I might be over my head...

[speedy_r6]

Sounds like the issue was just the cotton break in, then. Glad to hear it is all working out for you.

 

[Tommy-Chi]

I gave it a chance, broke it in a little and now its vaping great... The flavor is pretty good too, juicing king's crest Duchess Reserve. The whole keeping it moist is a habit to make indeed, fearing those dry hits... lol. The trick is definitely going to be in the wicking, it seems to have 'settled' a little now that its been used. All in all, Im loving it. I have been playing with the watts, was down in the 50s now up in the 90s. Depending on the time of day, I raise or lower it (have to start low in the mornings).

You got it!!!

 

[Whitesoxfan2579]

Welcome MissGem. I also use Dovpo, a Vapeberri. Absolutely love it. The Twisted Messes looks awesome.

 

[AXIOM_1]

So it 'looks' good then. Okay, I needed that confirmation. And the ohms being at .3 is okay? The juice I am on now is King's Crest Duchess Reserve (30% PG / 70% VG), not sure how much of a variable that is. Bringing it down to 50W and working my way up.

Well, that's a matter of opinion ...... While I like the looks of the Clapton's and the twisting job look good, I am not liking the fact that the coils are so close to the metal base. It almost looks as though the right coil is actually touching the metal.... Call me paranoid, but I am extra careful about any coil placements when rebuilding.

 

[bigdogsam]

I'm waiting on my first RTA right now ("surprise" Father's Day gift from my daughter) and already picked up some basic supplies of coil and cotton. I'm not at all concerned about building the coil, that seems very straightforward, especially a simple Kanthal build (I'm a MTL , low watt type). It's the wicking I'm worried about. I've seen so many different approaches on YouTube videos, and know it's the one real "art" to master.

That and seeing people build all kinds of amazing twisted/braided coils that are utterly incomprehensible to me to make. Check out the Coil porn thread on here for some wild photos (and they apparently work, too!). Then again, I was never very good braiding my daughter's hair, either.

I've tried all kinds of wicking and wicking materials.
I have used:
Japanese cotton
Cotton Bacon
Egyptian cotton
Organic cotton balls
Texas Tuff (basically egyptian cotton which is easier to work with)
Juicy Wix (Also egyptian cotton like, a little better flavor then Texas Tuf).
I use Cotton Bacon - in my rda's where I am going to use higher temperatures or wattage. Much more durable, just tastes bad until broken in or when it goes dry. Very Durable. If I am going for clouds or volume of vapor I'll use the bacon. Most of the time I am interested in flavor so I am using Texas Tuff. Texas Tuff is more durable then Juicy Wix.

In my rta's I use Juicy Wix or Texas Tuff. I will use Egyptian cotton if I am out of Juicy Wix or Texas Tuff.
I like the Juicy Wix and Texas Tuff because it seems to be Egyptian cotton that is much easier to work with. It is more expensive then the other types of cotton. But it tastes awesum. Juicy Wix does seem to taste best awesome in my rta's.

90% of the time I use rta's.
The reason I like:
Cotton Bacon, Juicy Wix, and Texas Tuff is the way the material is processed. All of these are easy to tear into strips to use in devices.
Egyptian Cotton tastes great, it is just a real hassle to work with.

I have only found Juicy Wix and Texas Tuff on eBay, and no I don't sell them

 

[Eskie]

So far I've had good luck with Japanese cotton with a sorta Scottish roll, taking off the outer layers, stretching it out (not as much as a true Scottish roll would) and have been having good luck to date, with nice wicking, and no flooding, dry hits or leaking. I might give some Rayon a shot next as there seems to be a lot of positive feedback on it in the threads.

 

[bigdogsam]

I prefer Rayon myself, as well.

As a newer vaper, I wouldn't have built such a low ohm coil initially (0.3 ohm). Sub-ohm vaping takes some getting used to. It took me two years to like sub-ohm coils. Even now, 0.6 ohm dual coils (two 1.2 ohm coils) is the lowest I build. Generally speaking, the lower the ohms the hotter the vape will be.

Also, 70 watts seems like a lot to me. I only vape around 30 watts. Although, with all of that metal mass with the Clapton coils, you probably need a lot of watts to fire them up. More metal mass requires more power (watts) and drains batteries faster.

You might consider building simple coils (either spaced or compressed, doesn't really matter) with kanthal wire to see what difference it makes. I'm a proponent of K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid). I've tried the fancy exotic builds before and although they can make more vapor, IMHO they don't improve the flavor. Ramp up time with simple coils is fast, and they don't drain your battery as fast as the exotic coils.

Good Post, Good Information.

I am even more extreme in ohms. My favorite vape is a Kayfun v4 with a single coil at around 1.8 ohms. That's 28 gauge 8 - 10 wraps. I vape at around 15 (yes 15) watts.
What I get is a nice cool flavorful vape. The Kayfun is of course a mouth to lung setup. I have boat loads of other devices and I always circle back to the Kayfuns. I could have saved myself a ton of money as the KayFuns were some of the first rta's I purchased.

At 15 watts and a single coil I go through very little juice, and my batteries last a very long time.

To me, the higher resistance (ohms) the better the flavor.

70 watts is higher then I like to go with my rda's I don't like the heat. I have cranked up the wattage, on low ohm builds if I want to really make clouds, This usually only last a few hits, too hot for me, I don't enjoy it enough.

As a contrast, next try a simple build, 28 or 26 gauge wire, 10 wraps or so 2.5 mm coils. Be sure to drop the wattage way down. This will give you a MAJOR contrast for the build you have now. Much cooler.

From this you can decide if you like a really hot vape or a cooler more flavorful vape.

Then you can fine tune to get where you like as a regular every day vape.

The great thing about building your own coils, you can customize to exactly what you like.

 

[bigdogsam]

So far I've had good luck with Japanese cotton with a sorta Scottish roll, taking off the outer layers, stretching it out (not as much as a true Scottish roll would) and have been having good luck to date, with nice wicking, and no flooding, dry hits or leaking. I might give some Rayon a shot next as there seems to be a lot of positive feedback on it in the threads.

@Eskie

I've done the "Scottish Roll" thing. It;s a lot of work for me. It does seem to do like it people say, seems to wick well and last relatively long, I'm really into flavor and I like the flavor I get from the Egyptian cotton.

Like you, I have noticed a lot of people using Rayon and may give it a try. I know what cotton does when it goes bad (burns), not sure about Rayon. I tend to change flavors of juice a lot so I rewick often. I also keep my temperature or wattage down just below where the crackling starts so burning of wicks is not a real issue for me.

I'm always looking for that elusive perfect vape

 

[Eskie]

I guess it also depends on what temps you like to vape at. As a MTL tootler, my build are always >1 ohm, usually 1.2-1.5. I never really vape at more than 10-14W, so juice, coils, and wicks last a nice long time. I'm also kindaOCDish about my fill and never vape a tank below ~1/3 full. The only time I ever got a dry hit was accidentally firing a premade Nautilus coil before filling and figured "it was only a second, I'm sure it will be fine". Nope. Once fried it's fried. That taste was enough to make sure it never happens again.