Hi all
I got an IGO-L from VapeSA and a SVD from VapeKing. I assume the IGO-L is a clone - it cost R150 - and comes in a white box marked "Vapor".
It's my first foray into dripping and using higher power. (My reference until now has been Protanks on Vision Spinner and iTaste VV mainly at around 7.5 to 8 Watts with standard coils). Let me say that I am very happy with my current setup but the curiosity in me wants to see if I can get better flavour and throat hit. I'm not chasing vapour.
Although I intend using this setup to practice some coil building skills, I thought it would be useful to record my thoughts on using it straight out the box - with the standard coil that was pre-installed. Please don't laugh
The coil
- It's a double coil with what appears to my untrained eye as silica wick - quite a lot of wick all over the place.
- The wire appears quite thin. (Thinner than the Kanthal 28 awg I have, which I haven't used yet.)
- It measures 1.4 ohms on my Sigelei ohm meter.
Here is a picture of the coil after it's been juiced up.
With one airhole I understand that the stock IGO-L is not geared up for a double coil setup. Nevertheless, I tried it with the airhole lined up as close to the coils as possible. Have tried both sides.
After a few sessions, I noticed that the one coil appears darker on some of its wraps than the others. It can be seen in the above pic on the lower coil. Maybe this is the uneven heating that people talk about avoiding. When I test fire the coil with the cap removed, it produces good vapour but doesn't glow red hot. Maybe I'm not using enough power, but I didn't want to fiddle too much in case I burnt it out LOL.
Juice used
- Vapour Mountain Peach Rooibos (12 mg) - I love this juice and know its flavour well and how it vapes on my Protanks.
- I drip about 8 drops directly on the coils and to either side on the wicks. I didn't drip in the well of the base.
Vapour, Flavour, Throat hit
- Vapour - lots of vapour - more than I'm used to on the PT2 - I'd say about 30% more and quite dense.
- Flavour - it is there but less than the PT2. Some hits have a lot less flavour
- Throat hit - mostly it's almost non existent. Sometimes it's there a bit. Less than my PT2 setup though.
Other observations
- I sense that the vape is quite a lot smoother than the PT2. Although the smoothness is quite nice, there's not much throat hit.
- There is less noise and less crackling when it fires. (compared to my PT2 setup)
- I tried varying the power from a low of about 8 Watts up to 11 Watts. All that happens is the vapour gets more and the throat hit slightly more. But still not satisfactory.
- I didn't think the overall vape experience was as "intense" as my standard PT2 setup, but after about 30 mins and two dripping sessions, I felt quite a STRONG nic buzz and that doesn't normally happen on my standard setup even at 18mg. So maybe its the dripping action extracting more of the nicotine. I am a bit confused since the throat hit was lower.
- I didn't find the draw too tight. I actually generally prefer a tighter draw.
- Another thing is that my flat plastic tip on the PT2 doesn't fit nicely in the IGO-L. It's way too tight. I don't like their metal tip that came with it, so am using the plastic Delrin tip we got at the VapeMeet as a gift from @Derick at SkyBlue. Thanks @Derick. Not sure I can get used to the round tip though when I've used a flat tip since I started vaping. Also the round tip has a much bigger hole than the flat plastic tip I use on the PT2. I think I prefer the smaller hole. Maybe I just need to get used to it.
Overall first impression
Overall though, If the vape I'm getting on the PT2 is say 7 out of 10 for my needs, I'd say this is 6 or maybe even 5 because of the round tip. I am confused though. Not what I really hoped for. Even though I know this is only the standard coil that came with it.
Where to from here?
- I have chatted to @Tom and @TylerD about this and they both felt the standard coil is not anything to go by. I only wanted to try it so I have a reference point for when I build my own coil.
- The general feeling is that I should go for a microcoil with a 1.5mm diameter using cotton as a wick. I will try that. I have also seen some videos on a single coil around silica wick.
- I am hoping I can get this setup to perform nicely and beat my existing PT2 setup in both flavour and throat hit. I am not too concerned about vapour.
- If any of you have anything to add and in particular can help me to understand some of my observations then I'm all ears.
