Help with Russian 91%

[Porkchopz]

Hey all.

I got my first rba in a little over a week ago... and I need a bit of help. I first built this with silica wick as that is all I had at the time. I had no issues with it at all and everything was fine. A couple of days after that I got some of the Ready-x-Wick (aka xc-116) ceramic wick in... wanted to try that out so I rebuilt the Russian with that. Had no issues.. was very happy with it was a great clean taste.. no problems at all.

On Friday (after about a week of vaping) I started to get a burnt taste. Figured it was time to rebuild. Took it apart and the coil was quite nasty. Took it out and torched the xc-116. Rebuilt with same wick. Started out just fine... first 4-5 hits were clean and wonderful... then started to get the burnt taste again. Took it apart and rebuilt again with a new piece of the xc-116 thinking maybe torching it like people were talking about didn't take it back to "new". Cut the same exact size of wick that previously worked great. Built .. filled.. 4-5 hits.. burnt taste. (this is after pre-saturating the wick and waiting 15 minutes or so)

I started to notice that if I let it sit for 10-15 minutes it would be awesome again.. clean perfect taste.. then 3-4 hits later... burnt.

Rebuilt again with the 2mm new version of xc-116 just as a new try. Did it last night before bed. Let it sit all night .. this morning... great hits again... tasted great... 6-7 hits later... burnt taste.

My guess as to what is happening is that for some reason liquid is not reaching the wick and I'm burning off what gets there over time and when there isn't enough to saturate the wick... it's getting the burnt taste.. if I wait.. it gets saturated (or enough) to give another good hit or 3... then burnt taste.

I don't think the wick is blocking the holes.. as I said I used the same sized piece that worked awesome the first time.

Any ideas on what to try here? ... the rba is clean as can be...

Thanks,

-Brian

 

[HeiSINberg]

Im glad I found this, im also looking for answers. Ive had my russian 91 built for a while and no matter what I do with it I always get this nasty burnt plastic/rubber taste from it. Its wrapped 28g 1.1 ohms with cotton though and the insulator isnt burnt and I dont have a short or hot spots. Broke EVERYTHING down and soaked it in warm water with dish soap for over 30 mins and still, the same nasty taste. I dont get it, I love dripping the most but its getting a little tiring while on the move and out and about to be constantly dripping and getting juice everywhere. So I went with the russian 91% and I for some reason cannot get this thing to work for the life of me.

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[Jamey Walker]

I'm also having the same problem exactly, with silica and cotton. Let it sit for a while and the flavor is back for a few hits then starts the metal taste.

 

[HeiSINberg]

Its actually pretty annoying considering I have a 90$ piece of vape gear that I know I could love that at this point is useless unless I can somehow stop this taste. I have no clue what to do anymore ive tried everything.

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[Jamey Walker]

I totally agree, i have the same juice in a IBTank and the flavor is amazing....

 

[HeiSINberg]

Yeah I dont get it, I wanna throw this thing against the wall honestly. But hopefully someone else has some options for us before that happens lol.

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[shynsly]

You need to have some of the wick down into the channels to have it wick properly. And if you use high VG you might try adding some distilled water to thin it out.

I personally use degummed hemp fiber, with a vertical wick and it works great. You can read up on it here.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/atomizer-mods/378875-just-hemp.html

Good Luck!!!

 

[Porkchopz]

Right now I am running 75/25 PG/VG so I don't think it's too thick. As I said I had the one build that lasted me around a week and was great the entire time. Now I can't seem to get it to work properly. Even using the same wick or a wick of the same size/length.

I'm curious about you saying it should be "down into the channels" I know mine is going down the sides a bit and should be about even with the bottom of the deck... but most everything I have read says to keep the wick out of the channels as that blocks them up and it won't flow at all...

I don't know. Going to take it apart again tonight and play with it some more... I will report what I find.

-Brian

 

[HeiSINberg]

Thats how I have mine, to me it looks perfect the way its wicked. I have it sitting just under the base where the juice channels lead up too, above the threads of the chimney part. Thats what I dont get where this nasty taste is coming from.

