OK thanks. I will try the Rose with and without cup - the few times I used it before I always had the cup in. But I was using crappy juice, and having all sorts of problems with the build, so it wasn't a good test. I'm hoping the Rose v2-s will be up to Hotcig's normal standards and be a near perfect clone, so I can see how it as it should be.
I think it arrives tomorrow actually.
Re GG: Yes, they just released the Tilemahos v2plus with the reduced airflow. And did so literally four days after I received my v2! So I was a bit miffed about that. It was my fault of course, I rushed in and didn't read the last few pages of the thread where it had been mentioned as coming - doubly stupid as I'd waited several days for the shop to re-open, so I had plenty of time to read more about it. Anyway, now I've so recently spent €90 on it I don't feel like spending half that again to upgrade my existing one to the flavour chaser edition.
Re flavour, so far it's been OK but not exceptional. It's hard to tell as I've only had two juices in it, both fairly new and neither of which I've yet tried in my "flavour benchmarker" (Aqua v2 or SE).
One thing that i think might impact flavour in the Tile is that that the juice control raises the roof of the chimney away from the coil. I'm always reading that a small chamber is optimal for flavour, which does make sense. On the tile, and a few other tanks I guess, that's affected by opening JC. As a result I try to have it open as little as possible, but I expect there's still going to be quite a big gap between coil and chimney roof.
I suppose I could try raising that coil up a lot. And good idea about the piercing needles, I will have to give that a try.
I do like the Tile overall, it's very usable and has the accessible deck/top fill combo that I now try to get whenever possible. But I suppose it didn't blow me away. And the rotatable deck which looked really cool hasn't turned out to be a revelation to my coiling - rather like the non-conductive decks of the Squapes didn't, either. But maybe it'll come in handy sometime.
It's a clearly a carefully thought out, nicely designed tank, and for €90 I think it's good value. Though I still think they absolutely must include spares with it, even if that means raising the price a couple of euros. Fortunately I was forewarned and did get a spare o-ring set, but they were out of stock of spare screws.
Incidentally in terms of reduced air hole size and flavour, I noticed that my new Titanium Ataman 2 has one of the smallest coil air holes I've seen. The draw is just open enough for me, but will likely be too closed for many people. I suppose that's done for the same reason that GG are now reducing their air hole. And that was also a tank in which I had to elevate the coil above the screws, so it's now right next to the air tube and even tighter as a result. All that said, the flavour is mixed - definitely hints of yumminess but not super strong. But I can't assume anything about it yet because I christened the tank with new juice, so I don't know for sure how strong the juice actually is.
I'll certainly let you all know if I can tell any difference with the ceramic deck on the Squape! I suppose I'll replace my broken Ivogo bell cap as well as it's only $2.80.