Newbie, How it started!

[Milde Shag]

Hi, I'm a Newbie
This site is awesome! I did alot of lurking prior to ditching the Analogue's.
Actually I used to roll my own, my favorite tobacco was Drum Milde. For some reason the license was transferred to local production.
The new product was terrible, according to my aquired taste. Cut the long story short'ish.
I tried to find something suitable, ended up with normal Drum Dark Blue and knew it was time.
Researched E-cig's till the cows came home. Youtube, ECF, Google and finally a decision was made.
It was time to ditch the Tobacco with filters and make sure I was to tame the craving animal in me.
I should go for somthing with some kick. So I found a site which had international shipping "USPS First Class" Only economical shipping for my location.
The CE3 Clearomizer was chosen. It had it's fiddly quirks and fillng/cleaning regime. But the vapor production was imppressive according to Outlaw Vaper's Review on Youtube. I settled for a manual 1100mah Ego with USB charger and a 5 pack of CE3's on standard resistance.
The juice's picked are as follows:
French Vanilla Keoke Coffee: Nicotine Strengh - 20mg, PG/VG 20pg 80vg, Sweetener - 1/2 drop per ml, Flavor 15%
Custom Tobacco/French Vanilla Keoke Coffee: Nicotine Strengh - 24mg, PG/VG 20pg 80vg, Sweetener - 1 drop per ml, Flavor 15%
Full Flavor Tobacco: Nicotine Strengh - 22mg, PG/VG 100 vg, Sweetener - 1/2 drop per ml, Flavor Strength - 10%
This setup was from Vapors-Choice $73.95.

That was it, I was lucky enough to receive my order on the 12th of December 2012. Juiced up the CE3's and proceeded to wonder if I was going to need a cigarette. Well I know now that I don't need a cigarette!
Here, 6 Days short of 5 Months, unreal, smoking for 29 years.
I have been rebuilding my CE3's and some other Clearo's. Figured out some do's and dont's but always find myself here researching. I have just ordered some Nic and VG. Natural progression I suppose. Just about to order the flavors and some more VG. Downloaded the E-juice me up Calculator from eJuice Me Up - Best eJuice Calculator figured out how to work it and just waiting on my DIY Supplies. I should have broken this post up and streched it out to account for Newbie 5 Post rule but here it is anyway.
BTW I have an Ultrasonic cleaner already. "Lurking is Good"

Bottom Line:
So that worked for me. I hope to reduce my Nic levels and be able to take or leave it. I am down to 12% Nic, vaping is as enjoyable as smoking ever was. But I feel way better than I ever did smoking analogue's.
Congratulations if you read this post.

Current Gear: Lavatube, CE3's, Kanger T3, Vivi Nova's, CE6's. But CE3 works very well when you know how to rebuild with 3mm Silica and 0.15mm Kanthal 5 coils for about 2.0 Ohms Runs on 3-3.6v.

 

[boogalu]

Congrats to you!! i was at 18mg of nic myself and with the help of E cigs i was able to get down to 6, and soon im going to be mixing in 0 with 6 to get about 3mg of nic.

Good luck on your vaping journey!!

 

[tnt56]

Welocme to ECF and sounds like your on your way. Good luck and hope to see you often. (yea this really is a great site.)
I want to also recomend that you join CASAA. Great folks and they support the vaping.
CASAA - The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
They also have a forum in ECF.

 

[wbart]

I started with a Twist and a mini Vivi now I am on a Vamo with a Kanger Pro I started on 24 Mg now I am down to 12

 

[Milde Shag]

Hi, Boogalu
How long have you been vaping? Down to 6% Nic. I dont think I'm quite ready for that.
Thank you for posting.

 

[Gloria]

Congrats on being smoke free for almost 5 months! That's awesome!!!

And have fun with the DIY. It's great when you can enjoy the juices you make yourself.

CE3s have been one of my favorites for some time. Would like to know how you rebuild them?

 

[Milde Shag]

Congrats on being smoke free for almost 5 months! That's awesome!!!

And have fun with the DIY. It's great when you can enjoy the juices you make yourself.

CE3s have been one of my favorites for some time. Would like to know how you rebuild them?

Hi, Thank you for your support.
The CE3's Hmm
I saw a video on Youtube about winding the coil around a bobby pin. The trick is to have the wick held in place also.
I just hold the lot together on one hand using a pin vice and a small drill bit. I used 0.15mm I think it is AWG 34.
I heated the wire I was going to wrap, just make it glow red with a lighter or pencil blow torch. This also burns off any oils from manufacture.
Also helps make the wire hold its coil shape.

