HELP _ why is my 510 tasting SO NASTY

[The Yeti]

In my experience, the wicking threads are optional, and don't really effect the performance of the atty...and will even enhance the performance of a bad tasting/poor performing atty.

When I get a new atty I blow out the primer, drop 4 drops of juice on the bridge (about twice what you would normally if you're a dripper), then put on an empty cart and vape 'til I get a good drag (usually around 3-4 drags when the good tasting one comes). Then I drip another two drops and put on a full cart. I've noticed that this initial full cart will drain really fast, I'm guessing because the atty is free of primer and relatively dry. After about 7-8 drags, I'll have to refill the cart. From then on, it's business as usual...well, until the atty's vapor production starts to drop off (anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on atty), then I'll pull the threads, and BAM, back to copious vapor production, for awhile at least.

Above all, keep your atty wet, if you run your atty dry to often, you run the risk of scorching the wicking threads. You can tell by looking at them, if they look brown or black, they're burnt. However, if you use darker colored juice, it's hard to tell....if it tastes consistently burnt, it's probably the threads. At this point, you should pull 'em out, you got nothing to lose!

 

[sjohnson]

All the atomizer dissection threads show what appears to be wicking made of slilcon dioxide fibers. At the temperatures vaporizer coils produce, the fibers couldn't burn if made from silicon dioxide.

But some of the dissection pictures show a black/brown gunk, especially at and around the coil but sometimes throughout the wick. This gunk can be burnt off using the dry burn technique, so the wicking need not necessarily be pulled out.

I used to get a lot of brown wick on my 510 atomizers. Once I started mixing my own nearly colorless, clear juice the black/brown gunk has all but stopped forming on my atomizers. Any remaining gunk is removed when I clean them, so my 4+ month-old atomizers look nearly new, with white wicking and no black/brown gunk anywhere on them.

The "conspiracy theorist" in me wants to think the Chinese business men and women decided to increase atomizer sales by adding "black/brown gunk-producing" ingredients to their juice. But nah, that'd never happen