The most frustrating problem in the world

[Junior]

Hi vets!

I am seriously stuck with this one... my juice becomes harsh after a few drags... literally 2 drags fine, then it becomes harsh, and I have no idea what could cause this.

I'll give you all the info:
I'm using an Ijoy combo RDTA, 24g kanthal 7wraps, 3mm diameter.
I mix my own DIY juice(all standard and well known recipes)
I vape less than 2mg nic, because I vape a lot hahaha.

I have been mixing for a couple of months, getting the hang of it and I had no issues. I mixed rhodenite(enyawreklaw) when I noticed it. I gave my friend a 30 ml(without nic) and his was fine. So i thought its my nic, but it is like 4 months old and I store it in my drawer so that can't be it.
Then I made some Beard no.5 clone(literally just strawberry and ny cheesecake, beautiful simple flavour) and I had no issues with that juice, none, so its not the nic then. So that made me think it was my bottle because the Rhodenite was in a plastic bottle and the Beard no.5 was in a glass bottle.
Here comes the kicker, I mixed bronuts(enyawreklaw), in a glass bottle, get the same issue. So I thought its my build maybe. Then I gave a bit to my friend, he filled up his limitless rdta, and got the same problem.
The juice taste so good! And I really don't understand why this is happening.
I hope someone can help me please, thank you in advance.

 

[Feliks Karp]

Maybe you are just vaping too much in a short amount of time and irritating your throat/sinuses. If you are cleaning your gear and the bottles are sterile, and you seem to have eliminated the type of bottled mixed in, and your friend isn't experiencing the same effects, I'd think you are just vaping too much.

 

[stevie g]

to my mind it can only be that your wick is drying out a bit too much, try thinning the cotton that goes into the juice chamber so there is space for the eliquid to easily travel towards the coil.

 

[Junior]

Maybe you are just vaping too much in a short amount of time and irritating your throat/sinuses. If you are cleaning your gear and the bottles are sterile, and you seem to have eliminated the type of bottled mixed in, and your friend isn't experiencing the same effects, I'd think you are just vaping too much.

Vaping too much? Never heard of that, I'll google it.
Haha thank you I will check that out. And I don't 'sterilize' my bottles, rinse with warm water and dry with toilet paper that's it, could that cause issues?
Thanx for the advice.

 

[Junior]

to my mind it can only be that your wick is drying out a bit too much, try thinning the cotton that goes into the juice chamber so there is space for the eliquid to easily travel towards the coil.

I thought of that too, shortened my wicks so it just touches the juice holes and i make sure I keep them moist.
Maybe I should drip directly a bit and see. Or better yet I'll coil my Troll V2 tonight, that should eliminate the hardware completely.

 

[Feliks Karp]

Vaping too much? Never heard of that, I'll google it.
Haha thank you I will check that out. And I don't 'sterilize' my bottles, rinse with warm water and dry with toilet paper that's it, could that cause issues?
Thanx for the advice.

Well depending on how hot you are vaping, yes, you could be irritating your sinuses/etc. Try what @Sprint suggested or as you said try a different atty and see if the problem persists.

If your bottles are dirty, yes, something in there could be irritating your body, ask around the DIY section on preferred methods of cleaning. Maybe @RichJB can offer some insight?

 

[Junior]

Well depending on how hot you are vaping, yes, you could be irritating your sinuses/etc. Try what @Sprint suggested or as you said try a different atty and see if the problem persists.

If your bottles are dirty, yes, something in there could be irritating your body, ask around the DIY section on preferred methods of cleaning. Maybe @RichJB can offer some insight?

I love a hot vape, never knew that is a bad thing... thank you for that.

 

[Feliks Karp]

I love a hot vape, never knew that is a bad thing... thank you for that.

Our bodies all have different tolerances for stuff, not that it's bad per say, but chain vaping hot can cause irritation.

 

[RichJB]

It could be your nic. That it's four months old and kept in your drawer is not a guarantee that it's fine.

It might be some concentrates which are causing it. Bronuts contains the infamous Cap Choc Glazed Doughnut which many people find harsh. Rhodonite contains no known problem concentrates although some don't react well to Inw Raspberry. FW Yellow Cake is common to both Bronuts and Rhodonite so it could be that too.

I would mix up some unflavoured base with nic, just 10ml should be enough. If that is harsh, it's obviously not your concentrates and is something in either the nic, VG, PG or hardware.

 

[stevie g]

It could be your nic. That it's four months old and kept in your drawer is not a guarantee that it's fine.

It might be some concentrates which are causing it. Bronuts contains the infamous Cap Choc Glazed Doughnut which many people find harsh. Rhodonite contains no known problem concentrates although some don't react well to Inw Raspberry. FW Yellow Cake is common to both Bronuts and Rhodonite so it could be that too.

I would mix up some unflavoured base with nic, just 10ml should be enough. If that is harsh, it's obviously not your concentrates and is something in either the nic, VG, PG or hardware.

I've had old nic lying around for a year that treated exactly the same as the first day I bought it.

Though some nic can be low quality and would go badly quickly.

