Newbie with lots of questions

[AJR091458]

Hi gang.
I was smoking 1/2 pack Marlboro Red 100's a day up until Mar 1 2015. I then purchased An Aspire Premium Kit with the nautilus mini. So now 7 weeks later I wonder "What can I do to make vaping better for myself?" I've noticed that at first I was getting ~1.5 days from my Aspire CF VV+. The hits were nice at the 2nd/3rd largest hole and 3.8-4.1 volts. Now as a result of hitting this setup harder and more often I am barely getting a day out of it. It also takes a bit of work to get a reasonable cloud out of it (I know that the juice is a factor but I've been trying a number of different ones.) I've ordered an Eleaf 30w istick and now have curiosities about using this with the mini.

1. Will I get better vapor production or is this a limitation of the mini and its coils?
2. Will I have a higher risk of hot hits/burnt hits if I crank this up to the max?
3. The Melo sub-ohm tank is intriguing. Will that give me a good throat hit AND give me more vapor or am I going down the wrong path?

The guys in the local store are pretty knowledgeable but they are a bit pricey on things. When I go in with all my questions I feel obligated to spend the higher prices because they are so helpful. However, I bought the Eleaf online for $30 and they want $50. That's why I'm here. I figure this is also a good place for learning about the new hobby. (PS: I've barely touched cigarettes since I started vaping and my desire for them gets less every day.)

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

Hi Ajr091458 and welcome to the forum. With the iStick and Nautilus Mini combo (I have 2 of each), click 3 times on the iStick to set to watts, and start taking hits around 7. Bump it up by 1 or 2 at a time and hit again. I usually hit my Mini at 12 or 13 watts for fruit juices and a little lower with desserts. I have heard of people hitting the mini at 18 or 19 watts but that just gives me burnt coils. Dry hits are horrible so when you start to get one, back it down.

I'm new to the sub ohm society with the Kanger subtank mini. It does outperform the Nautilus in cloud production, and the flavor is a little better. It has a much airier draw than the Mini. Throat hits are gained by 2 main factors, 1. higher nic level, and 2 higher PG level. Some flavors will also increase the throat hit, like juices with koolada/menthol.

The natural progression from the Mini is to go sub ohms if there is something about the sub ohm tanks which appeal to you. Cloud production, learning to build coils, etc. Most people lower their nicotine level when moving to sub ohm, the better delivery system combines with larger e juice consumption.

There is a keyword activated search box in the top right corner of every page.

Good luck in your journey.

 

[m00shie]

Hello and welcome to ECF! Congrats on being off analogues as well!

Here are some of the main factors that will help create more clouds:

a) Coil wraps - The more wraps (surface), the more juice is vaporized at a single moment.

b) E-Juice - The higher content of VG, the more vapor is created. However, the less PG you have, the less throat hit you'll get. You'll need to find a balance by starting at 50VG/50PG and go up or down to balance the throat hit and vapor production.

c) Air flow - The more air flow, the more vapor is produced. However, you may lose flavor at the cost of higher air flow.

This are some of the factors that I know of. More will be provided by experts in this forum.

As to answer your question:

1) You will get better vapor production using the mini on the iStick 30W. However, don't expect big differences (compared with sub-ohm tanks) as there's only so much a nautilus mini and it's coil can do. In my opinion, the nautilus mini is catered more for flavor.

2) Yes, you will most likely get dry hits using nautilus mini at max wattage. The preferred range of the mini (using 1.6ohm coil) is somewhere around 15W to 22W. However, the wattage setting is subjective based on liquid content and your vaping preferences. Start at 15W and slowly go up until you find reasonable wattage to vape at. If you start to get burnt taste, reduce the wattage.

3) The method of vaping on a sub-ohm tank (lung hit - direct inhale to lung) is usually different compared to Nautilus Mini (mouth to lung inhalation). Therefore, you will need to set expectations that the experience will be different using a Melo compared to Nautilus Mini. There are people who is actually able to do mouth to lung inhalation on a sub-tank but I've not able to do that on the 'limited' numbers of sub-ohm tanks I've tested. Sub-ohm tanks will generally give you more vapor as most of the tanks provide you with huge air-flow. Also, sub-ohm tank produces vapor more efficiently. Therefore, the juice may be much more harsh and you may find the nic content too high (depending on individuals). I've personally have to reduce my 12mg juices to 5-6mg after changing to sub-ohm tank. Ultimately, I can't tell you if you are going down the wrong path but if you have the opportunity to test a sub-ohm tank before buying, that would be a great to see if it suits your requirements but bear in mind that using sub-ohm tank for the first time might be difficult due to the change in inhalation method (mouth to lung vs lung hit).

Well,,that;s my 2 cents

Edit: There are tons of sub-ohm tanks in the market which some is better than Melo. Therefore, I would suggest to explore more before committing on it. Here's a review of some of the latest sub-ohm tanks available by Pbusardo with his 'personal' scoring chart on the tanks that he has tested (in this video and before): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atlsdndQEWw

 

[dhood]

Welcome, AJR091458. m00shie is dead on in his recommendations. The only thing I'd disagree with him on is his 2nd answer. I find that my Nautilus mini performs best around 13-14 watts. Anything more than that tends to burn on me with 50/50 juices.

 

[roxynoodle]

You might want one of the new subohm clearos. Aspire Atlantis, Kanger Subtank (probably the mini for your istick) or others. Browse around the clearomizer area here to read as I'm not up on the latest.