Hello everyone,
So I am I pretty new to this whole rebuildable vape thing still. I'm about a month in & not figuring out much...
I started with a Juul about year ago and quit cigarettes. Pod prices became in issue so I invested in a squonker - a Dovpo Topside with a Geekvape Ammit MTL RDA. Also bought some 28ga kanthal and Japanese organic cotton sliver.
I experimented with some store-bought juices and either found them gross (the 35mg nic-salt that is a probably-meant-for-pods juice) or underwhelming (6mg blue raspberry). The blue raspberry was decent, but I could hardly get any flavor our of it... Plus, it was only 6mg regular nic, which wasn't handling the cravings at all.
After blowing through $60 in store-bought juice that I didn't care for, I decided to go the DIY route. I looked up some good sounding recipes, bought flavorings, nic-salt, base liquids, bottles, and a scale. After making a few recipes (with proper steep time where necessary, but I was mainly aiming for SNV style recipes I could try fairly quickly), I was enjoying myself but still not getting the results I wanted from my mod setup.
After trying a few recipes and still finding flavor underwhelming, I stuck them in a Juul pod & discovered the flavor to be immensely better. vaping them through the Dovpo and Ammit MTL RDA I was getting some flavors (the real strong notes), but everything else seemed marred by a harshness that came on with 2-3 seconds of vaping. The only time I actually got a smooth hit with better flavor was when I dropped directly on the coils. Anytime there wasn't fresh juice directly on the coils, I just got harsh notes & muted flavors.
For reference, I have built from 0.8ohm to 1.8ohm 28ga kanthal coils, experimenting a few times with twisted kanthal as well. Usually I aim for 1.1-1.4 ohm, as that seems to be easiest to achieve with the 28ga kanthal. I prefer 2.5mm or 3.0mm ID, but have tried a range from 1.5mm-3mm. I usually space my coils for ease of not having to screw with it too much after mounting it in the atty, but also because I struggle with achieving acceptable contact coils with the 28ga wire (using a coil jig & freehanding). I do give the coils a decent dry burn before wicking. To be honest, I have found no huge particular differences in flavor with these different ohm builds.
My DIY liquids are anywhere from 12mg-24mg nic salts. I have also experimented with adding in 3mg of regular nicotine in addition to the nic salts (I initially attracted to being able to get more of a throat hit by adding in regular nic...). I try to stick to 10-15% flavoring total, although I did try a 19% strawberry cookie in a desperate attempt to get more flavor. That one was way overly sweet, and still harsh)
I have tried wicking an assortment of ways, almost always with the Scottish roll, usually aiming for the firm-but-still-movable tightness in the coil. With my 2.5mm & 3.0mm ID builds I have definitely experimented with packing more cotton in the coil (to the point where I have to hold the coil in place whilst pulling the cotton through) to the less-is-more style wicking. I cut to the length where it will just barely touch the bottom of the juice well, fluff well, and gently push in with tweezers. To be honest, the wicking never looks 'dry' while I'm vaping, I seem to get the Scottish roll style 15-20 puffs with no apparent burnt taste, but the flavor is always muted except for the fresh juice on the coils. It seems to wick well, except for one issue...
it always seems to burn very slightly in the middle! If I let it go all day, it definitely looks pretty black. But I have never noticed any burnt cotton tastes. Just a harshness to the vape that, again, removes almost all flavors.
I really don't know why this happens... I have tried so may tips & tricks. Many Ammit specific ones like different coil placements, lining things up with the small airflow holes the best I can, and wicking so the tails just barely touch the bottom. When I squonk it appears to wick quite well, soaking up a mostly dry wick in a matter of seconds.
Should I give up on the Ammit & go for a different RDA? Or maybe I should just go for a refillable pod device? I was trying to avoid that to save money in the long run by rebuilding, but maybe a rebuildable pod system like Smoant Pasito or the Vapefly Jester might work better? I hate throwing in the towel on this one as I got the Ammit RDA for flavor, which according to many online reviews it should provide for, but perhaps I got a bum one?
This turned into quite the long post. Sorry about that. Any suggestions anyone has is quite welcome! Thank you in advance!
