Greetings to everyone here at ECF! I have been a long time "lurker" of these forums, and the information provided by this wonderful community has helped me along in many ways on my quest for vaping satisfaction. Let me start off by providing some background on my experiences with vaping.
My first vaping device I have ever owned was one of those cheap V2 "cig-alikes" conveniently available at your common gas station. Not knowing anything about the top end devices available to me, I figured that this was as good as it got. After a while, I began to crave more from the device. I upgraded to an Ego-C battery with a Vision Vivi Nova Mini tank. This combination lasted me much longer and was much more satisfying in terms of flavor, vapor quality, and smoking cessation. At this point, vaping began to turn into more of a hobby to me. Gone were the days of smoking analogs, and I have been smoke free ever since. I am the type of person that enjoys tinkering and toying with my devices, continually trying to improve them. The Vivi Nova was a great starter, but I again needed an upgrade to satisfy my vaping needs. I purchased an Innokin SVD device, as well as your standard run-of-the-mill Kanger Protank 2. Quickly experiencing what many people experience with non-pressurized bottom-fed tanks, I fell into "Vaping Hell". I began to rebuild the Protank heads, experimenting with different wicking materials and techniques. For a while I was able to improve my vaping experience, but the Protank was just too inconsistent. Once again it was time for an upgrade, and this is where the "meat" of my post is focused.
After doing plenty of research, I decided to purchase a cheap $6 Patriot clone with some rebate points from Fasttech to experiment with. Kudos to Fasttech for the continual good service, although my SVD took near four months to arrive (I got caught up in the Malaysian Post hysteria if any of you are familiar). The world of dripping and RDAs was daunting at first, but I have a pretty good foothold now. I do have several questions, and this is where I am hoping the members of this community can be of assistance.
1. To sidestep the process of wrapping my own coils right away, I have been using pre-wrapped 1.5 ohm nichrome coils. They have been working well for me, but they seem to have too small of a diameter to get any sort of serious wicking in there. My question is, what wicking technique would be most optimal for these coils? I have heard of people use the "cotton cloud" technique of not running any wicking through the coil and placing a cloud of cotton below the coil.
2. I have been using boiled 100% cotton balls as wicking. I have learned the properties of capillary action and am messing around with cotton density to find the most efficient way to wick a single coil in my Patriot clone. Are there any tips or pieces of knowledge you folks can bestow upon me to assist with this matter? As of late I have become frustrated with lack of flavor and vapor production, constantly rebuilding my coil/wick in an attempt to make it more satisfying. It has performed lovely in the past few weeks, but for some unseen reason I am getting subpar flavor production. I have tried using less wick, less density, and varying amounts of liquid (Derailed by Suicide Bunny in 6mg).
3. I am aware that airflow is incredibly vital in achieving a satisfying vape. The Patriot clone I ordered had the usual tiny airholes, of which there were two. I drilled out these airholes a few sizes wider, and the airflow is less restrictive know. I also always make sure to align the airhole up with my coil every time I put my top cap back on. Because I am only running a single 1.5 ohm coil in my device (I don't run two, as the SVD can not subohm), I am wondering if having two airholes for just one coil may be affecting my flavor/vapor quality negatively.
Any guidance with any of these topics is much appreciated. Once again, I am excited to finally become a part of this wonderful community! Thanks for your time.
My first vaping device I have ever owned was one of those cheap V2 "cig-alikes" conveniently available at your common gas station. Not knowing anything about the top end devices available to me, I figured that this was as good as it got. After a while, I began to crave more from the device. I upgraded to an Ego-C battery with a Vision Vivi Nova Mini tank. This combination lasted me much longer and was much more satisfying in terms of flavor, vapor quality, and smoking cessation. At this point, vaping began to turn into more of a hobby to me. Gone were the days of smoking analogs, and I have been smoke free ever since. I am the type of person that enjoys tinkering and toying with my devices, continually trying to improve them. The Vivi Nova was a great starter, but I again needed an upgrade to satisfy my vaping needs. I purchased an Innokin SVD device, as well as your standard run-of-the-mill Kanger Protank 2. Quickly experiencing what many people experience with non-pressurized bottom-fed tanks, I fell into "Vaping Hell". I began to rebuild the Protank heads, experimenting with different wicking materials and techniques. For a while I was able to improve my vaping experience, but the Protank was just too inconsistent. Once again it was time for an upgrade, and this is where the "meat" of my post is focused.
After doing plenty of research, I decided to purchase a cheap $6 Patriot clone with some rebate points from Fasttech to experiment with. Kudos to Fasttech for the continual good service, although my SVD took near four months to arrive (I got caught up in the Malaysian Post hysteria if any of you are familiar). The world of dripping and RDAs was daunting at first, but I have a pretty good foothold now. I do have several questions, and this is where I am hoping the members of this community can be of assistance.
1. To sidestep the process of wrapping my own coils right away, I have been using pre-wrapped 1.5 ohm nichrome coils. They have been working well for me, but they seem to have too small of a diameter to get any sort of serious wicking in there. My question is, what wicking technique would be most optimal for these coils? I have heard of people use the "cotton cloud" technique of not running any wicking through the coil and placing a cloud of cotton below the coil.
2. I have been using boiled 100% cotton balls as wicking. I have learned the properties of capillary action and am messing around with cotton density to find the most efficient way to wick a single coil in my Patriot clone. Are there any tips or pieces of knowledge you folks can bestow upon me to assist with this matter? As of late I have become frustrated with lack of flavor and vapor production, constantly rebuilding my coil/wick in an attempt to make it more satisfying. It has performed lovely in the past few weeks, but for some unseen reason I am getting subpar flavor production. I have tried using less wick, less density, and varying amounts of liquid (Derailed by Suicide Bunny in 6mg).
3. I am aware that airflow is incredibly vital in achieving a satisfying vape. The Patriot clone I ordered had the usual tiny airholes, of which there were two. I drilled out these airholes a few sizes wider, and the airflow is less restrictive know. I also always make sure to align the airhole up with my coil every time I put my top cap back on. Because I am only running a single 1.5 ohm coil in my device (I don't run two, as the SVD can not subohm), I am wondering if having two airholes for just one coil may be affecting my flavor/vapor quality negatively.
Any guidance with any of these topics is much appreciated. Once again, I am excited to finally become a part of this wonderful community! Thanks for your time.