I got an IGO-L from VapeSA and a SVD from VapeKing. I assume the IGO-L is a clone - it cost R150 - and comes in a white box marked "Vapor".
It's my first foray into dripping and using higher power. (My reference until now has been Protanks on Vision Spinner and iTaste VV mainly at around 7.5 to 8 Watts with standard coils). Let me say that I am very happy with my current setup but the curiosity in me wants to see if I can get better flavour and throat hit. I'm not chasing vapour.
Although I intend using this setup to practice some coil building skills, I thought it would be useful to record my thoughts on using it straight out the box - with the standard coil that was pre-installed. Please don't laugh
The coil
- It's a double coil with what appears to my untrained eye as silica wick - quite a lot of wick all over the place.
- The wire appears quite thin. (Thinner than the Kanthal 28 awg I have, which I haven't used yet.)
- It measures 1.4 ohms on my Sigelei ohm meter.
Here is a picture of the coil after it's been juiced up.
With one airhole I understand that the stock IGO-L is not geared up for a double coil setup. Nevertheless, I tried it with the airhole lined up as close to the coils as possible. Have tried both sides.
After a few sessions, I noticed that the one coil appears darker on some of its wraps than the others. It can be seen in the above pic on the lower coil. Maybe this is the uneven heating that people talk about avoiding. When I test fire the coil with the cap removed, it produces good vapour but doesn't glow red hot. Maybe I'm not using enough power, but I didn't want to fiddle too much in case I burnt it out LOL.
Juice used
- Vapour Mountain Peach Rooibos (12 mg) - I love this juice and know its flavour well and how it vapes on my Protanks.
- I drip about 8 drops directly on the coils and to either side on the wicks. I didn't drip in the well of the base.
Vapour, Flavour, Throat hit
- Vapour - lots of vapour - more than I'm used to on the PT2 - I'd say about 30% more and quite dense.
- Flavour - it is there but less than the PT2. Some hits have a lot less flavour
- Throat hit - mostly it's almost non existent. Sometimes it's there a bit. Less than my PT2 setup though.
Other observations
- I sense that the vape is quite a lot smoother than the PT2. Although the smoothness is quite nice, there's not much throat hit.
- There is less noise and less crackling when it fires. (compared to my PT2 setup)
- I tried varying the power from a low of about 8 Watts up to 11 Watts. All that happens is the vapour gets more and the throat hit slightly more. But still not satisfactory.
- I didn't think the overall vape experience was as "intense" as my standard PT2 setup, but after about 30 mins and two dripping sessions, I felt quite a STRONG nic buzz and that doesn't normally happen on my standard setup even at 18mg. So maybe its the dripping action extracting more of the nicotine. I am a bit confused since the throat hit was lower.
- I didn't find the draw too tight. I actually generally prefer a tighter draw.
- Another thing is that my flat plastic tip on the PT2 doesn't fit nicely in the IGO-L. It's way too tight. I don't like their metal tip that came with it, so am using the plastic Delrin tip we got at the VapeMeet as a gift from @Derick at SkyBlue. Thanks @Derick. Not sure I can get used to the round tip though when I've used a flat tip since I started vaping
. Also the round tip has a much bigger hole than the flat plastic tip I use on the PT2. I think I prefer the smaller hole. Maybe I just need to get used to it.Overall first impression
Overall though, If the vape I'm getting on the PT2 is say 7 out of 10 for my needs, I'd say this is 6 or maybe even 5 because of the round tip. I am confused though. Not what I really hoped for. Even though I know this is only the standard coil that came with it.
Where to from here?
- I have chatted to @Tom and @TylerD about this and they both felt the standard coil is not anything to go by. I only wanted to try it so I have a reference point for when I build my own coil.
- The general feeling is that I should go for a microcoil with a 1.5mm diameter using cotton as a wick. I will try that. I have also seen some videos on a single coil around silica wick.
- I am hoping I can get this setup to perform nicely and beat my existing PT2 setup in both flavour and throat hit. I am not too concerned about vapour.
- If any of you have anything to add and in particular can help me to understand some of my observations then I'm all ears.
Now its on the Nemesis @ 1 ohm, single coil still. need to get another one for dual coil setups, with a second airhole then.
