Advanced THC e-Juice / mods / tanks / coils / builds / recipes

[Vape Donkey 650]

Damnit, last post just couldn't be shaved down to under 10k characters.... necessary rare triple post!

Thanks I will have a look at those, the liberty v8 has a ceramic coil but the holes are too small to take in the oil sufficiently, I think Rosin just isn't the best thing for these types of cartridge

I'd definitely agree with you on that last part..rosin (or bho like shatter) is not well suited at all for tanks / cartridges.

If you live out in the cuts, in a non-legal jurisdiction, and must grow / make your own stuff, and you also insist on putting it in a tank, well, I can see why people jump through all these hoops and make these compromises.

But if you don't have an irrational fear of solvents, or "processed" concentrates, or if you do have access to stuff like co2, distillate and HTFSE, why bother with rosin on a tank?

Ok, with rosin, wouldn't the residual plant matter eventually gunk up the coil and other parts if the cart or tank?

On most tank gear, this is a problem, which is largely why I don't recommend rosin for tanks...

BUT....

So back to square one unless there is some vape device on the market that can tolerate the plant matter until everything is vaped. Then you could soak the coil, tank, etc. in solvent to clean the plant junk off.

It's not "on the market" so to speak, just yet, but I'm hoping that can change coming up next year for 2018... but I've been vaping on these for over a year now. It's a few pages back, you might have missed it.

After vaping about 3 grams on one of these donut coils, I wanted to switch to a different coil to test, so I intentionally let the oil level get down low, as low as it can while giving puffs, before I pulled it apart to soak and clean, and with a burn-off of the donuts and soaking, everything came out about 99% as pearly as before. This cleaning cycle can be repeated many times probably, (but exercise the most caution during the donut burn-off, and don't contact the wires, they're brittle)

It's also somewhat wasteful, with the reclaim, so it's best to do several refills before a cleaning. How clean your input material is will determine how long you can go before it needs to be cleaned.

And note the large wicking holes in the atomizer coil case...this makes thick co2 oils and rosins feed into the coil, no problem.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Interesting...nice find. Looks similar to source's new "core" atomizer coils?

With the main difference being the W9 cylinders have a wire (Ti?) inside that heats the porous ceramic from the inside, while these source "cores" appear to have an alumina ceramic heater, presumably with wire leads soldered in at the ends to allow to act as an integral, resistive heater just like my donuts...and the porous wick is on the inside?

Both of these hold interest to me... I hope they are compact enough to fit inside that big new smok x-baby rba coil? (Maybe)

But even more fundamentally, can you remove the wick / heater from these W9 / Source atty's without destroying them?

Very few company's replacement coils allow you to take them apart / rebuild them, that's why I'm using the cubis and DT donuts so much. (sucked how the trinity tank only comes apart for you, in pieces, but it's not intended to be RBA ) Would suck to spend 15-20 bucks on coils only to see I can't use em?

Likewise - need to check out those new Source heaters. Every Source product ever tried was crap (and they make you send a photo ID to order direct - who does that?), but some of the pieces are useful.

Another view of the W9Tech ceramic wick above wicking a DIY inception coil.

This is after removing the supplied titanium coil from the center space and replacing with SS316L. It's not encapsulated. Probably rebuildable - didn't save the titanium coil but saved the big ceramic cup. (@THC SCIENTIFIC?) Many of W9Tech's products are rebuildable. 20 USD seemed reasonable to satisfy curiosity, but yes, too expensive for routine use. Hopefully, W9Tech will make them available at some point.

Distillate is a whole different process. I initially thought it was" solvent free" but turns out its does involve solvents (alcohol) and alot of processing. I thought it only used "gentle heat distllation" to get pure cannabinoids out of flowers, but after I saw this video @invertedisdead posted, I can see there's alot more involved.

Should be easy to simply add back the terpenes that were collected in the first fraction to reconstitute the original flavor of the concentrate - just removing inactive plant material. Maybe that's not being done in the commercial space? Problem with DIY fractional distillation appears to be the very large starting volume of concentrate needed.

 

[invertedisdead]

It's the artificial tastes that result with imperfect terpene mixing, after this very pure product is finished, that I don't always like.

Bro check out the Beezle Honey Sauce carts. They are doing raw distillate flavored with high terpene live resin sauce, so the terps are all natural from the plant instead of being distilled and reintroduced.

 

[Vapology]

In this project, the whole idea is to vape a pure, unadulterated, essential cannabis extract.

Yo @Vape Donkey 650 @randomtoker @Accept @everybody
I read this thread 2 months ago and now I'm sitting here at home vaping my homemade qwet, liquified with a few drops terpenes derived from industrial hemp, from my vaporesso veco in TC mode and I'm happy Thank you so much

I invested way to much money and plenty of hours/ days / months just reading, preparing and practicing. I started with a fake terpenes blend and fresh squished rosin - great effects but way to harsh + unnatural
Then I tried a mix with MCT oil and rosin 50/50 - the oil left a strange oily feel on my lung + no vapor
On batch no.3 I started to mess around with rosin, terps, mct, peg, pg - it separated + totally useless
I thought about winterizing my rosin to get rid of the lipid and waxes ... then I just started all over and learned how to QWET.

I qwetted 40gr popcorn bud trim in 750ml 96% food grate ethyl Alkohol.
2 runs - 3 minutes - everything frozen - filtered through coffe filter - 24 h freeze then filter again
I purged low temp on my heating stirrer and decarbed after that. Next run I will purge and decarb directly. More heat - faster purging - thinner oil - but lessor taste
I had to liquify the purged qwet with some drops of ethanol and some drops of terpenes derived from industrial hemp.
Vapor is good. Effects are strong. No harshness from the terps BUT a boring taste from the terps. On the next batch I will mix 1 drop of gorilla glue fake terpene blend into 2 gr of qwet - then I should be happy!

Mission Complete!

Swarm intelligence for the win - GO TEAM QWET

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Congrats!

I started with a fake terpenes blend and fresh squished rosin

You've pressed rosin but prefer QWET? Don't want to invest in a press. Also, QWET's probably better if you plan to process further.

I purged low temp on my heating stirrer and decarbed after that. Next run I will purge and decarb directly.

What about low-temp vacuum purging your first run for wax or shatter and purging and decarbing your second run in an oil bath? Second run always produces sappier concentrate, IME, and most of the flavor is in the first run. The hotplate-stirrer might be too warm to preserve terpenes even at lowest setting. Try ~32C, may need a silicone heat mat.

If you like VG in your vape, this dual coil method is still the best approach, IME. Believe @Filhote uses thinned concentrate in one tank.

 

[Vapology]

You've pressed rosin but prefer QWET? Don't want to invest in a press. Also, QWET's probably better if you plan to process further.

For use in cartridges and tanks it's important to get rid of the wax and the lipids. The QWET extraction has an built in winterizing process if you manage to keep the first filtering, directly after the extraction, as cold as possible (in the freezer) you don't need the second filtering after 24 hours. So QWET oil is much better for e-cig vaping purposes than rosin.
I wanna try to squish some hash the next days. On good hash I can get a high yield 25-35%. Then I will winterize this rosin and see what I get ...

My digital magnetic stirrer starts at 25C, so low temp is no problem. I really want to play around with vaccumpump and chamber maybe that's next

So you think it's worth it to hold the first and second run separated? I just throwed the two together and purged it down.

I quit smoking 5 months ago. I just wanted an easy, clean and modern style to vaporize. The idea I found here on FC was to use the modern e-cig components but without the whole e-juice thing. I really liked this idea and It works!

 

[zenus420]

Interesting...nice find. Looks similar to source's new "core" atomizer coils?

