Removing the wick

[txspike13]

I am new to this and trying to get a better hit. After watching your video, I have a couple of questions. First, what is the "drip"? I bought a bunch of 510's and extra atty's and batteries. Should I take out the threads and then put the cartridge back on? THanks.

 

[phee]

I am new to this and trying to get a better hit. After watching your video, I have a couple of questions. First, what is the "drip"? I bought a bunch of 510's and extra atty's and batteries. Should I take out the threads and then put the cartridge back on? THanks.

dripping is a method that is preferred by most vapers where you use an empty cart. to drip you just drop 2-3 drops of ejuice directly into the bridge of the atomizer. IMO you dont have to be dripper to find it beneficial to remove the wick but it's not recommended to inexperienced users who haven't got the grasp of how their ecig functions.

carts are the plastic mouthpiece that have that cotton-like material inside, normally cart users "top-off" which is where you just take your juice and refill cotton-like fillings in the plastic carts. many people prefer the drip method and while you can keep that cotton fill in your cart when you drip; most people take that filling out. there are also a bunch of cart modifications that can be very very handy – personally i dont think removing the wick effects cart users negatively (as long as u know what you're doing) the carts still work fine but 'your milage may vary'.

a note to newbies: learn the anatomy of your ecig! be 100% sure of which part is the battery, atomizer and cart; dripping into an empty cart will likely result in some unpleasant outcomes.

 

[KingVapor]

It's been about a week and a half since I've removed the wick from my 510. I have to admit that I did take this one step further by removing the bridge (thanks to another video by phee). I felt that with the wick removed, the bridge was only in the way of dripping.

So, I'm using a Janty eGo on a Joye 510 atty with no wick and no bridge for direct dripping only. I've noticed that after awhile the performance starts to get sluggish. I'm thinking it might be a voltage issue, because the first couple of draws on a freshly charged eGo batt seems to clear this up.

Liquid used: 12mg PG RY4 cut with 25% VG. The throat hit seems stronger than my other standard 510's. I've even coughed a few times, which takes me by suprise because of the relatively low nic and voltage. The eGo atomizer cover might also be a factor as well.

Overall, I've been very pleased by this tip. Thank you.

 

[phee]

It's been about a week and a half since I've removed the wick from my 510. I have to admit that I did take this one step further by removing the bridge (thanks to another video by phee). I felt that with the wick removed, the bridge was only in the way of dripping.

So, I'm using a Janty eGo on a Joye 510 atty with no wick and no bridge for direct dripping only. I've noticed that after awhile the performance starts to get sluggish. I'm thinking it might be a voltage issue, because the first couple of draws on a freshly charged eGo batt seems to clear this up.

Liquid used: 12mg PG RY4 cut with 25% VG. The throat hit seems stronger than my other standard 510's. I've even coughed a few times, which takes me by suprise because of the relatively low nic and voltage. The eGo atomizer cover might also be a factor as well.

Overall, I've been very pleased by this tip. Thank you.

thanks for you input and i'm glad you could find the info useful!

 

[apocalicious]

Phee, you are a total bad ...,thank you! ill be doing this to every atty i get if this works out. ive only been vaping for a week (and i just started on my second atomizer last night and the friggin wick already was making it taste like crap!) and this has been a huge help. will that burnt taste from the wick ever burn completely off the coil or should i just junk these attys? sorry for the n00b questions.

 

[phee]

Phee, you are a total bad ...,thank you! ill be doing this to every atty i get if this works out. ive only been vaping for a week (and i just started on my second atomizer last night and the friggin wick already was making it taste like crap!) and this has been a huge help. will that burnt taste from the wick ever burn completely off the coil or should i just junk these attys? sorry for the n00b questions.

hey man thanks for the support!

as for the older attys that still have the burnt taste even after removing the wick it all varies. it all depends on where the threads were when u first got the atty, you can shine a light in there and try and get that melted residual thread on the coil out but you have to be crazy careful because the coil's connection is extremely delicate – i'm not sure if the thread will ever burn completely away, its more likely to melt to your coil and eventually just kill the atty. doing this with your fresh attys should result in a burnt-taste-free experience; your older attys are the ones that you may have to just live with because if there's wick melted to the coil you're pretty much SOL or you'll need nerves and skill of a surgen to remove =P

hope that helps!

