High Ohm Vaping Questions

[GoodNews!]

Hey guys, over in another thread, I was talking about how with my Cisco 3.5ohm atomizer, that I was getting a small amount of vapor at 3.3V's, and quite impressive puffs at 4.1V's.

Some users commented though that this doesn't seem to be the "norm", that vaping in this range really shouldn't produce much vapor (and that with a voltage lower than the ohm's, that it shouldn't have really even done anything.)

If it helps, I'll say that with the Cisco, there actually appears to be a micro-coil inside, at least to my eye.

What are you guys' experiences with high ohm vaping? If you've ever tried these ranges, do they produce vapor for you, or did it not do much of anything? I'm just wondering why this type of range (4.1V's, 3.5ohm's) seems to give me a very standard vapor - much better than some of the vapor I've seen even on review channels.

Also, I had the problem where my Cisco was vaping beautifully for about 30-45 minutes - I was getting flavor tones that where dancing on my tongue, juices that had tasted bad for so long now tasted sweet, juices that have been muted ever since I took them home from the store testing now tasted full of life and authenticity, and I was getting an extremely clean vape. After this though, my coil just sort of lost it's flavor strength by %50, causing quite a lacking flavor.

I was sort of mixing quite a few juices in my dripper without flushing or vaping flavorless PG between mixes (hey, it was working fine for 30 minutes - each juice took over the next and tasted full and fresh) but now the coil tastes a little coated or something I think. I don't have any alcohol on hand, and I don't want to dry burn, but if anyone could reassure me that a distilled water soak wouldn't harm my precious, then I really need to hear it - I'm sort of going Smeagol on this little device.

A big thanks to anyone who wants to reply with authentic answers and a helpful mindset!

Note: Even with its current speedbump, I'm still vaping on it, it just tastes that clean! This is an atomizer. It is giving me quite a cloud of vapor, the taste is still just clean as a whistle, and even with a little hinderence, this device is simply performing well. I hope I can nurse it back to the glory it was first peforming at, as that really was the grand vape for me.

 

[bigrf85]

i find that with higher ohm attys in the 3 ohm range i will rock them at 5-6 volts higher ohms require higher voltage to get that high heat the liquid needs to vaporise i dont get hardly anything at 3.x 4 and up will give me progressively more vapor

as for the flavor dulling id try not dripping into it and do the dryburn technique you may have gunk build up on the coils and need to burn that off to get the surface area back to truely vaporize the juice more efficiently just pulse the coil on the device in about 3 second intervals and blow through it after every 2 or 3 pulses let the coil glow orange with each pulse do this probably 10-12 times and then try dripping into the atty again and see if the flavor comes back


another way to clean coils is to soak overnight in pure grain alcohol but i usually do the dry burn with dripping attys


hope this helps

 

[hazarada]

whats most important about the coil is how efficient it is transferring heat to the wick, the better the efficiency, the higher the useful surface area, the more low temperature fine vapor you get because low temperature is much less likely to kill flavors and the vapor volume to power ratio is higher.

Now that we got that out of the way, there is an optimal lenght of wire for any kind of space it has to work with to achieve what i described above. For the sake of simple use by general public, lets assume the coil is also being designed for unregulated batteries. Now we have 2 things fixed - the length of the wire and the voltage of the source, all that is left is to tune the power. To tune the power we change the resistance of the coil by using thicker or thinner wire. This is the way atty coils are generally designed and since the ohms are subject to 2 variables, you'll see that the actual amount of ohms a coil has holds no meaning at all.

TLDR - the norm is designed around 3.7v, resistance out of context is a meaningless attribute.

 

[six]

Surface area of the coil exposed to juice + amount of time the coil is allowed to heat up to temperature has about as much to do with the amount of vapor you can produce as the wattage produced does.

Next time you are cleaning an atty and do a few dry burns (no matter the ohms of the coil), notice the amount of time it takes to get the coil glowing. It doesn't happen instantly. -- For the purposes of discussing the function of e-cigs, we generally ignore factors beyond wattage (like thermal mass - surface area - efficiency of wicks - etc etc etc).

As to cleaning, vodka is good, but blowing some unflavored PG through it a few times is pretty good too. Water won't hurt an atty (assuming reasonable amounts of time so corrosion doesn't become a factor). -- Dry burning just because some flavors are still in the atty isn't really the way to go. Dry burning is for coils that are crudded up.

 

[GoodNews!]

With the dry burn, if I attempt it, will the air I blow be able to adequately reach the coil? The thing about this particular cisco is that it has the metal mesh bridge sort of blocking the view.

And before I try that, I think I'll try the suggestion to see if a fellow buddy who does DIY has a little unflavored PG on him, see if that works.

