Ya know, that very well could be it… I JUST changed coils and this one’s workin great! I’ve actually had 2 or 3 coils that were duds since I started a couple months ago… I’d put 'em in, and be ABSOLUTELY sure everything was back together correctly, go to hit it, and get the “CHECK ATOMIZER” message on the DragMini…
But I’ve gotta ask, and I know we’re goin down the rabbit hole, here, lol… But how hard is it to get into rebuilding your own coils? I’m not SUPER handy, but I’m a musician, and I work on my own guitars… Which includes basic wiring and soldering, so maybe I could handle it? Been wantin to ask someone knowledgeable anyway… But ya gotta remember I’m JUST gettin into it, and I haven’t gotten to try alot of different coils, tanks, mods, etc…
The X3s that I use are rated for 50-90 watts… And I usually like to run 'em between 70-80 watts…
In that case probably just a dodgy pack of coils.
And rebuildables isnt to scary.
Go with something easy to build a basic tool kit and some premade coils. No need to get crazy ones, lots of reasonably priced out there.
That’s a rough gig @Musicmixologist. I don’t use any premade coils, and just use simple kanthal single wire (most times) coils, with KGD cotton. They are so simple, easy, fast, cheap, and just move clouds of flavor in all of my SteamCraves. I’ve not delved into mesh yet, so I can’t speak to that, but have you ever tried making your own coils with cotton as a test > ??
Realizing our setups are very different, and I have never used a Fireluke or Twister, I can’t help but ponder why I’m having such good luck with simple (make’m as you need’m) coils and cotton approach. I can funk them up with sweet commercial junk, or as @anon44012888 said, dose them with yellow cake, but even after a few tanks of sweet junk, if they start tasting burnt, I pull the cotton, dry burn and rinse the coils, and tug in about 0.05 worth of cotton and back to the races.
Using prebuilts are always a gamble, and you ARE at the mercy of those coils.
OMG, fear not. TDE (Too Damned Easy).
Welcome to the fray @Musicmixologist, we’ve ALL been there, and we CAN help. How would you feel about making your OWN coils, loading up on some cheap cotton, and just bypassing all the pre-made bullshit ?
@Musicmixologist I suck at building coils, and they CAN be super easy. Sure, sure, you can labor for hours over some complex Mickey Mouse, quadruple, backflip loop mega coils, but should you ? LOL …
It’s no secret that I love my SteamCrave RDTA’s INCLUDING the Oldy McOld version 1. I still use that same unit for ALL of my SF testing because of how accurate the flavors are (and they are great). I do most of my vaping with single wire, kanthal, 5-7 wrap coils and KGD cotton. Extremely cheap, easy, consistent, and after you’ve made a few, just too damn easy. Single wire simple coils may not be super sexy, but I have GREAT luck with them.
This is a carry over post I made way back when on ECF…
I think coil building can be as hard, as you MAKE it. The more complex the coil, the bigger the hassle. The simpler coils, OMG. Soo much money to be saved, and great taste to be had.
It is possible that you got a bad pack of coils however it could also be that your tank isn’t wicking fast enough. What ratio pg/vg are you using and what is the ambient temperature where you are (are you northern hemisphere or southern?)
I’m going to second @SessionDrummer here and toot the “build your own coils” horn. When I first started in the sub-ohm realm, I would always seem to get at least one bad coil in a sleeve. I’m a cheap bastard and the idea of tossing $3 to $15 into the trash from a bad coil or five just got my inner miser’s panties wadded up tighter than a bee’s pucker. I discovered that my beloved SubTank came with a rebuildable coil (aka RBA) and never bought another machine made coil head again. The flavor was MILES better, for the price of a sleeve of coils I could buy enough wire and cotton to last for a year or more and if something wasn’t working I didn’t have anyone else to blame except me.
If you want and can afford it, the Coil Master V3 kit is a pretty decent buy. It’s got just about everything a new builder needs and even comes with a small amount of cotton and wire to get you started. I would highly recommend getting a better pair of scissors though, as the ones that are included in the kit just suck. So. Bad. A decent set of small fabric scissors can be purchased at your local Wally World or other big box discount emporium for under $10.
If the rebuild kit is a bit out of your price range, a small set of micro screwdrivers can function as both screwdrivers(duh, paingawd! Whooda thunkit?) AND as mandrels for wrapping coils up. You can use your mod in a pinch in place of a dedicated resistance reader (I’m probably gonna get flack for that but meh) until you have the funds to buy a decent resistance reader. They are handy to have so that you can tweak your coils while still being able to vape on your mod(because let’s be honest- no one has just ONE RTA or RDA going, right?) About the only other thing you’d need is some micro shears to cut wire and trim the coil leads. Since you’ve stated that you can tweak your guitars I’m going to guess that you’ve already got a set or two of those, but if not then fingernail clippers work in a pinch as well (just wash them first because no ONE needs to be vaping toe jam!)
