the TL;DR:
getting the wicking right is everything and it took me a long time to do so (ish...).
Wicking, for me, has been a challenge. and i still don't get it right every time. i have a kayfun prime, which i can wick with my eyes closed and it's still great. for the TAE, i have to be so very carefull to get it just right, it surprised me.
during the first few weeks, it never seemed to work. even when it wasn't a dry-hit, it wasn't a good vape. turns out i'd been using too much wick for the TAE. (and started doing that because the first few tries, it leaked all over my mod (for not using enough cotton)).
what i do now is use a longer but thinner piece of cotton (it pulls right through the coil with no resistance) but about 15mm of cotton on either side of the coil/TAE. then, i GENTLY (!!!!) let the cotton fall into the base/deck without pressing on it at all. i prime the cotton much more than any other atty i have, and start
vaping with the
juice flow control closed. only when the
juice from priming is decreased sufficiently and the wick and atty are warmed up, i start opening the liquid flow control. though never more than 1 full turn.
doing this, the vape is nice.
i also have the TA, and i had no such problems. the TAE, at least for me, is just difficult to get right (and quite different to wick from any other atty i have).
i still don't trust it enough to take it with me, and after filling there's generally more gurgling than i'm comfortable with (and juice in the bottom cap/ring (and i do wick with the reducer installed and check that the cotton isn't touching the reducer)).
ps: i use 50/50 pg/vg.