Wick issue with CE4 Changeable Clearo

[Salt&PePPer]

Ok, got a five pack of the new Changeable Coil CE4s the other week.

The first night, first use out of them, I got them working very well. Not having to tip over the top of the Clearo to dab the tiny wicks into the sauce all that much. The following morning however I was getting dry hits on all of the three Clearos I had filled up. All with the Super Thin PG juice/Sauce.

Thinking it was as issue with the juice somehow mucking up the wicks I took them out and cleaned them per many of the videos that are posted on YouTube. Just using simple Water under a faucet and dry burning until dry. Seemed like it did the trick, looked brand new, practically.

But I did run into the same problem with the Dry Hitting again when I stuck them back in the Clearo. The issue was intermittent as I would tip over the top of the Clearo to get the juice back into the Coil's Head to atomize the Juice.

It wasn't until today that I read that you could take hits off the Clearo without pressing the button in an attempt to move the Juice into the wick over the coil to be atomized. This worked - however I noticed with one of my Clearos if I just loosened up the Tip at the end it would help draw more air into the Clearo for when I took a hit. This helped too. But during the whole thing I would have to keep the Clearo tipped on it's side at 90 Degrees left or right so that at least one of the tiny wicks was in contact with the juice at all times!

Further it seemed I could get a better more accurate hit off the Clearo if I plugged up one of the two Carb holes at the base of the Clearo where it attaches to the eGo battery. Seems like I would have to take a HUGE Draw if I didn't cover at least one of these holes. But if I just covered one up I could take an easy draw and thus more accurately meter a good hit off the Clearo.

My question is, is this par for the course, does this happen more often than not?

Does it also have something to do with the material the wick is made out of, I know this stuff isn't cotton but maybe some type of Fiberglass? They worked well the first time out but after I cleaned them up it didn't matter. They pretty much performed as like before.

I was going to buy some Standard Resistance Coils for my next go round as the pack I bought were all 1.8ohm coils.

I'm just wondering if I should just move on to another type of tank system? Like a CE2 or CE3 or Nova or something?

Further, was thinking about re-wicking these bad boys with some COTTON Fiber Wicks with coils I make myself - anybody else do this? I've seen people do it on YouTube and isn't out of my skill zone at all. Would Cotton Fix this up, and also making the Wicks much longer?

Finally since these CE4 tubes are all Straight from top to bottom I was thinking of using some Mesh Wick Material to come up the sides of the CE4 and have the Cotton Wicks attach to the mesh. Just a thought.

Any input would be useful.

 

[Adam the Aussie]

I'm not much use to you, other than to say that sounds pretty much par for the course for a ce4. Lots of tipping, dry hits, modding and blank draws to try and get juice to the coil. Hope you get them going properly, i've gone back to carto tanks.

 

[kelleymcm]

I've used ce's since they came out & have NO problems with them at all ...in any form.

I also DIY my juice 100% VG (well more like 80% VG 10% Flavoring & 10% Dist. water )

and from my vaping experience & reading around the forum, I think wicks like thicker juice !

Try something with a higher VG % & see if that helps .

There is also a general opinion that the longer the wick the more filtered the flavor gets & short wick are pretty tasty.

Tipping is just a necessary thing w/these ...if you can't get past tipping ....maybe you should try some bottom coil's ??

Sorry I know nothing about the cotton, except that you can't dry burn it . Deal breaker for me .

good luck ........

 

[Adam the Aussie]

That's the great thing about vaping, one persons perfect vape is someone elses piece of junk. We must have differing opinions of NO problems at all, I hate dry hits, they hurt my throat. You obviously experience dry hits also, otherwise why the tipping?

 

[meli.]

It wasn't until today that I read that you could take hits off the Clearo without pressing the button in an attempt to move the Juice into the wick over the coil to be atomized. This worked - however I noticed with one of my Clearos if I just loosened up the Tip at the end it would help draw more air into the Clearo for when I took a hit. This helped too. But during the whole thing I would have to keep the Clearo tipped on it's side at 90 Degrees left or right so that at least one of the tiny wicks was in contact with the juice at all times!

I think we've all been there - tilting at an angle - just to spare our ourselves yet another dry hit. I've not tried "taking hits off the Clearo without pressing the button in an attempt to move the Juice into the wick" the thought of having a mouth full of juice puts me off, although I do occasionally place a tissue over the tip and take a hard pull whilst pressing the button down. Keeping in contact with juice seems to be the nature of this little beast.

My question is, is this par for the course, does this happen more often than not?

In my experience - not huge - the short answer is Yes!

