New member, old vaper, having issues with Aspire Nautilus

[Pavone]

As the title says, I'm a new member. Been lurking on the site now for a few years without feeling the need to post, and have been loving vaping now since 2009.

I started with the little Joyetech 510's with the recharging pack and all, made the smart move to the EGO-T (which lasted all of a week, never got any flavor out of any heads). Vision Vivi Nova, Kanger EVOD, mini nova (still going strong!) and my main vape for the last year and a half or so has been the Innokin iClear30 with an eVic. It leaks like a siv and can't be filled to max without leaking, but the taste was always great so I stuck with it. With regular cleaning, I have only used 5 heads in a year and a half with the iClear 30.


Last week, after many great reviews from the Aspire Nautilus thread, as well as PBusardo's review and head to head with the other adjustable airflow tanks, I made the jump the the Aspire Nautilus from ViperVape.com

It was great for the first day... great flavor, amazing draw and throat hit right where I wanted. Then the flavor suddenly disappeared. To remedy I tried the usual cleaning with vodka and dry burning the (not much of it!) burnt juice off... To no avail. Nothing but dry hits. No burning taste either.

I figured maybe the head went out... swapped in the second 1.8ohm head, and immediately after a few vapes it had no flavor what so ever. All day I have been trying to get flavor out of this thing, and no results. I am vaping Copper Creek's House Blend 40/60 pg/vg. I have also tried Viper Vapes' French Vanilla and Black Cherry, both of which are 70/30 pg/vg.. and still no flavor using either head. Viper Vape did not have extra heads in stock or I would have ordered more... but I sincerely doubt the heads are burnt out already after barely being used.

I have attempted to vape at 3.3v/6w, 4v/8.9w, and everywhere in between, and at every air setting.O even bumped it up to 5v/11w just to see if that did it, and nothing. I just can't get any flavor, even on the smallest airhole and trying to suck a golfball through a garden hose if you know what I mean. Have tried all the flavors I have and everything I know to include cleaning, all to no avail. Am I vaping at the wrong settings?

Help! I want to love this new tank, because it just seems like the best vape tank to come out in years.. but I just can't get any flavor. Every hit is dry as a bone.



Thanks guys,
-Leigh

 

[-KBB-]

Man, I hope this doesn't happen to me. Mine is in the mail. My allergies are flaring up, and due to that my taste buds are going. Could be that? Hmm, I've heard that some people add a drop of liquid to the top of the head to prime it. Maybe worth a shot. But if it is still vaping and the flavor is muted, I don't know dude. I'll let you know what I find with mine that I got from Viper-Vapes.

 

[Pavone]

I generally have never had allergies, and I've lived all over the country, so I doubt it's that. I also tried priming initially with both heads.

 

[Pavone]

Just for ....s n giggles I tried priming again, with both heads. Each time I got the taste until the prime was gone, and now its back to dry hits.

 

[-KBB-]

Its got to be the heads man. I hope Viper Vapes didn't get a bad supply of them. If you're willing, I'd try buying new heads at GotVapes. It looks like other forum members have no issue with them. That's a bummer though man -- sorry to hear that.

 

[-KBB-]

I'm trying to find out from people if you can dry burn these suckers. I have the Aspire BDC Vivi Nova style, and had a similar issue. I ended up tearing apart the entire head to figure it out. I think I have a handle on it now though. I take off the center post, remove the filler material that lines the atty/center post (and though that junk away), and then dry burn it with the post off. Reassemble and vape. The only caveat to this though is you got to be using pretty thick juice for it to work. I have 100%VG and a 90%VG/10%PG, and it works fine. The 60vg/40vg I have leaked all over the place.

Another note to the procedure, though is that when I tried dry burning with the filler and center post in place -- the juice tasted awful. It seems like the filler material got burned and there was no way to rectify it... Without of course taking out that filler stuff.

I'm wondering if you can take that filler material out of the head or not.. Nobody's responded so I guess the few people having issue have to band together and figure this out ourselves. It seems most people find a sweet spot at around 4.3-4.7 volts though...

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

It may be you are trying to vape too quickly and not allowing the juice to get to the wicks fast enough? I have one and haven't had those problems. Of course, I have other pv's that I switch off on that have other flavors too. Is your juice thick?