Hey there, welcome to FC! Small thing: the v9 tanks use a silica ceramic (not alumina) but no biggie

Thanks for the welcome and clearing that up. Love the vibe on this site. There seem to be less flaming here.

Sorry for the late response. I have to check on my settings to make sure I get the emails. Anyways I really appreciate you addressing my questions.

Your #s:
1. Your veco is spitting on you? Not sure on that, I experienced only a little bit of that with my attempt using 1g of co2 on that tank. Did you over-fill it (like very little / no visible glass on the tank when filled?)

Over-filling big tanks with concentrates leads to initial spitting in many cases, I've found. Lower viscosity oils / mixes also tend to spit more easily, and having too low heat (or watts) can also contribute to this, I've found but it could be a mix of causes.

The air throttle being too wide open also contributes to spitting, maybe try closing it to half-way or less?

I guess I may be guilty on all three. While I have never filled it more than slighly above half way, I do do open up the air vent completely.

I guess you could say my mix is low in viscosity, but no where near the 5:1+ blends I have read about. But I have read that keeping the thc-juice thin is imperative to stop serious gunking up of coils, burning of wicks. I have also been using a 3:1 mix, but I am going to try a 2:1 and a 1:1 for better potency. The 3:1 is kind of light in impact, but then again if you burn more of it with each hit the impact should be the same? I will experiment and report back.

I have been using the tank at about 25 Watts as the ccoil that comes with it is not SS so when I put the nano into temp mode nothing happens. It is in the 20 - 35 Watt range of the coil. I have tried many different wattage without noticing much of a difference.

I must clear up that I meant more like crackling, as nothing gets to my mouth. It seems to occur at the initial phase. I do notice that if I remove the drip tip, there is a lot of build up there after my third half tank (coils still not affecting taste at all). The leak came from the air holes and they have to be connected to the drip tip so maybe that is what is leaking out, though I thought it was also leaking from the top o-ring area. The leak was not bad, but the stuff is stinky and not easy to get out so I would prefer to avoid all leaks. I have researching leak proof tanks and whenever I think I find one, I read a bunch of reviews saying they leak. Basically I am looking for something that performs well, is top fill, < 3 ml (though I will except 3.5) with top air vents (preferably easily adjustable), replaceable coils that are ceramic using high quality cotton and a adjustable juice hole. I have not found it yet, though there are a surprising amount of atomizers out there. They make my head spin!

My current considerations are (in no particular order):

1.) Cubis: I don't know if the Cubis 2 is better, but I have read that the pro spits. I don't think I can use ceramic coils with this atomizer either.

2.) The Innokin ISub Apex This one seems really cool. I have read some good reviews on the non-5ml version. I would chose the 3.5 ml version I would rather have the 2 m, which I am having trouble finding here in the US. I hav read a lot of post say isubs don't leak, others that say they do. Plus I can use ceramic (The SS316L), which I am liking so far (I have never used anything else...I am new to this).

3.) Apollo Phaser: I Love the idea of an adjustable juice hole, but you have to open the tank to adjust so you can't use this feature to reduce/stop leaks. I have read good things about flavor, but I don't think I can get ceramic coils for it, and it has a bottom air hole, which I have read is more prone to leaking.

4.) Kanger Toptank nano: I have read many a review of the subtanks never leaking, despite being a bottom air-flow device. I have also read a few saying they leak. These also can use ceramic, but I do not believe they use wires that can be temperature controlled.

5.) The Freemax Scylla Mini: I have read many great reviews on this tank. I seems to use high quality materials and can employ ceramic coils, but it is a bottom air vent tank....

6.) Geekvape Griffin: Man do I wish they made an non rebuildable version of this tank with replaceable coils (Preferably ceramic). I love the juice hole that can bet closed/adjusted externally. I have read many great reviews on this (some on this thread) but I don't think I want to spend the time and effort, especially with my involuntary tremor, making custom wicks. If I did, I would use readywick, but I just don't think I would do it....for now.

7.) Smok x-baby: May be larger than I like, Might not take ceramics, but it seems very popular, is reported to be leak-proof and supposedly has some great cloud making abilities

8.) Vapeston Ceramikas: I have read great reviews on it. The vapor production is said to be second to none, but I have read it leaks.

9.) Uwell Crown 2: Have read that it does not leak, but more sources say it leaks. I don't believe I can get ceramic coils for this.

I am also considering a Veco Devil, but it is large and seems to go through material fast! The Devine Tribe V3 looks interesting. I have to re-read your posts to see how to use it with THC-juice. But it would serve great as a testing device to test different mixes. I assume it can be used as such. I still have to read more about these types of devices.

In the end I want to buy 3-4 of these. It seems much more economical to order these online than to purchase locally.

Your #s:2. The tarot nano does TC / TCR and more. I hope the TC on the tarot works better than my target mini tank (which sucked). For your veco tank coils? Just follow the recommended settings on the coil. I believe all the EUC cCells have SS wires, use TC-SS mode. Probably above 400F for big vapor with SS coils

3. Great question! THCv vapes at around 430F, (427F?) I've read, although there's some muddle and confusion to exactly what temp it would vape, under what conditions. But if you set your mod to TC-SS, 430, 435F, you can probably vape most of the THCv in your concentrate without burning anything.

Thanks for the advice. Unless I am screwing something up, I don't think it comes with SS wires, as I mentioned above when I run the nano is TC-SS mode nothing happens

Now...the deeper question might be, does your concentrate even have THCv in it to begin with? (Most strains don't) and does your solvent mixing process preserve the THCv if it was there to start?

A new thing to consider. Those are good questions as well. I am buying shatter so I have no idea how it was produced. It does seem to be very good quality from the color and taste. It is a bit sticky but I live in the most humid state (not sure if that really makes a difference though.) At least I know what to set the temperature just in case. Thanks so much for this information!

4. That sucks...leaking. But if it's only coming from the mouthpiece, and you're getting spitting, that sounds more like spit oil accumulating and becoming a runny mass, and it could lead to clogs (think that's what happened to @Steven)

But if you're really getting oil coming out of the air intake slots, from the inside, that would be leaking. I'm surprised this is happening? Did you "over-fill" the tank to start? Do you leave it in hot cars, laying on it's side for extended periods perhaps? I didn't see any leaking of this kind with the veco, I'd like to see what Steve thinks about your "leaky" veco

Hope that helps you...

I am interested to hear what Steve says as well. I know he loves his. I do not leave it hot cars or laying on it's side except for the time it leaked. I mean if gravity is wrking in it's favor I don't think it will leak, but I want something I can put in my pocket, which is in a horizontal orientation when I sit, and not worry about leaks.

This has been amazingly helpful, as has the information you have provided on this site that I have read. THANK YOU I have also run into your comments and videos on other sites.

Another question: What is the preferred type of wire? SS, Titanium? I have not read much on this yet, and am planning on SS as I see it is the most prevalent.

Any input anyone has on the tanks I listed above or anything else that you think I should consider, it is always GREATLY appreciated.

Have a great on guys!

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

So you think it's worth it to hold the first and second run separated? I just throwed the two together and purged it down.

ABSOLUTELY! As you know, recently finished extensive comparison using the same starting material and temperature for varying times. At these low temperatures, only the first 3-minute run yields stable shatter. The second yields sappier concentrate with a mild hashy flavor. Both are fine, but very different.

8.) Vapeston Ceramikas: I have read great reviews on it. The vapor production is said to be second to none, but I have read it leaks.

Cross this one off your list. (Actually happen to be vaping nic juice on it at the moment.) Leaking is inevitable. You would very likely lose some expensive canna juice at some point. It's also 4ml.

Another question: What is the preferred type of wire? SS, Titanium? I have not read much on this yet, and am planning on SS as I see it is the most prevalent.