Further, was thinking about re-wicking these bad boys with some COTTON Fiber Wicks with coils I make myself - anybody else do this? I've seen people do it on YouTube and isn't out of my skill zone at all. Would Cotton Fix this up, and also making the Wicks much longer?

Finally since these CE4 tubes are all Straight from top to bottom I was thinking of using some Mesh Wick Material to come up the sides of the CE4 and have the Cotton Wicks attach to the mesh. Just a thought.

Many have had great experiences with cotton wicks, you can't dry burn them (obvious reasons) but they do work well and successfully on CE4's, SS wicks can work too, although here I find they flood a lot, I'm still working on this myself so I can't offer useful advice until I get them working as well as I would like.

For more info on cotton and other materials have a look at this thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html , it is long but really has everything you can imagine regarding wicks and safe materials, don't feel intimidated by the lenghth of the thread, ask them questions, they're all great and willing to help everyone

 

[Salt&PePPer]

I've accepted the fact that I will have to do some tilting with this setup. No big 'WHOOP' really if that's what it takes to feed the wicks.

What I did last night was clean a few of the heads for when I ran off this morning. Slamming in a freshly cleaned Coil helps about 100 fold it seems. Always a pain in the neck to try and work through all the 'Dry-Hits" I have to endure to get the Tanks from the night before up and operating. They are super harsh and irritate the back of the throat too much. It's silly

Also, today I busted out a concoction of something I've been holding onto. Forget exactly what it was; I call it 'Jungle Juice'. This is what's left after I'm finished with a tank and there are some fractions of Milliliters left in the apparatus. So I just draw out what's left and throw it into an empty bottle I have. This Jungle Juice was around 50% VG and it had absolutely NO PROBLEM working with the itty bitty wicks on my CE4s. Was actually impressed at how well it did since I've endured so much pain trying to get these 100% PG Juices working. So maybe I will be looking into some 50/50 juices in the future?

Further, I noticed when I'm working try to clear the dry hits out and tilt the stick at 90 degrees, where I keep it all the time just to make it work all the time that I draw the liquid into the head and then it heads down the center pipe towards the Battery where I check often. Check often just for that scenario.

And then there is still so much to learn and experience. I need to get another job just to keep up with all the crap I want to get; that is I don't have a job at the moment besides looking after my Terminally Ill Father, Pancreatic Cancer.

 

[kelleymcm]

That's the great thing about vaping, one persons perfect vape is someone elses piece of junk. We must have differing opinions of NO problems at all, I hate dry hits, they hurt my throat. You obviously experience dry hits also, otherwise why the tipping?

I dislike throat hit ...dry hits....citrus,cinnamon's & menthols & most things over 4.volts ...they ALL HURT my throat .

I don't "tip" intentionally & but I do hold my pv a lot & talk with my hands ...so I'm always shaking/swinging it around.

I usually leave it sitting up when I put it down, but I also lay it down a lot (like now) while typing .

So I do not NEED to "tip" intentionally but others are always complaining about tipping ???

So If they are bothered by it enough to complain
...they must not be tippers or move very much or something I guess, so I was just making a suggestion .

I think most of the dry hits folks talk about are related to voltage ....the only time I have ever experienced "dry hits" is when I try higher voltage or when I am not paying attention enough & have totally sucked down every available drop of juice in tank.

So in a nut shell...IMHO
wicks prefer lower voltage & thicker juice,
full tank or a lot of movement & NOT to be pinched off by the coil cup ....
& to be cleaned periodically*, cuz DIRTY coil hits are every bit as NASTY as dry hits !
*early indicator on dirty is when the juice in tank starts changing color

& I'm stickin' to it ... jumpin' off ma' soap box...

 

[Salt&PePPer]

Since I ran into this issue with the wicks early on I thought it best to clean out the tank and the head after each use. I think I only topped off a tank ONE TIME! So if the juice is about gone I take out what is remaining and I place that 'old' juice into my 'Jungle Juice' bottle for later retrieval. Can't wait until I Get a few miLs to see what it's going to taste like.

I was talking about getting some Standard Resistance Heads. The website I bought my CE4s from charges about $2.50 per head. I was farting around yesterday just searching around Google and I found a place in China, Not Health Cabin, that sells the heads in a five pack for $4.50. Only issue is this place does not use DHL and anything I order can take a month. So it's either order and save a ton of money, relatively speaking, and wait a month for it to get delivered. Or I order from somewhere in the States and get charged about eight times as much I can buy each piece for from China; and have everything in my hands just two days later! Choices choices. Tell you what, see how cheap some of this stuff is has given me a new idea for a new Psuedo-Business Model for a website. I don't really mind waiting a month if I can save a relatively 'lot' of money. I dunno do I sound crazy or is my Business Education starting to take over?

