New User Questions

[McScrotington]

Hello fellow vapers,

I have been vaping for a few years now. I started with the safe cig and it was alright. I moved on to the Volcano Inferno and I used that for about 6 months and today my Lavatube V2.5 just showed up. I got the 2 18650s that I purchased all charged up and set up my Lavatube for the first time. My current rig is as follows: A gun metal grey Lavatube V2.5, the 7ml tube tank with a 3.0 ohm single coil cartomizer, an 18650 2000mah battery, and Tobacco Pure extra high (24mg) e-juice. My question is, as a new VV,VW user, what voltage or wattage should I be using? Is each juice different and therefore requires a different vaping temp? When should I use watts and when should I use volts? When I first filled my tubetank and tried vaping, I noticed a strong burnt plastic flavor which I have experienced before and recognize that there is not enough juice being absorbed my the cotton. So I took a few strong drags without activating the heating element to get more juice to flow in from the bottom. I added a few more drops at the top end. This solved the problem for about 5 drags. After that the vapor had a strong burning flavor again. I figured that I had only gotten the cotton to a minimal saturation level the first time and decided to add more. I didn't add much, but I still managed to flood it. I vaped through it and it cleared out in just a few pulls. Then it vaped fine for 5-10 drags and the burnt flavor was back. Is this a common problem? Is it the cartomizer? I have had cartomizer issues since I first started using the Inferno, it seems that about 25% of them are less than optimal. Any help would be appreciated and I am sure I will be back with more questions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Did you prime the carto properly before pressing the fire button?
A standard size carto holds 18 - 22 drops, an xl carto holds 30 - 40 drops.

The main point to using a VV / VW device is to be able to adjust the power up / down to find your sweet spot with various juice flavors & pg/vg ratios.
Start off at a low setting and work your way up slowly, if you get a slight burnt taste turn it down a little.

 

[Subdivisions]

I'll add that using voltage and wattage are directly related to each other. When you turn up the voltage you are turning up the wattage. If you have a 2 ohm carto and set the voltage to 4 volts then you are putting 8 watts into the coil. It's easier to use the wattage settings if you know you like say 8 watts for example because the device will automatically set the voltage according to the resistance of the coil you're using.

What % of VG is in your juice?? Thick juice can have a hard time getting into small holes in a pre-punched carto. Does your cartomizer have any holes in it??

 

[CreepyLady]

Hi and welcome to ECF! Congrats on the Lavatube you just added in to your rotation!

I have one also - its a dependable lil machine. I prefer wattage mode on all of my devices that offer it as opposed to volts. Honestly its really about the same - I just have flavors that are good at the same watt or a close watt setting and not so much in voltage mode because the atomizers have slightly different resistances.

Every liquid may have a different sweet spot. Start low and move up until its not good then back it down to your favorite spot out of the settings.

The burnt taste could be a crap carto, could be that it is not primed or it could be that you are vaping to high. A lot of folks - especially when something is new (I TOTALLY did this) like to crank up full power - I had kind of a "POWER- gimme it! what can it do?" complex when I moved up. I have found my sweet spot is 6-7.5 watts mostly.

If you are certain the carto is well primed - start your volts all the way low (5? I think) and see if that solves it - if not then my guess - the carto is bunk.

Hope this helps!

 

[RedNBlack]

Welcome McScrotington,
Not much I cam add to the posts from
Elvis and CLady.......except that that carto may be at the end of it's life cycle.
Do other new cartos give you the same results???

 

[elfy]

is it time to mention Provari with the 200 feet of copper coil and hundred pounds of hemp fiber wicks?

no?

...ok...now?


with variable voltage stuff, its always best to start low and work up, because starting at the top just means you are cooking stuff with no chance to back it off lol.

i use different gear; Kanger Mini Protank II minis, I rebuild the coils (just washed and put in new cotton wicks, yum). I find that a rebuilt coil is a lot better vapor producer than a stock Kanger head.

 

[McScrotington]

It was the cartomizer. I just changed it out and it is working perfectly now. Thanks for you help and all of the info regarding the voltage/wattage crisis. Cheers.