I have been lurking and googling for months now, and I don't know about all other noobs, but my wife and I like to tinker. We started vaping in an attempt to quit smoking analog about a year ago. While we wait for the funds to upgrade to higher-end, higher vape production like mech mods and RDAs, we have discovered that with our various "starter" kits and gear, we already have all we need to make the switch from smoking to vaping. I just wanted to share that personal experience here in the form of a few very simple points. If I can help others quit ciggies and get the most out of their cheapo starter gear before they toss it out or go back to smoking, then it'll make this post worth it, I suppose. lol. I'm sure most of this has been covered in other posts on the forum at some point, but I don't now if it's all been covered in one post yet, so here we go...
1
Rebuild/rewick stock Kanger/Evod-type coil cartridges.
Wicking: Most of the starter kit clearomizers seem to use that standard coil cartridge head that comes with varying ohm coils with silica wicks and flavor wicks. The stock silica seems hardly absorbant, but is durable and impossible to burn. So it makes sense they would be present in production coil heads. But cotton is far superior for vaping, it seems. In fact, just replacing the silica flavor wick in these little coil heads increased vapor production maybe 2x for us. So when we actually replaced the silica wick completely with cotton (hard to do on used heads due to how sticky the silica gets inside the coils after fouling), we improved on our vaping experience so much we don't even vape on stock heads anymore, and just remove the silical from new, unused coils from the get go and fill in with cotton. Often, depending on the tank/juice combination we're using, we don't even need a flavor wick. What matters is cooking the juice without getting any in the air channel or holes below the coil.
Easy rules to remember: the higher the PG % in your juice, the less material you need inside your coil head. Likewise, the higher VG % in your juice will require a faster cook and more material. The faster the juice cooks, the less material you will need inside your coil head in general. However, the higher absorbancy of your wick material, the more juice will be exposed to the heating element, AND it will be less likely any of the juice will make it to the airholes before it's cooked, in which case you may get away with more material inside your head, producing more vapor, but only at a faster, hotter fire rate. Lower ohms + increased power = faster cooking. But you have to be careful not to run outside a safe range for the battery/coil combo you've got going. I am still trying to figure all that out, so I stay in the 1.7ohm/4.2v range tops. But even in that range, I'm getting superior vapor flavor and production from my little modded coil heads. Sorry if all that was messy/too wordy.
Coils: There are so many tutorials and videos on rebuilding the micro coils inside these heads that I will not go into detail here, other than making two points - as stated above, within these little coil heads sticking to a mid-range 1.6, 1.7ohms or so is safe and productive. Use a multimeter or ohms reader, because it's that important. Also, a note on the newer dual coil heads for Kanger stuff - first of all, dual coils in such a small space is ridiculous, and I think it's only a gimmick. Our single-coil rebuilds FAR out perform any stock dual coil cartridges we've used, even the 1.5ohm ones we used. Also, Kanger started making those new sealed dual coil replacement heads so that people would stop rebuilding (thus improving on) their stock heads. So don't buy them. The old-style non-sealed dual-coil heads are still manufactured for the various clearomizers and available pretty much anywhere. If you have newer model protanks or mini protanks, you can use single-coil size heads in them too, so really there's no reason to buy the dual-coil size heads if you rebuild. Different chimney lengths do matter for some tanks, because longer ones may not fit, which makes the shorter no-name replacement heads useful for most applications, if you pay attention to how to mod them specifically for the tank and juice you are using.
2): Bore out stock airholes.
The stock airholes on most little clearomizers seem only to be pilot holes, and are quite easy to bore out a bit to increase airflow. I just used the small pointy tool for poking holes in leather (the real term has escaped me at the moment) that is on a small mutli-tool I bought at an auto-parts store. Increased the size of the airholes x2 on our Mini Protank 3s and Evod/Aro tanks and the vapor production also increased by at least 2x if not more. More air = more vapor, but too much air will take away some of the flavor. Find that balance and you will be happy. Now, if we are getting too much airflow, we simply plug one of the holes with a fingertip.
