Guess what, I'm not crazy.

[GoodNews!]

Well, what's confusing to me is that both on this Cisco and in juice bar CE4's, I haven't gotten the insulation-like taste, even though both use silica. And with half the devices I've reviewed, it's definately been more than a insulation-like taste, many of them have tasted downright burned or tasted as though the wick was totally dry, even if it wasn't and had been soaking all night.

I just now had a bit of an experience dip with the Cisco though. When I first was using it, it wasn't leaking, and the taste was really, really, really pure. Not one negative. After about 10 minutes of vaping with it, it did start to leak like crazy (even when it was dry and I'd just add the smallest drop of liquid I could), but the flavor didn't change. About 20 minutes after that though, the flavor has taken a small dip. It's not really much of a contaminated taste (maybe ever so slightly wicky if I concentrate) but just a bit of a dip that's not really as pleasureable. And I can't get any drop I put in it to stop flowing through the holes like it's nothing.

I have blown on it a couple times to get the excess juice out, and my battery knocked over on the table once with it on. I wouldn't really think much could harm this little thing, but maybe something got slightly dislodged? I'm not saying it suddenly just went awful, but the leaking is kind of concerning me - again, when this thing gets dry, I'm only adding a drop - and the dip in flavor so soon is a bit confusing. It really could be that I've used 4 different juices in this now but eh... while the thing wasn't leaking as bad, it really caused all the juices to pretty much instantly shine through no matter what I put in it.

That Captain Ron was doing so well too. That had been one juice that I have been dying to vape every since I got it months ago. I dripped it, and for a number of hits, it was so pure and the fruity notes were just downright great. It tasted so natural, just really good. After that, the flavor has dipped quite a bit. Kind of a stale taste, maybe.

Ugh. Just more frustration. Maybe I just ran it a little too dry, or a coil shifted out of place, or there's just too much juice clogged up on the legs. I guess I'll let the thing sit and dry for a bit, or soak it in distilled if it doesn't get better - the water usually revamps things quite a bit for me. The Cisco has gotten quite hot here in the last few minutes (guilty of chain vaping it lol....) so hopefully, I didn't start to ruin it.

 

[wonner]

Well, what's confusing to me is that both on this Cisco and in juice bar CE4's, I haven't gotten the insulation-like taste, even though both use silica....

Which Cisco are you using? I must have misunderstood, or assumed.

I though you were using a HH.357.

 

[Myrany]

Dripping on a standard atty like that leaks happen. It is part of the territory. Seriously look into picking up a drip shield to contain the mess. The leaking is one of the reasons I moved away from regular dripping attys into rebuildables like the IGO-L and bottom feeders like the REO.

I never did find that happy place of the right amount of drops AND no leaking.

I have ZERO experience with a Cisco dripper specifically. I do know there are 510 bridgeless dripping attys that have no silica wick at all. That might be a solution for you.

As for silica wick. I have had atty heads that were wrapped to tightly which choked the juice flow to the coil. They looked wet but at the business end the coil itself prevent juice from getting there. In knockoff (as opposed to brand name heads) this is a pretty common thing. I have 15 EVOD heads from fasttech to prove it. I had to rebuild ever blasted one of them.

Like I said earlier you might just be hyper sensitive to silica given your past experiences.

 

[GoodNews!]

Oh, sorry if I didn't say properly about the leaking - I do have a drip guard, it's just that in correlation to the leaking, I have gotten a little bit of a diminish taste in the Cisco, it's gotten me a little annoyed at the experience because the vapor I was getting from probably the first 30 drags on this atomizer was bliss. Downright bliss. I didn't even realize how blissful it was until I put in the stronger juice like the Captain Ron. Bliss. Then it went downhill a little. Not a bad flavor, it's just, it's almost not even there. Very muted. Possibly an a slight wicky taste on the slow exhales.

And the Cisco is the HR3.5, I think it is the HH.357 but the atomizer is just labeled with the former. It does have silica it in. To just chime in on atomizers though, I do think that all atomizers have silica (unless some company is making them with hemp or cotton or something) - at one time, I was a little confused about what bridgeless atomizers exactly have in them, but alas, simple silica, if I'm not mistaken. Hardly a way to get away from it in the replaceable world, it seems.

