Build specs:
2-strand twisted 30g Kanthal 7 wraps, roughly 5/64" ID, 1.1 Ohms
KilnTreated XC-116 braided ceramic wick ~3/4" long - from rba Supplies
Legit Russian 91% -- it better be for how much I paid
Non-Legit SS Nemesis with upgraded super-short-throw firing pin and stronger magnets (details that will prove relevant shortly)
18350 Efest 800mah IMR (cuz I preferz to keep it stubby)
The following is an anecdotal Don't Try This at Home kind of deal whereby a mistaken momentary lapse in vapinsense causes an apparent morphologic transition within wick material yielding a novel and seemingly optimized fluid dynamic equilibrium. That is to say: My XC-116 wick was kind of a painintheass and sucked until I did something really dumb and now it's awesome.
Having only very recently purchased the aforementioned XC-116, yesterday was its much anticipated debut in the R91. And as before with the KFL and the Fogger (albeit less so, on account of its less pressure dependent juice feeding apparatus), the XC-116 was needing a considerable amount of coaxing and intermittent dry-pull priming to keep things going.
Fast forward to the evening.
I am at home, couch-bound in a lovely state of post dinner vapillaxation whilst having a serious discussion with my wife on the likelihood of metabolically significant second-hand nicotine absorption via bystander exposure to these newfangled ecigs. She, a medical professional, non-smoker and non-vapor who has through her kindness allowed me to vape indoors -- even in the same room --during these winter months. Well now she tells me there's a 2013 university study comparing the atmospheric nicotine levels (within a sealed room) resultant from the exhalants of analogs to that of ecigs, and the upshot is that it looks like she could be getting a relatively small but not-insignificant dose of nicotine from me. I try to choke back the rather large pull I had just taken but it ends up sputtering out of my mouth in weak little mouthpoots of shame. And so I start asking her questions about the study like: How soon after the two dudes tooted on their ecigs did the researchers make their atmo-measurements? and: What was the nicotine concentration of the eliquid? The PG/VG ratio? The particulars of their Ecig apparati, etc...? All the while I'm asking these questions and giving her reasons why these details might end up confounding the study's results, I've got my nemesis in my hand, unlocked, with the fire button gently resting on my ring finger, just as I normally would in preparation for my next toot. Minutes pass in this state, maybe 2, maybe 5 and I don't look down on the thing until I feel hot liquid flowing onto the side of my thumb, which I now see is about 2 ml of eliquid having leaked freely from the R91's air inlet. The metal body of the R91 is very hot. The nemesis -- which is the only thing I've been touching for those undetermined number of minutes -- is no more than skin-surface warm.
The darn thing had been firing for perhaps that entire time, and filling the coil chamber with un-vaped excess juice which had then exited out the air intake system of the R91. I immediately took the battery out and The R91 off, cleaned up the juice and after letting the R91 cool down for a bit I slapped it right back on the nemesis with a fresh 18350 inside and proceeded to toot away almost as if nothing strange or potentially dangerous had just happened. I was a bit behind in my evening's dosing after all and really wanted a few back-to-backers of this wonderful new Honeysuckle-Tobacco (or SuckleBacci or BaccoSuckle or HoneySuckO or The Reverend Honeysuckle McBaccostein, etc...) that I had just received from my local juicery. And to my astonishment the R91, which until now had always needed a few strong primer pulls between fires, was wicking and re-wicking itself completely unaided and with a new unparalleled intensity of flavor that nearly knocked me over.
I had been told that the XC-116 needed some significant amount of break-in time, to season or 'cure' it. But after having used it in my KFL for nearly 7 days, I was beginning to think this was not the case or else that mine had already done so and it simply just wasn't that efficient of a wicking material. But no, my comrades, this stuff is in fact awesome. Once fully cured, it is utterly delicious, an efficient wicker, handles the non-dryburn-between flavor changes swiftly and without excess overlap or linger and it is pretty darn durable.
That's it.
Maybe my mistaken overburn didn't actually cure the XC-116. Maybe I missed some other detail that finally got it going. Maybe I had cut and stuffed this wick just right and it only needed a good half tank to get up and running. I can't be sure. But I thought you all should know what happened and how pretty great this stuff can be. I may never go back to using cotton. Who can say?
