Ya, what separates is not anywhere near the volume of the concentrate that was added. But it is active.
Here's my cleaning process BTW. I take apart the tank and put everything but the atomizer in a little glass jar with some ISO (colored because I reuse it a few times).
I swirl it around, let it sit a few minutes, place everything on a paper towel and wipe, then leave to dry outside for a while. I put the atomizer in the jar and leave it overnight, then take it out and let dry a couple days. I live in a desert so it's all fully evaporated. I alternate between a few atomizers.
When I fill my tank, I fill 1/2 - 2/3 so when I turn it upside down the liquid doesn't touch the wick slots. I store and carry it upside down to guarantee no leaks. Also, the less juice in the tank, the less tainted it gets by washback from oils that accumulate on the wick. You can see the color of my almost empty tank is still quite clear when done like this. This isn't just about color. Those oils that seep back are disgusting and ruin the flavor of your juice. The lower ratio you mix, the faster those oils accumulate and mess up your juice.
I got the perfect combination of terpenes and flavors in this batch. You have to be very minimal with them. Caryophylene is the key to get the base flavor. It's the most common terpene in all cannabis strains (and, interestingly, the scent drug dogs are taught to seek).
Notes: this was a Sativa profile mix. It's 1:8 which is a little too mellow for me. My favorite is still 1:7 overall ratio of concentrate to juice, but this recipe is still valid. Next time I'll try 1:1:6.
- 1g shatter / 1ml peg / 7ml pg
- 2 drops b-caryophylene
- 2 drops a-pinene
- 1 drop myrcene
- 1 drop limonene
- 4 drops pineapple (FA)
- 2 drops mandarin (FA)
- 2 drops blackberry (FA)
- 4 drops strawberry (FA)
I let it steep for 4 days and it doesn't taste like any of the above ingredients. It tastes like rosin. You know that pungent deep concentrate flavor that made you realize rosin was so much better than other concentrates. That. I was very happy with this recipe.
Terpenes are tricky. Too much caryophylene and it gets unpleasantly floral, too much pinene or limomene and it gets corrosive / solvent feeling (like all those 'enhanced' oil prefill tanks at dispensaries). I want a bit of a sweetener now to round out the last sharp edges of the flavor.
I'm not using VG for a few grams to compare. So far, I like that my peg/pg mix is very stealth. The clouds are much smaller than when my juice contained vg. The flavor seeps into pg better than vg so the end result is more flavorful and even. I miss the luxurious feeling clouds of vg and its natural sweetness, but so far so good. I've dropped my Wattage back to 22.5 (was up tp 30 with my vg mix).
Sorry for the wall of text. I've noticed some things that seemed worth sharing. Perhaps everyone has already encountered all this, but maybe not. Happy vaping!