Prefer stainless steel for everything. Food-grade, low-carbon. Easy to work with. Dry burn it it. Use it in TC or power mode.

The idea I found here on FC was to use the modern e-cig components but without the hole e-juice thing. I really liked this idea and It works!

Tellin' ya, start wrapping coils. It's easy and fun. Even therapeutic.

 

[Vapology]

ABSOLUTELY! As you know, recently finished extensive comparison using the same starting material and temperature for varying times. At these low temperatures, only the first 3-minute run yields stable shatter. The second yields sappier concentrate with a mild hashy flavor. Both are fine, but very different.

I would love to make some shatter like @Monsoon showed us in his dry-sift-qwet-tek thread. I have to get me a vacuumpump and build a little chamber to start experimenting. If I want real shatter I have to vacuum purge the final qwet oil, right?

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

If I want real shatter I have to vacuum purge the final qwet oil, right?

No - look up @herbivore21's posts purging for shatter with just heat. Vacuum purging at low temps preserves terpenes. A faucet aspirator and vacuum marinator work fine in place of pump and chamber for small-scale personal use where consistency isn't required. Still not tempted to get a pump. The cost is reasonable now, but it's still noisy and messy.

 

[Filhote]

At this time in use only PG. The last results of many experiments are simple. I use regular marrocan hash, or buds or trim or what i can find and iso or grain alcohol. And now...i cook it. I dont need a freezer with hash...only cooking in a waterbath. Than Filter, and evaporate the iso. And there is a dark brown clear concentrate. The final concentrate 7 minutes at 145°C and a second bottle with of also in the oven. Then, ml to ml, the hot PG to the decarboxilated hot concentrate... Tattaa

10g hash --> 5-8g concentrate + 95ml PG
Unbeatable Setup with the ehpro fusion. 24ga ss316L, 5 wraps

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Bro check out the Beezle Honey Sauce carts. They are doing raw distillate flavored with high terpene live resin sauce, so the terps are all natural from the plant instead of being distilled and reintroduced.

Nice find...since you showed me that, I've seen this sold in a couple of local clubs. Beezle extracts are fire 100% for sure, I've never been let down by this brand, (got a couple live resin half-g Beezles in the fridge that I'm way too slow to vape up ) Although they are quite $$$, I only treat myself occasionally

Going about $60+ / half g ouch...and only in their little pre-filled carts Probably not the worst cart, from what I can pick up on their IG, Glass + SS body, "cCell" coil, better airflow...getting better...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaqL-GHFWu9/?taken-by=beezlehoney

But most certainly not a sub-ohm coil, or else they'd advertise that...a sub-ohm wouldn't work well with many small pen batteries it's intended for. I would presume this beezle cart to vape not as good as a trinity, or the new vape710 sub-ohm carts, but it's probably alright...but no TC is a deal-breaker for me.

I wouldn't buy a pre-filled cart just to empty it, but I would like to try this sauce if they sell it in a syringe with no tank...if I could justify splurging (maybe 60-80 for a gram, no tank? i'd hope not more than that)

Also, maybe my complaining about not liking fake terpene flavors prompted you to post that (or just randomly?) That may have come off too harsh on my part? Like randomtoker noted, I'm finding some of the sweet / fruity flavors to be too much, but some of the other flavors of the cheaply-terped syringes I've tried are better (although still not "authentic") and all the distillate flavors mild out to some extent, after sitting in a tank for days/weeks puffed on dozens of times. The "blueberry diesel" is more tolerable now that it's got low, but it's still not the greatest, not rich like good co2 oil or HTE

Also, the flavor on some of the thicker, less diluted distillates like the gold drops, although mild, are much smoother than the cheap THClears. Got a new RBA tank I set up with one of these to post on....

Yo @Vape Donkey 650 @randomtoker @Accept @everybody
I read this thread 2 months ago and now I'm sitting here at home vaping my homemade qwet, liquified with a few drops terpenes derived from industrial hemp, from my vaporesso veco in TC mode and I'm happy Thank you so much

Swarm intelligence for the win - GO TEAM QWET

I quit smoking 5 months ago. I just wanted an easy, clean and modern style to vaporize. The idea I found here on FC was to use the modern e-cig components but without the whole e-juice thing. I really liked this idea and It works!

Congrats on the great decision to stop smoking, you may be unlocking the key to better health in the future and avoid some of the mistakes the rest of us already made

As you guys can see, I don't know much anything about mixing home-made solutions, it's not my goal, but I have picked up alot through osmosis by reading this thread and others. It would be great if everyone can have co2 and distillate (with HTE even) available but we're not there yet....so you'll be mixing until then at least?

I think you said you're in central europe? (hungary? czech republic?) At least my constant ranting about ceramic tanks has helped you out...go veco!

I have been using the tank at about 25 Watts as the ccoil that comes with it is not SS so when I put the nano into temp mode nothing happens. It is in the 20 - 35 Watt range of the coil. I have tried many different wattage without noticing much of a difference.

Is this the "euc cCell" coil or the traditional, clapton + cotton coil? It comes with one of each. The clapton won't work in TC but the cCell should. I re-checked their website, all the cCells for the veco are with SS wire, but they have made ccells with Ti, Ni, and kanthal for some of their older tanks. So maybe re-check which coil you're using? If you can see a big exposed metal wire in the metal of your coil with cotton, that's the traditional. The SS wire is also visible in the center of the ceramic coil, but less so.

If you got it working ok in watts mode and you like it, that's cool, but you should be able to get it to TC. I find these type of coils tend to work alot better, taste better, avoid burning and fouled coils much better in TC mode.

I must clear up that I meant more like crackling, as nothing gets to my mouth. It seems to occur at the initial phase. I do notice that if I remove the drip tip, there is a lot of build up there after my third half tank (coils still not affecting taste at all). The leak came from the air holes and they have to be connected to the drip tip so maybe that is what is leaking out, though I thought it was also leaking from the top o-ring area. The leak was not bad, but the stuff is stinky and not easy to get out so I would prefer to avoid all leaks. I have researching leak proof tanks and whenever I think I find one, I read a bunch of reviews saying they leak. Basically I am looking for something that performs well, is top fill, < 3 ml (though I will except 3.5) with top air vents (preferably easily adjustable), replaceable coils that are ceramic using high quality cotton and a adjustable juice hole. I have not found it yet, though there are a surprising amount of atomizers out there. They make my head spin!

My current considerations are (in no particular order):

I am also considering a Veco Devil, but it is large and seems to go through material fast! The Devine Tribe V3 looks interesting. I have to re-read your posts to see how to use it with THC-juice. But it would serve great as a testing device to test different mixes. I assume it can be used as such. I still have to read more about these types of devices.

Interesting...so maybe we're confusing leaking with crackling and spitting? IME, all these large sub-ohms will spit on you to some extent, usually the most when initially filling up, at least, but it can be controlled for, usually. You'd hope what does spit just touches the bottom / inside of the drip tip instead of your mouth, and that the buildup of this spit oil and vapor condensation is un-avoidable, and it is part of necessary, regular maintenance to clean up this stuff. After 3 fill ups, that would be expected.

Also, saying "leak-proof" and "leak-resistant" is not the same thing. Although I've never experience leaking on my cubis tanks, I do a few things to help with that. I don't over-fill. And when my tank level is higher, I only store the tanks standing up, not laying flat. I do lay my tanks flat for prolonged periods at times, but only if the fill level is about 50% or less, sometimes intentionally, to let the oil run over my coil and swish back and forth to replenish it some. If I filled the tank up 90% full with thin distillate and let it lay flat overnight, or in a hot car for hours, I might expect to see some juice seeping out the air slots? Haven't done that so I don't know. Between cubis, veco and x-baby, these are the only tanks I've used that haven't leaked on me. Every bottom air tank I've tried leaks out on me, no matter how I try to use it or set it up.