 

[DavidAmonettNashville]

Wow, I just finished watching the video myself,,, A PBusardo Review & Contest Winner - The Battle Of The Bottoms & The Stocking Winner - YouTube please keep us updated-Dave

 

[Pavone]

It may be you are trying to vape too quickly and not allowing the juice to get to the wicks fast enough? I have one and haven't had those problems. Of course, I have other pv's that I switch off on that have other flavors too. Is your juice thick?

I have tried Copper Creek's House Blend (which has always been flawless in my iClear30) which is 40pg/60vg, I have also tried Viper Vapes Black Cherry and Viper Vapes French Vanilla, both of which are 70pg/30vg. All have the same dry hit, like its just not wicking.


I have tried emptying it, cleaning it, and filling it again.. did a few priming puffs without turning on the power, at all 4 hole settings. I have also tried dropping a few drips directly onto the coils to prime... Every time no matter what I do I can't get more than 1 or 2 puffs that have any taste, and from there on it is nothing but dry hits.

 

[RubyRoo]

So, it's obviously not wicking right, so, what shall we do . . . hmmmmm . . . I guess I would try and vape it at its smallest airflow setting for a little while, giving frequent unpowered primer puffs (short, fast, hard drags) if you see bubbles rising in your tank, then you know its wicking correctly. It sounds to me like the vacuum isn't getting established in your tank, and it's not wicking right. Are all of the seals in your tank flush? Is every part that you can screw in, screwed in all the way so that the seals are totally sealed? Hope this helps, and I hope you figure it out!

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I have tried Copper Creek's House Blend (which has always been flawless in my iClear30) which is 40pg/60vg, I have also tried Viper Vapes Black Cherry and Viper Vapes French Vanilla, both of which are 70pg/30vg. All have the same dry hit, like its just not wicking.


I have tried emptying it, cleaning it, and filling it again.. did a few priming puffs without turning on the power, at all 4 hole settings. I have also tried dropping a few drips directly onto the coils to prime... Every time no matter what I do I can't get more than 1 or 2 puffs that have any taste, and from there on it is nothing but dry hits.

Since they are so new, and I am not experiencing what you are, can you contact the vendor and tell them what is going on? Maybe they would have some other insight as to what is happening to this particular new model. the only other thing(and I really don't think that is the problem) is that all of your ejuices are dark and darker eliquids do tend to gunk up coils quicker than clear ones.

I hope also that another member comes by and offers better help than I.

Let us know if you do contact the vendor and what(if any) advice they may offer.


ETA, I vape all my darker ejuices in iclear16's and they wick much better than with the bottom coils I have and lasts a lot longer. Also, I am only hitting my Nautilus every 20 mins or so maybe every half hour.

 

[Papajohns]

I hope you get this figured out. I want to get a Nautilus and this is the first time I've heard someone have a problem with it.

 

[Pavone]

So, it's obviously not wicking right, so, what shall we do . . . hmmmmm . . . I guess I would try and vape it at its smallest airflow setting for a little while, giving frequent unpowered primer puffs (short, fast, hard drags) if you see bubbles rising in your tank, then you know its wicking correctly. It sounds to me like the vacuum isn't getting established in your tank, and it's not wicking right. Are all of the seals in your tank flush? Is every part that you can screw in, screwed in all the way so that the seals are totally sealed? Hope this helps, and I hope you figure it out!

I will try it at smallest and prime puff the hell out of it... It is all screwed together tight. I am worried if I crank the top down any tighter it will break the pyrex.

 

[Pavone]

So after priming this thing like I was trying to get it to marry me, and only puffing long slow drags on the smallest air setting.. I am now getting some flavor. It still does not taste as full flavored as I know it should, but at least the flavor is there. I have opened it up to the 2nd smallest airhole and have been vaping for a few minutes that way, and it is improved from the complete dry hits. I normally vape long slow drags all day long. Also another thing I found after disassembling and reassembling was there was a small burr on one of the innermost threads on the tank top, where the pyrex screws into it. I got rid of the burr with the file on my nailclippers, and the top seemed to screw down further on to the tank. Seems like vacuum was an issue.


I am hoping that after "breaking it in" for a little while that it will perform like the reviews I have heard from other owners. This is a beautiful and well built tank, and I really want it to be my go-to vape.

