We're back with a long overdue update/response --
We've used a VG base for all our mixes of 80% VG; 9% distilled water; 9% sterile saline solution (.9%) and 2% distilled water...for almost a year in all of our mixes.
We vaped with generic cartos; Boge cartos, Smoktech cartos; stock eVods; stock Protanks; stock Mini Davide Glassomizers, and a couple of similar knock-offs from Fasttech.
We started rebuilding our own coils for tanks about 6-7 months ago. We used various gauges of Kanthal wire & ribbon with common silica.
In all that time with two people vaping, we've never had a problem with saline affecting the coils (stock or our own build).
Everything was perfect until we switched to Nextel (aka ReadyxWick). It's available here
Online Store, and it's been kiln treated for 12 hours. We do NOT recommend buying it untreated (or treated less) - and we highly recommend boiling it
several times before using it.
Nextel has several benefits:
-it wicks incredible amounts of juice incredibly fast (you'll likely have to adjust your coils to compensate)
-it has NO flavor (most all other wicking material has some level of flavor, so you need more flavoring)
-it won't scorch - no way, no how. You can take filthy brown/black used wicking, torch it, and it will be totally clean & white.
-not a benefit...no matter what you've read, it does degrade (substantially sometimes), and the tiny shards are definitely a 'risk factor'
When we switched to the Nextel, for the first time ever we were able to taste 'salt' in a few of our juices, and in many more we were able to discern that the salt content was doing what that much salt does to any flavor...changed or lessened them. We did about 40 side-by-sides (with Nextel; with normal silica wicking) - and some yielded no difference at all in flavor/intensity.
We have done extensive testing and decided on a new, standard VG Base to use with our mixes. We halved the amount of saline solution and replaced it with distilled water. So now it is: 80% VG; 13.5% distilled water; 4.5% saline solution (.9%) and 2% pure grain alcohol.
Mixes with 80% VG; 18% dw; 2% pga were 'flat' and wanted more flavor - but more flavor wasn't the answer - they were flat & without zip, zing, and 'flavor pop'
Mixes with 80% VG; 16% dw; 2% saline; 2% pga were almost as 'dead' as the above
Mixes with our new Base had all the zip, zing & *pop* as before, but we could discern no negative/distorting impact from the saline.
Something else we noticed when we switched to Nextel? The Kanthal started showing signs of oxidation after several uses. But that NEVER happened with any of our cartos, stock heads, or rebuilds before switching to Nextel. We are sure of this. This slight oxidation did not diminish the coil life.
Btw, we clean, dry burn and 'adjust' our coils after every 2-4mls of juice. They soak in 190 proof pga (then we put a lid on and shake them like crazy), lay them out to dry and dry burn them.
SO, knowing that Kanthal contains iron (and something in the Nextel was triggering/enhancing oxidation), we switched to Nichrome 80 (80% nickel; 20% chomium). We love it! It's much 'stiffer' (much easier to work with); has absolutely no taste; does not oxidize, and seems to 'hold up better' than the Kanthal. We'd never noticed the Kanthal having a slight metallic taste before, but we sure do now!
We're not trying to say that anyone elses 'coil experiences' are invalid. But we do want to remind everyone that 1-2 "experiences" doesn't prove a durn thing. There are WAY too many variables in play with coils to be able to determine "this caused this" after only 1 or 2 'occurences'. That many 'occurences' is just the trigger that indicates more/extensive testing is needed to find out what is happening.
Our suggestions, if you're going to use saline solution:
--Use only .9% saline solution without any additives - no preservatives; no antimicrobial agents, nothing.
--If you're going to make your own, use only USP sodium chloride. All other "salt" has additives or natural impurities...and those impurities
may have adverse affects on your tanks/coils, and they
will have some level of action of some type or another on the final juices (something we can't control from 'batch to batch'). Here's a link to USP, 1 gram sodium chloride tablets:
Amazon.com: Sodium Chloride 1 Gm 100 Tablets: Health & Personal Care
--Wicking material matters! And there IS a difference in even the most common of 'standard silicas' - from each manufacturers they will be different densities, different materials, be treated/untreated; and have different residual 'residue' from manufacturing...and any vendor could change brands on any spool. So you could change from 'one pack' of coil heads to another pack from the same exact source, and be vaping entirely different 'standard silicas'. This applies to much more than just "saline".
--Work with it...the postive affect of saline on flavors & hydration is well worth the effort!
