Nicotine degradation from heat in large tanks?

[Toxu]

Hello again, everyone!
So I wanted to hear what people had to say about this, because I've been thinking about it for a long time. I use a 5ml Aspire Nautilus tank with 18mg juice, and when I start to get to my last 1 or 1.5 milliliters of e-juice, I always start to feel a steep decline in nicotine content. I refill my tank, and that feeling goes away and I return to enjoying the effects of higher levels of nicotine again. This has started to get me wondering whether or not the heat produced by the coil in my tank is killing off a portion of the nicotine in the e-juice not touching the coil. Basically, does the overall heat of the coil degrade the nicotine content of the entire tank's contents? Or am I just going crazy? I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this. Thanks guys!

 

[Iffy]

If one would check out da joose and DIY forums, many say to heat your joose to accelerate steeping.

As fer moi, I DIY and vape right away; no steeping here. But others swear by heat to steep.

I find coil/wick deterioration/gunking the prime culprit in flav drop off.

 

[AndriaD]

It's probably as true of a nautilus as any other bottom-coil tank, that when it gets below half-full, it doesn't work nearly as well; that's usually when you get gurgling, leaking, burnt taste, and just a general degradation of the whole process/experience. I find it to be true of all the small kangers, my kayfuns which are otherwise outstanding, and even my cartotank -- below half full, not nearly as good a vape, from several different standpoints.

Andria

 

[chrisf8657]

It's probably as true of a nautilus as any other bottom-coil tank, that when it gets below half-full, it doesn't work nearly as well; that's usually when you get gurgling, leaking, burnt taste, and just a general degradation of the whole process/experience. I find it to be true of all the small kangers, my kayfuns which are otherwise outstanding, and even my cartotank -- below half full, not nearly as good a vape, from several different standpoints.

Andria

I've found the same thing - once it gets below half full, I have leaking problems, and the flavor drops off.
Have no idea why - liquid is liquid, it should be the same until it's empty.

Do you know why it does this Andria?

 

[AndriaD]

I've found the same thing - once it gets below half full, I have leaking problems, and the flavor drops off.
Have no idea why - liquid is liquid, it should be the same until it's empty.

Do you know why it does this Andria?

I don't know the actual physics of it, but... all these tanks use a "vacuum" to work correctly, which is why you always need a bit of air in the tank -- overfilling causes similar problems. If there is too much air, not enough juice in the tank, then that vacuum is compromised somehow, so the process of the vacuum causing the wick to get juice as you pull on it doesn't work as it should. That's my non-scientist understanding of what is happening; there are probably some scientifically-literate folks around here who could explain it better; all I know is that when it gets to half-full, it's time to top-up, and that seems to be the case for any bottom-coil tank, even awesome kayfuns, even cartotanks where the coil is enclosed in the carto, although the problem seems somewhat less severe with cartotanks than with others -- I've vaped successfully when mine is down to maybe 2/5 full, but I didn't let it get any lower, because there was a drop of juice on the battery post, so I knew the vacuum-problem was starting.

I know it seems kinda dumb to have a 5ml tank that you can't vape very well when it gets below 2.5ml, but if you have a 2.5ml tank it does the same thing when you get to about 1.2-1.4ml -- had that problem exactly with the 2.5ml kanger T3S tanks I used at first.

Andria

 

[kakiser56]

I have the Nautilus as well and at about 1/4 full I get the gurgling and little vapor production. I just fill it back up and good to go. Funny though the mini I can vape till the last drop. Also I have noticed you'll get gurgling if your battery needs replacing. For me with a Vision Spinner 2 that's about 30% battery left.

 

[InTheShade]

I think Andria hit the nail on the head. The difference in vape quality is a function of the tank not performing as well when it is not full (or nearly full)

Simple way to test would be to only put 1.5ml in it on your next refill and see if you still find "that steep decline in nicotine content" feeling you got before.

 

[Alien Traveler]

I don't know the actual physics of it, but... all these tanks use a "vacuum" to work correctly, which is why you always need a bit of air in the tank -- overfilling causes similar problems. If there is too much air, not enough juice in the tank, then that vacuum is compromised somehow, so the process of the vacuum causing the wick to get juice as you pull on it doesn't work as it should. That's my non-scientist understanding of what is happening; there are probably some scientifically-literate folks around here who could explain it better; all I know is that when it gets to half-full, it's time to top-up, and that seems to be the case for any bottom-coil tank, even awesome kayfuns, even cartotanks where the coil is enclosed in the carto, although the problem seems somewhat less severe with cartotanks than with others -- I've vaped successfully when mine is down to maybe 2/5 full, but I didn't let it get any lower, because there was a drop of juice on the battery post, so I knew the vacuum-problem was starting.

I know it seems kinda dumb to have a 5ml tank that you can't vape very well when it gets below 2.5ml, but if you have a 2.5ml tank it does the same thing when you get to about 1.2-1.4ml -- had that problem exactly with the 2.5ml kanger T3S tanks I used at first.

Andria

Interesting. I do not have this problem with my 2.8 ml RG280 (with rebuilt protank coil). It is always good to the (almost) last drop.