wrong with it?

Drip tips: They fit. What else do you need from a drip tip?

Smok 1.7 ohm brideless atomizer: Awesom. Great flavor, great throat hit, very glad I threw it in my shopping cart. But do people really do this as their primary method of vaping? Yikes, that's just too much work for an activity that is primarily supposed to be relaxing.

And that pretty much covers my first purchase of non-gas-station vaping gear.

Anyway, I'm very happy overall with the purchase as the KGO will be worth the money spent just for battery life alone. And the items that I was less than thrilled with weren't terribly expensive, so nothing to cry about even if I can't make them work the way I hoped.

I'm also a bit disappointed as only the Smok 1.7 cartos on the KGO give a more satisfying vape than the gas station e-cigs I've been using up 'til now, and those cartos, if my package was an indicator, seem to be hit or miss as to whether they'll even work fresh out of the box. Now, the cheapies had horrible battery life, and it was a constant hassle to make sure I'd have at least one usable battery on hand at any given time, so just eliminating that hassle is great. But the "better vape" that I was hoping for is apparently more elusive than I thought.

Anyway, just thought I'd toss out a quick first impression of these items and hopefully get some feedback on how to make the most of them. Especially the tank. I REALLY want to get that thing working.

 

[dearme]

Glad you like the Kgo. It's a good mod.

Attys and carts.....yes, carts are a joke, that's why everybody recommends cartos, but the atty will be great for testing juices before filling a carto.

Smoketek......yes, I have heard quality control issues. I always stick to single coil Boge 2.0 on a 3.7 PV, and a single coil Boge 3.0 carto in a carto tank on the Provari.

Dual Coils.....Now I can only repeat what people say because I am electrically challenged so this might not be quite right.....but I think I read that 1.5 dual coils is really vaping at 3.0.......I admit I don't understand dual coils. I stick with Boge single coils on everything.

Drip tips.......Some just prefer different shapes. I like the plastic/acrylic ones as the aluminum/metal tend to get hot. Drip Tips are much more convenient on a carto when you are checking if it's wet enough....no paperclip needed.....LOL

Bridgeless attys......supposed to be better for dripping.......Couldn't prove it by me. Unless you have a bottom feeder to keep the atty wet, dripping is more trouble than it's worth IMO........

I'm not being a whole lot of help, I know......sorry

Electrically inclined people will be by shortly.......LOL

 

[dotma]

Have you tried the resurrectors, clearomizers or fluxomizers? Me likey lol

 

[subliminalurge]

Glad you like the Kgo. It's a good mod.

Attys and carts.....yes, carts are a joke, that's why everybody recommends cartos, but the atty will be great for testing juices before filling a carto.

Good to know. I really though I was missing something obvious with the tiny amount of juice I was able to get into these.

Smoketek......yes, I have heard quality control issues. I always stick to single coil Boge 2.0 on a 3.7 PV, and a single coil Boge 3.0 carto in a carto tank on the Provari.

Well, that sucks, because the ones that work are awesome. I'll try some Boges with my next order.

Dual Coils.....Now I can only repeat what people say because I am electrically challenged so this might not be quite right.....but I think I read that 1.5 dual coils is really vaping at 3.0.......I admit I don't understand dual coils. I stick with Boge single coils on everything.

Correct. The battery will see a 1.5 ohm load, but each coil will be running at 3 ohms. This explains the cooler vape, but given the rave reviews these things get I was expecting much better. There's so little throat hit and so little flavor that I would seriously think my battery was dead if not for the huge cloud of vapor being visible.

 

[subliminalurge]

Have you tried the resurrectors, clearomizers or fluxomizers? Me likey lol

The Resurrectors are Smok 1.7 XL cartos. Exactly what I bought, but without the rebranding.

 

[dearme]

CEs have a lot of leaking problems and require fiddling with straight out of the box to work right......I tried CEs once a long time ago. No leaking, but they burned my juice. I mostly vape light fruit flavors.

