Mark Bugs Bottom Feeding Rebuildable Atomizer (prototype) initial impressions

[kazz63758]

No kidding, I am truly blessed and defecating in tall cotton, my friend! I was going to give the ego-c I won at the vape meet away before she who must be obeyed* called dibs. BUT...with the VV Grand and this becoming available, everyone should get a piece of this action. I dreamed about this combo for months before the components became available...and my dreams came true!

LMAO. I'm not sure where "the land of no hills" mentioned beneath your avatar is located--but with that phrase I am guessing there is some southern history in your background

Yes, I've had great expectations for the VV Grand since it was announced. A rebuildable for bottom feeders is just icing on the cake. I look forward to a trip to tall cotton myself...

 

[clyde2801]

Oklahoma...central and western, to be exact. Grew up in Clinton in Custer County...which used to have the highest concentration of native americans than any other place in the country!

My parents were depression babies who did their share of picking it...some of the earthy farming expressions sometimes comes through...

 

[JC Okie]

Hi, Clyde. Ha....tall cotton! My daddy used to say that all the time....in it's "rawest" form. I just wanted to come on here to mention (read: rub it in! ) that I was one of the lucky "beta testers" at the vapemeet Saturday who got to play with Clyde's two new "toys".....and I love them both. The atty is just simply awesome and I want one VERY badly....right now! And....the VV REO Grand he was sporting around was so beautiful you just wouldn't believe. Love the button placement on it...and everything else about it.

I didn't offer up any ummm "party favors"... let's say....., but I did hang around his table and his toys quite a bit on Saturday. Every half hour or so, I'd go back for another "test" of the atty. Really, really nice. You guys....wait 'til you see it/get your hands on one....it's a beaut! I've been interested in/curious about rebuildable attys for a long time, but somehow thought they'd be so complicated that I probably would never end up having one. But he broke his down and showed me the "guts" and it looks so clean, and so......"do-able." I'm absolutely sure now that not only do I want one, but I'm sooooo excited about approaching that new frontier of my vaping education that I'm almost giddy. Just wanted to drop by and add my opinion and stir up a little envy. I think I got lucky by being in the right place at the right time this weekend.....

Jan

 

[kazz63758]

Hi, Clyde. Ha....tall cotton! My daddy used to say that all the time....in it's "rawest" form. I just wanted to come on here to mention (read: rub it in! ) that I was one of the lucky "beta testers" at the vapemeet Saturday who got to play with Clyde's two new "toys".....and I love them both. The atty is just simply awesome and I want one VERY badly....right now! And....the VV REO Grand he was sporting around was so beautiful you just wouldn't believe. Love the button placement on it...and everything else about it.

I didn't offer up any ummm "party favors"... let's say....., but I did hang around his table and his toys quite a bit on Saturday. Every half hour or so, I'd go back for another "test" of the atty. Really, really nice. You guys....wait 'til you see it/get your hands on one....it's a beaut! I've been interested in/curious about rebuildable attys for a long time, but somehow thought they'd be so complicated that I probably would never end up having one. But he broke his down and showed me the "guts" and it looks so clean, and so......"do-able." I'm absolutely sure now that not only do I want one, but I'm sooooo excited about approaching that new frontier of my vaping education that I'm almost giddy. just wanted to drop by and add my opinion and stir up a little envy. I think I got lucky by being in the right place at the right time this weekend.....

Jan

Thanks for your input! It is always nice to have multiple opinions on something you haven't gotten to try yourself. I am really looking forward to giving this atty a spin on my bottom feeders.

And I understand the earthy farm expressions Cotton was king in Southeast Missouri when I was a child. Not so much anymore. While typing this reply I had a sudden memory of the smell of the cotton oil mill from my younger days...

 

[hildicat]

Just yesterday I blew a coil on a brand new $10 atty. Just a few hours in and its dead, reading 0 ohm. I have a stash of 4 left over and I'm seriously hoping to stretch those till the end of the month. The last thing I want to do is throw more money at these 'disposable' atomizers.
BTW, that leads me to a new way of thinking. It seems to make sense to think about all of these commercial attys as disposable/consumable items. I guess thats always been the case, especially since I can never get more than 2 good weeks outta one. But in my head I never really quite saw it that way, especially after paying $20+ for some of them. Now I'm eagerly waiting to buy my first 'permanent' atomizer, and I feel much better about consumables being wire, wick and of course joose.

 

[clyde2801]

When Cisco first got into the atty business, it was because he could see what he considered deliberate fail points being built into his chinese attys. Our friends behind the bamboo curtain have one thing in common with their ideological foes on wall street: they all want to make a much profit as they can.

The custom atty folks like Cisco started to change the rules....and started to force the mass manufacturers to step up their game to keep up. This is a good thing. And the process is continuing to evolve.

Right now, I could see two hypothetical threats to the chalice. One would be a chinese knockoff "the goblet" mass produced in bulk for 2/3 the price of the chalice or less with most of the chalice's features.

