The Smok Tech SiD has become one of my favorite devices for use when I’m out and about because of its light weight and low cost. Shorter tubes are now available to make it more compact by using smaller batteries. Madvapes has both 18350 and 18500 tubes in a variety of colors, while Viper Vape has silver.
18350 and 18500 SiD Tubes
Categories: Uncategorized
New Study Proves Safety of Electronic Cigarettes
A new study conducted by Professor Igor Burstyn of the Drexel University School of Public Health is good news for electronic cigarette users. It finds in part that there are no health concerns based on generally accpeted exposure limits and that there is no potential risk to bystanders.
The Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives (CASAA) funded the study using donations. Much of the negative media attention directed towards electronic cigarettes argue that there has not been enough research and that dangerous chemicals have been found in e-liquids. Dr. Burstyn’s study provides that research and notes that any additional chemicals found were at “trivial levels.”
It will be interesting to see whether the media and legislators can accept the facts. In any case, this study gives electoronic cigarette users a lot of peace of mind and a very good source to provide to the uninformed.
The full study can be found here – http://publichealth.drexel.edu/SiteData/docs/ms08/f90349264250e603/ms08.pdf
Categories: Uncategorized
Shake That E-Liquid (with no effort!)
ECBlend has introduced one more item to add to your electronic cigarette gadget list. The E-Liquid Shaker shakes your e-liquid 5,000 times per minute to hasten the mixing and steeping process. A great idea for those of us who just can’t wait to try a new arrival!
Categories: E-Liquid
RMS and MEAN
Variable voltage devices with Chinese origins often have a menu option that allows the user to switch between RMS and MEAN (or AVG) options. Which should you choose, and why? I’m no electrical engineer, so I can really only give you an overview of the engineering involved. What I can tell you is that RMS should be your choice.
Let’s start with the an explanation of why the RMS/Mean option is included in the first place. Many variable voltage devices use pulse width modulation (PWM) circuitry to deliver power. That’s how we can get a 6 volt output from a 3.7volt battery. The power essentially goes on and off rapidly and looks like a wave on an oscilloscope.
The VMAX and early versions of the ZMAX used this pulse width modulation, but used MEAN or AVG to measure and adjust the output. Because this method does not take into account the “off” time in PWM, the actual power output was often much higher than what the device was set to. You can set a VMAX to 4 volts and get output closer to 5 volts. It’s a great way to burn a cartomizer if you’re not careful.
Later versions of the ZMAX have been referred to as having the “8th menu option,” which signifies the ability to switch the device between RMS and Mean. RMS measures the output much more accurately and will provide a much more consistent vape. Quite frankly, there is no reason to switch back to MEAN and it’s curious why that would even be included as an option. It’s like giving a driver a choice of an accurate speedometer or one that reads 10mph too low.
So the short answer is that RMS is the easy choice. The question really is why were we given that choice in the first place?
Categories: Variable Voltage
Adjusting Bottom Coil (BCC) Wicks
I’ve tried out a bunch of different bottom coil changeable (BCC) clearmizers and tanks recently and have noticed a trend towards too much wicking in many of them. The ProTank, Viva, EVOD and Davide have all suffered from it to one degree or another. The symptom is a burnt hit and a quick puff into the mouthpiece (think blowing bubbles in a soda through a straw) usually corrects the issue for the short term. Typically, I see a few bubbles rising from the wick area to the top of the tank.
What this routine tells me is that there is a little too much wick in the head for the 80PG/20VG e-liquid I was using. After carefully pulling out a few strands of wick, it gets better. Pulling out a few more strands usually makes it perfect and I then get great flavor no matter how often I hit it. When there is no leakage from the base and almost no gurgling, I know I have the wicks just about perfect. The trick is to be patient when removing strands to avoid removing too much.
Why should you have to do this with a brand new clearomizer or replacement head you ask? My assumption is that the manufacturers build these with a thick enough wick to work well with the thinnest of e-liquids like 100% PG. If they made the wicks too thin, leakage and juice in the mouth would occur with thin liquids. It is also much more difficult to add a few strands of wick than to remove a few.
The process of pulling a few out is simple and requires only a pair of tweezers (or dexterous long fingernails) to complete. By doing so, a BCC can be custom tailored to suit any thickness of juice you want to put in it. Sure it would be nice if one size fit all, but the variety of e-liquids on the market and the limitations of the wicking material make that a difficult proposition. It would be nice if manufacturers would include mention of wick adjustment in their instructions, however.
Categories: Uncategorized
Kanger ProTank Long Term
I reviewed the Kanger ProTank back in May and it has since become part of my starting lineup. Here are some of things I’ve noticed during the past few months.
- The ProTank is incredibly easy to use. It does have to be taken off the battery for filling, but beyond that, simply unscrewing the base and dripping e-liquid into a slightly tilted tank is all that’s required for filling. Holding the inverted tank over a paper towel is a good idea, as some e-liquid invariably finds its way down the tube.
- A quick puff into the mouthpiece helps to prime the coil after filling. That e-liquid mentioned above seems to come from the coil and once the base is reattached there just doesn’t seem to be enough pressure to drive juice into the coil.