Nice list of ceramic tanks there, good notes. I wish there existed more complete lists / roundups with detailed info on products like these...I'm familiar with most of those tanks. My thoughts on some:

1. spitting on the cubis is on par / less than many other large tanks I've used. I have it well under control now. True, no off-the-shelf ceramic coils for this tank, that's why I've donut-modded so many coils for the cubis

4. have heard the kangers leak also, believe the wires are kanthal, therefore no easy TC

7. correct on those accounts, just had it going for a few weeks, but the x-baby should be at least as leak-resistant as the cubis. And cloudy potential...oh yes... with the default coils or the RBA. This tank is a gas-guzzler, could be a good application for you home-mixers who want to vape through a large volume of material? Also fine for those who like cotton wick / metal wire coils, ready to go

Veco devil, seems similar to the veco, but just bigger, with more (but more restrictive?) wicking holes, don't think this has much to offer you over the veco than more capacity?

The DTV3 is a great atomizer too, but not for e-juice, it is for "solid" not diluted concentrates like shatter, live resin, etc, although small drops of distillate and co2 oil also work well. It is a "load as you go" atomizer not a tank. You could put some "e-liquid" on it and it would vape, but that's not what it's for. It has bottom air flow and loose liquid would leak into the base. Would recommend it to vape your before-mix concentrate though. Maybe ok to test-vape a small little drop of your mixed juice too? (could give you good idea of the flavor)

Another question: What is the preferred type of wire? SS, Titanium? I have not read much on this yet, and am planning on SS as I see it is the most prevalent.

Regarding safety / health, SS and Ti are good. Most people say SS had no / less flavor, Ti wires make a slight flavor that I can notice, others may not. (I can also taste SS wires, but less than Ti)

Nickel and nichrome are ok also, but only if they are run in temp control, with temps limited to a reasonable range, or they can off-gas

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Let me see if I can squeeze this in, or else a new post? >10k letters, new post it is...

In other tank news...

First off, that oumier magic winds RTA, which seemed like a good prospect for a versatile, DIY leak free 2ml tank, is sadly no longer available. Every retailer I contacted said they don't have it, and the company said it's no longer in production when I e-mailed them. Maybe someone can get one secondhand, but I did find another new comparable tank to capture our interest:

geekvape zeus RTA

It's a top-fill top air, 25mm, 4ml RTA with an open, post-less build deck (nice) with a separate, top section / metal case, rather than replaceable "coils" like most RTAs. So it has a fixed deck like the magic winds. Unlike the magic winds, x-baby, veco and many other top air tanks, this new zeus tank has a unique, targeted side + bottom coil air flow setup optimized for a single traditional coil. I tried some screen grabs from "Mike Vapes" youtube review to show you.

Looks quite tempting. I don't think this build deck would fit my big 10mm donuts, at least in the middle part where I would want them, although I could probably put 2 of em at a diagonal slant off on the sides, like with my x-baby RBAs. This would probably reduce the performance, but this looks great for building with traditional coils, or maybe smaller 7mm donuts or silica ceramic cCell cylinders, which could probably fit in the middle of the build deck.

This tank was just released, and it's not cheap at over $30. At least it includes both 810 and 510 drip tip adapters at that price. Geek vape makes good stuff, I'd like to try this out, but it's hard to justify since I just enrolled a bunch of "x-babies" into preschool. Would be nice to see someone put some kushy applications on this tank, I won't rule out trying it in the future, maybe on sale soon?

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Now I'm gonna catch everyone up on the smok x-baby RBA projects, just so I can feel all caught up? I guess a few people read this. Not sure why I still do this....

My package with 3 more TFV8 tanks and 4 more RBA coils came across the ocean in a couple weeks after I hurriedly ordered more after the initial success with this tank. I used the excuse to throw in a blue evic primo mini SE that I had my eye on....I just can't be switching different attys on the same mod that much! (1st world problems)

So the first step was to take the old electric drill to add some wicking holes to the casing. I didn't mention in my earlier post on this RBA coil how difficult it was to achieve this. I'm just a guy with simple hand tools, not a CNC mill, and drilling holes caused a significant amount of roughage / burring on the coil case. This was a problem because this RBA has a close-fit, rotating inner / outer layer which orients the top and bottom portions and directs the airflow. By drilling through, it makes it very difficult to rotate the top part and screw it in to place. I had to grind and "deburr" my drilled holes, and with alot of brute force, I was able to get it together. Unfortunately, I was not able to repeat my success with the new shipment.

First attempt on the 2nd batch, I judged my first drilled hole too low, and I drilled over the threads! Now I can't screw this top part onto the bottom! Insta-phail! haha (red arrow on the left in the pic)

So next attempt, I got a few holes punched through in the right spot, more or less, but all the burring on the drilled holes is so rough, I simply can't fully screw/unscrew the RBA open or closed. It's locked in place with all that metal shrapnel in the threads and in the small area between the casings. Super frustrating, so hard to get a good grip on the RBA to torque it without destroying it.

Not wanting to ruin more RBAs, I concede defeat to the vape gods and I must settle to build more of these without trying to modify the case. No extra wicking holes, just the default slots on the bottom of the case, 2 slits on either side. Skeptical that I may waste oil on this new effort, I start my first build of 2 RBAs left

Pretty similar to my earlier build, but I added some strands of 1.7mm readyxick on the bottom floor near the juice slots, not present on my earlier one. Also added a strand of larger 2.7mm arced between the 2 donuts (not pictured)

As you can see, I stubbornly forced a small chip off my ceramic donut by forcing the cover to screw tight over it. Although most people would freak out and instantly discard it at this point, I cleaned everything off, closely examined the damage with a 40x scope (donut inside looks the same as the outside) and dry-fired the coil many times at 500F, it looked the same, didn't emit any smell or dust or make more cracks. Also didn't flake off any more chunks or apparent dust when I ran fingers and dab tools over it, so fuck it, I'll use it.

This is still foolish because I could have avoided the chip by placing the donuts lower and tighter to the floor, which I did on the next build. Probably frustration from the failed RBA case drilling made me err.

Cap on, the chip is visible, so are the air the air flow slots that direct the air from the top assembly through 2 slits on the top of the RBA coil, towards the inside, then back up the center chimney.

So now we're filling, sorry if I'm blowing up your browser with all these big pics

Working its way around from the fill slot to the other side...
This is a gram of blackberry kush co2 oil BTW

Getting settled in and level now...

Mod-screen shot: coil specs

Having it all set up to go now, I was a bit doubtful if it would wick up properly through the meager, stock holes. My blackberry kush co2 oil helped by having a moderate, medium viscosity. Luckily, my doubt was unwarranted. After nervously puffing about 20 hot, empty, dry-air hits, some co2 oil finally started making its way up to the wicks inside of the coil through the holes on the floor. A couple of mild flavor clouds... then BOOM I was treated to some huge, smooth tasty blackberry at around 370F

Hardly no spitting besides the first couple of puffs, around 3/4 air throttle seems to be the spot

Very nice...did I mention BBK is my favorite strain too? I'm happy I was wrong about the wicking holes. Although my earlier x-baby RBA with the holes added did wick "instantly", cloudy on the first hit, but it also seems to scavenge the tank not as well (more on that later)

Setbacks? This thing is running through co2 oil like a muscle car guzzling premium don't know if I'll be able to keep this up

As for the mod, the little evic primo mini, it's very nice, even smaller than I expected, it's smaller than my cuboid minis and has a bigger removeable cell! Nice round shape and big button. It's rated to 80w and and really high amps I wont' even touch with my batteries (40amp)

But it seems my batteries are having a hard time firing this heavy donut build. I want 75w for quick warmups at just over 1 second, but this mod with a single samsung 30q simply won't fire that high (almost 15amp) when the charge is under 80% or so, and I have to back off to 60w, which makes for a slow, pokey 3 second heatup time, oil gurgling and crackling as I wait. So I may have to obtain some stronger batteries, or stick to 2-cell mods for these heavy donut builds....