The other would be a good nonrebuildable made to work with a bottom feeder that would reasonably stand up to a month of heavy vaping (say, it used ss mesh for wick) for $15 or less. Assuming the chalice sold for the worst case scenario price of $150, it would be a formidable opponent.... the enemy of the best is the good enough. A Reo owner could look at that atty at determine they could get their feet wet at $30 plus shipping for two months worth of vaping, and not have to buy rebuildable parts or have to mess with coiling. And if this atty lived up to its promise and provided a satisfactory vaping experience, most people would then stick with it. Such an atty would draw most conventional vapers and leave the Chalice to hardcore modders and tweakers, sort of a windows vs. unix sort of deal.

But so far this is all theoretical, and is speculation on what MAY happen tomorrow. I prefer to live in today...especially since today I'm vaping my BFF/Chalice on my VV Grand with a almost two week old SS wick and coil, and enjoying the hell out of it.

 

[Justice]

Good to see ya post Clyde Been busy at work eh ? sent ya a couple PMs when ya get some time take care pal looking forward to the release

 

[kazz63758]

I prefer to live in today...especially since today I'm vaping my BFF/Chalice on my VV Grand with a almost two week old SS wick and coil, and enjoying the hell out of it.

I re-read your original post with the description of how easy it is to change coil/wicks. My question is using a week old set up--do you notice any change from when it was fresh? Have you cleaned or dry burned it at all? I am finding with Cisco spec 510s that I start noticing a flavor change after 10-15 ml and give them a soak and put another in rotation. It would be wonderful if the SS mesh gave a longer time before changing.

If it is needed, would it be possible to remove the assembly, clean it and reinstall without messing up the coil? Or would you have to reroll it every time?

My only experience with a rebuildable is with the GTank US coop. I have gotten a wick oxidised and coil to fire. But, to be honest, it hasn't gotten enough use to gunk it up yet. I just keep using my Reos

Really looking forward to giving the Chalice a spin...

 

[clyde2801]

I re-read your original post with the description of how easy it is to change coil/wicks. My question is using a week old set up--do you notice any change from when it was fresh? Have you cleaned or dry burned it at all? I am finding with Cisco spec 510s that I start noticing a flavor change after 10-15 ml and give them a soak and put another in rotation. It would be wonderful if the SS mesh gave a longer time before changing.

If it is needed, would it be possible to remove the assembly, clean it and reinstall without messing up the coil? Or would you have to reroll it every time?

My only experience with a rebuildable is with the GTank US coop. I have gotten a wick oxidised and coil to fire. But, to be honest, it hasn't gotten enough use to gunk it up yet. I just keep using my Reos

Really looking forward to giving the Chalice a spin...

With silica, it makes more sense to dry burn it daily after a day or two until it gives up completely or you want to recoil and reroll it. Same pretty much goes for SS mesh except you can get more life out of it. My philosophy is that since it is so easy to redo it completely, it makes more sense to rewick and coil than extensive cleaning methods (i.e., anything other than a quick dry burn). I think you can reuse the ss wick (unlike a zenesis or genesis, it doesn't have to operate like a straw, so a little gunk is not going to stop the mod cold), but redoing it with a 2 inch piece of kanthal and a 1x3mm piece of wire mesh makes more sense to me.

I would NOT recommend soaking the base in anything, even though it's made for juice to shoot through the center of it.

 

[clyde2801]

Librarian at my local law library is a super hot cutie. Killer looks with a great personality. God knows how many pasty, middle aged attorneys secret pine away for her. She also smokes, and wants to quit.

In the-harumph-genuinely humanitarian desire-cough-to help a fellow smoker escape their addiction, I'm always showing her latest mod and inviting her to give it a try. The woman is very hard to please, her reactions vary from 'meh' to 'nope'.

Her eyes opened wide trying the BFF/Chalice and the VV Grand, which is the reaction I've come to expect. And she liked by Havana Gold mixture home blend. "Wow! I've tried a lot of these, but I like this best of all! God, yours feels so big in my hand! ". (At which point, I turn, hand my client my iPhone and instruct him to film it if I can get her to say it again, but no dice: she's pretty, but not stupid.) She's asking about the mod (ROB AND/OR MARK: IF YOU GET A PHONE CALL FROM AN OKLAHOMA LAW LIBRARY, YOU MAY REALLY WANT TO TAKE IT!!!!!:wink) and seriously looking at ecigs as a result of it.

I thought I couldn't find anything else positive to say about Excalibur, but I was wrong. The VV Grand and the BFF: bringing the sexy to vaping! Having thought of this as an ultraexotic mod in terms of performance, I see that-like a high performance sportscar-it has other benefits as well...

Some days, it's good to be the Clyde; and this was one of those days!






*Insanely Hot Librarian

 

[hildicat]

Just another reason to envy you Clyde! When I read the part about her comment on how it felt in her hand all I could is 'that's what she said', and give a little chuckle.
So are things still looking good for the end of the month? I've been eyeballing some other mods and rebuildable attys but always come back to the conclusion that what I really want is the Chalice on a VV Grand.

