Wow, the flavor difference between a cartomizer vs. Vivi Nova is insane...

[oh u mad]

First time I ever smoked Gorilla juice was in my Vivi Nova and I was not impressed, all I taste is a tiny hint of sweetness which I couldn't be able to describe, just some mysterious sweet flavor. I come back 2 days later and I use up one of my boge cartomizers and fill it up after reading that carto's give more flavor than clearomizers/vivi nova's/wicked stuff. I fill it up using the condom method take the first hit and BAM! the flavor hits me like a mac truck. I can taste bananas and the flavor is SO sweet. Now I know what everybody is talking about. The flavors are so crisp and refreshing. I could not put it down at ALL and was chain vaping like mad.

I now kind of regret getting all those extra replaceable heads for it, i have like 7 extra head for the vivi nova, but I don't think I ever want to go back to it again. Yes, the vivi is a fog machine and it's very reliable, but there is absolutely no flavor. I think there has to be some type of scientific explanation to why the flavor is so muted on the Vivi Nova. Flavoring liquids must somehow not fully penetrate through the wick? No clue why.

 

[oh u mad]

BTW, I directly went to crystalclearvaping.com and ordered a 15 pack of resurrectors. No more wicks for me.

 

[epfliiger]

Don't be to quick to judge. I always try dripping and then the tank. I usally notice a differance, but not much-- a lttle bit more muted perhaps. Do you have the version 2.5 head on the Vivi Nova? That would make a big difference.

 

[Extraunordinary]

I really experience the opposite, but I rebuild the vivi heads to my liking. Please PM me if you decide to classie your vivi stuff.

 

[tidegirl]

I have the opposite experience too. Can't stand the filler taste in cartos. (Except Volt cartos, where the filler is seperated from the coils.) Love my clearos and my Vivis. I guess that's why we have so many options.

 

[xplumberx]

GUS Aiolos and Bliss V2 and Steam Machine Gini... that is where the flavor is at! (I use cartos too).

 

[NICnurse]

Had the same issue with my 2.5 vivi. I hate it! Flavor on it sucks. Went back to carto and a tank pretty quickly.

 

[Buggs5347]

BTW, I directly went to crystalclearvaping.com and ordered a 15 pack of resurrectors. No more wicks for me.

Oh, good! I was just going to make a post telling you that if you thought the Boge was good, you should try the Smok Resurrectors.

By the way, the Resurrector is just the name the vendor calls them. They are called Rejuvenators at smoktek.com website (not related to Smoktech the manufacturer. They are simply Smok 1.7ohm single coil cartomizers at other sites.

Whatever name you call them - I call them a great vape. And, vapor clouds galore! Boges seem anemic by comparison. And, the flavor is much more intense than the vivi or the Stardust. The only clearo that comes close to having good flavor is the CE3 and possibly the T3 from what I'm hearing. The CE3 is a pain in the neck for me, though - too much muss and too many dry hits and leaking.

 

[epage]

Still pretty new to vaping, roughly one month including time on the convenience store disposables, and have yet to try cartomizers or carto tanks - have only used the CE4s and mini Vivi and Vivi Nova.

I do want to try a carto w/ tank - any suggestions on what this beginner might buy?

 

[Butters78]

I've been using novas since bogegate. I've been scared heh. I heard good things though about the ikenvapes and Stormy's.

I still have a few old school boges I have been using in a Bella tank with my unflavored.

 

[DizGrizz]

How thick is the Gorilla? Unmodified clearo's generally have a bad time with thick juices.


EDIT: The IkenVape Platinum's do rock! Suckin' on one now in my 6ml tank. Great flavor (don't dry burn it), vapor, and TH.

 

[Dman9021]

I do notice that with the Viva Novas the TH is pretty nonexistent but the flavor is so clean. I'm not entirely sure where I stand on them.

 

[noi_max]

It's my guess that certain juices translate better or worse depending on your device.. and it's not all good or all bad. I've done cartos and clearos. Haven't done the carto-tank setup yet, but when I'm more flush with $$ I'm going to drop down some cash on a IBTanked rig with some cartos and a slap yo momma adapter.. and I'm also going to try a drip atty with a shield so I can get all the different angles up to and not including a RBA (I'm not really interested in fiddling with my own coils yet. All this stuff is fiddly enough as-is in my opinion).

