Not getting 'powerful' drag

[Riquez]

I've only been vaping a few weeks. I currently have a RA mod, Sony 18650(2100) with nautilus tank.

I seem to have developed an obsession with my vape not working properly. I am not sure if it's just me being silly or if it's actually not working !

I say this because I had a poor experience getting things working to start, some genuine failed equipment-. Cracked tank, broken charger, etc.
Now my set up should be fine, but I still get the feeling things are not right.

The issue seems to be that very often I feel the drag I get is low power. I seem not to get flavour, slightly smokey taste. Or, I do get actual vapor, a decent amount, but the drag seems like air. As I am dragging I am thinking "Is this working?" Then I blow vapor, so obviously it is.

I take apart my mod, adjust the battry connection platform screws, then it seems fine.. For a bit..

SO. I am wondering if your experience can help. Am I just paranoid? Is my juice weird? Can a loose connection mech mod create poor flavour?
either I am a bit crazy (which is entirely possible!) or perhaps I am having a known issue?

Thanks all!

 

[Avid]

I'm not familiar with the Nautilus tank but I do believe it has air flow control and it sounds like yours may be adjusted too tight. Another thing, when is the last time you changed the coil? If you're using a darker juice they can gunk up faster than they normally would. I'd check those things first.

I'm sure someone will come by who could help you more.

 

[Riquez]

Hi Avid, thanks for your reply.

I often change the air flow holes, i don't think that is the issue, they seem ok. "Juice Gunk" could be the problem .. I have not yet changed the coil in the tank, but i have only had it about 10 days.
Sometimes It seems ok & sometimes not - i can't really explain why or when it seems not ok as it seems somewhat random. Perhaps you are onto something though, if the coil is getting gunked up; i might sometimes get a good burn & other times not if only part of the coil is clean.

I do have some darker juice & I'm sometimes mixing them up too. Ive tried to clean everything out (except coil) every 1-2 days, so i am being quite careful about that.

 

[eratikmind]

If your coils are clean, I would look at the batteries. Are they maintaining a full charge of 4.2 volts?

 

[Riquez]

ok. i changed the coil & now I get a much 'cleaner' & 'easy' draw. But I still get a quite dry, smokey, low flavour vape. Perhaps this is due to the juice I am using. Its blueberry 6nic 70/30. So i guess the higher PG value on this one is giving a dryer result.

 

[eratikmind]

What type of battery device are you using? Is it regulated or a mechanical?

 

[twizted]

RA mod is a mechanical. You should look into maybe getting a regulated mod unless you plan on sub-ohming

Just my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Avid]

ok. i changed the coil & now I get a much 'cleaner' & 'easy' draw. But I still get a quite dry, smokey, low flavour vape.

If this is your first coil change, did you prime it? If not, when you use a new coil you can put 1 or 2 drops in the hole above it and then reassemble and fill your tank. If you haven't done that, then your first draws might be a bit dry. No worries, though, it'll straighten itself out after a few minutes

 

[HuskerCal]

Maybe consider something with more airflow. A kayfun or even an rda.

 

[Riquez]

I should add that I have been perfectly fine with the nautilus & RA mech mod up until a few days ago when I started to feel something was not quite right.

I think it is just a combination of the low nic juice & dirty coil & paranoia lol. I'll give it a couple more days & see how I get on.
Thanks for the input, it's appreciated & helpful

 

[realsis]

Yes, consider a rba. You will get great vapor, throat hit and flavor with a rba.learning to build is not difficult. Also learn your saftey and ohms law. I think you will get a much better experience with a rba.

 

[AndriaD]

Actually if you're at all interested in doing the coil building thing, I'd recommend a Kayfun Lite Plus; it's very easy to build for it, for one thing, and it gives really superlative a) flavor and b) throat hit, and it has adjustable airflow so you can go from wide open, big airflow, or closed down, tight draw, but get good flavor and TH at any setting. The clones of that one are not expensive; I've had the best vapes I've so far experienced with the Tobeco clone of that tank, which has "2mm custom airflow" -- you can find them on eBay for about $30, and one vendor, Ironvapin, I give 1,000,000 stars for quality, service, and price, and also just plain being nice-ness.

