The wrap with the silica sleeve around the inner ss mesh is called (for lack of a better name) the Chimichanga. It worked fine but I didn't like the way the silica sleeves would shed fine particles! It sounds like your Burrito wick either has shorts or your air hole is not aligned with the wick. Believe me, if set up correctly you will not experience any harshness. Let me run through exactly how I make the set up for you.
1. Cut a piece of ss mesh about 20mm wide and a bit taller than the atty you are using requires.
2. Fold a tiny bit (about 1/16th") of one width side of the mesh, and flatten the edge well. (This is just to make sure there are no ss threads sticking out).
3. Jack Frost both sides of the mesh with torch for about 30 seconds a side.
4. Roll your mesh around a toothpick or other thin object, making sure the folded side is on the outside. Roll it fairly tightly.
5. Carefully unwrap the wick and place a piece of silica (I use 3mm but 2.5 should work fine) inside, allowing it so hang out a bit on both ends. Re-roll it.
6. Torch the wick completely for a few minutes. Some folks water quench the wick between torching. I don't because I want a bit of springiness to remain).
7. Make your coil. I use a small machine screw (for the LavaGen I think people use a #4). I'd make about 6 coils if you're using 30 or 32awg Kanthal. Unscrew the screw from the wire, leaving a perfectly spaced coil.
8. Put a drill bit into the coil and then into your wick hole of the atty. Connect the negative wire, then while keeping the drill bit as straight as you can, connect the positive coil. you may need to stretch the coil up a bit to reach the positive connection.
9. Remover the drill bit. You should have a pretty nice looking coil suspended over the wick hole. If you have a device to read the resistance, do so and remember the reading. This is your baseline and when a perfectly oxidized wick is inserted it should read the same.
10. Check to see how easily the wick fits into the coil. Ideally you want it to just slide in with enough resistance to hold the wick in place. If it's too large, roll it between your fingers to tighten it. If it's too small, roll it the other way to loosen it up.
11. Once it fits properly, cut the top of the wick so that it is no higher than the top of the positive post. A bit lower is fine, bit higher is not!
12. Fire it up and look to see that all the coils light up evenly. Probably won't happen the first time. If it doesn't, slide the wick out and torch it some more! Put it back and try again. you could sit there and poke and prod the coil until it glows evenly but I find just sliding the wick out and torching it a bit more works for me. Usually, after a couple of torchings, You slide it in and voila! Perfect coil!
13. Now check the resistance again. It should be within 0.1 ohms of the bare coil reading. If it's not, you must have a small short somewhere. Slide it out and re-torch a bit.
I know this seems like a lot of work and many steps, but once mastered, it doesn't really take much time. The best part is that to clean it, you just slide out the wick, light it on fire to burn off the juice and then give it a quick torch. It will be clean as a whistle. While it's out you can do a few dry burns on the wick and it will be perfectly clean and ready to go. These wicks should last at least several weeks!
That's it! that's the best I can explain how I make my set ups. There are dozens of methods out there and I'm sure they all work. You just need to find one that works for you!
Here are some pics to help clarify things.
This shows how evenly the coils come out using a machine screw to make them. It's only four coils because I use a 0.9Ω coil.
This shows the finished wick.
This shows the bit of silica at the bottom of the wick. By leaving the silica hang out the bottom, it prevents any shorts that could happen if the base of the atty is SS.
