russian 91% burnt taste

[mrich44]

new to rebuiladables, using a russian 91% with cotton wicks and micro coils on a hana modz clone (up to 30w) with whatever china dna30 copy chip inside i think

looking for cool, flavorful vape but consistently getting burnt taste after lots of wasted juice and time and materials

most recently have a 1.4 ohm single 28 guage wire with cotton wick. have tried various sizes of wicks, more/less and have looked a little into making sure my wicks don't block the little juice feeder tracks on the base.

i don't know what i'm doing wrong at this point, any suggestions or help would be appreciated

juices i've been using 35/65 pg/vg or 50/50 pg/vg and 12 mg nic

so, yes any help would be great, thanks

 

[cloudsfordaze]

new to rebuiladables, using a russian 91% with cotton wicks and micro coils on a hana modz clone (up to 30w) with whatever china dna30 copy chip inside i think

looking for cool, flavorful vape but consistently getting burnt taste after lots of wasted juice and time and materials

most recently have a 1.4 ohm single 28 guage wire with cotton wick. have tried various sizes of wicks, more/less and have looked a little into making sure my wicks don't block the little juice feeder tracks on the base.

i don't know what i'm doing wrong at this point, any suggestions or help would be appreciated

juices i've been using 35/65 pg/vg or 50/50 pg/vg and 12 mg nic

so, yes any help would be great, thanks

are you torching your wire?

 

[mrich44]

i put my coil on the hana modz clone and fire and squeeze with ceramic tweezers

 

[DoubleEwe]

It could be a question of airflow vs vacuum.

You need a certain level of suction to force the liquid up the juice channels and saturate the wicks. Have you tried to reduce the airflow so that you get more juice-sucking power?

Also if you overfill the tank then the vacuum effect does not work properly, you need to leave room for an air bubble for it to all work.

A test to see if it is working is to do a 'good long suck' without firing your mod, if you see little air bubbles rising through the tank (if you use the clear tank section) then it is working properly.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

I do the same thing when I make microcoils. Squeeze after firing on my mods. You would be surprised on how little wicking is needed on Russian/Kayfun style clones. You need enough where you feel some resistance while pulling it through the coil, but not so much that your mod will tip over as you're pulling it through without holding the mod in your hand. It winds up being a smaller amount of wick then you'd think. Also, if you overfill the Russian, and other tanks like it, it causes wicking problems. When you draw on it, you should be seeing bubbles rising to the top. Finally, I found it helpful to use a needle tipped bottle or syringe and kinda sticking it IN the coil, to ensure the cotton inside is well primed, as well as taking "primer" puffs once the tank is assembled and filled before actually firing it.

Also, how long are you making your wicks? They should be just brushing the tops of your juice channels, and not laying on them.

 

[Agamer]

When I started building on Kayfun like devices someone showed me two tricks that made all the difference in the world

1- Put a few extra primer drops on the wick before you close the chimney up nothing to much but enough to make them shiny

2- this one is hard to explain in words but here goes

-insert coil dry burn and squeeze
-insert wick so it is much wider than the base of the tank on both sides
-Imagine that the wick is the top of the letter T and the atty is the leg if that helps
-trim the wick so it is the same width as the tank
-screw on the lower chimney section and press the wicks against the walls with a paperclip
-assemble and fill as normal

The second one was the best advice I have recived on building these tanks it gives me a consistent wick length every time and that is key

 

[danfinger]

I’ve found that it is a fine balance on the amount of cotton used. Too much and you’ll get the dry/burn hit because the coil is choking the capillary action of the wick. Too little and you get hotspots created by the gap between the wick and the coil.

I try to use just enough cotton so it fills the coil. Remember, the cotton will expand a bit when it gets juiced up. I’ve also noticed that if I thread the twisted cotton through the coil, then untwist and gently ‘fluff’ the ends I get good results. Imagine a bow-tie shape. I have also been stretching the cotton out just a tiny bit once I’ve made the bow-tie. This makes the wick slightly thinner at the center where it goes through the coil. The big ‘fluffs’ on either side increase the absorption area to feed the wick inside the coil.