 

[mynameisrob]

So two of the 1.7ohm XL cartos were bad? What was wrong with them, DOA? Burnt taste?
The Smoktech 1.7ohm cartos(Ressurectors) are the only cartos I use on my Epower and I find them to be very consistant. I've bought over 20 5-packs of the Ressurectors and out of 100 cartos I've never had one DOA. I have had 2 cartos that didn't work great, they fired fine and did work, they just for some reason didn't wick like they normally do, but all cartos have occasional duds and only 2 out of 100 is pretty darn good.

I use the Smoktech 3.5ml tank daily on my Epower and absolutely love it. I took out the dual coil carto that comes with it though and didnt even use it. Personally I think dual coils suck at lower voltages, especially on something like a 3.3-3.4V eGo. Their alittle better on 3.7V PVs like a kGo or Epower, but their still nothing special at all. Dual coils are really only good when used in the 4-5V range. A 1.5ohm dual coil is 2 3.0ohm coils, so it's not going to give a warm vape. I prefer a warmer vape, and it seems like you possibly do as well, so that's why I don't use dual coils, and I recommend you do the same. That's why I didn't even use the carto that came with the tank bc I knew the results would be just like how you explained it. Hoosier and CCv both sell the Smoktech 1.7ohm XL cartos prepunched for the Smoktech tanks and they have the metal base on them like the DC that comes with the tank. The Reasurwctors are the only carto I use in the tank and they work a LOT better than the dual coil. I recommend getting some of them.
As far as the tank feeding juice to the carto, what is the PG/VG ratio of the juice your using?
The pre-punched hole is very small and unless the juice is mostly PG, it's not going to feed well at all. I use an 80/20 coffee juice and found that that's the only juice that will feed well into the tiny pre-punched hole. Anything with more VG isn't going to be great. I have another 3.5ml tank and I use Bobas bounty in it which is 100%VG and very thick. I knew that Bobas would never feed into the tiny pre-punched hole so I didnt even try. To make it work, I put the carto in a vice and then using a finishing nail and a hammer, made the hole about the diameter of a finishing nail, which is about 3x the size of the pre-punched hole. I also then punched another hole the same size on the other side. With 2 holes to feed he juice instead of one, and the holes alot bigger, the tank feeds Bobas into the carto perfectly. So depending on the ratio of the juice your using, your prob going to need to make the hole bigger, and if it's a juice that's mostly VG, you might even have to make 2 holes.
Start small though bc if you make the hole to big if will just flood the carto and then you need to start with a new one. With all tanks you need to periodically take short hard draws without pushing the button to ensure the carto is being fed enough juice. Make the hole alittle bigger and then try it, if your not getting air bubbles when you take short hard draws, you need to make the hole alittle bigger and try again until you get it right. Once you get it right the first time though then its easy bc you'll know how big you need to make the hole for that juice Everytime you put in a new carto.
Get some prepunched Reasurectors and try what I said and I think you'll have MUCH better results and then that's when you'll really like the tank

 

[mynameisrob]

The Ressurectors arnt rebranded, that's just a nickname CCV gave them, but their still the exact same Smoktech 1.7ohm XL cartos.
Boges have occasional quality control issues too. Actually for the last 3-4 months Boge was having worse quality control issues and people were getting more DOAs with Boges than he Smoktech cartos, the Boges seem to have fixed it though.
Oh and Boges will not fit into that tank if you were thinking of trying them. You'll either need to get a different tank, or cut the Smoktech tank down. Only XL cartos will fit in the Smoktech tanks.

As for drip tips, I recommend trying the Big-belly drip tips. Hoosier and CCV both sell them as do other vendors. They look. Ice and come in a variety of colors. I use them bc they are perfect for tanks. The base of them has a slightly bigger diameter than the carto so when you have one on a tank, the tank can't slide up bc the Big-belly drip tip stops it. I also like them bc they fit really snug so they won't fall off or wiggle.
If you use a carto with the metal base and then a bib-belly drip tip on top, the Smoktech tank can't slide up or down and you can carry them in your pocket and not have to worry that the carto will get pushed too far up or down and leak everywhere

 

[subliminalurge]

So two of the 1.7ohm XL cartos were bad? What was wrong with them, DOA? Burnt taste?

