# Noob Question: VandyVape Phobia



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Morning all. I recently purchased a VandyVape Pulse 80W regulated Mod with the VandyVape Phobia RDA/RSA. Being somewhat of a noob when it comes to vaping, the friendly gentleman in the shop installed a build and wicked the RDA/RSA for me. This is a 0.15ohm, dual coil build and I have been running it at 50W from the moment I got it. I experienced *AMAZING* flavour with absolute zero throat hit from this set up from the start, however, I recently had to re-wick, which is where everything went down hill. I now get this throat hit when exhaling which I do not like at all. I really enjoy flavour more than throat hits. I have subsequently tried to re-wick a couple of times using different techniques and different cotton thickness, repositioning coils etc. but have not managed to replicate the flavour I got on the initial build. I am still running at 0.15ohm and 50W, using exactly the same juice I had previously, so this is not throat hit due increased nicotine or watts. I am convinced it is due to the wicking, but have no idea how else to wick (I even tried the scottish roll, but this did not fix the issue either).

I have contacted the gentleman at the shop where I bought the device, and he is willing to show me what he did, however, the shop is situated in one of the bigger metro's and I live in a small town about 2 hour's drive away. Ideally I would like to resolve this without the expense of another 2 hour trip.

I am at my whit's end and desperately need some advice.

Thanks in advance...

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Bulldog (3/8/18)

Sounds like a dry hit to me. Do you have some photos of your wicking now.


----------



## JurgensSt (3/8/18)

Houston we have a wicking problem


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Hi @Bulldog and @JurgensSt , herewith my wicking and power settings pics.


----------



## Bulldog (3/8/18)

have a look at this @NOOB

Reactions: Informative 1


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Bulldog said:


> have a look at this @NOOB



Hi @Bulldog I saw this video earlier this week and tried it with no joy. Still experienced the same issue. One question though, could the issue be attributed to the *type* of cotton that I am using? I'm using the Coil Master cotton pads like the ones in the image below. If this is dodgy cotton, which cotton would you recommend?

Thanks.


----------



## MrGSmokeFree (3/8/18)

Hi @NOOB did you "clean" dry burn your coils before rewicking?


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

MrGSmokeFree said:


> Hi @NOOB did you "clean" dry burn your coils before rewicking?


Hi @MrGSmokeFree I did indeed. I do it every time I rewick. Thought it to be a good habit to get into.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Humbolt (3/8/18)

Maybe use a little less cotton? Are you wicks really tight in the coils? You could possibly be choking them.

Reactions: Agree 1


----------



## MrGSmokeFree (3/8/18)

Weird indeed @NOOB usually even if you use entry level cotton and wick correctly and your coils are clean and your cotton is well saturated it will work and you will have the lekker taste you had the first time. Maybe give cotton bacon v2 or TFC ( Titanium Fiber Cotton) a shot.


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Humbolt said:


> Maybe use a little less cotton? Are you wicks really tight in the coils? You could possibly be choking them.


Hi @Humbolt I have tried to vary the thickness of the cotton, from thinner pieces to thicker pieces. I guess I still need to find the sweet spot then. 
Thanks though, I'll try another wick this evening when I get home.


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

MrGSmokeFree said:


> Weird indeed @NOOB usually even if you use entry level cotton and wick correctly and your coils are clean and your cotton is well saturated it will work and you will have the lekker taste you had the first time. Maybe give cotton bacon v2 or TFC ( Titanium Fiber Cotton) a shot.


Hi @MrGSmokeFree 
Thanks, I'll try to get my hands on some and will try to get that wicking sweet spot sorted.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## MrGSmokeFree (3/8/18)

NOOB said:


> Hi @MrGSmokeFree
> Thanks, I'll try to get my hands on some and will try to get that wicking sweet spot sorted.


Cool let us know how it goes maybe try to rewick one more time with what you have if there is to much cotton in your coil will get a lekker Dry hit try the less is more route and remember to fluff the ends.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## MrGSmokeFree (3/8/18)

One last thing if you pull your cotton through your coils and they move just hold your coil and then slightly move the cotton back and forth until your coil does not move anymore good luck @NOOB

Reactions: Like 2


----------



## IVapesDaNicotine (3/8/18)

Have you inserted a screwdriver or something in there and made sure they are still straight? and also checked for hotspots? the coils need to heat from the middle outward and sometimes you get areas that get too hot causing cotton burns

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

MrGSmokeFree said:


> One last thing if you pull your cotton through your coils and they move just hold your coil and then slightly move the cotton back and forth until your coil does not move anymore good luck @NOOB


Thanks @MrGSmokeFree

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

IVapesDaNicotine said:


> Have you inserted a screwdriver or something in there and made sure they are still straight? and also checked for hotspots? the coils need to heat from the middle outward and sometimes you get areas that get too hot causing cotton burns


Hi @IVapesDaNicotine I've checked and my coils are heating nicely from the middle, but will check for hotspots as well. Thanks for the advice.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## IVapesDaNicotine (3/8/18)

that sounds fine then, maybe its what @MrGSmokeFree said. the cotton could be too tight to let enough juice in. Hope you sort it man i hate not being able to vape while i fiddle with coils

Reactions: Like 2


----------



## franshorn (3/8/18)

I also use that cotton. Put around a quarter of a pad through a 3mm coil. 