 

[djrbx]

I love this tip. I've been direct dripping for about two months now and tried out your method once my old atty died. I haven't had the burnt taste since. I know that that atty is drying out cause of the smell and lack of vapor. Oh and the atty is working great!

 

[phenom5]

Well, I just tried this mod out unintentionally.

I started getting a funky taste with my cart with PTB. Saw the wick and thought it was pieces of the PTB, and decided to "clean it out". Well, once I got it out, it was pretty clear that it wasn't any of the PTB, and after a quick search found this thread. Lesson learned. Now I know what's suppose to be in my atomizer, and what isn't suppose to be there.

As of right now, this is my last good atty, and all I have are auto batteries. Not sure I want to drip with a 510 auto battery...so I've been just rolling with it. Seems to work just fine using a cart w/o the wick.

Not that I'd recommend doing this, but just a heads up in case anybody (a noob like me) accidentally mods there atomizer...you can still use it with carts if need be.

 

[apocalicious]

im happy to report that the burnt taste is almost completely gone from the atty i thought was totally shot. it still shows up if i dont keep up well enough on my dripping,and im going through quite a bit of liquid because of that (i got my 30mL bottle of halo freedom last friday and have a little under half of it left after 7 days of heavy use)....all in all im gonna be doing this whenever i can afford to get a grip of new atties,its the perfect method. i preferred direct dripping almost right from the start,so its all good

kudos to Phee for putting the time into making these vids, and i suggest every dripper remove the wick and bridge,it hits sooooo much better. we are talking billowing CLOUDS of vapor from even a short 2-3 second pull.

 

[Tachion]

I had an atomizer that was tasting horribly burnt.

I pulled out the wick and, low and behold, it was scorched brown. Even after that, it still tasted horribly burnt. Followed your "removing the bridge" video (figuring the atty might be toast, anyways) and now it's perfect! I drip and am getting the best flavor and vapor I've had yet... probably because the bridge and wick are no longer holding onto any of the juice!

Your videos are awesome... saved me a bit of headache. Thanks a ton!

 

[JustOne]

does anybody know what material the wick consists off?
I deleted mine and had less throat hit and less vapor.

Then I pulled down the wick again and had better smoking. After some time the wick burned out.

I don't have any new atomizers and need to order some. But delivery time is about a month. I need to smoke something for this time. Thats why I want to buy some material to pull down into atomizer instead off original wick.

 

[Tachion]

Maybe it's just me, but something I wanted to report.

Without the wick and bridge, 3 drops of VG-based juice maybe gets me 5 "puffs" out of it before I get that horribly nasty dry atty taste. I'm guessing it's since the juice vaporizes much quicker being right on the coil.

So just a heads up to anyone who does this: you're going to be dripping a lot more often! (unless, of course, I'm doing something wrong!)

 

[KingVapor]

I don't have a 100%VG juice, but I do have a PG juice cut with a high percentage of VG. So I decided to test this out for you.

Yes, I have a strange taste around the 5 puff marker. If I had to guess, most of flavoring is vaped first and then I'm stuck with a fairly wet atty with hardly any flavor. The 4 first puffs have lots of flavor. Anything past this point it fades at an alamring rate. However, it wasn't until the 11th puff the atty was completely dry. If you have to vape 100% VG I'd recommend something with alot of flavor or add flavor doubler. I think this would solve the problem.

Side note: You removed the bridge and wick so you can easily see when the atty is completely dry. There is a fiber in between the heating coil and it will turn white. Any further use will result in a dry burn.

 

[JuniorNA]

i really only recommend doing this with 510s, 901s and 801s because they have the same basic structure so its almost the exact same method. i have not used the 808's or the 4081s but i'm assuming they're cartomizers so i would NOT recommend it. here's a blurb from one of my posts in a different forum:

IMO removing the wick helps performance because your heating coil now doen't have fibers to melt and gunk up. in a large number of cases where the atty stops working its because too much of the fiber has bonded with the coil giving it trouble to heat up properly.

i DO emphasize that removing the wick is just for drippers but i've used it with carts and as long as that bridge is there carts still work - i just dont recommend it.