Yep, DOA.

I sat down to fill all 5. Second one out of the box I filled with my second favorite juice. Hard to get stuff and it used most of my last little bit to fill it. Screwed it on the battery and as soon as I hit the button there was a loud "pop" and the carto was dead. The other one at least I was using some "throwaway" juice on it. This one I got one good hit from, then on the second hit it did the same thing, a loud pop and no vapor. The other 3 are performing great.

Honestly, the wasted juice is the really frustrating part here given that you have to fill the carto before you even know it it's going to work. I managed to recover some, but only (I'd guess) about 25% of it would come back out with my best efforts.

Thanks for the tips on the tank. Definitely going to try some LR single coils in it. Might try enlarging the hole, as well, although according to your post I shouldn't need to with the 80/20 juice I'm using. I always order the lowest VG a vendor sells after trying some high (85%) VG juice that would plug up my cartos after two hits.... This particular juice is also 35mg nicotine, which I'm told also thins it out a bit.

Next time I place an order I'll make sure to get some 100% PG juice to try out even if it's not my first choice in flavor....

Since my original post I've also diluted the juice by adding some water to the tank. I didn't measure, just filled up most of the remaining air space. The color lightened considerably, and a shake tells me that the juice is pretty darn thin now. Still not feeding.

Might give one of the big belly drip tips a try, just need to find one without the ugly swirly pattern. Just not my thing. Plus I need to get the tank working at all before I worry about making it pocketable.

 

[dearme]

100% PG might be too hard on your throat and also 100% might leak. Might want to have a little VG from the pharmacy or Walmart on hand in case you need to add a little. 80/20 works fine in cartos and carto tanks.

 

[subliminalurge]

100% PG might be too hard on your throat and also 100% might leak. Might want to have a little VG from the pharmacy or Walmart on hand in case you need to add a little. 80/20 works fine in cartos and carto tanks.

Nah, I'm perfectly fine with 100% PG, in fact I prefer it. It's just that some flavors I like aren't available without at least a little VG in them.

As far as it being too hard on my throat, I'm one of those guys who would occasionally break the filter off of my Marlboros because they just weren't doing the job with it on. What some would describe as "hard on the throat" is something thing I'm actively seeking in my attempts to find a satisfying replacement for the analogs.

 

[CraigHB]

Definitely don't vape straight PG, it doesn't make good vapor no matter how much power you use (lower resistance or higher voltage). Though, it's good for stealth vaping (vaping unnoticed) and I sometimes use it for that.

If you want to add VG to your juice, these guys have great prices on VG and PG. It's top quality USP approved.

 

[subliminalurge]

Hmm... I've never had a problem with straight PG not producing good vapor. It doesn't produce a very "visible" vapor, but I couldn't care less about that. It does however give great throat hit and flavor, which are the things that do matter to me.

And I don't know if this is true or not, but my perception has been that it delivers the nicotine better. But that perception could just be due to the overall greater satisfaction from the throat hit and flavor.

 

[dearme]

Whatever works for you is perfect for me......LOL......I never smoked non filter analogs so I could be a whimp......

 

[CraigHB]

Hmm... I've never had a problem with straight PG not producing good vapor. It doesn't produce a very "visible" vapor, but I couldn't care less about that. It does however give great throat hit and flavor, which are the things that do matter to me.

Yea, that's true. I do vape straight PG juice on occasion, but the visible vapor is part of the vaping experience for me. I miss it when I dont' have it.