I’m also using 28g – 10 wraps on a 1.5mm bit give me about 1.8Ohm. Seems to be a sweet spot on the Provari.

I don’t torch the wire before I coil it but I will do the ‘fire and pinch’ to get all the spaces out of the coil before I wick.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[cloudsfordaze]

When I started building on Kayfun like devices someone showed me two tricks that made all the difference in the world

1- Put a few extra primer drops on the wick before you close the chimney up nothing to much but enough to make them shiny

2- this one is hard to explain in words but here goes

-insert coil dry burn and squeeze
-insert wick so it is much wider than the base of the tank on both sides
-Imagine that the wick is the top of the letter T and the atty is the leg if that helps
-trim the wick so it is the same width as the tank
-screw on the lower chimney section and press the wicks against the walls with a paperclip
-assemble and fill as normal

The second one was the best advice I have recived on building these tanks it gives me a consistent wick length every time and that is key

#1 = perfect
#2 = I learned that the best way to do this is by putting your cotton through the coil and then pull those pieces of cotton up to where if you wanted to you could hold the entire device by the pieces of cotton. Next, while these are pinched together grab your chimney and pull it over the cotton and screw in place (make sure the threading matches up). You should then have a chimney with two cotton points coming out the top, cut those to the height of your chimney without the lid on it. Next push those down into the chimney so they are are touching the grooves on each side but not restricting the juice flow. Add a few drops of liquid onto that cotton and then put the top part of the chimney on. All that is left is putting all the pieces together and filling it.

 

[dwroblewski]

All great suggestions... the only other thing I can think of (and I know this because it happened to me), is that if this has been happening since the Russian was new, did you clean it thoroughly before you used it? They look nice and clean when you get them, but there's undoubtedly some machine oil in the innards (technical term!), and it needs to be really clean or you'll get that weird burnt taste.

I took mine completely apart, soaked the parts in warm water with some dishwashing liquid overnight, and then put it in my coffee maker in a filter and ran a couple cycles of water over it to rinse it. I let it all dry, put it back together and the weird flavor was gone... never had a problem with it since. Just be careful not to lose the o-rings or negative post insulator down the drain (again, I know this because that's exactly what happened to me!).

 

[p7willm]

After I wick it I wet the wick and plaster it to the side of the thing, again a technical term, that sticks up. I use a wick that just reaches to the top of the deck and, since the wick is plastered to the side, it is easy to keep it out of the channels when I put the bottom section of the chimney on. Look down and probably take it apart and do it again cause putting the chimney on probably screwed it up. On the 3rd or 4th try it looks god to me and I finish putting it together. Now, because I am afraid it will not work, I just put enough juice to be over the window when it is right side up. Take a couple drags without power and then hit it. It will usually last until I fail to notice the juice is gone and then dry hit.

Another thing is to google for russian rebuild and watch a couple of the videos. And don't give up I love mine.

 

[mrich44]

suction and vacuum are solid - had issues with flooding and gurgling before but fixed that

i may be using too long wicks or too thick, i'll have to try cutting them shorted and placing them just above the juice channels - thanks
i know i have made them too little because of bad almost immediate dry burns and opening everything up to find a burnt piece of cotton. also, i do put a couple 'primer' drops on my wick and coil before closing the chimney section
will try these 'bowtie' and #2 tricks - thanks y'all
i have watched many video/youtube and such before, that's why i am now asking here, so far lots of help, really appreciate it
i did not give my russian a thorough cleaning, that may be the problem most likely

 

[JungleRecon]

I just ordered the Russian 91 and I hope I do not have any issues like this. I plan to wash it well and also boil and rinse my cotton. I am new to rebuildables also but I am really looking forward to getting it and doing builds on it. OP I hope you are able to resolve your issue.