 

[SDOrganicChemist]

As an organic chemist I have a hypothesis to this whole thing. Most e-liquid contain flavoring that is water soluble. Some flavorings have more polar group moieties than others (and some protected moieties de-protect upon heating). If your wicks are silica, they'll hold the flavoring in them quite strongly especially since their surface areas are high. It depends on the flavoring in your e-liquid whether or not it will travel through the wick efficiently. This is why we use silica columns in the industry; their polar properties are useful in separating analytes of varying polarities. I have to see what the polyfill is made of but I suspect they're more non-polar than polar as they're a foam of some sort. They won't hold onto polar flavoring very strongly and thus it's released onto the coil to vaporize. This is why carbon-coated stainless steel wicks are all the craze now because they don't hold on to the flavoring like silica and polyfill.

 

[Rocketpunk]

I'm with the OP. VVN disappointed me. To a previous poster in another thread who suggested user error in the reasons why I did not like my VVN, there shouldn't even need to be a user error. I've filled enough carto tanks that tasted scrumpdidlyumptious with juices that I used in my VVN, and they just tasted DIFFERENT. But then again, taste is subjective, I guess.

OP, don't feel bad. The current rave is the VVN. If you get it to work for you, awesome. The heads are relatively cheap so it's not all that bad.

 

[Baditude]

As an organic chemist I have a hypothesis to this whole thing. Most e-liquid contain flavoring that is water soluble. Some flavorings have more polar group moieties than others (and some protected moieties de-protect upon heating). If your wicks are silica, they'll hold the flavoring in them quite strongly especially since their surface areas are high. It depends on the flavoring in your e-liquid whether or not it will travel through the wick efficiently. This is why we use silica columns in the industry; their polar properties are useful in separating analytes of varying polarities. I have to see what the polyfill is made of but I suspect they're more non-polar than polar as they're a foam of some sort. They won't hold onto polar flavoring very strongly and thus it's released onto the coil to vaporize. This is why carbon-coated stainless steel wicks are all the craze now because they don't hold on to the flavoring like silica and polyfill.

You sound like you know what you were talking about, but it was all greek to me. Care to put that into simple laymen's terminology?

 

[doom0r]

You sound like you know what you were talking about, but it was all greek to me. Care to put that into simple laymen's terminology?

Silica wicks are filtering out/holding the flavor, purifying your juice to a degree. The theory would agree with people claiming more flavor from shorter or less count wicks in their tanks.

Edit: would also explain the flavor break in phenomenon on novas

 

[Baditude]

Still pretty new to vaping, roughly one month including time on the convenience store disposables, and have yet to try cartomizers or carto tanks - have only used the CE4s and mini Vivi and Vivi Nova.

I do want to try a carto w/ tank - any suggestions on what this beginner might buy?

My recommendation would be for you to order a $20 tank (XL pyrex tube and acrylic endcaps) from IBTanked - Get Tanked With Us! The vendor sells pre-punched cartos and drip tips on the site as well; get a few of the Smok 2.0 ohm Single Coil 2 Hole XL cartos https://www.ibtanked.com/accessories/smok-2-0-ohm-single-coil-2-hole-xl-detail for $1.50 each.

Watch the following video demo on how to fill the punched cartomizer and how to fill the tank.

 

[MrKV]

BTW, I directly went to crystalclearvaping.com and ordered a 15 pack of resurrectors. No more wicks for me.

Curious, what ohm were your vivi nova heads and cartomizers? Also what voltage did you vape both on?

 

[Baditude]

My preference is strongly for cartotanks. I have never tasted the polyfill some claim to taste. Cartomizers, and cartotanks in general, provide me with the best and strongest flavor. I tried the vivi nova tanks; the vapor is great, easy to fill and clean, but many of the flavors are muted, some to the point that I can not tell there is flavor in the juice at all - it tastes like flavorless e-juice. Now some stronger flavors seem to work ok, like a rootbeer float flavor or coffee.