OK, so this is not really "show and tell", nor do I presume to think I'm teaching anyone anything - just that I'm really happy with how this coil performs. I have made two more just like that and now I am really in a good place with my iHys.
A few details:
- it is a 3/2 out of 30 AWG
- I tug (gently) on the top wire while pushing the wick towards the center post and "into" the wire; at the risk of kinking the wick a little bit, I think it is much better to avoid a hot spot in the positive lead by minimizing the amount of wire hanging free in air
- I now wrap it
tight; I'm done with the "floating just above" BS... I am certain that any little bit of wire that is not in full contact with the wick will either go hot or will boil
juice in between the wick and itself - either will diminish / change the flavor
- on the negative lead - I actually take a small screwdriver and flatten the wire onto the atomizer floor (notice the sharp angle it makes when it climbs onto the wick); again, my goal is to get rid of all the wire that is free in the air and I think it helps a lot....
Once done, I do what EZKill suggested - fire it in extremely short bursts while watching shorts going down the coil. As more wire is ahead of the short, you can prolong the bursts (as the resistance now starts coming up). I cannot stress enough the importance of a reliable high drain battery (e.g. genuine AW or MNKE 18650; I wouldn't put Panasonic's claims about their new technology to the test here...). Also do not allow the battery to get warm, obviously. Sure, the coil should pop before anything catastrophic happens, but that's NOT reliable.
This vapes incredibly well. For some reason, all my previous
coils gave either great taste but less power (more wraps) or great vapor / power but diminished flavor (fewer
coils, and most likely tiny and intermittent hotspots).
Any further suggestions welcome.
ETA: I vaped on this for 1 and a half days.