But generally, I think this Cisco proves that it's not really silica I have a problem with. It seems to be the ways that the coils in other devices are built and/or extra materials in them. On this Cisco, even if the taste diminished a little, it proved to me right away that something is better about this atomizer than anything else I have in my stock. It simply gave me the standard of vaping that any product should really start out with. From reviewer/consumer descriptions, I expected this simple, clean taste out of an iClear, out of a Protank, out of this and that, and it just didn't happen.

Since the Cisco is the only thing that really has come through for me so far, I hope that it proves that, if I do end up being able to build a good coil, then RBA's may really work for me. Maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing, but everyone agrees that Cisco is a respectable brand, so if they did build this coil "OK" and that's what's making the big difference, then hey, I think that's the direction I need to go into RBA's.

Unless all coils sort of die down in flavor after 30 minutes then... meh . Hopefully that isn't some unforseen battle. I think I just sort of went at it too hard with the Cisco though, I'm really hoping a good distilled soak will bring it back to it's glory, I'd love this thing to last a good week and for it to again put out the flavors it was giving before.

 

[wonner]

Unless it is an older version, I don't think the HH.357 has any silica in it.

I have two here, and I can't see anything but a coil, a ceramic cup, and stainless steel wool.

 

[Thrasher]

think you should try here instead of ECF

SnusOn Snus Forum & Community

 

[Myrany]

Actually there is a fairly well known phenomenon of coils "Breaking in." I am wondering if that is not what you are experiencing. Most of us like it better after the break in but a person's taste is unique to the individual. It seems to happen for me on all devices. Much stronger harsher vape for the first 10-30 minutes then it mellows to something yummy (to my taste).

If this is actually what is happening then a collection of RDAs might be your only option as you will be replacing the coil every 30 minutes or so.

 

[hazarada]

some people cant taste the carto taste, some even like it. I remember using standard size boge HR ones before my romance with RBA's, they too have the cardboard taste but its easy to make it go away by drip filling them through the bottom and they were cheap and plentiful

 

[GoodNews!]

Hm, in my Cisco, there's the atomizer's bridge - which is like a metal mesh type structure, then inside that structure is the ceramic cup, but inside that is a coil that definately has silica inside it, and possibly even has some silica on top of it sort of as a flavor helper.

And with my other devices, like the Aspire, I've tested the heads way longer than 30 minutes and the nasty tastes just never go away. With the Cisco, the initial vapor definately wasn't harsh, it was extraordinarily clean, just the notes of each juice I was using was more prominent than in any device I had ever tasted them in, with the exception of the Captain Ron, which simply tasted like it did at the Juice Bar (which, to say, what I was aiming for - it finally tasted right.)

After a few vapes of Captain Ron though (which was PG in comparison to the VG juices I had been using the Cisco til then), the vapor did go downhill in flavor, and got quite muted and even a tad wicky. The coil also turned quite dark, and until then, it had some shine to it, no gunk. I think maybe the coil got just a little gunked. Totally not sure here. I'm going out to eat, and when I come back, if the Cisco hasn't improved, I think it's time for its bath!

 

[crxess]

Food for thought

Get a better light and look - HH357 should NOT have any silica inside. It uses a mesh to retain e-liquid.

Expect 4-6 weeks, if you are lucky, before replacing. HH357 is a consumable item. An expensive consumable.

Now, I used to do insulation for a living. Later in life I learned to do fiberglass work to enhance my Business. I have also dealt with burning insulation, palstics and other Gross smelling items........... Flesh being one of the worst.

You likely have a phobia you cannot overcome. Nothing wrong with that, as long as one realizes it.

I cannot stay in the house when someone is popping popcorn. Caused be a Popcorn microwave fire years ago. The smell of popcorn and subconscious thought of the prior incident gross me out.
Silly thing is I can still eat popcorn, once the preparation event is over.

The problem is NOT the Popcorn - It is my perception of events, and I do not go around telling everyone Popcorn is a Health issue they need to avoid.

 

[Myrany]

Food for thought

Get a better light and look - HH357 should NOT have any silica inside. It uses a mesh to retain e-liquid.

Expect 4-6 weeks, if you are lucky before replacing. HH357 is a consumable item. An expensive consumable.

I know buttkiss about Cisco...could he be using a Cisco carto variant?