3) Battery devices.
We only have cheapo-type VV and non-VV batteries here right now. eGo style and a couple KGO Mega 1300MaH batteries, and two x-fire/e-fire wood VV batteries that people pay way too much for. LOL. Biggest things I've learned:
Know what you have and how it works.
There's so many different type of eGo-type 510 batteries out there, clones and brand names and such. With a little Googling, you can usually find out exactly what you have. I discovered recently that the cheap eGo-type 650MaH-size batteries we've been using (that seem to pack a BIG punch for the size) are actually cool little KGO Mega 1300MaH unregulated batteries with multi-LED voltage indicators in the button. Fully charged they belt out 4.2 volts and simply decrease voltage with use, letting me know approximate voltage range as indicated as the button changes colors. I've since read some crappy reviews on these batteries... but I'm sorry, even if these things don't last a year, that's some cool technology that is pretty useful for people who want to vape decent clouds descretely while on the go, and have their battery hold a charge all day. I will buy these KGOs over any actual Ego from now on just because of what they offer in such a small package. They stay in the 3.9-4.2v range for at least a couple hours of use, and that rules. Our VV batteries are cool too, but don't seem to hit as hard as the fully charged KGOs, even when set at 4.2v.
Center posts.
We all end up with different little tanks and clearomizers over time, with different length 510 connections and posts. If you are using different tanks on the same batteries, you WILL eventually push your battery center post down to the point that it no longer makes a connection to any of your tank bases. Simply (and gently) use a flat head something-or-other to pry up that center post a bit and you should be good to go again.
Following these few simple points on batteries, coupled with the bored-out air holes and rebuilt coils as detailed above, our little small-format vape devices put out some BIG vapor and much stonger hits. No need to throw out your starter gear if it isn't completely DOA or otherwise dangerous in some way. We have made what we have work well enough to have made analog smokes seem ridiculous, when using them in their stock config really didn't. Now, we have highly effective devices that we will continue to use after we get our mech mods and RDAs simply because what we have come up with is very portable, inexpensive gear that not only produces a lot of good vapor, but won't break our hearts if it busts or if we lose it while away from home.
I welcome any and all additions, comments, corrections, or criticism on this stuff, as I am still very new. Thanks peeps.
We officially quit stinky ciggies two days ago, BTW.
Jaffo
1
Rebuild/rewick stock Kanger/Evod-type coil cartridges.Wicking: Most of the starter kit clearomizers seem to use that standard coil cartridge head that comes with varying ohm coils with silica wicks and flavor wicks. The stock silica seems hardly absorbant, but is durable and impossible to burn. So it makes sense they would be present in production coil heads. But cotton is far superior for vaping, it seems. In fact, just replacing the silica flavor wick in these little coil heads increased vapor production maybe 2x for us. So when we actually replaced the silica wick completely with cotton (hard to do on used heads due to how sticky the silica gets inside the coils after fouling), we improved on our vaping experience so much we don't even vape on stock heads anymore, and just remove the silical from new, unused coils from the get go and fill in with cotton. Often, depending on the tank/juice combination we're using, we don't even need a flavor wick. What matters is cooking the juice without getting any in the air channel or holes below the coil.
Easy rules to remember: the higher the PG % in your juice, the less material you need inside your coil head. Likewise, the higher VG % in your juice will require a faster cook and more material. The faster the juice cooks, the less material you will need inside your coil head in general. However, the higher absorbancy of your wick material, the more juice will be exposed to the heating element, AND it will be less likely any of the juice will make it to the airholes before it's cooked, in which case you may get away with more material inside your head, producing more vapor, but only at a faster, hotter fire rate. Lower ohms + increased power = faster cooking. But you have to be careful not to run outside a safe range for the battery/coil combo you've got going. I am still trying to figure all that out, so I stay in the 1.7ohm/4.2v range tops. But even in that range, I'm getting superior vapor flavor and production from my little modded coil heads. Sorry if all that was messy/too wordy.