The one thing I will say is that for whatever reason, this Cisco atty seems to be built really well. Believe it or not, with just one drop of juice, you get the same flavor for 6 hits or more (haven't went much above that just out of fear), this atty simply refuses to even taste the slighest bit dry burned, ever. It doesn't seem to vaporize much juice at all, yet the vapor is downright great.

 

[Ryedan]

You're running the atty at 4.8 watts. Rule of thumb is ohms plus 2 in volts. That gives you 5.5 volts and 8.6 watts. I would increase the voltage a step at a time. IMO you'll find as your power level increases you'll get more flavor, TH and vapor. Flavors will actually change and you'll also find nuances you never tasted before. You will also have to drip more often and will likely find it better to have more juice in the atty.

Vape on.

 

[Rocketpunk]

With the dry burn, if I attempt it, will the air I blow be able to adequately reach the coil?

If you can blow out a candle, your air blow will adequately reach the coil. The mesh bridge will not deflect your breath.

 

[GoodNews!]

Wow, I have to come back on here and say that I am in love with this little thing. It still is giving me that reduced flavor (haven't cleaned it yet) but I'm pulling out old juices in my stock that I gave up on, and I'm still tasting things in them I never have before, or only did at the juice bar. I can tell this little atty is not performing at full capacity, and yet it's still blowing me away, that's how good of an atty it is. I am indeed really sad that I didn't put a little more preparation into vaping this awesome atomizer, but hey, if I've blown $13 once, I've done it several times. But if I can bring this atty back to full life (hopefully), then my world will be rocked.

And if that indeed happens, and this thing were to somehow end up lasting a very long time, then who knows, I may start back on the dripper mod path. I mean, this atty tastes so clean that it is ridiculous.

 

[Baditude]

I prefer a cooler vape. I don't often use drip atomizers, but I do use cartos in cartotanks. I use Ikenvape 3.0 ohm single coil carts. I prefer a voltage range of 3.4 - 4.2 volts for the majority of the flavors that I use. I do have a couple of flavors that seem to prefer up to 4.5 volts.

 

[GoodNews!]

Yeah, I really like the range this coil is giving me - the flavors sort of taste too down-trodden with anything under 4.1V's, but 4.1V's - 4.3V's seems to be the sweet spot for this coil, and a couple of the juices taste best with a little adjustment through those three notches. Above 4.3V's, the flavors are sort of tasting a tad too lifeless and thin (probably meaning a little too hot.)

One of the issues that I could be running into a lot with coils under 3.0ohms is that it could be that the flavors are just running too hot no matter what I do, and the coil is picking up too much flavor from the wicks. With a coil built as well as the Cisco, I think the perfect ohm range would be either 3.0 or 3.2, as it wouldn't give the user much of a chance to gunk the coil (I have a feeling that testing a few juices at 3.3V's-3.8V's may have been really what gunked up this coil a little...)

As I keep vaping on the Cisco, I am seeing that the coil is getting blacker and blacker, so there seems to be some combination of voltage, ohm's, air flow, and juice ingredients that's causing some degrading performance, so I'm still really trying to figure out what's the perfect work flow for this atty, but all I know is without a doubt, this thing is working tremendously better than anything I've ever vaped out of. It was only $8.99 (about 413-$15 with shipping) and I do have to say, while I hope to get it cleaned up and performing right, even just knowing that I still have a good tongue for this, and knowing that a working vape does exist, this purchase has been worth the money.

I know that the combination of 3.5ohms and 4.1V's sounds an odd combination, but I think why this coil is heating up so quickly and producing so much vapor (and at times, flavor) is because it seems to be a micro coil - a very long-wrapped micro-coil. I was wondering for a long time if I could manage to build a high-ohm micro-coil myself, and this atty seems to prove that it's possible. One scientific reason I want to build a micro-coil is that, because of the precise method of the coil firing from inside-out, it would seem that this type of heating would work very well for drawing juice into the very center of the coil, something essential.

I mean, just in this atty, it is wicking like a breeze - I can do 6 puffs right in a row, chainsaw-style chain vaping, and not one hit tastes worse than the other. It just pulls that juice in. Even in a dripper, a bad coil would take some time to wick (the juice doesn't seem to just sit on the coil in a dripper, it collects in the mesh cage and flows into the wick as it's vaped) and I have had bad experiences from off-brand drippers. When it comes to the end of the day, I truly don't know precisely why this atomizer is working as good as it is - in the vaping world, there's so many factors to everything that it's hard for anyone to know precisely why anything happens (I always have at least 5 theories in my head at all times), but all I can say is, I'm really glad this device has given me a working point to build on.

Now, the only curse would be finding out that my preferred vape is one that gunks up coils in like 30 minutes...

 

[Topwater Elvis]

If you think your atty is working well now wait until you clean it and use enough power to keep the coil from gunking up so fast.

Different juices (pg/vg ratio and flavorings used) benefit from higher or lower power, the coil/atty only cares that is wet and getting power.

IMO, a 3.5 drip atty works best starting at 5v, my preference is closer to 6v.