If you would like, I can slap up some Amazon links for piecing together a build kit. Just let me know and I’ll throw it up.
Yes, yes, YES @paingawd
And THAT is how the cookie crumbles !!!
And the ICING on the cake !!!
Good stuff @paingawd
@Musicmixologist You don’t even have to buy the NAME brand ones if you don’t want, but like @paingawd said, just for an idea of how cheap, and easy this is…
Sorry, didn’t see that before I dropped…
If I can wrap and wick a coil literally anyone can. Much easier to start off with single coil rta and an rda. Might want a top af rta for your first one. The coil wrapping is easy, wicking has a bit of a learning curve but doesn’t take long to figure out.
I have to 2nd @woftam … PG/VG ratio is important to get right with commercial coils (and can differ greatly from coil to coil). If your liquid is too thick, your wick is going to dry out when vaping, your coil won’t get the cooling from vaporizing liquid and it’ll burn your wick.
When the PG content is too high, your tank will start leaking. Vaping on the same type of coils, you may also need to change the ratio going from winter to summer or from cold to warm environments.
I’ve tried several types of commercial coils and found that a 70VG/30PG ratio is sometimes too thick for commercial coils. You may need a 60/40 or even 50/50, especially if you’re chain vaping or pumping up the wattage. Once you burn your wick, your coil is pretty much done for, even if you just replaced it.
No worries, my man! Thanks for the assist!
I doubt this is your issue but have you tried rinsing out the bottom section of the tank with hot water? I have noticed on a few tanks in the past this would happen if the coil connection to the base of the tank had liquid of any kind built up.
Just to toss this in because no one else had. I had the same thing before on a brand new RDA, I have tonnes and tonnes of new coils and I had the issue with alot of them. so I thought somehow this must be crappy new RDA, it wasnt. I dont know WHY but I had a tiny piece of wire stuck between the two posts and when I found it and got it out the coils stopped doing that. Just putting it out there 
If you can string a standard (traditional) Fender or Gibson tuning peg correctly (no overlap, no gaps between the wraps), then your more than competent enough to wrap your own coils! 
Personally, the bigger obstacle (learning curve) will be learning what I.D. is appropriate for what build deck, as well as how much cotton you need for a particular build/deck.
It’s really not that bad… You can do it!
I’d strongly suggest getting a roll of claptoned SS to start with (regardless of whether you currently do TC or not). I’ll bet you also notice an improvement in the taste of your eliquid for starters (no metallic taste that kanthal has)… And as an added benefit, if you decide you want to tinker with TC (and have a capable mod), you can!
Agreed …
I have to agree with Leticia, a top air flow rta is great. I have 1 OBS, 1 Wotofo Elevate (pretty restricted draw), and 2 Geekvape Zeus X. Mostly vape the Zeus. Easy to build on, pretty big clouds, great flavor and no leaking. I use rayon and you can’t get any cheaper than that. I paid $11 for a box from the beauty supply three years ago and it doesn’t look like I’ve used any. What helped me the most (before I found ELR 
) was YouTube. Lots of info there. Good luck and congratulations.
Wow, thanks for all the help, guys (and girls)… I really appreciate it… I think y’all were dead on about commercial coils, cause when I changed my last coil, I opened a new box (instead if finishing off the current one) and all’s well now…
Well, except for now I have the idea bangin around my head that I might be able to make my own coils, lol…
That bein said, I’m gonna have to check out some YouTube videos, cause I literally have ZERO clue about ANY of this… Ya gotta remember, I’ve only been vapin’ a little over 2 months, and I don’t have contact with a SINGLE person that vape’s besides me… So in 2 months time, I went from smokin 3-4 packs of cigarettes a day (seriously) to a VooPoo Panda (all in one beginner pod system) with NicSalts to buying my first “real” mod (Twister) and movin down to 3 mg e-liquid, to makin my own e-liquid, and now, the “final frontier” of coil building… Lol… A fine influence you guys are! Lol…
So it’s easy to forget that I’m a COMPLETE NOOB and honestly have NO IDEA what I’m doin over here, lol… I honestly still have to look up some of the terms you guys use and throw at me! Lol! I’ve got no idea what kind of tanks or mods work with re-buildable coils, or if I’ll have to buy a new rig (I’m sure I will) or ANYTHING, really… So, I’ll get on YouTube and do some research, and if any of you guys have any good BEGINNER videos, send 'em my way…
And again, I’m extremely grateful for all your help, knowledgeable advice and opinions, and for your helpful and tolerant wisdom… Thanks, y’all…
Christian