Cheers.
2-strand twisted 30g Kanthal 7 wraps, roughly 5/64" ID, 1.1 Ohms
KilnTreated XC-116 braided ceramic wick ~3/4" long - from rba Supplies
Legit Russian 91% -- it better be for how much I paid
Non-Legit SS Nemesis with upgraded super-short-throw firing pin and stronger magnets (details that will prove relevant shortly)
18350 Efest 800mah IMR (cuz I preferz to keep it stubby)
The following is an anecdotal Don't Try This at Home kind of deal whereby a mistaken momentary lapse in vapinsense causes an apparent morphologic transition within wick material yielding a novel and seemingly optimized fluid dynamic equilibrium. That is to say: My XC-116 wick was kind of a painintheass and sucked until I did something really dumb and now it's awesome.
Having only very recently purchased the aforementioned XC-116, yesterday was its much anticipated debut in the R91. And as before with the KFL and the Fogger (albeit less so, on account of its less pressure dependent juice feeding apparatus), the XC-116 was needing a considerable amount of coaxing and intermittent dry-pull priming to keep things going.
Fast forward to the evening.
I am at home, couch-bound in a lovely state of post dinner vapillaxation whilst having a serious discussion with my wife on the likelihood of metabolically significant second-hand nicotine absorption via bystander exposure to these newfangled ecigs. She, a medical professional, non-smoker and non-vapor who has through her kindness allowed me to vape indoors -- even in the same room --during these winter months. Well now she tells me there's a 2013 university study comparing the atmospheric nicotine levels (within a sealed room) resultant from the exhalants of analogs to that of ecigs, and the upshot is that it looks like she could be getting a relatively small but not-insignificant dose of nicotine from me. I try to choke back the rather large pull I had just taken but it ends up sputtering out of my mouth in weak little mouthpoots of shame. And so I start asking her questions about the study like: How soon after the two dudes tooted on their ecigs did the researchers make their atmo-measurements? and: What was the nicotine concentration of the eliquid? The PG/VG ratio? The particulars of their Ecig apparati, etc...? All the while I'm asking these questions and giving her reasons why these details might end up confounding the study's results, I've got my nemesis in my hand, unlocked, with the fire button gently resting on my ring finger, just as I normally would in preparation for my next toot. Minutes pass in this state, maybe 2, maybe 5 and I don't look down on the thing until I feel hot liquid flowing onto the side of my thumb, which I now see is about 2 ml of eliquid having leaked freely from the R91's air inlet. The metal body of the R91 is very hot. The nemesis -- which is the only thing I've been touching for those undetermined number of minutes -- is no more than skin-surface warm.
The darn thing had been firing for perhaps that entire time, and filling the coil chamber with un-vaped excess juice which had then exited out the air intake system of the R91. I immediately took the battery out and The R91 off, cleaned up the juice and after letting the R91 cool down for a bit I slapped it right back on the nemesis with a fresh 18350 inside and proceeded to toot away almost as if nothing strange or potentially dangerous had just happened. I was a bit behind in my evening's dosing after all and really wanted a few back-to-backers of this wonderful new Honeysuckle-Tobacco (or SuckleBacci or BaccoSuckle or HoneySuckO or The Reverend Honeysuckle McBaccostein, etc...) that I had just received from my local juicery. And to my astonishment the R91, which until now had always needed a few strong primer pulls between fires, was wicking and re-wicking itself completely unaided and with a new unparalleled intensity of flavor that nearly knocked me over.
I had been told that the XC-116 needed some significant amount of break-in time, to season or 'cure' it. But after having used it in my KFL for nearly 7 days, I was beginning to think this was not the case or else that mine had already done so and it simply just wasn't that efficient of a wicking material. But no, my comrades, this stuff is in fact awesome. Once fully cured, it is utterly delicious, an efficient wicker, handles the non-dryburn-between flavor changes swiftly and without excess overlap or linger and it is pretty darn durable.
That's it.
Maybe my mistaken overburn didn't actually cure the XC-116. Maybe I missed some other detail that finally got it going. Maybe I had cut and stuffed this wick just right and it only needed a good half tank to get up and running. I can't be sure. But I thought you all should know what happened and how pretty great this stuff can be. I may never go back to using cotton. Who can say?
Cheers.
