This is the same thing that happend to me, so you scared me first.
Everytime I get a coil to glow and not short, the wick stops wicking. However I will try priming the wick and turning it upside down to try and get it to wick again.
Twice I have made a coil that would not short and glow. However, I did notice that the coils were not touching up against the wick. Can this be the reason that it stops wicking?
Should the coil be up against the wick touching it and still not short out? My answer is yes.
Also, it seems like when I pulse and/or hold the button down during a dry burn I can get the coil to glow. It expands enough to get it to not short. However, I'm finding that when coil cools down and contracts, it shorts out up against the wick again.
I'm going to go wrap a perfect coil now...
It is interesting how we have ended up in similar spots at different times. To me its like you read my mind, ordered parts, fixed it, and posted the results all in 15 minutes of me finding the problem. Makes me want to borrow your time machine!
In general I just think that a wet wick has awfully high resistance and the coil has very low resistance, and the burning procedure just tosses a little crust on to bootstrap that.

