Dripping Station at NJ vapors
VaporRater's Guide to Dripping
With the recent influx of subscribers, I thought it was about time we discussed dripping, the (almost) original way to vape.
Back when I began vaping, we searched high and low for material to fill our cartridges (that's right, cartridges). We tried new polyfill, lipton pyramid tea bags, and blue aquarium foam (oh, the memories!), among other random items. As it turned out, many of us ended up skipping the filler altogether and dripping straight into our atomizers...thus direct dripping was born.
Compared to today's PVs and *-omizers, the technology was only in it's infancy, but as it turns out, when it comes to the truest, most intense flavors, the biggest throat hit, and most voluminous vapor production, aside from RBA/RDAs, there is simply nothing better.
The Equipment
a battery/mod -- could be as small as a 510/901 cig-a-like, as large as a 26650 Stinger, or anywhere in between.
Your dripping atomizer (I prefer bridgless)
Drip tip
drip shield & 510-510 shorty adapter (optional)
Battery
This part of this equation should be simple enough (if you're not sure of your threading, ask in comments, but 99.9% of you have a 510 threaded device).
Atomizer
The real question is how much $$ do you want to spend.
Want to just try out dripping? I like these little 3 hole drippers for $5/ea. They function well, have a decent lifespan, and produce good flavor.
Want something a little higher quality? These Vapage AMG attys at $9/ea are the ones I use for all my juice reviews. They produce excellent flavor, last an exceedingly long time, and are very easy to clean. For the price, I have found nothing better, and believe me, I've looked.
Want to dive in head first and have cash burning a hole in your pocket? Everyone loves to rave about the HH.357. Is it a good atomizer? You bet your ass it is...is it $22 worth of good, making it 225% better than the AMGs, not in my personal opinion, but vaping is all about personal opinions, so maybe it's $22 worth of good to you. As with almost everything vaping related, the old adage YMMV always applies.
Drip Shield
Now that you've got yourself a dripping atty, you should probably pick up a drip shield. You can go with the Chinese variety which will obviously be less expensive, or go with the original, an Empire, which are of a higher quality and more intricately designed. The shields serve several purposes...they will stop leaks, keep your atty cooler by acting as a heat sink, and will affect the draw depending on the original draw of your atty. If you overfill your atty, the juice will puddle near the lower o-ring of the shield, and can be easily pulled back in when the atty is getting dry, acting as something on mini tank, but anymore than a few extra drops could lead to flooding of the entire set-up. Some folks love the shields (like myself), others abhor them, it's something you need to decide for yourself.
Adapter
Because shields were originally intended for 901 attys which are longer than a 510, a 510-510 shorty adapter may be necessary to extend the length of your atty enough to make room for the shield. Some mods have this extra space in the form of a large juice well below the connector (eVic, Tmax, et al) others do not (ProVari). Unless you are using a bottom feeder mod, you would want the sealed adapter to ensure against leaking.
How to Drip
This is as easy as it gets. You can either drip straight down your drip tip, should you have a nice wide tip, or remove the tip and drip onto your atty. A fresh atty, depending on which type you choose, can usually hold anywhere from 5 drops to 12 or more as the mesh absorbs the juice. When you start to taste the atty going dry, add 3-7 drops (again, depending on the atty) and vape away. Drip shields do allow you to drip freely w/o worrying about flooding your atty, but it is possible to overfill past the shields capacity as well, so don't overdo it.
The whole process of drip, vape, repeat is the reason so many vapers gravitate towards tank/clearo systems, but for me, and many others, this has become part of the ritual. For others it's still a PITA, but worth it for the intense flavor and overall superior vape vs cartos and clearos, but again this is all very personal and something you have to decide for yourself.
Atomizer cleaning
(Do this at your own risk--not recommended for cleaning HH.357 which should only be soaked in PGA)
Just like the coils on any *omizer, dripping attys also get gunked up and need to be cleaned. There has been a lot of debate about the best way to accomplish the cleaning process, and I'm sure others will toss in their methods, but this is how I do it, and it has never failed to bring an atomizer back to almost brand new.
blow air thru your atty from the connector end. Do this into a papertowel, as all the old juice caught up in the mesh will come sputtering out. Never blow the other direction, only in the direction air was intended to travel through an atomizer.
When all the old juice is removed connect the atty to a device, and do a series of very careful dry burns.
Fire the atty, let go, repeat, never for longer than a few seconds. As soon as the entire coil begins to glow during the firing process, slow it down, and gently blow air into the atty to cool it down a bit. Continue this process until the gunk on your coil is no longer being burned off and you're only seeing the glowing coil, no more or very little smoke. Do not hold down the fire button for more than a second or two at a time, you will pop the coil.
When the coil is fairly clean (and the atty is cool enough to touch), run water from the faucet thru the atomizer for a minute or so to remove any ash and gunk you may have freed up, and begin the entire process over again, starting with blowing out the water. You do not need to wait for the atty to dry if you blow all of it out. The remainder will steam away and help to remove even more gunk the next time around, similar to deglazing a pan. You may need to repeat the whole process several times or more for a very dirty coil.
The final step is optional, but I like it. Allow the atty to sit in PGA (Everclear) for 30 min to overnight. This will help to give the mesh surrounding the coil and good cleaning too.
You may very well pop a few coils while getting the hang of it, but the payoff is an atty that is almost brand new again...I have brought attys back from the dead with this method to the point where the silica is almost bright white and the coil looks damn close to brand new.
That's all there is to it...
