Just got my first bunch of attys with no primer at all - 510 LRs from Liberty Flights in the UK. As it happens they are v. good attys as well - excellent air throughput, unlike many I had before, and little initial bad taste (some is inevitable, see below).
I had to think hard about posting this as really I shouldn't be giving any reviews, good or bad. But as there have been so many issues with poor-quality 510 attys, with either terrible taste or blocked airways, on balance it seems a good idea.
Initial bad taste
Leaving aside the poor-quality attys that are so bad they stink the room up when you fire them up first time, please note that there is no such thing as bad-tasting primer. What you are tasting is initial combustion products from 'burning off' manufacturing residues. The primer is just plain PG.
An atty is a complex manufactured device and there are many possible residues that need burning out: machine oil on the steel tube, adhesives, coatings in the silica/glass fiber wicking, excess paint-type coatings, and more. These are normally burnt off within a few seconds but it tastes foul and you don't want to breathe it in.
1. Blow the new atty out onto some paper towel, threaded end down, blowing into the open end.
2. Shake it hard, with the threaded end still down. Or centrifuge it (search ECF for the method).
3. Blow it out again.
4. Drip 3 drops of e-liquid in and blow out again.
5. Drip 3 drops in again, fit a blank cartridge with no filler and no liquid in, and puff 10 times. Puff out the vapor, don't breathe it.
6. Drip 3 drops and blow out.
7. Drip 2 drops, fit a full cart, puff out the first 4 puffs, and you should be OK.
There's no bad primer in there, the device has to be run in, is all.
If you get a really stinky one, the chances are it's low quality and has some adhesives in there you really don't want to be burning and breathing. Send it back.
