Peppery/Dry Taste

[chromance]

Hey all. I wonder if I'll make it to "What Not To Do".

I just started Vaping again after a couple years, and my how things have changed. I have been trying to find a setup that I like and I'm getting very mixed results after trying a few tanks and mods. I have a Vaporesso Nebula 100W and a Revenger 220W that I got yesterday. I really like the Revenger but I don't think the device is my issue here.

The main problem I'm having now is dry hits and a peppery/cottony taste. Also I should make clear that I have not had a burnt hit yet, just dry hits that are unpleasant to inhale. I have been priming all of my coils by dripping a bit of juice on the cotton feeds, filling the tank, and waiting 15-20 minutes. I also start firing them at the low range of the recommended wattage and work my way up.

The first tank I tried was the Veco One Plus that came on my Nebula. I had horrible results with this thing. No matter what I tried, the peak flavor I got was "dry cotton". I was using the SS coil that came with the kit and thought maybe I'd have more luck with the Ceramic one, but it was actually worse. I also changed the juice and would get a little bit of flavor, but it was so weak that it made me question why anyone would bother vaping. I don't know if I got bad coils or if I'm doing something wrong, but it was bad enough that I went to a local store to try a new tank.

I bought a Smok Cloud Beast and I have much much better results with this tank all around in terms of flavor and quality of the vapor. I don't really have the peppery taste problem. My only issue with this tank is that it leaks and I think it's a little much for me, I probably would be better off with the X-baby.

Third tank I've tried is the NRG tank that came on the revenger, and once again I'm getting peppery dry hits and a lot of cotton mouth. If anyone has some advice on how to troubleshoot or get rid of this taste, it would be much appreciated.

I am using 0, ~1mg, or 3mg juice, so I'm hesitant to say the taste is from the nicotine.

Thanks!

 

[HondaDavidson]

Coil ohm and materials might help along with the wattage ypuv are trying. The types of juice and flavors might also be applicable. .. we talking MTL or DL..

My first guess is you are burning the wicks. ... or are using flavor that have peppery feel....

I WOULD Suggest USING Lower wattages... Less FlavoriNG AND HIGHER VG ratio.

But all I know from you post is the wattages of 2 mods. And you get a cottony pepper taste.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[chromance]

Coil ohm and materials might help along with the wattage ypuv are trying. The types of juice and flavors might also be applicable. .. we talking MTL or DL..

My first guess is you are burning the wicks. ... or are using flavor that have peppery feel....

I WOULD Suggest USING Lower wattages... Less FlavoriNG AND HIGHER VG ratio.

But all I know from you post is the wattages of 2 mods. And you get a cottony pepper taste.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

What could I be doing to burn the wick? I have never caped beyond the rated range of the pre-made coils, or even beyond the recommended range. For example, the coil in the NRG tank is rated 50-110w, recommended 60-80. I have used it between 55 and 80, so I would be shocked if I burnt the cotton that way.

Firing it too quickly might be an option? I see people take in draws for 4+ seconds all the time though, and I don't do it for more than 1 or 2 seconds because I'm afraid I'll get a mouth of cotton and pepper.

Oh, and generally speaking I lung hit.

 

[SteveS45]

Welcome @chromance and I hope you enjoy your stay!

Peppery taste in my opinion is from cheap or degraded nicotine whether it is retail or DIY e-Liquids.

Dry or burned taste in my opinion is from not properly priming the coils and firing at too high a wattage to start off. Always start low and work you way up until you find your sweet spot. I vape most factory coils at 20-25% lower then the start of the range except fot TC Coils then I floor it but do work the temperature and wattage up.

Good Luck and Vape On Safely

 

[eStorm]

Common mistakes, let me try to help you

First of all let me start with saying, because a coil states a specific wattage or has a recommendation, doesn't mean it need to be used that way or even close to it. My non smok tanks, I run at 20-35w, even tho my coil is recommended between 60-130w. The smok coils, when using my baby beast, I might be wrong but sounds to me, you're using the T8'? These I run at 44-53w, depending on the juice, we'll talk about that a bit further down of my post.

Some setups are meant for MTL, and while you can use them with DL, in a lot of cases they don't have the necessary airflow to allow that, giving you some weird taste or too warm of a vape, and even burning sensations and vice versa.