 

[kelleymcm]

BOTH !! ......................

naa It is tempting to order the cheaper route ...but has down falls or could have ....
lot's of things can happen in a month & the speed at which the products are developing in the vape industry...you may not even want those by the time they got here .

I have learned to order "only a few" of things ...

& If I really end up liking them, then I can always order more later.

 

[Salt&PePPer]

For sure my next $40 won't include the heads for these CE4s. Some VIVIs or Smokeymizers or some $h!7, I mean stuff.

 

[kelleymcm]

So have you checked out all the CE type tanks @ Gotvapes ?
There are several New & wonderful things ...mini vivi nova's etc....so many choices now !

 

[LouP]

Hi Salt&PePPer

Sorry about your Dad.
I just thought I'd add my two cents worth. Spending a ton of money on vape stuff isn't in my budget either.
I've been vaping more than six months now and have found an easy, affordable setup that works well for me.
I got an ego twist and a 5 pack of Phoenix/Ce3 bottom coil clearomizers, the latter from GotVapes. You do have to fill them with a syringe but it's easy enough to do. I have been using these same five for six weeks now and I love them. No fiddling at all. I think three of them are ready to be retired. I vape about 3 ml/day, either 50/50 or 100% VG.
I'm ordering another pack and I'm tempted to get a ViViNova Mini but...I don't need it. Down the road probably.
The ViVi Nova 2.5 gets great reviews but for now I like to be able to have several different clearos ready to go with different flavours.

I agree with Kelleymcn about voltage. Example -If I'm vaping a juice I like at 4.2 then switch to one that needs to be at 3.4 and forget to change it I'll get a horrible burnt taste. I twist it down and it's all good again!

I realize everyone has different experiences but this has been mine. I much prefer to use my vape budget for really good juice. I could have the fanciest equipment money can buy but unless I love the juice I'm vaping it's no good to me.

Good luck

 

[Salt&PePPer]

Thanks for the response Lou and Kelley.

I've been poking around the interwebz a lot the past few days; primarily looking for a Tobacco Sampler pack.

But moving a long. I have just been chugging a long with these CE4s. Been rotating them but not topping them off for the most part. After I'm done with say 2mils worth of juice I break them down, the tube, tip and attys and soak them in Isopropyl Alcohol -AKA IPA- @ 91%. I do this just to make sure everything is clean and if for any reason something doesn't work right I can immediately eliminate pointing my finger at a gunked-up Atty. IPA is far better than plane jane water is cleaning out a Wick and Coil than water is. However, after I take the 'Bits and Bobs' out of the IPA I still rinse them under water. This is more or less for the benefit of the atty. Don't want any residual IPA clinging to the wick. It will eventually dry out, just that it can take overnight to do so and my patience doesn't really lend itself to such durations such as these.

Right now since I've become familiar with the CE4s is the Wicks in-ability to work properly in the mornings when I first pick up my eCig. It's always an ordeal that can take five minutes or more just to start to get the darned thing working right. Alls it is in the morning is dry-hit, dry-hit, dry-hit. And as far as I know there is no better way to clear this than to take small puffs and not let the vapor hit the throat. However it's way more than letting the Vapor hit the throat, it's just the crappy dry painful feeling that hits the mouth and I'm just getting tired of it.

I was going to look into getting some Standard resistance attys for my CE4s but I think I'm just going to abandon them when I can get come CE3s or Smoky-Mizers or something else that works right. Trust me I don't plan on throwing them away; I want to use them as a test bed to learn how to make my own coils and to figure out this whole problem of Dry-Hitting.

I haven't really narrowed it down to what I want to get just yet because I don't want to buy crap like I did the last time. But it's not necessarily the design is crap, it's the manufacturing and Quality Control that is crap in China.

When I first got into Vaping I realized how cheap all the components were. But now I understand it's just the crap manufacturers which allow the retailers to sell their stuff for so little.

OH another big issue is with the Caps/Tips on these. They are comprised of Plastic, Delrin(?) maybe, and metal threading. When I first opened the Packaging from the store, US postal mail package with everything in it, they had put in a bag of 5 additional tips. I thought that was odd and moved a long with my life. Well just a few days later I had my first failure of these caps. What a bummer eh? So I used one of the new ones. They look exactly the same except the ones in the bag are completely smooth on the inside. The tips that came with the tanks have four of these Protrusions that sit on top of the Atty tip. Don't know what they are doing there.

So I know TMI at the moment. I needs to get some sleep.