Hello all,
I finally decided to try a rebuildable tank after using carto tanks for the last couple of years, and bought a first generation Lemo on a closeout deal. I like the carto tanks, but it seems like the quality of cartos I've been buying for the tanks have varying quality lately, and I also think it should be cheaper to build my own.
Wow! I'm getting much more flavor and throat hit than with my carto tanks. so much that I dropped my nic level from 6mg to 3mg and even cut my flavor percentages a little. I was using 70pg/30vg juice, but made the last batch 50/50 to try to help with less TH and more vapor, and also thought it might be a little less prone to leak or flood with thicker juice.
I've read through most of the 160 pages in this thread, but my problem seems to be the opposite of most people here. The vape I'm getting seems too "wet" and hot. There's some slight gurgling - it seems to always be on the verge of what a flooded carto felt like, but not quite. I'm using 10 wraps (maybe 11) of 28g kanthal at 2.0mm diameter, which gives me about 1.9ohms, and wicking it with Japanese cotton, "bunny-eared" and cut about 1/4" above the chamber, then stuffed down into it and covering the juice channels. I've tried running it at everywhere from 7 to 15 watts, and have settled in at around 10-12 watts most of the time. Lower wattages didn't seem to produce much vapor and I couldn't handle the hit at the higher ones. I also tried 28g on 2.4mm and 3.0mm, but they seemed even wetter and hotter. I also played with the airflow, thinking that an airier draw would not pull so much juice into the wick, but it didn't seem to make that much difference, so I closed it up again to be more like the carto tanks I'm used to, but a little airier. I've tried less wicking, cutting it off at the top of the chamber instead of above it, and tried not covering the juice channels, but this latest configuration seems like the best so far.
But it's still a little harsh for me. What would be my best bet for getting this Lemo to vape similar to a carto tank, but with the better flavor and vapor without being too harsh? I have been using Boge LR (1.6-2.0 ohm) tank cartos. Would a smaller gauge wire and/or smaller coil, like maybe 30g on a 1.2mm or 1.6mm bit get me there? I haven't tried that yet because I only have the 28g kanthal and the wire that came with the Lemo (26g Nichrome?) on hand, but will order some if it will help. Or should I be looking at a higher or lower resistance coil? I was also wondering what effect the height of the coil above the airhole has?
(I also got a Kayfun Lite (clone) that I'm having similar issues with, but not the same degree. The airflow on it is fine for me, but the vape still seems a little wetter/hotter than I'm used to. I've tried using the same builds in it that I'm using in the Lemo. I figured that any suggestions I get for the Lemo should work for the KFL, too.)
EDIT: I was also wondering if I should try a different wick than cotton, would silica or rayon make a difference in the amount of juice I seem to be getting?
Thanks for any help you can give this rebuildable newbie,
Dave