 

[Keekers]

I'm glad my attys don't die before 2 weeks is up! I must have good luck with them because I'm still vaping the $9 ones that I ordered a month ago.

Of course they can't compare to the Chalice but they are definitely saving me some money.

 

[Geoscouter]

Librarian at my local law library is a super hot cutie. Killer looks with a great personality. God knows how many pasty, middle aged attorneys secret pine away for her. She also smokes, and wants to quit.

In the-harumph-genuinely humanitarian desire-cough-to help a fellow smoker escape their addiction, I'm always showing her latest mod and inviting her to give it a try. The woman is very hard to please, her reactions vary from 'meh' to 'nope'.

Her eyes opened wide trying the BFF/Chalice and the VV Grand, which is the reaction I've come to expect. And she liked by Havana Gold mixture home blend. "Wow! I've tried a lot of these, but I like this best of all! God, yours feels so big in my hand! ". (At which point, I turn, hand my client my iPhone and instruct him to film it if I can get her to say it again, but no dice: she's pretty, but not stupid.) She's asking about the mod (ROB AND/OR MARK: IF YOU GET A PHONE CALL FROM AN OKLAHOMA LAW LIBRARY, YOU MAY REALLY WANT TO TAKE IT!!!!!:wink) and seriously looking at ecigs as a result of it.

I thought I couldn't find anything else positive to say about Excalibur, but I was wrong. The VV Grand and the BFF: bringing the sexy to vaping! Having thought of this as an ultraexotic mod in terms of performance, I see that-like a high performance sportscar-it has other benefits as well...

Some days, it's good to be the Clyde; and this was one of those days!






*Insanely Hot Librarian

So I can't remember.... Does BFF stand for Best Female Finder? And what about VV --- Virtuous Vixen?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[clyde2801]

So I can't remember.... Does BFF stand for Best Female Finder? And what about VV --- Virtuous Vixen?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To answer your questions respectively, yes, and I sure hope not!

 

[kazz63758]

Some days, it's good to be the Clyde; and this was one of those days!

*Insanely Hot Librarian

Damn, your month keeps getting better and better!

 

[clyde2801]

Damn, your month keeps getting better and better!

That's what she said!

 

[clyde2801]

I've got a few questions about where and how to get materials to rebuild the wick and coil on the BFF Chalice. I'll share a couple of my favs with you:

The Chalice is the newest addition to the MarkBugs rebuildable atomizer family, so cloud9vaping's page for the Mark T Infinity is a good place to start. Think of it as one stop shopping for the Chalice, including special mark bugs pre-fabbed, pre-coiled wick and wire:

Mark Bugs Products - Cloud 9 Vaping

Ebay contains wealth of materials:

Kanthal A1 32 AWG Resistance heating wire, Kanthal A-1 32 awg 75ft | eBay (kanthal wire, roughly 75 feet for 5 bucks).

Thick Bulli wick (1/16" inch, or 2mm, candle wick) www.wickstore.com
1/16" FIBERGLASS Wick for Oil Lamp Rock Candle Kerosene | eBay

Stainless Steel 400 mesh cloth
Stainless Steel Woven Wire Mesh in A4 sheet format: 304, 316, 316L
McMaster-Carr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WOVEN-WIRE-...ultDomain_0&hash=item2c65e52f17#ht_988wt_1180

Good resources are the cloud9vaping infinity site and ECF's threads on this atty and the Bulli A2 for tips, tricks and how-to's.

Hope this helps!

 

[hildicat]

Hey Clyde. Thanks again for these resources. I have a question about Mark-T Infinity Element Wire, as seen at the COV site. Are these pre-wound atty coils? If so, does this replace the need to buy Kanthal wire and make our own coils? I guess you would just cut a length and then insert your wick of choice into the coil then add the whole thing to the atty, right? That does seem more convenient than having to make my own coil. If I understand this correctly, I would love to hear from anyone that has used these pre-wound coils that COV is selling.

 

[clyde2801]

They are a pre wound, all in one solution. The wire is already wound around the wick...just cut the right length and stick the ends into your Chalice. No need to add wick, it's already included. Nice solution if you're not a DIY, Tweak with It sort of person. My Infinity and BFF came with a SR coil and wick already added (so'se youse can jus stick it on yer Reo and start vapin') so you'll probably start out with it anyway.

Word of warning....thick bulli doesn't seem to last as long as looped regular bulli, but it's so much damned easier for me to coil (no safety pin or nail needed) that I prefer it over the thinner version.

Tell you what, anyone wants to try some thick bulli, send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I'll mail you six inches of it to play with (what the hell, I've got 100 yards of it!):

Clyde Anderson, Attorney at Law
6636 N.W. 39th Expressway, Ste 100
Bethany, OK 73008

 

[hildicat]

Ah, ok. That really does make much more sense now that I think about it. Hopefully by the time these come out I'll know just about all there is to know about coils and wicks and bulli and cotton and gauze and mesh and all the other variables involved. Then again, mostly likely not...