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Can I finish? arrrgh...nearly as much time in these posts as in these tank RBA builds

The success of the BBK co2 oil tank helped me sleep good that night, with plans the next day for my last remaining un-ruined x-baby RBA with some of that thick distillate from gold drop on the big ol' cuboid mod

I've tried vaping many small drops of this on an open DTV3 donut, and it's pretty good, with a nice mild flavor (although I wouldn't say it tastes like tangie) that doesn't give me that terpene cough when vaped at low temps. That's why I loaded it with about 1.2g to start instead of 1.5g

Trying to learn a lesson from my earlier carelessness, I set the 10mm donuts as low as a I could on to the deck. Bending the wires at the right angle / position is key to this. Even with this caution, the top cap still scraped the top of the donuts very slightly.

And there's that extra cross-section of larger wick I failed to show on the last build. All this wicking proved to be key, I would find out. Maybe I could use even more?

Sealed up, ready to go

Side view shows you those meager holes for the oil to enter the case from the bottom. Tried to thread some readyxwick as far into this channel as I could.

So I forgot to get any syringe-filling shots this time, but I did get this crime-scene-like, after-fill pic. From the top looking down, it looks like a murderer victim with shell casings lying around. Or a passed-out Barney Gumble-like drunkard with 3 distillate bottles strewn nearby. sigh...my cuboid

It was a major PITA to fill this tank this time. This distillate is the thickest stuff I've ever filled a tank with, like cold maple syrup in the arctic. Even heating the syringes and tank with my volcano, it was super slow to move into the tank and fill up.

Mod screen shot, with extra finger smudges. You can see I've taken them up on their "vape bands" to protect my glass from cracking in an impact, even if it looks kinda lame

So...very...slow...to fill and work around to the far side of the tank... so....grimey and smudgey!

Once I was done filling, I started huffing at the same low temp range I've had success with...and this was troubling at first

Like a wolf trying to blow over a brick house, I was huffing and puffing repeatedly, but getting no result It seems like this thick, minimally cut distillate was struggling to wick up. I wish I could have filled this stuff on the one RBA I did manage to add holes to, but that's not how it went

Kept huffing repeatedly, and I was starting to harsh my chest out with all that empty hot air, almost ready to give up, but FINALLY! after about 40-50 empty hits, I started getting a trickle of vapor to go along with the minimal flavor I tasted earlier

Kept going, and I was starting to get a modest stream of vapor on-demand with quick 4-6 second puffs. Taste is mild on the tangie, still with no terpene tickle or harshness, so that's good.

As this RBA slowly wicked up, some tiny bubbles of air being displaced from the inside indicated wicking action.

With some continued use, this RBA is working ok with the thick distillate, but it feels like something of a let-down. With repeated back to back puffs, the cloud production increases and the distillate heats up and flows, but I want a big cloud easy on the 1st puff. This tank/ RBA provides that with my lighter co2 oils, but struggles with this thick AF distillate.

This gold drop is more viscous than even the thickest co2 oils I've put on my cubis tanks (california sap) but I have little doubt that this oil would be hitting way harder with quick hits on demand from the first puff on my modified cubis donut coils because I can ensure "extreme wicking" with my drill

So the lesson to learn from this build?

You might want to hold off on the thick molasses / jelly oils with a smok x-baby RBA coil, unless you're crafty enough to punch some holes in the case without ruining it.

However, concentrates of a thin, or moderate consistency do work fine with the unmodified RBA for this tank

I actually have one more x-baby tank to use left empty now, which was planned for an "indica" distillate oil to compliment my tangie tank, but plans for that are delayed with my hack-job on those other 2 poor RBA coils. As I wait for more overpriced "metal tubes" to reach me via freighter from the middle kingdom, I'm contemplating an alternative donut build for my last planned x-baby tank.

Knowing the thick stuff struggles to wick, maybe I'll work with quad high-Ω 7mm donuts, placing them low and flat on the floor right next to each wicking slot, which will hopefully allow me to fetch those dense, instant, satisfying clouds that I crave with a thick distillate?

FINISHED NOW!

 

[invertedisdead]

Nice find...since you showed me that, I've seen this sold in a couple of local clubs. Beezle extracts are fire 100% for sure, I've never been let down by this brand, (got a couple live resin half-g Beezles in the fridge that I'm way too slow to vape up ) Although they are quite $$$, I only treat myself occasionally

Going about $60+ / half g ouch...and only in their little pre-filled carts Probably not the worst cart, from what I can pick up on their IG, Glass + SS body, "cCell" coil, better airflow...getting better...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaqL-GHFWu9/?taken-by=beezlehoney

But most certainly not a sub-ohm coil, or else they'd advertise that...a sub-ohm wouldn't work well with many small pen batteries it's intended for. I would presume this beezle cart to vape not as good as a trinity, or the new vape710 sub-ohm carts, but it's probably alright...but no TC is a deal-breaker for me.

I wouldn't buy a pre-filled cart just to empty it, but I would like to try this sauce if they sell it in a syringe with no tank...if I could justify splurging (maybe 60-80 for a gram, no tank? i'd hope not more than that)
Nickel and nichrome are ok also, but only if they are run in temp control, with temps limited to a reasonable range

Yeah those carts are expensive, sauce in general is really expensive here in SoCal. My main point wasn't even to specify this brand, I mostly just wanted to show you their mix which I thought was really smart, adding in HTFSE to flavor distillate. I really like that idea since cannabis derived terpenes cost nearly as much as sauce, and I don't see how they could contribute the same degree of entourage effect as natural non-reintroduced terpenes. I'd like to pick up one of their carts just to get an idea of the ratios, I imagine they are only cutting in HTFSE at a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio, maybe even less?? So making your own mix could be fairly reasonable. That's what I'm wanting to do, a distillate/HT sauce mix and load my own Trinity cart as like you, I'm totally spoiled by TC and would set up a profile on my Evic Basic!

 

[throwawaytre3s]

Hey everyone, its been a while but I have a quick question! I've been trying to make a good cartomizer lately. My main issue is that I'm finding that perhaps my e-liquid is a little too thick, not that it's burning my wick or anything, but it's for sure taking a little longer than I'd prefer for it to wick. There's also not much in terms of throat hit for it, which I personally kind of want. I'm thinking of adding VG to it, but before I waste a whole cart attempting, I wanted to see if you guys had any results with PEG mixed with VG, do they mix well? I'd hate to have it separate out on me. For flavor, I've been adding some strain recreation terp mixtures I picked up a while ago for concentrates, and it tastes great, if anyone wants to try it! Really similar to how distillate mixed with terps re-added tastes, but you can definitely tell which strain I picked. Not so artificial tasting through a vape as it can be if they're added too heavily to a regular concentrate.

On another quick note, does anyone have problems with really waxy concentrates not completely dissolving? Like leaving plant lipids behind in the juice and making it all cloudy? I'm struggling to produce really clear results, it's always somewhat muddy? I know that the color of my starting material will affect this, for sure, but still.

 

[zenus420]

Hey Guys,

Im am still recovering from what will be know as "the great computer fuck up due to a failed windows update of 2017." My god Microsoft support for windows and Office are atrocious! I could go on for days, but I digress.....sorry to disappear.