 

[Moonbogg]

Had issues the first few build with kayfun. Haven't had them since I got better at wicking. I was using too much cotton and it was too tight inside the coil. I was twisting the cotton tight and stuffing it in there, lol. With one particular juice, I still get a strange taste, but I think that juice burns easily. No issues with other juices.
With the wick sliding in and out of the coil with a little resistance, I trim the wick about 1/8" above the chimney then just stuff the cotton down. I used to prime and shape the wick against the wall but don't waste time with that anymore. I just stuff it down gently to the deck, soak it good, let it absorb, then soak again until fully saturated, reassemble, fill tank and VAPE with confidence. You'll get it.
Also, I use sterile, medical grade cotton from CVS pharmacy and then I boiled it for good measure.

 

[LotsaBS]

Although I am new to the forum, I have been a long time lurker, been vaping for over 2 years now and have tried more things than I can remember. Here is what I learned regarding RBA's. You may be trying too much too fast. Also your blends of PG/VG are going to be fairly thick (VG is much thicker than PG). You might try a blend with a lower level of VG. Note that using cotton with high VG levels is sometimes difficult as the cotton can run dry easily. And instead with worrying about microcoils etc. at ohm levels at and below 1.5, try building some very simple coils first. It is fairly easy make a successful setup like this:
Use 2mm silica and 32Ga Kanthal A-1. Cut a 2 3/4" to 3" piece of silica string, fold it in half and wrap it (after torching your Kanthal) with about 5-6 wraps by hand. Sometimes it helps to stick a straightened paperclip in with the silica when you wrap. Space the wraps slightly so the finished coil is no more than about 1/4"-5/16" or so in length. Install in your russian, (remove the paperclip of course) and cut the folded end of the silica string so you now have 2 separate strings wrapped in the coil. Gently tuck them in place in your russian. This should give you a 2.0-2.3 ohm coil. Start at about 3.3 volts and slowly work up from there until you get a satisfying vape. I've been using the above process for over a year now with a 70% PG and 30% VG juice blend at about 3.5-3.7 volts (depending on the juice I am using) and get a great consistent vape with mine. And yes, I will sometimes build a microcoil with cotton, but they can sometimes be tricky to get to work just right. Good luck!

 

[LotsaBS]

BTW as much as I like my Kayfun and Russian, I recently began using the Kanger Aerotank Mega with either the 1.5 or 2.0 dual coils (the new version enclosed coils). On the 1.5's I run at around 3.7 volts while the 2.0's I run at about 4.3-4.5 volts. Not nearly the hassle of any of my RBA's to fill and rebuild etc and I get a similar if not better vape. BTW, I am not a shill for Kanger, just my experience. In my humble opinion, the Aerotank Mega on a good VV device (I use a Provari) is hard to beat, they rarely flood and they give a consistent, satisfying set and forget vape.

 

[micaL]

1.4 ohm.. and at what wattage are you firing at? (Hope its not 30w..)
The Russian 91% has deep juice channels so its better to put your wick inside the juice channels, if you build it like a kayfun it will flood.

 

[ElConquistador]

I have had that problem off and on, and never could put my finger on exactly what was wrong. I'd get a burned taste, let it rest a while, and it would be OK. I used less wick, I used more wick, I raised the coil, I lowered the coil, but once in a while I'd get that burned taste.

I run Boba's Bounty in my Russian, a thick VG juice, and I finally tried adding a touch of distilled water to it, maybe 5% or so. That little bit of thinning seems to have cured my problems, I don't think I've had a burned hit since I started doing that.

 

[Flavored]

1.4 ohm.. and at what wattage are you firing at? (Hope its not 30w..)
The Russian 91% has deep juice channels so its better to put your wick inside the juice channels, if you build it like a kayfun it will flood.

Good question . . . start at 8 and work your way up.

Pay heed to whomsoever said "don't overfill." You need an air bubble on top of the juice to get it to flow up those juice channels. At the first taste of "burnt" cover the air hole and take a couple primer puffs, watching for small bubbles in the window indicating flow.

 

[mrich44]

i start at 7 and work up, burnt taste at any wattage. i've done the primer puff covering the air hole and find my air bubble, making sure its not flooded. just waiting for everything to dry from a deep cleaning in warm soap water then isop alc

 

[mrich44]

cleaned everything out with soap water and alc after, tastes better now, have to try a few other flavors later and see how they go, thanks for the help everyone