I too mainly use carto tanks, 3 ohm carto @ 4.8v ~ 5.6v depending on flavor in tank.

Rinse that thing in PGA blow it out, give it a light dry burn then re rinse blow it out let evaporate for a few minutes.

 

[GoodNews!]

I'm calling up my DIY buddy tomorrow and asking him if he has any, he should... can't wait to get this thing cleared up! And with only having my Spinner-type as my main trusted source of power, it only goes up to 4.8V's, but I'll try that out as soon as I get the atty a little more cleaned up - right now, I'm a bit afraid it'll pop or something if I go too high with possible gunk on there. Or would going that high have a chance of cleaning the gunk off a little just through vaping?

And I don't believe, it I got a tiny bit of buzz from trying out one of my old 18mg juices. Lol kind of makes me want to find an atty that really gives that strong nicotine delivery, I wouldn't mind a good buzz every now and then. This atty really seems to be a smooth hitter - so I'm not sure it's vaporizing nicotine all that well, or sending the right texture into the vapor that allows for nicotine absorbtion, but hey, that's not one of my big goals. Someone said that RBA coils can really pack a punch in the nicotine so maybe I could one day find that perfect balance between flavor and nicotine absorption (not scratchy throat hit, hate that) that could even give me one of those huge buzzes for old times sakes.

Unless some other device comes along and wow's me before the month's over, I'm finding it hard to contain my excitement for trying to build my own coil. Having a big spool of wire and endless cotton (or hey, even silica, for how well the silica seems to work in this atty), I could try all sorts of combinations, especially if I have a tank that has adjustable air flow - it really does sound exciting to play with all those things and learn what truly makes a coil behave like each individual trait.

 

[Nikkita6]

As a general rule high ohms = higher voltage, and low ohms = lower voltage ... I surprised that you got any vapor at 3.3v. With a 3.5 ohm atty I can't imagine getting a decent vape below 5 volts.

 

[GoodNews!]

So no PGA today :[ but I'm holding off on this atty until I can get some - I think I pushed it to it's limits. It simply could be that this atty needs a small dry burn every now and then, and I don't think it helps that I tried a couple naturally extracted juices - I started getting the diminished flavor right at trying VCV's Burley Beard, so that may be what's going on. I'm tempted to try Phil's method of just blowing out the juice and giving it a small dry burn butttt.... after pushing this atty just by vaping on it way past tasting a little gunkiness, I think I can taste a bit of bite from the silica, it's giving me a hot vape, so I'm just sort of dancing on toes with it at the moment. Wanting to wait and do the safest thing.

But anyway, yeah, this Cisco atty - I can't say wether it really made any of my juices taste any more "magical" than they did on other devices that actually worked right during sampling, but I do have to say, this is the one atomizer in what, three months that has even performed to my opinion of correct? I mean, the flavors I was tasting, I got them out of the CE4's at a juice bar - great in a CE4 (then) and great on the Cisco. One of my juices was first tested on a vendor's Vivi Nova-or-something tank, tasted great then, didn't taste good until I tried it on the Cisco. Cleanest vape I've gotten, fullest, truest flavor I've gotten. This result is why I bought these juices (and certain devices) to begin with and wouldn't have bought them if I expected any dirtier of a vape.

Ya'll know how I was on a kick for awhile about how all my coffee and chocoalte juices tasted like charcoal or burnt popcorn kernels? Well guess what, in the Cisco, even after it seemed to gunk, even as vape was getting quite distasty, my coffee juice, more or less, actually tasted like coffee! There were still some burnt kernel notes, so I do think the atty couldn't handle it well being dirtied up, or maybe the voltage range was just not good for it, but this atty handled the coffee juice better than any atty in my stock - the vapor simply tasted a lot like coffee as a blew it out. That's what it's supposed to do!

 

[Myrany]

It seems like most people that try dripping do find flavors to be most pure while dripping. Just how good? That sort of depends on the particular dripping atty used. I have heard great things about Cisco attys but I went the way of rebuildables and so never tried the Cisco.

I really am glad you found something that works reasonably well for you. You might want to look up grimm green on you tube. He did a video on cleaning a dripping atty that might help you.

 

[SissySpike]

I like 5ohm carts for a change up some times if for no other reason just to able to crank up the volts. Belgian Coco on my Shan B cranked up to 7 volts is very tasty.

 

[stylezuk]

I prefer a cooler vape. I don't often use drip atomizers, but I do use cartos in cartotanks. I use Ikenvape 3.0 ohm single coil carts. I prefer a voltage range of 3.4 - 4.2 volts for the majority of the flavors that I use. I do have a couple of flavors that seem to prefer up to 4.5 volts.

That's about what I build on the IGO-W 2.8 to 3.3 ohm single coil and still can vape as low as 3.3-3.7v and get a mouth full of flavour.