- Coils last a long time, at least with my relatively clear 80PG/20VG e-liquid.
- New coils may require the removal of a couple of strands of wick to promote good juice flow. Be careful, though, removal of too much will result in gurgling and leaking.
- Gurgling does occur more frequently when the tank is almost empty. Keeping it over a quarter full helps to avoid it.
- Heads are inexpensive, but rebuilding is also easy. I’m currently using a short piece of cotton yarn and it works great. The cotton does have a slight underlying taste that goes away after a tank or so.
- Airflow is pretty light. I’ve gotten used to it, but would prefer a little stiffer draw if I had the option.
- This thing can go through massive amounts of e-liquid! Massive vapor production and the ability to keep up with practically non-stop vaping can really drain a tank fast.
Categories: Atomizers and Cartomizers
Fours years of nothing…
I recently read yet another article that quoted a healthcare professional as stating that electronic cigarettes need to be studied before they can be deemed safe. While I still would like to see the outcome of long term studies, I personally am quite happy with what is known, that they are many, many times safer than cigarettes.
I started vaping over four years ago, and at that time there really wasn’t much evidence at all. The FDA tried to ban them, first with no evidence, then with a single ridiculous study that found trace amounts of diethylene glycol on one cartridge. To this day, opponents of the ecig tout that FDA study as there sole reason that electronic cigarettes should be outlawed. That was over four years ago. If there really is an inherent risk to ecigs, wouldn’t there be a little more evidence by now?
The FDA, pharmaceutical companies and radical anti-smoking groups all have a vested interest in seeing ecigs removed from the market. It’s hard to imagine that these entities haven’t done any new research into a very big potential threat to the nicotine replacement profit center. So it can be reasonable expected that a lot of money has been spent to fund studies that would find them harmful. Yet still nothing to report. I wonder why…
Categories: Health
Bottom Coil Short Issues (EVOD, ProTank, Viva, etc.)
A Defective Head
I filled a brand new Viva BCC Mini today and found that my ZMAX went into short circuit protection when I tried to fire it. No big deal, I knew it was a simple fix. I’ve had a few EVOD and ProTank heads act this way, both right out of the box and after a few tank fills, so I thought I’d pass along a photo of a common problem with these heads.
The Problem
The issue is that the positive coil wire is making contact with the negative body of the base resulting in a short. In this case, the ZMAX detected the issue as resistance being too low. An initial test on a multimeter showed the correct 2.2ohm resistance and it wasn’t until a little pressure was applied to the center post that the short happened. Removing the coil head from the base revealed the problem.
As you can see in the photo above, the cause of the short is that the positive wire from the coil is sticking out beyond the silicon gasket. It’s easy to feel the protruding wire when turning the head between your fingers. When the coil assembly is screwed into the base, this wire may make contact with the outside of the tube, causing a short.
During the manufacturing process, the positive and negative coil leads are bent over the sides of the gasket and tube, respectively, to hold them in place when everything is assembled. They should then be trimmed and pressed in flush with the tube, but that obviously has not happened. Questionable quality control strikes again.
The Fix
Luckily, it’s an easy fix. Simply inserting your thumbnail between the bottom post and the gasket and then turning the head in a clockwise motion should be enough to push the wire back underneath the gasket. Nail clippers wirk well for removing any excess wire. It may take a couple of tries because of the springiness in the wire. You should feel no wire protruding if you spin the head between your fingers now. You’ve just recovered a head that seemed defective!
Categories: Atomizers and Cartomizers
Viper Vape Father’s Day Coupon
Viper Vape is offering a generous 20% off coupon for Father’s Day. This makes the Intermediate Variable Voltage Kit, one of my favorite starter kits, only $52.00! A great way to get your dad (or anyone else, for that matter) to try an electronic cigarette. Just use the code mydad at checkout to get the 20% off.
Categories: Uncategorized
Single or Dual Coil?
Should you be using single or dual coil cartomizers? There is no real answer. As with many things in the vaping world, it all comes down to personal preference.
When shopping for cartomizers you will often see vendors selling both single and dual coil cartomizers. Smoke Tech’s line of dual coil tanks (DCTs), for example, is sold only with dual coils included, but single coil replacements are readily available.
Dual coils are designed with two individual higher resistance coils that when fired together create lower resistance. They were a hot item (pun intended) when they first came out because they were the only low resistance cartos around. A dual coil was the only way to enjoy sub 2.0ohm resistance in a cartomizer at the time. Lower resistance is popular because it works so well on eGos and fixed 3.7v mods. Single coils are now available everywhere in the 1.7ohm range that work well on anything, though, and variable voltage has made higher resistance cartos more usable.
For most users, there will be a single coil that works just fine. The only advantage to using dual coils is that they are available in resistance as low as 1.25ohms (like these from Clouds of Vapor), quite a bit lower than the 1.7ohms minimum of the single coil. That low of a resistance will trigger protective circuits on just about everything except a purely mechanical mod or something with a switch rated at higher than 2 amps, however.
Personally, I have found that dual coils give off a burnt taste more often than single coils, so they are largely absent from my vaping lineup. The choice is up to you, however, and it’s certainly not expensive to try both.
Categories: Atomizers and Cartomizers