So I am I pretty new to this whole rebuildable vape thing still. I'm about a month in & not figuring out much...
I started with a Juul about year ago and quit cigarettes. Pod prices became in issue so I invested in a squonker - a Dovpo Topside with a Geekvape Ammit MTL RDA. Also bought some 28ga kanthal and Japanese organic cotton sliver.
I experimented with some store-bought juices and either found them gross (the 35mg nic-salt that is a probably-meant-for-pods juice) or underwhelming (6mg blue raspberry). The blue raspberry was decent, but I could hardly get any flavor our of it... Plus, it was only 6mg regular nic, which wasn't handling the cravings at all.
After blowing through $60 in store-bought juice that I didn't care for, I decided to go the DIY route. I looked up some good sounding recipes, bought flavorings, nic-salt, base liquids, bottles, and a scale. After making a few recipes (with proper steep time where necessary, but I was mainly aiming for SNV style recipes I could try fairly quickly), I was enjoying myself but still not getting the results I wanted from my mod setup.
After trying a few recipes and still finding flavor underwhelming, I stuck them in a Juul pod & discovered the flavor to be immensely better. vaping them through the Dovpo and Ammit MTL RDA I was getting some flavors (the real strong notes), but everything else seemed marred by a harshness that came on with 2-3 seconds of vaping. The only time I actually got a smooth hit with better flavor was when I dropped directly on the coils. Anytime there wasn't fresh juice directly on the coils, I just got harsh notes & muted flavors.
For reference, I have built from 0.8ohm to 1.8ohm 28ga kanthal coils, experimenting a few times with twisted kanthal as well. Usually I aim for 1.1-1.4 ohm, as that seems to be easiest to achieve with the 28ga kanthal. I prefer 2.5mm or 3.0mm ID, but have tried a range from 1.5mm-3mm. I usually space my coils for ease of not having to screw with it too much after mounting it in the atty, but also because I struggle with achieving acceptable contact coils with the 28ga wire (using a coil jig & freehanding). I do give the coils a decent dry burn before wicking. To be honest, I have found no huge particular differences in flavor with these different ohm builds.
My DIY liquids are anywhere from 12mg-24mg nic salts. I have also experimented with adding in 3mg of regular nicotine in addition to the nic salts (I initially attracted to being able to get more of a throat hit by adding in regular nic...). I try to stick to 10-15% flavoring total, although I did try a 19% strawberry cookie in a desperate attempt to get more flavor. That one was way overly sweet, and still harsh)
I have tried wicking an assortment of ways, almost always with the Scottish roll, usually aiming for the firm-but-still-movable tightness in the coil. With my 2.5mm & 3.0mm ID builds I have definitely experimented with packing more cotton in the coil (to the point where I have to hold the coil in place whilst pulling the cotton through) to the less-is-more style wicking. I cut to the length where it will just barely touch the bottom of the juice well, fluff well, and gently push in with tweezers. To be honest, the wicking never looks 'dry' while I'm vaping, I seem to get the Scottish roll style 15-20 puffs with no apparent burnt taste, but the flavor is always muted except for the fresh juice on the coils. It seems to wick well, except for one issue...
it always seems to burn very slightly in the middle! If I let it go all day, it definitely looks pretty black. But I have never noticed any burnt cotton tastes. Just a harshness to the vape that, again, removes almost all flavors.
I really don't know why this happens... I have tried so may tips & tricks. Many Ammit specific ones like different coil placements, lining things up with the small airflow holes the best I can, and wicking so the tails just barely touch the bottom. When I squonk it appears to wick quite well, soaking up a mostly dry wick in a matter of seconds.
Should I give up on the Ammit & go for a different RDA? Or maybe I should just go for a refillable pod device? I was trying to avoid that to save money in the long run by rebuilding, but maybe a rebuildable pod system like Smoant Pasito or the Vapefly Jester might work better? I hate throwing in the towel on this one as I got the Ammit RDA for flavor, which according to many online reviews it should provide for, but perhaps I got a bum one?
This turned into quite the long post. Sorry about that. Any suggestions anyone has is quite welcome! Thank you in advance!
