Having trouble burning wicks

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khantagious

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Sep 16, 2013
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OC, CA
I'm pretty new to vaping, and got set up with a beginners kit consisting of a eGo-C Twist 900 mAh battery with an iSmoka Mini BCC clearomizer. All was well for a couple of weeks.

After a week of fairly heavy use, I needed to replace the wick/coil in the mini BCC, and the replacement lasted about another week and a half before I started getting a bit of that burnt taste.

At that point, all of the sudden, I could not get a wick to last longer than about 10 or so puffs before it would burn and I would get that horrible taste that is reminiscent of burnt electrical odor.

I am using 2.5 ohm coils, and my C Twist is set to about 3.5 volts, so I should be well within the range of proper resistance. I also got a second, brand new iSmoka Mini BCC (initially purchased to house my zero-nic juice), and have the exact same results. It doesn't matter which clearomizer I use; if I put in a new coil/wick, it works fine for a few minutes and then pretty soon after I will notice a fairly high-temperature hit coming through followed by the nasty burnt taste.

Is there something wrong with my battery? Could it be the juice I am using? Both (juice and battery) worked fine for a couple of weeks, and I don't think I am doing anything different that would explain this.

Any help would be much appreciated, as I am just about at my wits end. :blink:

Thanks in advance
 

dice57

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chances are that you are simply not allowing enough time for your wick to saturate with juice before vapping. This will shorten the life of the wick, can give it a nasty taste, and can lead to flooding. Especially on BCC devices. Let your wick saturate for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour before that first vape. Having more than one tank makes this process easy as one can vape on another device while waiting for saturation completion. Also rinsing out your tank every other fill or when switching flavors will help prolong wick/coil life.
 

Choc_Addic

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This could be just me but something to consider.

I get dry (almost burning) hits when the tank is full (may be a small bubble in the tank). So if filled as much, I would to a dry pull (without firing) and vap. After a little while, when the tank is a bit lower, all is well.

Might have to do with pressure and what not....

See if that helps.

Also if there is flavor wicks, try removing one. If it starts to leak than you can add it back in.

Cheers.
 

Katya

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How often do you clean your coils? Proper cleaning is very important, especially if you're using dark, sweet, or artificially colored eliquids. They can gunk up your coils in one day. Drop the coils in some PGA (if you can get it) or strong cheap vodka and let them soak for an hour or so. If they are really dirty, you may need to do a quick dry burn.

Good luck.
 

khantagious

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Sep 16, 2013
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OC, CA
Hi all, thanks for the helpful replies.

I am not building the coils myself; I am just buying fully assembled replacements, along the lines of what can be seen here http://www.smoktek.com/Replacement-Coil-Head-for-the-iSmoka-Mini-or-Mega-BCC_p_691.html

After I put in a new one, I fill the clearomizer tank with e-juice, and I let it sit there for at least 10 or 15 minutes to soak up the juice, all the while taking "dry" drags (drawing on the mouthpiece without firing off the battery) to pull juice into the wick. After doing this, it will work well for a while (usually somewhere between 5 and 15 good drags) before it seems to burn.

I believe I am using proper ecig technique, by pulling the vapor into my mouth like a cigar, and not inhaling into my lungs until after I have removed the PV from my mouth.

I also don't think my issue can be solved by cleaning the coils, as I experience this problem with brand new coils, after very little use. I also don't think it is an issue of dirty tanks, as I had the same problem with a brand new Mini BCC, and I did clean my old one very thoroughly as well.

It could be that the eliquid I am using is too "dirty" (it is a fairly dark color) and is clogging the coils, but it is not like I am vaping on it all day and then having gunked up coils at the end of the day, this is happening within 15 minutes or so of using a brand new coil. Also, I had been using the same flavor for a while before I started having this problem.

I am going to go back to the shop where I got all of this stuff to see if they can help at all; they are cool guys there so I'm sure they will do their best to assist, but they all use fancy drip systems and probably have little to no recent experience with a "beginner" setup like mine.

Could it be that the battery itself is simply defective?

One thing I probably should have mentioned is that I do frequently see the light on my battery (eGo-C Twist 900 mAh) flash toward the end of a long draw, which I believe means it has been held on for too long and is turning itself off. But I don't think I am holding the button down for an inordinately long time. I will have to time myself to see exactly how many seconds it is, but what is the normal amount of time I should be able to hold on the button?

Thanks everybody!
 

Katya

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Do you take primer puffs--gentle draws without activating the battery? It helps to move ejuice onto the coil and removes air bubbles that may be forming in your tanks.

All PVs have a cutoff time--somewhere between 8-10 sec, so that's normal that your battery shuts itself off. Don't worry about it.

Have you checked if the tank's base and the coil inside are screwed in tightly so there are no leaks? Did you remember not to overtighten your tank to the battery connection--it should just make contact, no more than that. If you screw your tank onto the battery too tightly, you'll dislodge the center pin and your tank will not work properly.

Also, please read this--maybe it will help:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/465285-protank-2-a-3.html#post10614607

That said, maybe you just got a bad clearomizer? Other users also report problems with tight draw.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...y-ismoka-bcc-mega-draw-issue.html#post9955960

I love my Kanger BCCs--T3S, eVod, mini ProTank 2. Maybe it's time to give them a try...
 