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[Porkchopz]

I'm not sure about your taste... but mine is a burnt taste. As I said before I think it is from not having enough liquid on the wick... once I get 3-4 hits off it... I burn off most of the liquid.. then it can't keep the coil saturated and it gets that burnt taste. Let it sit for a bit to re-wick and it's back to good for 3-4 hits.

I just put it on my Provari to try it again before I left work and headed home... I'm 10-12 hits in and it's good... have not changed anything .... I don't know. We shall see how long this lasts.

-Brian

 

[HeiSINberg]

Yours sounds more like a wicking issue maybe? Just opinion though. The taste im getting is like a plastic/metal/rubbery taste, not a lot but its enough to ruin the vape and not wanna pick it back up again. I mostly posted here to see what everyone said about your problem and see if I could somehow relate it to mine, or something ya know. I've kinda ran out of options at this point..

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[Jamey Walker]

I got a hcigar kayfun 3.1 clone today and did the same exact setup as my russian, .028 8 wraps at 1.4 ohms, cotton wick, same 50/50 ejuice and no burnt metal or plastic taste yet!

 

[horton]

It does sound like poor wicking or dry hits. Make sure you don't have too much wick jammed into the chamber -- that could cause wicking issues. And as mentioned before, high VG juice may need a little longer time between hits to "recover". Could also tighten up the air draw to help pull in the high VG juice. A few thoughts....

 

[Cloudrider]

I say poor wicking too. I rock (3) r91s, only use organic cotton, never tried anything else and have no issues with any dry hits. 1.4 - 1.8 ohm micro coils, 28awg raised at least 1mm above the air hole
I pack cotton down to the bottom of floor, enough to fill 1/2 of each side.
Now issues with 20/80 PG/VG suicide bunny mother milk or a DIY 100% VG..
Sorry for your troubles, for me the R91s is the best RTA ever.

 

[Porkchopz]

Yeah I think it is a wicking issue.... Just not sure what the issue is. Here is a pic of what I currently have. This is two pieces of 2mm xc-113 each end reaches down to the bottom of the deck where the channels are.

Before what I had was one piece of 3mm xc-116 that had the same length. That worked fine at first but upon rebuild because coil was fouled up it didn't work with same wick (torched) or new wick of same size and length.. so I decided to try a double of the smaller 2mm.

Any help is appreciated.

Brian

 

[Jamey Walker]

To give some feedback, i disassembled mine again, done two things. Its polished so i made sure there was no compound blocking any ports which have been mentioned on this forum, done this with a toothpick. also removed center block, screw and insulators, cleaned and made sure they were seated properly and tight. Used same coil, new cotton and same juice. Vaping on it 6 hours now and no problem, must have been center bolt or insulator.

 

[Porkchopz]

Buddy of mine that got one of the polished ones at the same time as me just suggested that today. He found some polishing compound in his air hole (could not get a draw at all). I plan to take it apart tonight ... completely disassemble and put it in a heated ultrasonic cleaner for about 30 minutes.. then poke at all the holes just to make sure.

I'll update after that is done if it is work.

Thanks all.

-Brian

 

[HeiSINberg]

I havent tried my ultra sonice clreaner yet. I think I might also do this. What could it hurt at this point.

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[Porkchopz]

Well.. cleaned for 1hr in the UltraSonic cleaner. Also ran some Kanthal through the air holes etc.

Just put back together. Built a 1.85 Ohm coil on the original piece of xc-113 I had in there that worked good. Going to let it sit for 15 or 30 minutes then give it a go.

I will report back with the results.

-Brian

 

[Porkchopz]

I think this issue is fixed. I'm not sure what the actual resolution is... I have to assume it was the cleaning. My guess is that there was some polishing compound in the air work somewhere causing the issue. My buddy who also got the polished Russian 91% had some in his... worse than mine as he could not even get a draw off the device...

I guess the moral of this is, if you got a polished Russian 91% make sure to give it a good cleaning.

Been using it for ~1hr now and have had no issues at all. No burnt taste as before so wicking seems to be working well again. I made no changes to my build at all... Same wick, same Kanthal, etc. Must have been dirty in the air system somewhere.

Hope this helps someone out there

Thanks to all that posted giving advice.

-Brian