 

[volume control]

i feel like im in the same boat as you. First day i got mine, threw in some kinda thick juice, and was vaping 8-9 watts having a blast for a bit. Then i threw it on my mech to see how it was on that, and huge burn. The burnt flavor kind of went away and came back over and over and the head was unusable pretty quickly. So i threw the 1.8ohm head on there. Well the 1.8ohm head stuggles with my thin juice (which i put in so i could have it wick like crazy and crank it up) at above 7 watts and starts to taste a little burnt. Im not sure but the 1.6 heads may be a lot better? It does have a lot of warmth and flavor for a BCC though, i do like that. Hoping its just a bad head, and looking for some 1.6ohms out there. I think if youre careful with them, they may be better than a rewicked Protank (lol)



Forgot to mention, if i use anything above the smallest air setting, it doesnt wick anything

 

[swhite]

I hope that it will continue to improve for you and start working right too. Just thought I would add that I got my nautilus 2 days ago and it has worked perfectly from the start (bought through Stormys Vapor Cellar). I tried both coils that came with my tank and both work fine. I would try ordering more heads and see if that fixes it because you should not be having this much trouble. I think you will love this tank once it is working right. I know I do. Good luck.

 

[-KBB-]

RubyRoo brings up another great idea. Are your tanks completely full as well? I've noticed with my Aspire BDC's I get vapor lock. The physics is pretty boring, but in a nutshell when the tank is completely full there isn't enough pressure differential between the tank and the head feeder holes. So, what I found is that with my Aspire BDC's I try to keep the tank at half full all the time. This ensures there is enough air pressing down on the fluid to allow a positive pressure in the tank. There should be a relative negative pressure in the atty chamber via a venturi just by sucking on it... Positive pressure (a lot of it) wants to go into the negative pressure (not much of it) to equalize it. I'd give that a shot. Also, you could try to tip the entire tank upside down for about 15 seconds and then flip it back over (make sure its half full)... If there are no air bubbles that come up from the head after you flip it right side up, then there is something up with the head. Obstruction? A tank out of specs? Only a few guesses.

 

[Czerno]

I'm having the same problem with the Nautilus. I assume I have two faulty coils and am waiting for spares from gotvapes. It's a bit crude, but you can just unscrew the tank from the base a little bit until some air bubbles escape and reseal it. Vape until dry hits return and repeat. The seal is thick enough so that it really doesn't cause any leaking. Definitely not what I was hoping for with this tank so I'm really hoping it's just poorly made coils.

 

[-KBB-]

I got mine yesterday. I tasted a bit of silica on the first few pulls. However, the flavor comes out rich even amidst my allergies (its funny seeing clouds of vapor blow out one nostril). Good luck! It does seem like the taste got even better after letting it sit all night.

 

[Pavone]

RubyRoo brings up another great idea. Are your tanks completely full as well? I've noticed with my Aspire BDC's I get vapor lock. The physics is pretty boring, but in a nutshell when the tank is completely full there isn't enough pressure differential between the tank and the head feeder holes. So, what I found is that with my Aspire BDC's I try to keep the tank at half full all the time. This ensures there is enough air pressing down on the fluid to allow a positive pressure in the tank. There should be a relative negative pressure in the atty chamber via a venturi just by sucking on it... Positive pressure (a lot of it) wants to go into the negative pressure (not much of it) to equalize it. I'd give that a shot. Also, you could try to tip the entire tank upside down for about 15 seconds and then flip it back over (make sure its half full)... If there are no air bubbles that come up from the head after you flip it right side up, then there is something up with the head. Obstruction? A tank out of specs? Only a few guesses.

This is the ONE THING I did not try before posting. I emptied about half the juice, made sure everything was as tight as my massive manhands could make it, took some priming puffs like I was trying to make it pay me, and then let it sit for a few minutes.

A few minutes rolls by, and I fire it up at 4.4v and the second largest hole.. and voila, the taste is there. Big long drags and it still tastes good. After every few long puffs I have to still give it a few priming puffs, but I attribute that to the 40pg/60vg I am using. Seems the nautilus (or just mine) has a bit of a problem with thicker juices.

I can't imagine why I have to fill it to half to get it to wick though, even with 70pg/30vg? The reviews I saw and read have no such issues. Should I move to strictly high PG juices with this?