Nautilus Mini -- plea for help

[toddc]

hello. i recently purchased my beginner kit of an eleaf istick and nautilus mini. the first 72 hours were glorious and i knew quitting analogs would be easy. vaping this guy was clear as a cloudless day and the throat hit came right behind it.

all of a sudden, i am having to drag very hard to get any kind of good hit on it. my attachment to analogs was definitely throat hit, which this baby first delivered. althought i don't get throat hit, the vapor is there. flavor is not as present as it was, either.

i typically use 50/50 vg/pg juice (12mg nicotine) that is not dark or anything. i've even tried 40pg/60vg with 18nicotine and the results are basically the same.

i've tried different coils (4 to be specific), cleaned the tank multiple times, tried different juices, primed it, didn't prime it, etc. etc. - in fact, work has gone by quite quickly the last 48 hours because i've been reading and subsequently trying basically every troubleshooting method i could find.

i really don't want to switch to analogs or buy a new tank if i don't have to. i'm going through unnecessary amounts of juice and not enjoying myself. i just don't really know what to do anymore.

TL;DR - bought nautilus mini, was great for 72 hours, now i have to turn blue in the fact to get my beloved TH

thanks in advance.

 

[Donald Bickers]

what coils are you using

 

[toddc]

what coils are you using

both the 1.6 and 1.8 ones.

 

[Donald Bickers]

BVC or BDC

 

[Hobby Kid]

Well clearly it sounds blocked. Try taking it completely apart and blowing through it and checking for any signs of blockage in the air holes etc and ensure the air control ring is not on the smallest setting

 

[toddc]

Well clearly it sounds blocked. Try taking it completely apart and blowing through it and checking for any signs of blockage in the air holes etc and ensure the air control ring is not on the smallest setting

i have taken it apart, rinsed all pieces (except for coil) with warm water, gone around each one of the airflow rings blowing, etc, etc. nothing successful unfortunately. something is just restricting the airflow. all my pieces are tightened down finger tight.

 

[Hobby Kid]

Ok. Well it's very strange, and quite annoying obviously. All I can think of is unless you've got a pack of badly made coils (but even then 2 out of 5 normally are ok) then something must be restricting the air.

Is it airy when there's no juice in it?

 

[Zamazam]

I agree, something is blocking the airflow. Soak the base without the coil in some vodka and blow it out. If you can blow through the coil, then the problem is in the air control base.

 

[toddc]

Ok. Well it's very strange, and quite annoying obviously. All I can think of is unless you've got a pack of badly made coils (but even then 2 out of 5 normally are ok) then something must be restricting the air.

Is it airy when there's no juice in it?

it does feel like it's something in the air control ring. flavor is muted and throat hit is absent, while vapor reduction is still there. i have rinsed and dried completely before (hand rinsed with hot water, let it sit in a bowl full of hot water with a drop of dish soap, etc). i'm out of solutions for the moment. i'm going to go to my local b&m to see if maybe i can try one of his airflow rings and/or try some other coils.

 

[Dissonance]

Sorry to hear about your problem. I was going to suggest removing your base and running the air control valve under hot water or soaking in alcohol over night but noticed that was already advised. If your flavor is muted and you're not able to get much of a drag, there could be a problem with your juice. Do you have any other tanks where you can load your juice with a fresh coil and see if you are able to taste your juice? That's one option. The other is that you may have faulty coils, it's rare that you get a pack where none work but it has happened to me before and it was quite frustrating. If not the coils, and if your juice has not gone bad, the only other possibility is that you got a poorly assembled tank. The firing pin is making good connection or you wouldn't get any vapor. You rinsed the airflow controller and no results. You made sure that nothing was restricted the holes. The only possibility left is your juice may have gone bad, it may not be wicking properly and/or there are issues with your coils. It sounds to me like a coil issue. Did you try adjusting different power settings on your i Stick? Are you using genuine Aspire coils? Your center tube is clear of any liquid?

 

[mike-c]

When you noticed the throat hit not being there was that a freash bottle of juice? Are you vaping a house brand or premium brand? I ask this because the shop that I used to get my juice from was very inconsistent from bottle to bottle. Sometimes the juice would be darker, sometimes it'd be lighter. I couldn't prove it, but I suspected they were trying to use less flavoring and nicotine to maximize profits.

On a side note, going up in vg in your ratio will mask the throat hit of the nicotine. For me it does anyway. If it's the throat hit your looking for I'd try increasing the pg in the ratio. More pg in your mix might not give you as much vapor, but flavor and throat hit will definitely increase.

 

[AmandaD]

It's also possible that, as someone new to vaping, you've got a nasty case of 'vaper's tongue!'

 

[tommyboyvapes]

DRINK LOTS OF WATER FAST. U HAVE VAPORS TONGUE AND THROAT. vaping dehydrates u fast especially when u just start. Your just adjusting. Don't give up. Remember..
vApE hArD or dOnT vApE aT aLL.
It only gets better.
SWITCH JUICES ALL THE TIME AT FIRST. COFFEE HELPS TOO.