Worst of all, I lost my huge response to @Accept response so I will have to redo and post. Still I wanted to thank @Accept and @Vape Donkey 650 for their input. I will read a little more and comment.

I ended up ordering a Xbaby, An Isub Apex, a Starre Pure a Top Tank and another Veco. I am going to be trying out different mixes and such and will report back. I have a feeling my 3:1 mix in an xbaby is going to blow me away.

Right now I have another question:
The Starre Pure is huge at 25 mm (lesson learned, look at specs!), so I want to get a mod that will support it.
Mod Musts:

-Support 25 mm tank

-Be as small as possible (I need something as small/thin as possible, hopefully with just one battery or even an internal battery.)

-Have adjustable wattage in TC mode and be able to do this with SS, Ti and Ni (the Tarot Nano does not support variable wattage in TC mode. I tried with a SS316 ceramic and it does nothing. The guy at the shop I bought it at sears it does it, but in the manual there is no place where it tell you how to change the wattage. I tried everything.)

-Go up to at least 75 watts (I would like to go up to 200, though I probably will never use it, but compact size succeeds this requirement).

I have been searching and have not had much luck. I looked into the Smoant Battlestar, but it cant change wattage in TC mode. I am looking into the Revenger and am waiting to get confirmation that it will change wattage in TC mode, but it is on the larger size. The Innokin Coolfire 4 series look interesting, especially the TC100, but I don't know if it will support 25mm and it's hard to find one in stock, The RX2 is a little bulky, The istick Pico 25 does not have enough power. The Vo-tech Dagger was the ticket but it only supports 24 mm and I think that .5 mm overhang will annoy me. The Presa TC100w seems cheap and I believe it also will not do any wattage control in TC mode. That represents hours of research (does anyone do a 5 minute review anymore on you tube?).

So, any help on would be greatly appreciated

Thanks again to everyone for their help!

 

[Steven]

A little update on how the veco is holding up for me. I noticed I was going through many tanks with degraded flavor. The settings I used was ok for me but, others would usually burn the coil out a bit when I shared the veco. This didn't feel right with Tc. I was using the tc mode for ss316 at 430F at the coil's suggested 45-55 watt ranged, I used 50w. First, the 50w is overkill for the veco coils. I use the 0.5ohm ceramic coil and I have discovered that tcr 140 works good for me.

Now I set my veco tank with a 0.5 ohm coil at tcr 140 @ 25w using 400F. I also set a 4 second cuttoff to avoid burning the coil.

I have been using these setting for 2 weeks now and am loving it. It's much more efficient and flavorful now.

The tcr was found through trial n error. If you do the math, it may not be right

 

[zenus420]

OK, so I put a order for an evic primo se and an evic vtwo mini (for smaller tanks). I hope these will do temp control and wattage control as I see that some of you guys are using them and have mentioned the ability to do so. I also order a bunch of tanks - Cubis 2 and cubis pro. I am out to find the most leak resistant tank out there.

 

[zenus420]

Sorry about the double post but I have to report that I had to cancel my order of all my stuff as Heaven Gifts is a total scam operation. 40 hours after my order I chat with them and they say there is a problem with my shipment (even though they advised me on the shipping method). They then promised they would ship it yesterday and it still was not shipped. How some people recommend this company is beyond me but I strongly recommend others stay away. I am staying with US companies (My Freedom Smokes and Eight Vape have been good so far). It sucks because I missed out on some good cyber Monday deals while I wasted a good 2-3 hours dealing with them over 3 days. Hell I could have probably wicked my first coil with that time!

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Yeah those carts are expensive, sauce in general is really expensive here in SoCal. My main point wasn't even to specify this brand, I mostly just wanted to show you their mix which I thought was really smart, adding in HTFSE to flavor distillate. I really like that idea since cannabis derived terpenes cost nearly as much as sauce, and I don't see how they could contribute the same degree of entourage effect as natural non-reintroduced terpenes. I'd like to pick up one of their carts just to get an idea of the ratios, I imagine they are only cutting in HTFSE at a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio, maybe even less?? So making your own mix could be fairly reasonable. That's what I'm wanting to do, a distillate/HT sauce mix and load my own Trinity cart as like you, I'm totally spoiled by TC and would set up a profile on my Evic Basic!

Ok, I see what your interest in those sauce carts is about now. I would be interested to know what their specific ratio is, probably no more rich in HTE than 3:1 , distillate/HTE. I think the HTE is more valuable, and it shouldn't be necessary to dilute distillate any further than that for most tanks.

I also find it somewhat silly and amusing how so many people are spending as much money on little vials of cannabis derived terpenes as you can get for the actual terpene rich cannabis extract itself! I know I live in a relatively cannabis-rich place, for about the 60-70 dollar price of the finest terps, I can get a gram / ml of quality terpy sauce, live resin, etc, whatever term they like to use at the moment. (Or more $, or less, for the actual full spectrum extract, depends on the brand. 40-120 for 1g of sauce! ) Id rather just put that whole terpy, saucy stuff straight up in the tank or dab that rather than bother mixing stuff.

It also should be noted that straight HTE / HTFSE vapes just fine by itself in most tanks, since it's pretty thin and runny when fresh, but the concept of using it as the finest mixing / thinning agent (instead of using just the terps alone) could be promising too. Straight HTE is also the most $ and actually pretty hard to obtain for me. I'm mostly seeing it come already mixed with the HC portion in little jars, not syringes.

I'd like to put that saucy live resin on my bigger tanks, but the thought of thca crystals clumping up around my wicking holes deters me so far...maybe I should try some in a V9 tank since you only need to fill a small amount to start, and you and psycho have had success with thick stuff in that tank...

OK, so I put a order for an evic primo se and an evic vtwo mini (for smaller tanks). I hope these will do temp control and wattage control as I see that some of you guys are using them and have mentioned the ability to do so. I also order a bunch of tanks - Cubis 2 and cubis pro. I am out to find the most leak resistant tank out there.

Delayed reply to your earlier post, but I think you'll be happy with the primo (mini?) se and a vtwo mini also. Great for the price, nice classic feel and function to them. Some people even more nit-picky about TC than I am have some things to say about the TC on joyetech / eleaf mods, but compared to some of those other ones you mentioned that you can't even set the watts limit when vaping in TC mode You made a good pick there I thinks

But about that cubis 2 tank, I think you may want to reconsider that purchase, if you haven't re-ordered it from another place after the problem with your last order already.

I looked at that tank when it was released a little while ago, but quickly decided that it wouldn't be good for my concentrate uses.

It has a nice compact look and top airflow, which is good, but the atomizer coil heads look like they will function very poorly with thick materials, with restrictive bottom-feed wicking and a thick, double-metal-jacket design that is not rebuildable or modifiable like the coil heads on the older cubis tanks.

Also, it has a complex shaped set of slots (presumably for wicking the coil from underneath) around the floor of the inside of the tank, which looks like an area where lots of concentrate will stick to and not enter the atomizer and be wasted when the tank is low, if you don't refill, it seems much worse than the original cubis or even the veco possibly in this regard.

Also! The cubis 2 doesn't have any ready-made ceramic coil options (just traditional coils) ... so unless you're a fan of cotton wick / wire coils, and you make your mix super-super-thin and runny like randomtoker does , or if you have something like those THClear distillate syringes (which I think are diluted to 50% terpenes ) I don't think the cubis 2 will perform well.

Sorry about the double post but I have to report that I had to cancel my order of all my stuff as Heaven Gifts is a total scam operation. 40 hours after my order I chat with them and they say there is a problem with my shipment (even though they advised me on the shipping method). They then promised they would ship it yesterday and it still was not shipped. How some people recommend this company is beyond me but I strongly recommend others stay away. I am staying with US companies (My Freedom Smokes and Eight Vape have been good so far). It sucks because I missed out on some good cyber Monday deals while I wasted a good 2-3 hours dealing with them over 3 days. Hell I could have probably wicked my first coil with that time!

