Was it the Dekang? Or coincidence?

[Twinturbo4486]

Hey all, wanted some opinions on this. It's a dumb newb questions but anyways. So I've been vaping for 10 days now on my Ego, and I'm still using the same atty that came with my starter kit. So the atty was performing fine, no weird tastes, putting out a lot of vapor... everything has been fine.

So today some DeKang juice came in that I traded with someone here on the forum. This was my first Dekang juice and it was "Mint". I blew out my atty (as usual when changing flavors), dropped three drops of this stuff in there and vaped it about 7 or 8 times as usual and dripped a few more drops (this is how I do it everytime). Everything tasted fine, the mint wasn't too bad, I liked it.

All of a sudden after adding a couple more drops, I tasted this horrible burnt taste... like burnt rubber in my mouth it was just really terrible. Now... whenever I needed to drip some more I always got a weird plastic taste you know when you're atty is running a little dry, but this was different... it was 10x WORSE. So, I changed liquids and the same taste was there... totally unvapable.

So confused as to what was going on and why it happened as soon as I used this new juice, I blew out my atty, ran it under warm water, shook it up with the water in it, let it try etc. I added some more juice to it, sparked her up and still had that horrible taste and I couldn't stand it.


So I have two questions. First, Does this mean this atty is dead? Is there any fixing this or is this what atomizers do when they die? Second, could the difference in juice make this happen? If not, what does make this happen? As soon as I switched to my back-up everything was fine but it's my last one so I am scared to use the Dekang juice until I know for sure that didn't cause it!

 

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

It isn't the liquid. I'd bet it was coincidence.

The biggest problem with ANY atomizer is keeping it wet. If you get AVD like me (Attention to Vaping Disorder) you can vape an atomizer dry and *poof* bad taste.

Most likely you've vaped the atty dry. You noted

whenever I needed to drip some more I always got a weird plastic taste you know when you're atty is running a little dry,

You're waiting too long to add liquid. This is a sign of burning. At the first drop of flavor, you should add more liquid. Most likely you're adding to the burning on the coil by vaping it to that point each time before adding liquid.

Also you blew out the atty from your previous flavor and only added 3 drops (the usual reprime for the eGo seems to be 6-8). This seems to me that you didn't have enough liquid in the atty for the 7 or 8 hits you took. Letting the atomizer sit to soak in the reprime liquid after blowing out can be helpful as well.

The mint could contribute to a worse burnt flavor, but any of your flavors will eventually give a burned taste when not enough liquid is used while dripping. This is a common new user mistake. You might do better to consider going with your cartridges until you get used to the amount of liquid you'll need to use and slow down with how often you hit the PV so you aren't over heating the atomizer and running it dry (the bridge isn't keeping up with wicking liquid down into the pot of the atomizer if you are constantly hitting it).

The thing new vapers need to keep in mind is that dripping requires lots of attention and frequent application of lots of liquid between just a few hits.

To try to bring your atomizer back and remove the burned taste: Everclear or Vodka can help. I usually boil out the atomizer with water first (cover the atomizer with at least 1-2" of water in a glass or microwavable bowl, put in the microwave for 2 minutes (stand and watch to make sure water doesn't boil out over the atomizer, if it is covered in water, metal is ok to microwave!). Let sit until cool... blow out and then soak in PGA Everclear or Vodka for a few hours. Blow out the atomizer again, and prime well with your e-liquid (around 6-8 drops for an Ego). Let the atomizer sit to soak up the liquid for a few minutes.

You can repeat the cleaning if it doens't seem to remove all the bad tastes.

Worse case is it doesn't help at all and you'll need to replace the atomizer. Most of us have a few burned soldiers from the first month of vaping sitting in a box.

Happy Ego Vaping!

 

[rolygate]

3 drops and 7 or 8 drags?

Like Helen says, this is why it burnt up - and also why drippers get more burned-out atties than anyone else. You'll get about 3 or 4 pulls off 3 drops, maybe one more if you only do short pulls. Use the cone on the eGo, its main function is as a liquid catcher. If you're dripping then the cone needs to get some liquid in it or you're not using enough and are at risk of burning the atty.

Cut 3mm or 4mm off the top of the cone so you get decent airflow. Dripping (safely) uses at least 50% more liquid than using a cart, and some of that is wasted on leakage, as insurance you don't burn out the atty.