Dissasemble
To dissasemble the CE3 coil you need to pull the bottom battery post I just use a jewellers screwdriver and lever it out. Then just push the ceramic cup containing the wick/coil from the battery post end with a screwdriver, the coil connections (wire tails) are held by the grommet so you may feel some resistance. To seperate just push gently and the ceramic cup and coil assembly pops out. Then remove the grommet from the body, working from the coil cup side. Use a small jewelers screwdriver to gently slip between the grommet and steel body. Just try and push the grommet out without damaging it. Clean the grommet, whip the wick and coil out and trash it. When you make the new coil and wick assembly use 3mm silica wick, the size of the wick is the most important factor to stop gurgle and feeding juice up the air tube or into the base. Re-assembly on post #9

 

[Gloria]

Thanks for the tips Milde. I should have been more specific in my question. I know how to wrap a coil, I just can't see how to get to the coil on the CE3. Does it come apart where the white grommet is? Was the youtube video showing how to rebuild a CE3? If so, I'll just go search for that.

 

[Milde Shag]

Re: CE3 Re-build Tips
To re-assemble the CE3 you need to have your wick assembly ready with 5 coils of 34AWG Kanthal A or A1 over a 3mm silica wick.
There are 3 little holes in the ceramic cup the center hole is for air, the two outer holes are for the Coil wire tails. The coil tails should be around 15-20mm long so it can be reassembled without too much fiddling. If the tails are too short it will be near impossible to reassemble.
Once you do a few you can get technical with exact lengths. So try to get the coil tails through the outer holes inside the ceramic cup same as the factory unit prior to discarding the old coil/wick.

The trick to make the assembly go into the body is to use a tweezer on the wire tails and make them center with the tips touching or almost touchng. They just come together on the end so using the tweezer gently tweak the wires to make the wire tails form a point, not critical.
The wire can get hung up on the body/barrel sides due to a ridge on the inside where the grommet seats.
Once the cup and coil/wick is seated, there are 2 slots on the upperside these are for the wick to locate in position.
I usually adjust this to sit nicely and look uniform. This coil cup unit can just fall out so try to keep it in place, the air tube can be use to push the coil/wick into the cup a little. It is not necessary to force this down into the cup. If you force it right down it can restrict airflow.
The flat end of a pencil or 5mm shaft end will be about the right size to hold this in place or push the coil in just a little.
I use a 5mm drill bit blunt end or shank. This can be placed on a small cloth and the CE3 barrel turned upside down, hold the assembly on top of the 5mm shaft / pencil to keep the wick from getting pushed out when inserting the grommet.

When inserting the grommet one wire tail goes on the outside (earth or negative) the other wire comes though the center (positive). This can be tricky the idea here is to get the wires to be seen when the grommet is placed in position before pushing the grommet into the seat. Just try to start the grommet on it's way in and use some tweezers gently to pull the wires out. When the grommet is seated you can pull the wires out but inspect the coil assembly from the other side, when pulling the wires so you can see how deep to seat the coil in the cup.
That is up to you if you seat it deep it may have a tight draw and it can create problems wicking..
I just tend to pull it in slightly, the wicks should have a slight upward angle.

Once you are happy with the coil placement and the grommet is seated, time to nip the wires. Bend the earth wire toward the center of the barrel and use a micro side cutter or cuticle scissors. Scissors will get ruined by this type of use but they seem to be able to reach in and nip the wires, the other tool is the Micro Side Cutter. The earth should be as short as possible (outer wire) then there should be about 1-2mm visible past the outside of the grommet, use the jewelers screwdriver and push the end to the left or right depending on its natural shape and angle.
Try to tuck it behind the edge of the grommet, not critical but if it contacts the battery post it will short.

Once the earth (outer wire) is tucked behind the grommet the center positive wire will need to be cut, this is critical to get the length right.
Try to nip it so the end is flush with the end of the grommet slightly longer is better. When I say slightly there is only 1mm in it.
If it is short you can guarantee that the battery post will push the wire in when it is replaced and this might distort the coil, not ideal.
So the trick is to cut the wire flush or a little 0.5mm longer than flush with the rubber grommet, try to tweak the end toward the outside of barrel.
Insert the battery post with pliers or even by hand. Place it into the grommet on a slight angle to avoid the wire getting hung on the end of the post.
Once the battery post is started just push it in.

At this point the coil can be tested on a Lavatube. Put a small drop of e-juice on the coil and try checking the resistance.
The Lavatube usually has this function, any Mod that has resistance checking can be used. It should read about 1.9-2.2, I know this is low for some but this seems to work well. This low resistance is best vaped on 3.0-3.4v.
You would have to add another coil instead of 5 make 6 if you want higher resistance. Higher resistance also eats battery life faster.
Check resistance, once you have confirmed there are no funky numbers you can hit the heat button.
It should sizzle and crackle and it is good to heat until you see a gentle red glow but not more. The red glow will indicate what kind of consistancy the coil will heat the liquid.

It can be heated a couple of times for checking, short burst's are safer. Next place the air tube on the assembly and trim the wick like the original.
Only needs a couple of mm sticking out maybe 1.5-2.5mm max. At this point you should know what to do.
Slip the barrel back in the plastic tube then replace the rubber stopper/filling seal, juice it up and let it wick for a bit.
The first draws will be a bit weird, I would not inhale until its wicking properly and these units need conditioning.
It will get better as it seasons maybe after 0.5mls as they only hold about 1ml of juice.