E-liquid can and will play a role here. While higher nicotine can give you a harsher feeling, even a peppery burn, or how I call it : Tabasco flavor, we will have to start actually a bit earlier, meaning PG/VG content. If you're using high VG (70/30, 80/20, 90/10, 75/25 etc) you might feel less of that burn, since VG is a bit sweeter and smoother. If the brand uses a more PG based nicotine, its the same thing. Some flavors it self tend to give a burn when be used at higher watt. There's a lot to it, you have to play around with it.

The reason you could be tasting cotton, can have multiple reasons as well.

1) you didn't prime it correctly, important with smok coils.
2) you're chain vaping at higher watt, and due to higher VG, your coil can't keep up since it's thicker juice. Wait between drags/hits and give your coil the chance to catch up. Some mods have a setting, that allow you to set how quick your coil should be heated, for example "soft","normal" and "hard". That also plays a role when taking the hits. For not broken in coils, I'll set mine to soft, that allows me to take 4-5sec drags, but at a slower pace then regular. If you have that option great, if not don't worry about it. After your coils are fully saturated, set it back to regular to avoid flooding the tank at lower wattage

Now with that out of the way, and I know it's a longer post, but information that was needed.

How to prime your coils, works with any setup, but I am focusing on the smok coils in this post, because they wanna be that special snowflake, most of the time.

1) take a safety pin, on the side pockets of the coil, poke 2-4 holes, inbetween the wire and cotton. Only recommended with high/max VG juices or it might leak. If you're using higher pg or thinner juices in general, please skip this step.

2) fill the pockets as well as the big part in the middle with juice. Don't be hesitant, you can always blow out juice if its to much, but trust me it won't lol.

3) prepare your setup, meaning screw tank onto the mod, fill it etc.

4) now without pressing the fire button, take 3-5 drags. You should taste that hint of the juice flavor in your mouth, without actually having juice or vape in your mouth, if that makes sense. Now let stand for at least 10 minutes.

5) after time has passed, go to a very low setting, I mostly start at 20-25w with coils like that. Take a drag or two. Up the wattage by 3-5, rinse and repeat till you're satisfied, but don't exceed the higher end of the watt recommendations of your coil due to safety. As mentioned before, wait 30sec-1minute between hits, for your cotton to resaturate. Longer if you're vaping at 60+W.

Give it a try and let us know how that works out for you.

Edit, since I wrote a novel already, I might just add to that. I'm sorry.

If your tfv8 leaks, pull it apart and check if the coil is screwed in very tightly if not, tighten it. Check the coil itself, if it looks extremely wet and you even have spit back when using it or a gurgeling noise repeatedly, you flooded the tank. Take a white kitchen paper, and I'm saying white because if it has a print, that will transfer onto the cotton lol. Cover the airholes at the bottom of the coil with it, blow into the coil a couple of times. The excess juice will come out of the side pockets. Wrap the coil in that kitchen paper, let sit for couple minutes. Check the coil after and before using it, might have to re prime following method above, if it looks to dry. Check the bottom of the tank after reassembly, due to the airflow adjustment slit at the bottom, it might feel you tightened the tank, but end up leaking because all you did was playing with the airflow. Very commonly mistake when using smok tanks. Just grab the glass of you tank and see if you can tighten that up, mostly fixes the leak that way. Also check if all o rings are in place and good condition.

 

[chromance]

Thanks for the novel, I appreciate the info.

I bought an X-baby because the Cloud Beast gave me the least amount of trouble. I also set my mod to Soft mode and set the wattage to ~25, the minimum rated being 40. It took a while to heat up(several seconds before any vapor was produced) and still it was a bad peppery taste. I also primed the coil the way you mentioned, but didn't do the safety pin trick. I'm going to clean out the tank and try a different liquid momentarily, I'll take a look at the coil and see it's burnt or browned anywhere.

 

[chromance]

I think I figured out what I did wrong. I just replaced the coil with the M2 that came with the tank and primed it up. I started at a low wattage and went up from there and have had no peppery taste.

When I was cleaning out the first coil I used, I noticed there was some condensation and a bit of juice sitting at the bottom of the cyllinder. I think I flooded the tank and the peppery taste was from the juice(and probably more specifically the nicotine) being directly exposed to the heat. I cleaned that coil out and will try it again later. So far the M2 has been working fine.

Thanks for all the suggestions.