Andria

 

[Riquez]

RA mod is a mechanical. You should look into maybe getting a regulated mod unless you plan on sub-ohming

Just my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

I don't think I am ready to try sub-ohm yet, but I am interested in why regulated would be best. Could you explain a little more?
Someone else suggested that I get the official VV battery from Aspire to go with the nautilus, but I'm not sure why that is.

It's all fascinating stuff & I have a lot to learn obviously.

 

[Riquez]

Yes, consider a rba. You will get great vapor, throat hit and flavor with a rba.learning to build is not difficult. Also learn your saftey and ohms law. I think you will get a much better experience with a rba.

Dripping atomizer is not currently my priority. A few friends have them but for me I am far more interested in having decent tank size, battery charge & getting the balance right to get good results. I don't rule out rda, I'd love to try at some point, but for now I want my all-day kit to be 'vape & go'

 

[DaveP]

The Nautilus is a great tank if you have the new BVC (bottom vertical coil) coil heads. 3.7v on a 1.8 ohm head should be giving you nice cigarettes style exhales. If your juice is high in VG (vegetable glycerine) content the throat hit and flavor will be low. Try some 100% PG juice for the most throat hit and flavor. 80pg/20vg down to 60pg/40vg are all popular.

The closest I've ever found to a real cigarette is Halo Torque56. The first time I tried it I was back in the outdoor smoking are at work. It's not a flavorful vape, but it's an ashy cigarette flavor.
Torque56 E-liquid | Halo E Liquid

For a more aromatic and slightly sweet cigarette flavor, try Madvapes Tobacco. There's a flavor component in it that is somewhere between a cigarette taste and an under taste of light pipe tobacco or slightly strong Turkish tobacco. It's a love/hate juice with the reviewers, but my bottle is earthy and flavorful. It's so heavy on flavor that I mix 1ml of Madvapes Tobacco with 3ml of Dekang Tobacco for a 4ml tank full of tobacco vape that's perfect for me.
Tobacco

 

[twizted]

I don't think I am ready to try sub-ohm yet, but I am interested in why regulated would be best. Could you explain a little more?
Someone else suggested that I get the official VV battery from Aspire to go with the nautilus, but I'm not sure why that is.

It's all fascinating stuff & I have a lot to learn obviously.

With a regulated mod you get a more consistent longer vape time as the battery voltage drops. With a mechanical mod, whatever your battery voltage is, that's what you get to the coil. If you have a regulated mod set to 4 volts, it will boost the voltage from the battery to 4 volts even if the battery is around 3.7 or so.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Riquez]

Thanks Dave. Right now I am not using the bvc, I am using the coils that came with the naut. I do have a pack of bvc's though - I will be looking forward to trying them!

 

[Riquez]

After a few more days I think I have narrowed down my issue a bit.

> I've been keeping my nautilus tank 50%+ full (it holds 5ml) & that seems to help, low liquid seems to mean low vape. Perhaps it's an air pressure thing.

> I soaked my original 1.6ohm coil in vodka overnight & then let it dry for a day. I had swapped this coil out after about 1 week as I felt it was part of the problem. After putting it back in this evening my clouds are huge! Almost too much LOL. The drag is powerful again, everything seems perfect. It was a real big difference.

So, it seems my coils are getting gunked or worn quite quickly. I guess it depends on usage. I vape about 3ml a day, sometimes maybe 5 at max.
I swapped coil 1 after 1 week, I used coil 2 for 2 more weeks. Now I just swapped back to coil 1 (but it is 1.6ohm, the others are 1.8)
Perhaps this isn't a long time? I was told about a month was expected, but 1-2 weeks is a lot less.

i spoke with my juice guy & he said my pineapple & black cherry 12mg juices are not high sugar so they shouldn't be causing excessive gunk, but he is not familiar with my nautilus tank.