on #4 I decided to try and burn the wicks using a butane torch lighter. I torched the wicks in the new CE2 guts, dry burned the coil for quite awhile (to simulate 'torching' the wick inside the coil) I unravelled the ends of the wicks.... This bad boy stays BLACK even at 5v.. so much vapor and flavor... burning the wicks still does definitely do SOMETHING.. i don't know what but the difference was so pronounced it was unreal.
I decided to use #5 to confirm my findings, so with #5 I simply just burnt the wicks/dry burn (while they are new, without juice).. I didn't do any of the other mods I did with the last one (like replacing the fill-cap upside-down to improve wicking, which it does) just burnt the wicks..
And #5 wicked almost as good as #4.. heh.. if anyone has any idea WHY this works, please chime in.. but it does appear to work.
I tested a couple of CE2's(15) last night and I found that torching the wick with a butane torch for about 40 seconds improved them quite a bit. After torching they wick in a more consistent manner, ones that had dry hit's stayed moist, and one's that had been over drawing fluid stopped. The people at Royal Smoker say that they burn the wick before they send them, I do not believe them.