A trick for refilling is to smoke it dry then just invert and fill, no need to fill like outlaw vaper on Youtube depicts. It gets a bit funky when its dry you will know but its not terrible and easily accomplished. I think these re-wicks are better than the manufacturer coils due to, you have ensured the wick is consistant. There is no non resistance wire joined to the coil (common break point).
The wick is critical as previously mentioned 3mm is perfect if this wick looses strands of fiber during assembly you can expect over wicking and feeding the air tube/gurgling. Just tip it on the mouth peice and let it drain onto a tissue for a few minutes. It will start vaping again, some mouth peices are too small like the ones supplied. The best ones are the ones that come with DCT tanks removable plastic tips, they work really well and when the CE3 is working properly the tips does not have to be cleaned so often.

Please let me know if you want to know anything specific about the rewicking and re-use of the CE3 clearomizers.
Congratulations if you actually read this whole post
For Gloria.

 

[Milde Shag]

Welocme to ECF and sounds like your on your way. Good luck and hope to see you often. (yea this really is a great site.)
I want to also recomend that you join CASAA. Great folks and they support the vaping.
CASAA - The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association
They also have a forum in ECF.

Hi tnt56
I will check out that site, not sure about foreigners having much say there.
I hope that Tobacco companies don't get their way as they are gready monopolizing killers. The biggest pushers on the planet.

 

[Milde Shag]

I started with a Twist and a mini Vivi now I am on a Vamo with a Kanger Pro I started on 24 Mg now I am down to 12

Hey can you elaborate on the Mini vivi and Kanger Pro??

 

[Gloria]

Thanks so much for the in depth instructions on the CE3. Very much appreciate that you took so much of your time to explain how to rebuild it!!!

What did you want to know about the Mini Nova and the Kanger Pro? I have both and prefer the Nova. The Kanger Pro is going to need tweaking to make it a winner for me. Too airy of a draw and lacking in flavor out of the box, IMHO.

 

[nerva666]

good job, i seen them here andthere before, but i honestly didnt want to go outside in winter in 4 feet of snow, its a production just to go out for a cig

 

[Milde Shag]

It took me a second to figure out that you were being sarcastic
I still rock my CE3's and they are still going. I find its best to have about 3 in circulation. I only vape 2-3ml a day at this stage.
The higher nic kept me using less. Weird, I hope I can get a grip of this nic craving.

Thank you Gloria for your comments on the Vivi and Kanger Pro.
Your compliments are highly appreciated.
I cant believe my humble little post got this much attention.

I have re-wicked a Kanger T-3 and found that the correct amount of wick stops gurgling and leaking at all liquid levels.*

I am going to go RBA. I have Ordered 2 Phoenix v4 from Vaportek they are on special at $5.99. Compared to buying from China this is ok and the freight was my Favorite First Class International. Under 20.00 USD all up.
My CE3's Might get retired. The others I was looking at was Odysseus Aka Nautilus Aka... I am getting a quote on these as they're a bit pricey.
Also looking at Igo-L Genesis Cobra and DID Atomizer still not sure how the DID translates into Chinese maybe TBC-2 ??

Any comments and advice will be appreciated.

 

[mofahs]

cheers mate

 

[Milde Shag]

I just found some suppliers for RBA's and I can't decide but I think the Nautilus and the Cobra Mini full stainless version should be fun to play with.
Obviously long term consistency is the desired result. But I also have seen an awesome video on cleaning where you just use very hot water and soak the coil / wick assembly.
Then dry burn for a few times with short bursts. The carbon build up just seems to crumble and turns to dust. I thought this was realy awesome and will give it a try on my CE3's.
The CE3's get muted after about a week depending on liquid type. I like to use 100% VG but who knows what I will end up with. I know DIY flavors all come PG based. So that will add some PG to my mixes. Still waiting on my DIY Nic and Flavors to turn up. I was super impressed with Mt Baker they shipped the next day. Due to my local it was probably the same day to me. The Phoenix v4's shipped the same day from Vaportek that was also uber impressive

 

[fullajoyy]

Congrats on no smoking. I'm going to buy a set up for my brother and see if he will consider not smoking.

 

[Dannnyh]

Great to hear that it's been keeping you off the cigs for 6 months.

 

[iTs FreeKill]

I currently am using an ego-c with just a normal cleartomizer, vaping some local liquid here in town, and I agree I feel 100% better since I quit smoking, which I started by vaping 18mg, now I am currently down to 12mg almost a month in now. My goal is to be at around 3mgs during the day and then 0mg of Nic at the evening hours. doing this I feel I will enjoy the vaping alot more and be able to take it or leave it without really having the nic cravings that I still get time from time. On the positive side of things I no longer have analog cravings, just my fruity flavored vaping cravings.

 

[Milde Shag]

Re: CE3 Re-build Tips
To re-assemble the CE3 you need to have your wick assembly ready with 5 coils of 34AWG Kanthal A or A1 over a 3mm silica wick....

5 COILS OF .20 32 AWG WILL MAKE 2.0 OHMS 5 coils of 34 AWG or 0.15mm will make 3.0 Ohms.
Sorry fo any confusion.