Right before summer of 2014, I started to see adverts for the pre-sale of the Aspire Atlantis, their sub-ohm batteries, and a string of cheap Genesis-like rebuildable atomisers. Many forum posts saying how sub-ohm was about to become mainstream in year 2015.
I am usually very keen to technological advancement and very willing to try new gear. At the same time, I am a former pipe smoker which has been "rescued" from smoking tobacco thanks to
vaping.
In the following months, I have been talking to web shop dealers and B&M vape shop owners about the upcoming "novelty", and everybody seemed very excited by having new toys for a over-saturated vape market, which can count on switchers and many aficionados.
Well, this revolution of mainstream sub-ohming never come in reality. Many web and B&M dealers (at least, here in the UK) removed the Atlantis and other RBAs from the offer because it brought gigantic liabilities under two fronts: one, the battery side of the setup. A genuine IMR 18650 battery able to deliver 20+ Amps steadily and reliably is harder to find than previously tought; in the majority of cases, the setup just stop working after few uses.
The second front is the atomiser itself: there are no indication of sorts on what liquid has to be used. So customers were placing 18-24 mg/ml, 100% PG
e-liquid in it, their "normal"
e-liquid, ending up instantly ill. With current legislation, if a manufacturer doesn't provide correct info on a piece of equipment, the responsability falls with the seller; as the standard business insurance doesn't cover such cases of misuse, many reputable sellers just removed sub-ohming stuff from sale.
Back to my reasoning. If I want to make a gigantic cloud, I need to pump from 60 to 100 micrograms per second of e-liquid to the coil, which is from three to five times the amount flowing in a CE4 or Vivi or Nautilus. Subsequently, in order to keep the amount of nicotine intake within normality, I must use a liquid which is from three to five time weaker, around 6 mg/ml. Also the amount of aggressive PG is from three to five time more, so I must use the less "aggressive" VG -which is dehydrating tissues at lesser rate.
Therefore, those big clouds costs me in terms of e-liquid quantities, which I need to use from three to five times more $$$. And I will get the additional damage of more VG intake. One last thing: my BDC coils, properly cleaned every couple of days, lasts for a month; sub-ohm coils lifetime can be counted in hours.
All considered, the sub-ohming is a pure show-off activity, in the usual terms of "mine is bigger than yours". More technically riskier, more expensive, much less healthy. A big cloud can only be beneficial to the inner ego, not else.
Of course, this is the point of view of one... myself. I vape because I need the nic, and over the time I learned to appreciate the associated flavours. Your mileage may vary!
