Bad taste on a new coil

[pjerzy]

So I built A dual coil using 26g kanthol with a 2.5mm ID. I've done this build many times with no issues. Also, the lady friend built a single cool with the same dimensions using the same wire. We also both used the same organic cotton pad.

I am currently vaping some parrot vapor turquoise which I love. But it is tasting off now. I built the setup last night and have been using it since then. I get a sort of metallic slightly burnt taste. I guess my question is, can kanthol have bad spots? It is close to the end of the roll of it.

To test it out later tonight we are both going to rebuild using a new pack of organic cotton and a new roll of kanthol. Any ideas or thoughts are greatly appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UncleRJ]

The only thing I can think of is that the end of the spool somehow got some machine oil or something on it.

 

[pjerzy]

@UncleRJ would heating the coil or wiping it off help?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UncleRJ]

@UncleRJ would heating the coil or wiping it off help?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I normally run a flame from a lighter over my wire before I form it.

Then I heat and oxidize the coil a couple of times before I install a wick and vape.

If this process does not remove any left over contaminants from the machining process, I don't know what will!

 

[DevAuto]

@UncleRJ would heating the coil or wiping it off help?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Once you build the coil, you can pulse it with the mod to burn off any left over machining oil that might be on it. Do this BEFORE you put the cotton wick in, otherwise you will just burn the cotton and have to rewick it again. Use short pulses until it heats up, make sure it glows properly and doesn't have any hot spots, and if it smokes a little, keep pulsing it in longer bursts until it stops smoking and looks clean. Let it cool, install the cotton, and you should be good to go.

You can also do it the way I do now. I use a butane torch, best $20 I ever spent. Hold the wire with pliers and run the torch up and down it a couple of times until it is heated and glowing. This will also stiffen the wire a little and make it slightly easier to stay in shape when you wrap the coil.

As always, your mileage may vary!

 

[cindycated]

Sounds like your wicking might be too light. You're probably tasting the metal coil, and the juice that's burning on it. Sometimes with wicks (especially rayon), it's perfectly fine at first, then over a little time, it settles and compresses a little, making it too loose in the coil. So maybe try dry burning (to get any gunk or residue off) then rewicking.

 

[pjerzy]

Well then it can't be oil unless somehow it soaked in which idk if that's even possible with kanthol. Both my girlfriend and I pulse and pinch the coils to get them how they need to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pjerzy]

Sounds like your wicking might be too light. You're probably tasting the metal coil, and the juice that's burning on it. Sometimes with wicks (especially rayon), it's perfectly fine at first, then over a little time, it settles and compresses a little, making it too loose in the coil. So maybe try dry burning (to get any gunk or residue off) then rewicking.

Not sure if it would be loose. We use organic cotton and what I've noticed is that it actually expands.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DevAuto]

Well then it can't be oil unless somehow it soaked in which idk if that's even possible with kanthol. Both my girlfriend and I pulse and pinch the coils to get them how they need to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Then like @cindycated suggested I would double check the wicking ... is there any chance that the cotton you used was somehow contaminated? Have you tried just rewicking it with different cotton yet?

 

[pjerzy]

Then like @cindycated suggested I would double check the wicking ... is there any chance that the cotton you used was somehow contaminated? Have you tried just rewicking it with different cotton yet?

Not sure about the contaminated part since we keep it in a plastic ziplock bag. But I'm not sure anything is a possibility. I'm going to rebuild it tonight (just sat down and cracked a nice porter open to get started) and see if that helps. If it doesn't. Well at least I have good beer next to me.

I appreciate all of the quick and helpful pointers, suggestions, and inquires.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DevAuto]

Mmmmm ... Porter ... Tasty!

 

[pjerzy]

Mmmmm ... Porter ... Tasty!

Not sure where you're from, but me being on the Michigan/Ohio border I usually have lots of choices. Have some Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald. Brewed in Cleveland. IMO one of the best out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DevAuto]

I'm in Va, but have family on the Mi/Oh border

 

[Rayne]

Metallic tastes usually indicate (from my personal experience) a lack of juice delivery and/or airflow. Re-wick, and make sure you have plenty of airflow to keep your coils cooled off. I've noticed, with certain atomisers, that when I don't position the airflow just right, the coils get too hot, and I get a burnt kanthal taste. Same sort of thing happens when I wick my builds too tight, or too loose; burnt kanthal flavour. I've had this happen with almost every atty, at some point, just from being careless. I typically try to pay attention to all of this, but sometimes it gets annoying, and I just get lazy about it. I tend to straighten up after a couple metallic rips lol.

Also, just like DevAuto, I torch my coils before I install them. This preheating helps with adjusting/crimping/spacing more easily, and also takes away the need to pulse a good number of times to eliminate any contaminants. In fact, I've noticed slightly better flavour when I torch my coils before installation. Could be all psychological, but that's what I've noticed.

If you can't fix the problem by re-wicking, or with changing your airflow, then it's possible it's the kanthal... but I've never had that, and never had a customer have that problem with the kanthal itself.