You guys have been an amazing help. I have worn out "thank you" haha!
Alas, I just quit. I dont know if the coil was screwed or what. I have used the same coil throughout this process. Basically I probably rewicked the thing `10 times total. 1 was popping a ton. Second too stuffed with cotton, so closed off. The next 8 tasted burnt after about 10 hits, each.
Im resigning myself, for the time being, to using OCC and buying them. Maybe I will try with another tank sometime.
Don't be so hard on yourself...wicking is a PITA in the beginning for everyone...it's more of a finesse thing than any other aspect of vaping or rebuilding for that matter....you'll never grab the same amount of cotton twice...you have to smooth it out and make sure all of the fibers are going in the same direction as much as possible...and in general you want just the right amount of wick. The right amount being just enough so that there is ever so the slightest amount of resistance when you pull it threw the coils...too much wick (ie..tight fitting or pulls on the coils as you try and pull it threw) and you "choke" the coil...that is there is so much wick that the liquid bottlenecks and the end of the coil and can't feed properly the whole thing and you burn out the center and ruin it. By the same token...too little wick (the wick moves freely with no resistance at all or doesn't even touch the entire inside of the coil,) and when you go to fire the coil there is not enough density in the wick and it collapses inside the coil, again not feeding the whole thing and since only half the coil is getting juice it will either make a horrible vape or again burn threw the wick since there's not enough of it ruining it.
And even though everyone says a Kayfun is the easiest thing to start rebuilding I dissagree....I think a single coil on a dripper is the easiest way to start rebuilding because you only have to worry about getting the right amount of wick to feed threw the coil...if the ends of the wick are too long in a dripper you juice waste some juice because not all of the juice on the wick will make it to the coil before you have to redrip and too short of of a wick in a dripper and you just have to drip that much more because it can't wick the juice on the deck. but you still can get a decient vape off of the wrong length of wick in a dripper even if it is too short or long to soak up the deck properly.
The problem with wicking RTA's is it adds a new factor into the equation. Now, on top of having the correct wick density in the coil for the juice to feed properly you have to have the correct length of wick to soak up the liquid being fed from the juice channels because you can't just drip more if you get it wrong...if you could drip in a tank it would defeat the whole purpose of a tank. The other thing about tank wicking is there is no standard for length because some tanks require you to feed the wick into the juice channels and others require you to cut the wick to sit on the deck just toughing it and beside the juice channel opening so the liquid can flow opening into the deck and then be "mopped up by the wick" like in Kayfuns.
The Subtank RTA deck is very simular to a Kafun deck in theory...with the exception
@AmandaD said about having to stuff the coil with a denser than average wick (there's always an exception to a rule and here it is.) I would try again but trim your leads so that they spit around the juice flow opening and are fanned out to both sides of it so they absorb and wick quicker....
The best way I have found to test out if you have your wicks in the right place with a deck like that is to wick your coil and fan them out in place, but before you juice up your wick and test fire the coil cover or close the airflow opening on the deck and suck on the opening of the chimney. if you can somewhat easily suck air threw the juice flow openings then your wicks are in the right place...if you can't suck air threw them at all then your wick's are clogging the channels and need to be repositioned. Remember, those are small channels and you won't get much air threw them even if the wicks are not blocking them at all but you will be able to tell the difference if your wicks are blocking them or not.
I know it's frustraiting but cotton is cheap and once you get it you'll wonder how it didn't make sense before because when it clicks it clicks...I hope this helps...I wouldn't fight it now while it's pissing you off, i'd pick it up later when you're ready to tackle it and try again. Best of luck and happy vaping!