Happy dripping!
VaporRater's Guide to Dripping
With the recent influx of subscribers, I thought it was about time we discussed dripping, the (almost) original way to vape.
Back when I began vaping, we searched high and low for material to fill our cartridges (that's right, cartridges). We tried new polyfill, lipton pyramid tea bags, and blue aquarium foam (oh, the memories!), among other random items. As it turned out, many of us ended up skipping the filler altogether and dripping straight into our atomizers...thus direct dripping was born.
Compared to today's PVs and *-omizers, the technology was only in it's infancy, but as it turns out, when it comes to the truest, most intense flavors, the biggest throat hit, and most voluminous vapor production, aside from RBA/RDAs, there is simply nothing better.
The Equipment
a battery/mod -- could be as small as a 510/901 cig-a-like, as large as a 26650 Stinger, or anywhere in between.
Your dripping atomizer (I prefer bridgless)
Drip tip
drip shield & 510-510 shorty adapter (optional)
Battery
This part of this equation should be simple enough (if you're not sure of your threading, ask in comments, but 99.9% of you have a 510 threaded device).
Atomizer
The real question is how much $$ do you want to spend.
Want to just try out dripping? I like these little 3 hole drippers for $5/ea. They function well, have a decent lifespan, and produce good flavor.
Want something a little higher quality? These Vapage AMG attys at $9/ea are the ones I use for all my juice reviews. They produce excellent flavor, last an exceedingly long time, and are very easy to clean. For the price, I have found nothing better, and believe me, I've looked.
Want to dive in head first and have cash burning a hole in your pocket? Everyone loves to rave about the HH.357. Is it a good atomizer? You bet your ass it is...is it $22 worth of good, making it 225% better than the AMGs, not in my personal opinion, but vaping is all about personal opinions, so maybe it's $22 worth of good to you. As with almost everything vaping related, the old adage YMMV always applies.
Drip Shield
Now that you've got yourself a dripping atty, you should probably pick up a drip shield. You can go with the Chinese variety which will obviously be less expensive, or go with the original, an Empire, which are of a higher quality and more intricately designed. The shields serve several purposes...they will stop leaks, keep your atty cooler by acting as a heat sink, and will affect the draw depending on the original draw of your atty. If you overfill your atty, the juice will puddle near the lower o-ring of the shield, and can be easily pulled back in when the atty is getting dry, acting as something on mini tank, but anymore than a few extra drops could lead to flooding of the entire set-up. Some folks love the shields (like myself), others abhor them, it's something you need to decide for yourself.
Adapter
Because shields were originally intended for 901 attys which are longer than a 510, a 510-510 shorty adapter may be necessary to extend the length of your atty enough to make room for the shield. Some mods have this extra space in the form of a large juice well below the connector (eVic, Tmax, et al) others do not (ProVari). Unless you are using a bottom feeder mod, you would want the sealed adapter to ensure against leaking.
How to Drip
This is as easy as it gets. You can either drip straight down your drip tip, should you have a nice wide tip, or remove the tip and drip onto your atty. A fresh atty, depending on which type you choose, can usually hold anywhere from 5 drops to 12 or more as the mesh absorbs the juice. When you start to taste the atty going dry, add 3-7 drops (again, depending on the atty) and vape away. Drip shields do allow you to drip freely w/o worrying about flooding your atty, but it is possible to overfill past the shields capacity as well, so don't overdo it.
The whole process of drip, vape, repeat is the reason so many vapers gravitate towards tank/clearo systems, but for me, and many others, this has become part of the ritual. For others it's still a PITA, but worth it for the intense flavor and overall superior vape vs cartos and clearos, but again this is all very personal and something you have to decide for yourself.
Atomizer cleaning
(Do this at your own risk--not recommended for cleaning HH.357 which should only be soaked in PGA)
Just like the coils on any *omizer, dripping attys also get gunked up and need to be cleaned. There has been a lot of debate about the best way to accomplish the cleaning process, and I'm sure others will toss in their methods, but this is how I do it, and it has never failed to bring an atomizer back to almost brand new.
blow air thru your atty from the connector end. Do this into a papertowel, as all the old juice caught up in the mesh will come sputtering out. Never blow the other direction, only in the direction air was intended to travel through an atomizer.
When all the old juice is removed connect the atty to a device, and do a series of very careful dry burns.
Fire the atty, let go, repeat, never for longer than a few seconds. As soon as the entire coil begins to glow during the firing process, slow it down, and gently blow air into the atty to cool it down a bit. Continue this process until the gunk on your coil is no longer being burned off and you're only seeing the glowing coil, no more or very little smoke. Do not hold down the fire button for more than a second or two at a time, you will pop the coil.
When the coil is fairly clean (and the atty is cool enough to touch), run water from the faucet thru the atomizer for a minute or so to remove any ash and gunk you may have freed up, and begin the entire process over again, starting with blowing out the water. You do not need to wait for the atty to dry if you blow all of it out. The remainder will steam away and help to remove even more gunk the next time around, similar to deglazing a pan. You may need to repeat the whole process several times or more for a very dirty coil.
The final step is optional, but I like it. Allow the atty to sit in PGA (Everclear) for 30 min to overnight. This will help to give the mesh surrounding the coil and good cleaning too.
You may very well pop a few coils while getting the hang of it, but the payoff is an atty that is almost brand new again...I have brought attys back from the dead with this method to the point where the silica is almost bright white and the coil looks damn close to brand new.
That's all there is to it...
Happy dripping!
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