That sucks to hear about your bad experience with HG. I probably made some links to items on their website in my posts so sorry if you ended up having a bad service based on following my links But HG is not a scam operation, they're just one of many, many retailers based around shenzhen and HK, the main hub of the vape industry, and they specialize more in retailer-to-retail rather than retail-to-customer. All of these places are a bit slow to pack up and ship orders (a few days sometimes) and it takes a couple weeks or so for the random little sketchy courier / delivery companies to float your package across the pacific on a big boat too.

HG has always been pretty quick to reply / email me when I contact them, at least. Compared to some other places like fasttech and gearbest, I've had much better, faster service with HG, although the prices tend to be higher there too.

I prefer to get stuff from a domestic retailer when I can, and I wouldn't buy batteries (cells) direct from china, but another reason I tend to get stuff direct from china retailers sometimes, is because I tend to follow and covet the newest and best vape gear and I want it right when it comes out sometimes. It can take a few weeks / months for your favorite local (or any domestic) e-cig shop to stock that newest tank, coil or mod you want, so unless you want to wait, direct from china is the only option.

My random "in-defense-of-chinese-e-tailers" counter-rant Anyways, hopefully you'll get all the stuff you were looking for from local shops soon enough, no more problems....

Also, just for HG, I had a problem with my blue evic primo mini that I received from them. It was working fine with the X-baby tank I got to use with it, but it was not working with any of my other atomizers, reading 0.00, atomizer not found, there was a problem with the 510 connector being too deep. (the 510 threads on the x-baby tank are very deep too)

I wrote them an email, they asked me to make a video of the problem (which I did, kind of annoying, but I could, maybe everyone can't do this, but they wanted some proof, understandable) and after a chain of 3 e-mails, they had shipped a replacement out for me no charge Since my blue evic primo mini still worked with only 1 tank of mine (but not others) I'm still using that one too, so I requested a different color for the replacement, black, and 4 weeks later (slow this time) I have a free replacement black primo mini SE, and it's 510 connector works with all my atomizers now too! (thanks HG )

 

[invertedisdead]

Ok, I see what your interest in those sauce carts is about now. I would be interested to know what their specific ratio is, probably no more rich in HTE than 3:1 , distillate/HTE. I think the HTE is more valuable, and it shouldn't be necessary to dilute distillate any further than that for most tanks.

I also find it somewhat silly and amusing how so many people are spending as much money on little vials of cannabis derived terpenes as you can get for the actual terpene rich cannabis extract itself! I know I live in a relatively cannabis-rich place, for about the 60-70 dollar price of the finest terps, I can get a gram / ml of quality terpy sauce, live resin, etc, whatever term they like to use at the moment. (Or more $, or less, for the actual full spectrum extract, depends on the brand. 40-120 for 1g of sauce! ) Id rather just put that whole terpy, saucy stuff straight up in the tank or dab that rather than bother mixing stuff.

It also should be noted that straight HTE / HTFSE vapes just fine by itself in most tanks, since it's pretty thin and runny when fresh, but the concept of using it as the finest mixing / thinning agent (instead of using just the terps alone) could be promising too. Straight HTE is also the most $ and actually pretty hard to obtain for me. I'm mostly seeing it come already mixed with the HC portion in little jars, not syringes.

I'd like to put that saucy live resin on my bigger tanks, but the thought of thca crystals clumping up around my wicking holes deters me so far...maybe I should try some in a V9 tank since you only need to fill a small amount to start, and you and psycho have had success with thick stuff in that tank...

Exactly! I'm thinking one could flavor a few grams of distillate with a gram of sauce. Which would help ease the costs. The cool thing about HTFSE though getting a nice spectrum of cannabinoids with those terps! Plus the sauce will have terpenes they haven't even analyzed yet in reformulated strain specific terpene profiles. Not to mention a much wider variety of flavor options available.

I still want to pick up 1 or 2 mL of cannabis derived terpenes to experiment with mixing up less runny extracts for carts though, because sometimes I can get some good deals on stuff like that. I figure it's worth having a few flavors in the tool box since I plan to start using carts a lot more again due to new life situations. I can get some real nice organic sappy concentrates for 20/g, so even with adding canna derived terps, the end user cost per g shouldn't be too bad considering the quality of the materials used. But I am more interested in flavoring with high terp sauces, eventually! I also really like the idea of mixing a gram of distillate, and a half gram of sauce, and loading straight into a Trinity XL!

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Hey tank people, I have been busy with some of these various tank projects as usual, let me post some more updates. It will probably be long again, might as well get right down to it :

so I did convince myself to get the geekvape zeus RTA since the price went down and I just couldn't resist, but it was a mistake: I would not recommend using this tank for high-capacity concentrate usage, unless you make your juice very thin and you're willing to sacrifice a lot of wasted juice volume / inefficiency between building coils and cleaning

Why?

Simply put, this tank design feeds oil to the deck from underneath, from the bottom of the tank (not laterally), and it has a large cavernous area around the tank floor which actually holds more juice / oil than the glass area on the outside of the build deck. With thicker oils like co2 and distillate, I can easily see 400, 500mg + of concentrate sticking around the floor and not getting to the build deck and coils, not moving much and being wasted, pretty much. Those semi-circle cutouts on the deck are the space to put your wick which should suck up e-juice from the tank bottom to the deck, but I don't expect thick concentrate oils to act like e-juice in this case and move upward (no ways)

I filled this tank with about 1ml of glycerin and watched it sink straight to the bottom of the tank to verify this. Even though your juice / oil contents are supposed to fall below the deck, it's still leak-proof. It won't spill out from the bottom to the outside if you keep it screwed in tight. But it looks like it you would need to keep at least a gram filled on this RTA to keep the deck wet, so that's not very efficient for concentrate

The single coil post-less deck with the top - side air is cool, but it also blocks your space to build big coils like 10 or 13mm donuts. I have space to put two 7mm donuts flat on the deck right between the air flow posts, but I already have dual 7mm donuts applied very well on cubis tanks, and with the oil waste this tank will have I'm not even going to try it. Gotta take another tank loss for research

Oh well, anyone want to buy a couple of zeus RTAs for e-juice vaping?

Moving on to more profitable efforts, I want to make a correction / retraction regarding my earlier x-baby RBA I filled with the thick gold drop distillate

With some continued use, this RBA is working ok with the thick distillate, but it feels like something of a let-down. With repeated back to back puffs, the cloud production increases and the distillate heats up and flows, but I want a big cloud easy on the 1st puff. This tank/ RBA provides that with my lighter co2 oils, but struggles with this thick AF distillate.

This gold drop is more viscous than even the thickest co2 oils I've put on my cubis tanks (california sap) but I have little doubt that this oil would be hitting way harder with quick hits on demand from the first puff on my modified cubis donut coils because I can ensure "extreme wicking" with my drill

So the lesson to learn from this build?

You might want to hold off on the thick molasses / jelly oils with a smok x-baby RBA coil, unless you're crafty enough to punch some holes in the case without ruining it.

However, concentrates of a thin, or moderate consistency do work fine with the unmodified RBA for this tank

It turns out the judgement was premature, and shows why I shouldn't make reviews only a few hours after building a new coil.

This super-thick distillate was just slow to wick-up with my readyxwick, apparently, and the next few sessions with this tank became much stronger and consistent! With the inside of the RBA coil saturated with distillate now, it actually produces thick, satisfying clouds right away on the 1st puff, with puffs as short as 4-6 seconds...going for an 8 or 10 second puff can be like a haymaker cloud of distillate, but at 376F, it's a smooth, civilized hammer blow And the tangie is tasting great too, mellow, a little sweet and tangy, zero terpene irritation, just mild flavor! And very medicating clouds!