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penrow

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Aug 19, 2013
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My ego twist (joyetech) is doing same thing, I burnt about 4 different coils today evod and vision clearomizers, all while the ego was set to the lowest setting and allowing 20 to 30 minutes for the coils to wick. I could tell on the first vape . It has been faulty all along now that i think about it because it would always burn protank coils with 1.8 ohm resistance at the lowest setting (3.2 volts).
I think mine is stuck on the highest setting , I don't have anything to test it with but it is definitely shot
good thing I ordered an inokin SVD , just wish my twist would have lasted til it arrived, and I wish I had all the coils I've burnt and thrown away because of it
 

khantagious

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Sep 16, 2013
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OC, CA
I do take the primer puffs with the new coils, and in fact, had been taking quite a lot of them since this problem started. Also, I had read about not over-tightening the threads so I think I had (hopefully) the right amount of seal. And finally, I don't think I got a defective clearomizer, because I am having the same problem with two of them.

It could be simply that the iSmoka Mini BCC is just not a good choice for someone like me who likes to take large drags and a lot of them at a time. Based on what QTPie and Katya have said, I probably should check out a different clearomizer/tank. What are the relative merits of the Kangers you mentioned?

That said, it sounds like it could possibly be a problem with my eGo-C Twist, based on what penrow said. I don't think the potentiometer is getting stuck, it twists freely and it does seem that there is a difference between the lower and higher settings, but is it possible that even though I have it set to where it reads about 3.5, that it is actually putting out a much higher voltage?

Anyway, thanks for all of the feedback, it helps to know what people's real world experience is. I'm hoping I just picked the wrong clearomizer, and that a new one will solve my problems. It will be a shame, because I just bought a second of the same, right as I started having all of these problems, but, live and learn, I guess
 

Beckyjc

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Sep 15, 2013
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I've read about people having similar problems with the ismoka. I have myself with the mini. First atty head lasted ages, second one and third burnt out pretty quick. So I tried ordering the mega heads (which are the same) from a different site, low and behold they've all been fine. I think the heads are just really hit and miss. Got them from here

iSmoka Mega Replacement Head

I'm a heavy vaper, but I much prefer the ismoka to the evod. Going forward rebuilding is probably the best option.
 

Relaxed5311

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Sometimes you have to take dry puffs in between vaping ones. If that makes sense. basically fire it a few times, take a dry puff, it take some time for the wick to constantly pull. If you notice it is fine when your doing the saturation it could be drying out when your vaping.

Try a few hits, then a dry puff, then a few hits then a dry puff.
 

folkphys

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Longer drags require longer/fatter wicks. BCC's all have really short wicks, which means you could be pulling out juice faster than the wicks can "reload". That said, there are likely other factors at work here like thicker juice wick-strangling, air-flow restriction causing the need for longer/harder pulls, etc....

Though I love the Kanger pro tanks and EVODs for a decent on-the-go vape, perhaps a long wick top coil tank is worth a shot in this case, at least to rule out the wick-to-draw ratio issue. However, it really sounds like you're the type of vaper (like myself) that needs to try one of those fog machine deals like a genesis style atomizer.
 

Jonathan Tittle

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If you're using a ProTank or anything with flavor wicks, you may need to remove one or both of the wicks depending on the ratio of juice you have. I moved to a 60/40 because 50/50 was just too thick for the ProTank and my vaping style. Since I removed one wick and moved to 60/40, I've had zero issues and I chain vape quite often.

The shorter wick in the ProTank works well, but everyone vapes differently, so you'll need to adjust to your own style to get that sweet spot.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
 

Bill's Magic Vapor

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First, determine if the topper works with your backup battery. If it does, then you know the primary battery is the problem. Second, try your backup topper on the first battery and see if you get the burnt taste. If you don't have backups for both, you're already in trouble and have broken rule number one in vaping, backups to backups.

There are about a dozen different reasons, most of which have already been given that could explain the burnt problem. Obviously, it's either the device, the coil, the battery, or the juice, or a combination therein. We've all had problems vaping with different devices. For this reason, I have over 40 different clearomizers right now, and I use carto tanks every day. Putting all my vaping marbles into a single device is great way to ruin my day. You can get ten packs of evods for about $20 from fasttech and spare heads as well. While the original Fasttech evod heads were not great, the replacement heads worked fine for me. I use a dark, sweet juice and routinely go through heads every two or three days. After a while, I learned to recoil (cost of about 5 cents) with cotton and solved all problems I ever had (do not dry burn cotton). Since those early evod, graduating to Davide and Protank, now Protank II days, I use carto tanks because I prefer the vapor, flavor and draw, and even then I get, at most, three days from them. I vape all wrong. I take deep strong draws trying to suck the life out of them and with my 46% flavored DIY juice, I know I'm killing them early. I don't care. I smoked 3 PAD, $120 per week, and now I spend $10 and replace everything as often as needed and never clean heads anymore. Too lazy. But I always have a good vape now, no leaking, and when I get really outrageous, I'll do an RDA or RBA (Ithaka, Genny, Kayfun), for fun and exploration. I had to find what worked for me by trying everything on the block, top coils, bottom coils, tanks, ego threading, 510 threading and finally settled on Boges in Phiniacs. However, my friends have insisted I buy Ikenvapes, so now I have some on the way (today?) and I may very well switch to them. I've tried every battery under the sun (more than 30 different batteries now) and settled on my Provari's and a Semovar. Vaping is an evolutionary process, a journey, a VapeQuest, and you have to keep trying different devices, toppers, juices, etc. until you find what works best for you. And for darn sure, you need to have backups to backups. Good luck to you!!
 
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