@breakfastchef: you have to keep in mind that we're dripping here, the anatomy of the atomizer is designed for use with carts which is why i really stress that this is for drippers only. you can see when i remove the bridge that there is a metal skeleton maintaining the mesh shape - you want your juice to have contact with the coil when you vape so when you drip with the bridge (and no wick) the juice travels outward to the inner lining of the atty and from there the juice will either get to the coil or go completely through the atty and just exit out of the intake holes. i found that when i take the wick out i solve one problem but created another: taking the wick out fixes the harsh burned vapor but by doing so now when you drip the bridge leads the liquid towards the edges instead of right down into the coil so i took the newly found problem and fixed that by removing the bridge all together.

for me a new problem has occurred but only at high voltages and that is: the vapor is now too warm for my liking and at times the juice will crackle and minuet tiny drops come in contact with your tongue (sometimes it's not even noticeable), my solution to that is being much much more careful when removing the bridge, just take out the structure baring metal piece and try your best to leave the mesh whole - that way when you drip your juice will just flow through the mesh (and yes some to the side) but you still have "backsplash" protection during those long drags.

i'm simply putting out information in which some may or may not find useful but at least the information is out there.

glad to hear so many of you are benefitting from the mod! happy vaping!

This is a great description, and I PM'd you also...but i wanted to post on here just in case others have had this problem. Anyway, i've dont this on a 306 atty, which is the same as a 510, but the bridge is exposed. I've been able to get about 5 drops in the atty this way, anymore and when i put the empty cart on it overflows and drips all over and down the battery . Anyway, i get a good 5-6 hits and large amounts of vape doing it this way, I feel that the cool gets a little too hot from direct contact and needs a minute or two to cool off and maybe you can get a 7th or 9th hit from it. It's definitely more vapor, and more TH, but i think dripping onto a mesh bridge absorbs some of the juice which allows for longer vaping. When doing it your way, you're basically dripping the juice into the plastic holder that holds the coil in place, while it does have amazing pro's, it also has a con as the session is shorter because the liq burns too quickly, or we simply cannot fit as many drops without the mesh soaking up the liq. either way, its a great way to get heavy hits when home and dont need to be in a rush.

 

[KingVapor]

Bump.

A month has passed since I've done this tip, (also removed the bridge) and my 510 atomizer is still alive and working. I had only been using a 510 for about a week before I tried this trick. I've been pretty rough on this one atomizer. I clean it about once a week with just a quick rinse of warm water. I have used this atomizer at a max of 4.5 volts and the vapor is a little warmer, but I didn't have any problems with juice splashing into my mouth. Normally, I use the Janty eGo with this atty. I hope I didn't jinx myself though.

 

[zippie]

Did this to a few attys and they work just as well as before if not better, thanks

 

[phee]

bump!

hahaha awesome!

 

[brick420]

I get that funky burnt taste with my BLU after a while. Until then, I love it - so no ragging on the BLU. Yes, a boiled down teakettle discribes it perfectly. I couldn't find any threads in the atty. When I poked it with a paperclip, it was metal on metal. I can only assume that not all atties have the strings.

And how do you manage to get all the way down into an RN4072 atty?

~A

there is a small thread that runs up the bridge on the Blu atty. sometimes the new ones are hard to see. after a bit of usage, they will show theirself. its one thread instead of the 4 or 5 like the video.

 

[Slim82]

I did this on a used atty, about 3-4 weeks old. I have a weird taste to my flavor now (using AFB), not sure if I need to clean the atty. I drip and use carts, I blow out the atty to clean it every other day.

 

[JamBandPhan]

Anyways, I'm not dripping on it. Rather I'm using your (I think it's you) auto drip mod and it's working beautifully. Not sure how it'll hold up to a regular poly filled cart yet though.

Thanks for posting this info Phee... I learned about removing the bridge and salvaged a few "dead" atty's but did not think to just remove the fibers, I will have to give that a try.

Can anyone direct me to the info about the auto drip mod? Thanks!