 

[mynameisrob]

Hm I was going to tell you to try pulling the pin down slightly bc sometimes people think they have a DOA carto when really its just the pin is up too far and not making a connection, and once you pull it down slightly it works fine, but if you got a popping noise, that's the coil popping and breaking, which means the carto is dead.
Using a digital multimeter is how you can catch cartos that are DOA. I test all my cartos before I fill one with juice. If it shows A resistance, then you know it's not DOA. As for a carto popping in the first few hits, there's nothing you can really do for that bc, it will show up fine on a multimeter so there's no way of knowing its going to pop right when you start using it.
I think you might have just gotten really unlucky, bc I've never had one pop at all like that, maybe the coil wasn't soldered on right or something.
The only other thing I can think of that maybe could have caused it would be he voltage.
Technically the ressurectors were designed to be used at 3.7V. You can use them at a lower voltage, like on an eGo, and they will work, they just don't run a full potential. You can also prob use them at a slightly higher voltage, but higher is def risky. At the highest you can prob get away with like 4.2V but much higher and you really risk popping the coil.
Were you using a freshly charged battery when they popped?
Bc the kGo does come off the charger at around 4.2V and then drops to around 3.7V. I wonder if that slightly higher voltage is what caused the coil to pop? I think it's def unlikely bc I know quite a few people that use kGos and the Ressurectors and have never had a problem like that, but I guess it is possible. Maybe since it was a brand new carto, it couldn't handle the slightly higher resistance? Once the carto breaks in it should be able to handle the slightly higher resistance of a kGo right off the charger, but maybe when your using a new one for the first time, try using a battery that has had an hour or 2 of use already bc then it will be closer to 3.7V.
I ha e no idea if that would actually help or of that could be what caused it, im just taking a guess

 

[subliminalurge]

Yeah, I didn't test these with my multimeter, but I definitely will be from now on. Stupid oversight on my part since I have one sitting right here on my desk where I was doing the filling. Duh.... (But like you said, it wouldn't have caught these. Definitely a good precaution, though.)

The battery was roughly at whatever charge it came out of the box at + 20 minutes on the charger. Charger light was still red when I started using it. I did do the full recommended first charging procedure on the other battery, but being the impatient sort there was no chance I was going to do it on both. It lasted me roughly 9 hours of moderate use before I went to bed, so I'd say it was "near" full, but not full enough to turn the light on the charger green. I know that's not real scientific, but again I didn't make use of the multimeter that I had sitting in arms reach....

Like I was saying, the really frustrating part is the wasted juice. Juice is the cornerstone of this whole thing. If all of my hardware died at once, I could run to the gas station and get an el-cheapo e-cig that would get me by for a few days while I ordered new hardware. But the juices I like have to be ordered, and most of my favorites come from vendors who are slow on their shipping. So when I'm starting to run low on juice as I am right now, and 2 paychecks away from restocking (it's rent week), I hate seeing even a drop of the stuff go to waste.

 

[VapingRulz]

If you really want to salvage your e-liquid you can use a pipette like the ones they use for DIY and suction it out, then put it into a new carto. I do this with the excess liquid that collects in the condoms. It doesn't take long to get enough to fill a carto. Waste not, want not!

 

[subliminalurge]

If you really want to salvage your e-liquid you can use a pipette like the ones they use for DIY and suction it out, then put it into a new carto. I do this with the excess liquid that collects in the condoms. It doesn't take long to get enough to fill a carto. Waste not, want not!

Does the pipette actually get the juice that's absorbed into the stuffing?

It's been a while since I used one, but I have a hard time envisioning one getting more juice out than the spin I gave that thing.

 

[CraigHB]

I started doing that some time ago (testing cartos before filling them). I don't get duds that often, but it happens enough to be annoying. I DIY my juice on the cheap so it's not a matter of money, but more the hassle of running out sooner and having to mix up more. I tried spinning out the juice a couple times, but couldn't get it all and I don't think it's worth the trouble. If you're paying top dollar for pre-mix, it might be.

I don't have to worry about running out of juice. I have at least a year's worth of ingredients in the refrigerator and I keep it that way. You can find quaility US made ingredients amazingly cheap when you buy in larger quantities, Essential Depot is my source of PG and VG. Wizard Labs is my source for nic base. It's actually the flavor concentrates that account for the bulk of my juice cost. Working on finding cheaper sources for that part of it.