How much do you use?

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

franshorn said:


> I also use that cotton. Put around a quarter of a pad through a 3mm coil.
> 
> How much do you use?
> 
> Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk


Hi @franshorn I've been varying the thickness of cotton that i use, but cant say that I've actually use about a quarter of the pad per coil. Incidentally I also use 3mm inner diameter coils, so will definitely try this. Thanks! 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Silver (3/8/18)

Let us know how it goes @NOOB 

As a matter of interest, what juice are you vaping and what strength is it?

You say after the shop it was smooth but when you did it yourself it had throat hit.
Was it just a normal throat hit or was it quite burny with a funky burnt taste?

What wicking material did they use in the shop? Do you know?

I would also suggest trying a different wick. Perhaps Cotton Bacon V2 - its a good allrounder in my view.

The other thing is that it could be the settling in period where the vape was slightly different - and once the coil settled it and you wicked it again, the vape was a bit different. I doubt its that but it could be.


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Silver said:


> Let us know how it goes @NOOB
> 
> As a matter of interest, what juice are you vaping and what strength is it?
> 
> ...



Hi @Silver.

I am currently vaping on RYPE's Mixed Berries at 3mg. A very flavourful juice in my opinion.
After wicking myself the flavour is still there, but I experience a burning sensation in my throat on the exhale. I personally enjoyed the smooth flavour a lot more than the throat hit, and if possible would like to replicate that again. Unfortunately I have no idea what material the shop wicked with. 
I have watched a couple of youtube videos and have read articles on wicking and different techniques, but have not yet been able to recreate the smooth flavour. 
As soon as I have managed to figure it out I will post my findings and possibly even some instructions on the forum.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Silver (3/8/18)

Ok cool @NOOB

How long did you get the smooth flavour with the shops wick before you rewicked it? Was it a few days ? Or a shorter period?


----------



## NOOB (3/8/18)

Silver said:


> Ok cool @NOOB
> 
> How long did you get the smooth flavour with the shops wick before you rewicked it? Was it a few days ? Or a shorter period?



Hi @Silver. The smooth flavour from the shops wicking lasted for almost a week. At that point I noticed that my wicks and coils were getting a little gunky, which is why I rewicked and also took the opportunity to burn the gunk oof my coils.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Heino13 (4/8/18)

I think wick too thick 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## NOOB (4/8/18)




----------



## franshorn (16/8/18)

@NOOB You ever get this sorted? Or figured out the issue?


----------



## Gimli (16/8/18)

Are you sure that when you said you burnt the gunk off your coils, you didn't maybe fry your coils and need to make new coils?


----------



## NOOB (16/8/18)

Hi @franshorn I have been playing around with the wicking a lot. Definitely seems as though it performs better on a tight wick. I have one or two more ideas that I want to try out as it's not 100% just yet, but WAY better than it was when I originally posted this.

@Gimli not to my knowledge no. I am still rocking the same coils I had in when the issue started, but like I said above, with a tighter wick it seems to be behaving a lot better.

Will post some pics and explain what I did when I've tried out the other ideas. 

Thanks guys.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## franshorn (16/8/18)

Still using the Coil master cotton? or have you tried something else?


----------



## NOOB (16/8/18)

Hi @franshorn I am still using the Coil Master cotton, but would like to get my hands on some Cotton Bacon or something, just for comparison.


----------



## NOOB (18/8/18)

Alright friends, as promised....

I cut roughly 20mm strips of cotton.

I then roll these strips between my fingers until they form rolls of cotton (see pic 2 and 3). These rolls are fairly loose.

I then roll one end tightly and insert into the coil (3mm ID). They go through tight, but not to the extent where one would need to hold the coil in place.

I snip the tails in line with the o-ring on the outside of the RDA and fluff them up. I do not thin the tails out at all. I just fluff them up. Then just tuck and wet the cotton with your favorite juice.

No gurgelling, no spit back, no dry hits and flavour for days. I also get about 10 to 12 hits off a single squonk, so that's a bonus.

Conventional wisdom (and most of the advice available on the interwebs) suggests that one should not wick as tightly as I do, but ever since adopting this wicking method I have absolutely no issues with this RDA.

I hope this helps. Have a great day all! 
























Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 2


----------



## NOOB (18/8/18)

Oh, P.S. Dont drop your acrylic drip tips whilst working on your RDA's or RTA's. Apparently they can break. 

Suppose I'll have to place an order for a new one. Vape Mail baby, whooohooo!





Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Like 1


----------

