Bold paragraph below describes the procedure I use when cleaning a used head or changing flavors.
After seven months of constant usage and experimentation with my 12 Vivi Nova Minis, I've learned that a thorough initial cleaning completely eliminates all the poor wicking and lack of flavor (aka Break-In) problems commonly associated with using brand new silica and wire heads ala Vivi Nova, Stardust or most any other 'rebuildable' tank of this genre. I also found that cleaning before first use allows the wicks soak up juice faster, making them ready to vape within a few seconds after filling the tank.
Why should new tanks, wicks and coil assemblies be thoroughly cleaned before their first use? The obvious reasons are "You don't know where that thing's been? You are not really gonna put that in your mouth without washing it, are you?'
So called 'New' items and their heads are contaminated with minute amounts of everything from manufacturing particles and fluid residue to what the factory worker has on his hands after the lunch he ate or the bathroom break he took moments before he assembled your 'new' tank.
Further, if you try a new juice with a new Vivi Nova and/or head that you haven't vigorously flushed prior to first use, it's a 50-50 proposition whether or not you will like the new juice. Asking a subtle juice flavor to compete with imbedded manufacturing residue is not a fair contest.
How many times have we all read "The flavor was terrible at first but it got better after a tank or two."
It took that '...tank or two' to flush out the crud the factory left in your device. What's worse is you didn't wash it down the drain, you inhaled it.
Simply rinse the heads and tank components under a faucet using the hottest water you can stand. Or let them soak in hot water for a few minutes, then flush with running water. Personally, I soak them in alcohol for 5-10 minutes. I gently agitate the parts a couple of times during the alcohol soak. I rinse by placing the heads and/or parts in a small bowl under slowly running HOT water. This rinses and again agitates them to insure the item's nooks and crannies are flushed clean and I don't lose parts down the drain.