 

[ambientech]

Every 510 atty I have dissected has a very small amount of silica in it, even hh357's. The coil is wrapped around it. The mesh is then wrapped around the ceramic cup.

 

[GoodNews!]

Every 510 atty I have dissected has a very small amount of silica in it, even hh357's. The coil is wrapped around it. The mesh is then wrapped around the ceramic cup.

This, if I'm not mistaken.

But yeap, my Cisco has definately lagged off in flavor after about 45 minutes total of use. Can't explain this one. It could be just a result of mixing so many juices, or of chain vaping, or of accidentaly knocking it on the table, but hm, kind of a mystery. Still not a terrible vape, just very muted. Anyone experience this phenomena with a good dripper?

I want to taste the Captain Ron again so badly... when this juice comes through, it really is a boquet of fresh fruit, just that mix of dark, red berries, somewhat of a cranberry, blueberry, rasperry, red-wine flavor that makes up a good rum juice. It's a very moist, deep flavoring that comes through on an atty that's really working right. The Cisco just lit up my world for a few minutes, I was really getting just a great vape.

With this juice, and a good atty, the flavoring will first be so strong that you almost think of a sweet shoe polish on first hit, but as soon as you think of that, the flavor just blares open on the next hit and tastes so authentic and real. With the Cisco, I was getting that effect wide open, it was just plain nice. Some hits later, it just gave way to a muted, sort of fluffy taste of maybe powdered sugar with a touch of red koolaid maybe?

I've heard description of atties having sort of a powdery taste when the carbon layer takes over on the coil, so maybe that's what it is...

 

[crxess]

Well, you use your gear the way you write. Long and baffling.

You are supposed to flush the atomizer when changing liquids. If not, eventually everything gets muddled.

Do you have some pure grain alcohol and flavorless e-liquid or PG handy?

You soak, blow out, drip a few drops of unflavored. Blow that out. ( Blowing from the connector side only)
Vape off the unflavored or add your preference. It may be muted the first few vapes.

Ciscos supposedly don't even break in good until many hours of use. Some say several days to a week or two. This probably reflects actual use.


Note - Remember my recommendation? killer 705 in X8 tank
Very similar setup to the Cisco with the addition of a Tank and deletion of the mesh reservoir. Tiny wick/coil in a ceramic cup housed in an SS tube.

And yes, the 705 can be used as a dripper same as the Cisco or in a tank as the atomizer.

Only real differences are - 705 can be rebuilt and is 1/2 the price.

 

[GoodNews!]

^ I do need to invest in some non-flavor PG. Very much so, especially for testing the cleanliness of a vape. I didn't think much of mixing flavors, it was working without flaw for awhile, but I think I learned my lesson on that one.

 

[Asbestos4004]

You're experimenting...not testing. People who know what they're doing TEST. You seem to like throwing certain words like "testing, tests, controlled, data....." and long wordy, drawn out explanations to try to lend some credibility to yourself. Is it really so hard to just admit you don't know as much as you think you know and take some advice from these folks? You want us to think you're some kind of guru because you keep telling us you are but your novel like posts tell us you're someone who has no idea what he's doing. There's no awards for the coolest member, so stop peacocking. You want to be taken seriously? Take some suggestions and let people help you. 4 years vaping and knowing everything there is to know about vaping...yet you don't know how to clean an atomizer between flavors. With your super human taste buds.....SERIOUSLY????

 

[Rocketpunk]

I don't know, man. I like this guy's posts. I've enjoyed them more than any other posts here lately. The fact that I envision his avatar as the actual person typing the words just makes it all the more enjoyable.

 

[Asbestos4004]

I'm with ya rocketpunk, they're my favorite too.

 

[TheJakeBailey]

Man. I'm up on the roof putting up Christmas lights. Take a break, a vape, and hop on ECF for a minute and what do I see??? GoodNews with a working enjoyable vape. Was coming on to finally congratulate you.

A few hours later and we've already gone from good to bad.

The road goes on forever, and the party never ends.

 

[crxess]

The Cisco can be corrected. Not sure about the anything else. Still trying to warp my head around the CE4 performance references? I'm thinking his taste buds were on their own at the time and just enjoyed the flavor. No analysis, no frets of health/contaminants/etc., just enjoying the Vape.