Coils: There are so many tutorials and videos on rebuilding the micro coils inside these heads that I will not go into detail here, other than making two points - as stated above, within these little coil heads sticking to a mid-range 1.6, 1.7ohms or so is safe and productive. Use a multimeter or ohms reader, because it's that important. Also, a note on the newer dual coil heads for Kanger stuff - first of all, dual coils in such a small space is ridiculous, and I think it's only a gimmick. Our single-coil rebuilds FAR out perform any stock dual coil cartridges we've used, even the 1.5ohm ones we used. Also, Kanger started making those new sealed dual coil replacement heads so that people would stop rebuilding (thus improving on) their stock heads. So don't buy them. The old-style non-sealed dual-coil heads are still manufactured for the various clearomizers and available pretty much anywhere. If you have newer model protanks or mini protanks, you can use single-coil size heads in them too, so really there's no reason to buy the dual-coil size heads if you rebuild. Different chimney lengths do matter for some tanks, because longer ones may not fit, which makes the shorter no-name replacement heads useful for most applications, if you pay attention to how to mod them specifically for the tank and juice you are using.
2): Bore out stock airholes.
The stock airholes on most little clearomizers seem only to be pilot holes, and are quite easy to bore out a bit to increase airflow. I just used the small pointy tool for poking holes in leather (the real term has escaped me at the moment) that is on a small mutli-tool I bought at an auto-parts store. Increased the size of the airholes x2 on our Mini Protank 3s and Evod/Aro tanks and the vapor production also increased by at least 2x if not more. More air = more vapor, but too much air will take away some of the flavor. Find that balance and you will be happy. Now, if we are getting too much airflow, we simply plug one of the holes with a fingertip.
3) Battery devices.
We only have cheapo-type VV and non-VV batteries here right now. eGo style and a couple KGO Mega 1300MaH batteries, and two x-fire/e-fire wood VV batteries that people pay way too much for. LOL. Biggest things I've learned:
Know what you have and how it works.
There's so many different type of eGo-type 510 batteries out there, clones and brand names and such. With a little Googling, you can usually find out exactly what you have. I discovered recently that the cheap eGo-type 650MaH-size batteries we've been using (that seem to pack a BIG punch for the size) are actually cool little KGO Mega 1300MaH unregulated batteries with multi-LED voltage indicators in the button. Fully charged they belt out 4.2 volts and simply decrease voltage with use, letting me know approximate voltage range as indicated as the button changes colors. I've since read some crappy reviews on these batteries... but I'm sorry, even if these things don't last a year, that's some cool technology that is pretty useful for people who want to vape decent clouds descretely while on the go, and have their battery hold a charge all day. I will buy these KGOs over any actual Ego from now on just because of what they offer in such a small package. They stay in the 3.9-4.2v range for at least a couple hours of use, and that rules. Our VV batteries are cool too, but don't seem to hit as hard as the fully charged KGOs, even when set at 4.2v.
Center posts.
We all end up with different little tanks and clearomizers over time, with different length 510 connections and posts. If you are using different tanks on the same batteries, you WILL eventually push your battery center post down to the point that it no longer makes a connection to any of your tank bases. Simply (and gently) use a flat head something-or-other to pry up that center post a bit and you should be good to go again.
Following these few simple points on batteries, coupled with the bored-out air holes and rebuilt coils as detailed above, our little small-format vape devices put out some BIG vapor and much stonger hits. No need to throw out your starter gear if it isn't completely DOA or otherwise dangerous in some way. We have made what we have work well enough to have made analog smokes seem ridiculous, when using them in their stock config really didn't. Now, we have highly effective devices that we will continue to use after we get our mech mods and RDAs simply because what we have come up with is very portable, inexpensive gear that not only produces a lot of good vapor, but won't break our hearts if it busts or if we lose it while away from home.
I welcome any and all additions, comments, corrections, or criticism on this stuff, as I am still very new. Thanks peeps.
We officially quit stinky ciggies two days ago, BTW.
Jaffo