 

[stevie g]

I thought of that too, shortened my wicks so it just touches the juice holes and i make sure I keep them moist.
Maybe I should drip directly a bit and see. Or better yet I'll coil my Troll V2 tonight, that should eliminate the hardware completely.

I mean lengthwise not crosswise. Trim down the length of the Wick that passes the wicking holes to create a looser fit.

 

[Junior]

It could be your nic. That it's four months old and kept in your drawer is not a guarantee that it's fine.

It might be some concentrates which are causing it. Bronuts contains the infamous Cap Choc Glazed Doughnut which many people find harsh. Rhodonite contains no known problem concentrates although some don't react well to Inw Raspberry. FW Yellow Cake is common to both Bronuts and Rhodonite so it could be that too.

I would mix up some unflavoured base with nic, just 10ml should be enough. If that is harsh, it's obviously not your concentrates and is something in either the nic, VG, PG or hardware.

Thank you RichJB! I will try the nic out quick and see if its that. Then I will eliminate all possibilities systematically.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Maybe try throw in TFA smooth to calm down those harsh notes. Also increase your vg higher as it might be due to harsh concentrates and pg.

 

[Junior]

Maybe try throw in TFA smooth to calm down those harsh notes. Also increase your vg higher as it might be due to harsh concentrates and pg.

I vape max vg. Smooth might help... I'll try it thank you.

 

[PsyCLown]

I vape max vg. Smooth might help... I'll try it thank you.

Did you try the juice in your friends build?

Max VG makes me think perhaps the high wattage and thick juice leads to insufficient wicking?
Burnt cotton is very harsh.

Pitty you're all the way in Cape Town, bit far to meet up

 

[Junior]

Did you try the juice in your friends build?

Max VG makes me think perhaps the high wattage and thick juice leads to insufficient wicking?
Burnt cotton is very harsh.

Pitty you're all the way in Cape Town, bit far to meet up

That is a very good point you are making... because my other juices are about 15% total concentrate, which makes it an 85/15 VG/PG mix, But rhodenite and bronuts are 10% total I think. So the VG might be too high. Thank you.

 

[Polar]

Is your coil heating evenly? Loose leads has caused the same issue for me.

Is your nicotine VG or PG based?

 

[Polar]

That is a very good point you are making... because my other juices are about 15% total concentrate, which makes it an 85/15 VG/PG mix, But rhodenite and bronuts are 10% total I think. So the VG might be too high. Thank you.

You can dilute further with distilled water.

 

[Junior]

Is your coil heating evenly? Loose leads has caused the same issue for me.

Is your nicotine VG or PG based?

My leads are fine. My nic is PG based

 

[PsyCLown]

You can dilute further with distilled water.

That is a good point, the build i had in my Goon the other day was glowing perfectly and then after vaping it for a few minutes I noticed it started to taste weird and that there had become a hot spot somehow on the coil.

Had to remove the wick and fix it, not sure what caused the hot spot to appear as it was vaping perfectly after wicking for quite a while.
So something to double check - however a different build will help eliminate that problem. Otherwise a simple spaced nichrome / kanthal build is a great way to test as well.

To get the spacing, make a compact coil, stretch it out, then compress it again by hand and it should leave you with perfectly spaced coils.

 

[DougP]

@Junior
On the rdta (especially ijoy combo) you want to push the coils as low down as possible literally 1 mm off the base. With these rdta's the higher the coil the harsher the Vape
The coil must line up with the airflow hole so the air flow hits the coil in the middle.
Give this a bash you will be pleasantly surprised
See pics below and you see just how low the airflow hole is
In third pic you can clearly see coil at airflow level

 

[Polar]

That is a good point, the build i had in my Goon the other day was glowing perfectly and then after vaping it for a few minutes I noticed it started to taste weird and that there had become a hot spot somehow on the coil.

Had to remove the wick and fix it, not sure what caused the hot spot to appear as it was vaping perfectly after wicking for quite a while.
So something to double check - however a different build will help eliminate that problem. Otherwise a simple spaced nichrome / kanthal build is a great way to test as well.

To get the spacing, make a compact coil, stretch it out, then compress it again by hand and it should leave you with perfectly spaced coils.

We're in luck, one of my squad exhibiting this exact issue.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[DougP]

And best wicking I found is to cut wicks approx half way down glass

 

[Junior]

@Junior
On the rdta (especially ijoy combo) you want to push the coils as low down as possible literally 1 mm off the base. With these rdta's the higher the coil the harsher the Vape
The coil must line up with the airflow hole so the air flow hits the coil in the middle.
Give this a bash you will be pleasantly surprised
See pics below and you see just how low the airflow hole is
In third pic you can clearly see coil at airflow level

I'll push it even lower then thanks. My leads are not that long however, it goes like 2mm into the holes and that's it. I have no wicking issues. I'm going to do a new build tonight and let you know what I find. How tight do you wick it though?

 

[DougP]

Dam hard to explain that one
Don't twist cotton tight make a soft role and then gently pull through
As you pull u should feel a little resistance but not to much and not to loose