A couple of factors coalesced today that motivated me to change what I've been doing.
First, I've read numerous posts on various threads (including this one) asserting that old-style spaced coils gunk less with NETs than the more recent micro coils many of us have come to rely on. While I can't confirm or deny that, I've seen enough posts claiming that it's true to want to test it for myself.
Second, I have a boat load of bottom-coil clearos that use Kanger EVOD or ProTank heads. Over the past year, I've gotten good at rebuilding them with micro coils wicked with KGD cotton or rayon. Recently, however, I popped for four Aspire Nautilus tanks---two full-size and two minis, and switched them from BDC heads---horizontal dual coils--to the newer BVC heads that use a single hollow vertical coil. The new BVCs are touted as being untouched for flavor and higher-wattage performance. The problem, though, is that the heads are two bucks apiece, don't last long, and are a pain to rebuild.
The Nautilus tanks work beautifully on my new eLeaf iStick, a tiny regulated VV/VW box mod that's very cool---cute as a button, very small, ergonomically nice, vapes from 5-20 watts, and has a big 2200mAh internal 18650, all for $32 shipped. The only downside to the iStick is that the engineers foolishly programmed the chips so that the PWM is calibrated to Vavg rather than Vrms, which means that the iStick runs very hot at low wattage. Basically, none of my many 1.5 ohm EVOD-style clearos work on the iStick. They can't wick fast enough to handle the extra current of the iStick's low-wattage miscalibration. The Nautilus Mini tanks, however, with their hollow vertical coils, are fantastic on the iStick.
I thought, "Hmmm. I wonder if I could rebuild my EVOD/ProTank heads with hollow vertical coils?" A little searching revealed a bunch of threads on ECF about doing that very thing. An hour later, I'd mastered the rebuild technique, and two hours after that, all ten or so of the EVOD-style clearos in my arsenal that are filled with my own homemade DIY NETs were refitted with heads using 1.5-2.2 ohm vertical coils. For convenience, I used pre-built 32ga nichrome spaced coils rated at 2.4 ohms with silica wicks from FastTech (4¢ each) and slid the wicks right off the coils. Rather than wicking through the center of the coil, the wicking material is packed tightly around the vertical coil, whose center remains empty (thus "hollow"). Air flow comes up through the center of the coil, which is kept wetter by both the spaced coil wraps and the greater amount of wicking material packed around the outside. I used rayon rather than cotton, because rayon doesn't expand after saturation.
Faster wicking and a wetter coil reduce the juice's susceptibility to burning, which allows vaping at higher watts, while also providing more vapor and significantly improved flavor---very close to Kayfun/Magma/Origen levels. Compared to regular clearos or even horizontal micro-coiled rebuilds, the draw is airier, which I've come to like after drilling larger air holes on all my bottom-feeder RBAs.
Supposedly, the hollow vertical coil build reduces or at least delays coil crusting and wick gunking, allowing much more vaping time between rebuilds. That's obviously a big deal with macerated NETs. I'm only on Day One with this new approach, so time will tell on that. If it proves true, I won't be doing much dripping of NETs anymore, except for initial testing. So far, the new vertical coil builds are great, which is especially wonderful from clearos that cost a buck and a half each whose heads can be rebuilt for less than a dime.
I was a happy vaper before today, but I'm an even happier vaper now.
and said "man that sheet is strong!"
My NET.com order should be here today when I get home from work. I also ordered Dunhill Early Morning Pipe, Sutliff, and Toasted Cavendish from MVJ this morning.
) but it comes down to each individual blend, I've found.