I also enabled PI control on AF to smooth out the donut temps, and using #s 960, 50 for P I allows my donuts to warm up in about 1.5 second and ramp down just before protection, floating around 2-4F under my target, hardly ever going over temp. This extra stability over not using PI control is noticeable to me and enhances the flavor and smoothness

This is how it sits now. I gave it another 0.5g syringe re-fill after the initial 1g fill. I didn't note the puff count at the refill, but I've got a little over 200 puffs so far, and a tall tank level to work with for now. I'm looking forward to many dozens of tasty haymakers before I need to refill again

So how bout the other x-baby tanks?

Going well also...they have earned their 1st refills as well.

The little blue primo mini with the blackberry kush co2 oil tank kept feeding the deck of the RBA until the level was that low on the pic, leaving a very thin layer around the bottom, which seems pretty efficient to me.

I was having battery limitations with a samsung 30q since the primo mini is single cell mod, it wouldn't fire 75w for me and made my coils warm up too slow with 50-60w. I tried a samsung 25R for the higher discharge rate, but when it was below 80% capacity, it wouldn't put out 75w also, and I had to settle for 60-68w . Now I have some sony VTC4s, which put out a few more amps than the 25R and are 2100mah, 400 less, but it seems I can finally have my full 75w on a single 18650 now. Haven't discharged this VTC4 down low very yet, but hopefully it can do 68-70w at least and do that till it's down to 25-30%, or ~3.5v? I'll be happy if a single battery can do that for me and warm up my 2 big donuts in under 2 seconds.

The bronze color evic primo on the right, which is the only x-baby RBA i've managed to drill holes into and still assemble it, had a significantly higher oil level on the tank before it started puffing dry. I think having adding holes higher on the side of the RBA case, it lessens the vacuum / suction through the limited little juice slots on the bottom of the tank where it's intended to draw juice from. This makes it less efficient in sucking up oil from the bottom of the tank when low, but the trade-off is worth it, because it allows the wick and coils to get wet from the side and also underneath, which allows for much wetter, more saturated wicks for thicker puffs, at the expense of leaving a few more drops of oil on the tank between refills.

The last of the old blob meets the new blob here...
This bronze evic primo with durban poison distillate is also one of my favorite tanks now, and it rivals my steel cuboid with the tangie distillate for that position. This co2 oil is very nice and tasty and potent, a little less potent than the distillate, but it gets an added boost from the side wicking holes.

I'm actually kind of scared of this tank now for a few reasons It's super potent with quick hits. It was giving me a little spitting when the tank level was high, so I would puff it with a light draw, but that's not a problem with the fill level in the middle again. And I'm scared of how quickly it can run though oil at only 374F. I logged just under 200 puffs on the first gram fill up, so this is a hungry tank! Could be a challenge to keep it filled if I use it alot!

 

[Vape Donkey 650]

Not done yet! I made a 4th X-baby RBA coil to finish my 4th and final smok tfv8 tank. This last tank had to wait for more RBA coils to arrive from china since I mangled up two of them from my first order (no more drilling holes now)

I wanted to try a different variation on this one since the other 3 RBAs with dual 10mm donuts were all working great, I didn't want to do the same thing again. So this time I built it with four high resistance 7mm donuts instead.

It was not quite as easy to put this together as I anticipated, the space is pretty crowded with all this, but with some planning, caution, and carefully trimming and bending the donut wires with tweezers, I had it assembled to satisfaction in a few minutes.

These 2 donuts in front are wired into the lower 2 screw holes on the posts / terminals. This seems to allow for a better positioning of the wires and donuts inside the coil. I would have put all 4 donuts on the bottom 2 terminals on the posts if I could do it, but it was too crowded and difficult to position 8 wires in 2 small screw holes.

On the other side, these 2 donuts are wired in to the top holes. This appears to bring the hot spots of the donut closer to the center of the RBA and farther from the margins, where the oil enters and where I want them positioned, but I may be over-estimating how much difference this makes.

More of a top view here. Lets you see my 2 strands of readyxwick underneath the donuts, with the ends of the wick positioned at the juice slots entrance, hopefully channeling oil directly underneath the donuts.

Add camera flash to make it all clear too.

You can actually test the coils on the base of this this smok tank without the top part and dry fire them like this. This ohmed in at 0.36Ω and fired up evenly. Exactly the same as one of my dual 10mm donut coils. Two high Ω 7mm donuts can match the exact same Ω of one 10mm donut.

I also added two long cross-strands of wick going through the center of 2 donuts across the way from each other (forget to get a pic here) but you can get the idea with the pic of the RBA coil all assembled with the cap, ready to go. The extra cross-strands of wick will hopefully add more wetness to the donuts while blocking potential splashing as well.

Time to fill er' up

This tank will be an indica dominant tank for gold drop distillate, to compliment the thick tangie distillate I have on sativa duty on the steel cuboid.

I started with two 0.5g syringes of "romulan", at a hefty 85% thc

Like the other gold drops, this stuff is super thick, and it took a long time to squeeze all that oil into the tank and let it settle down, even with the help of hot air from my volcano blasted onto the glass syringe and tank body. So that is one of the downsides with this tank and thick distillate, but when filling it with co2 oil, it was much easier. (less viscous)

I actually tried to let this settle overnight, on a tilt, to let the oil migrate from the filling side to the dry side, but it was pretty much frozen!

So I had to start puffing at it and have the heat from that help the RBA coil fully wick up. I started at 50w, 360F, with TCR # 245. (which has been good for the small donuts in other applications) One good part already: the quad 7mm donuts heated up much quicker than dual 10s, even with a lesser 50w. I bumped it to 55w and it heats up in just under 2 seconds, which is my goal. So this quad 7mm RBA will be more battery-friendly on single cell mods like my primo mini.

It took alot of dry-puffing to get it started. Based on my previous experience, I knew I had to be patient and persistent. At least with TC and a low target temp, I know I'm not burning anything up or ruining my donuts or wick, I'm just huffing a bunch of hot air to get it started.

After at least 30-40 dry puffs I finally got a trickle of vapor to go with the nice sweet flavor of the romulan Slowly creep up the temp to 370, 380, 390F and I was starting to get some nice vapor

I was getting some cool gurgling sounds and intense bubble action on the tank, but no spitting at all, so that's good!

And then getting settled on the other side of that

Keep on puffing, the bubbles join together as the oil eventually settles down to the floor, and the wicks get wetter, the clouds slowly grow

I was a bit under-whelmed with the cloud production at 380-390F, so I creeped up the temp to 400, 410, and settled on an an air throttle position of about 3/4 open. Clouds are very nice and smooth with good volume, but still wanted a little more , yet I was also reluctant to go very high temps. (to keep the vapor smooth)

I started experimenting with PI control then, 900, 40 is working great to smooth out the temp ramp up without being to slow, and the temp hovers 2-4F under my target, it only goes over if I slow down my draw, so very smooth and consistent! With PI control, and raising temp to 416F, I finally have big, quick, smooth cool clouds on demand to rival those produced by this RBA's sister coils with the dual 10mm donuts Maybe using it for a few days and letting it wick up rather than rushing to judge helps me feel satisfied right now, too. I could probably turn it up some more, but I'm always reluctant to put temps any higher than they need to be.

So I'll hold off for now to declare whether the dual 10 or quad 7mm donut build is more potent and reliable for the x-baby rba. I think the dual 10s might be a bit more powerful, but they require more watts / amps to make them heat up swiftly as you would want, so that's a +1 for the 7mm donuts