Guide to Complicating Things - Formula for predicting flavor in RTAs

The exact opposite of the Crown and TFV4 and a half dozen more I own that has excellent flavor and air flow I prefer.

Iā€™m currently running a dual ti @ .25 ohm and Iā€™m getting good flavor. Just lowering the wattage and air on my build only mute the flavors.

Iā€™ve vaped high wattage low ohm builds for so long thatā€™s all I know.

Iā€™ll try your setup after work to see how it compares.

Two different paths to flavor road. On a mission.

BTW @Jimk, what is the ID of a micro coilā€¦? itā€™s been a while since I built one.

I get that. And you just nailed the whole premise tooā€¦what is is about the appearance of a tank that would lead one to believe it will produce great flavor? Iā€™ve always felt those narrow chimneys are contrary to flavor production, but you mention airflow. Looking at that, and considering tanks like the Kayfun and Nautilus which both have narrow chimneys, the chimney itself is not the only factor. Maybe we can make this guideline#1

  1. A narrow chimney in an RTA tank will have good flavor when it has limited airflow.

Ok, thatā€™s in the books. If I were to take just this one rule and build on it, my thoughts are this.

In order to achieve good flavor, the vapor produced from the coils needs to be concentrated. This happens when the vapor travels into the reduced size of the chimney from the comparatively spacious size of the chamber. The amount of this reduction in size, combined with the amount of air introduced from outside the tank, will determine that level of concentration. Too little reduction and too much airflow will result in muted flavor, while too much reduction and too little ariflow will result in concentration to the point of re-liquifying.

If this is all true, then the way to tell if a RTA is going to be a flavor producer would be to observe the airflow, deck (single/double), deck size, chamber size, and chimney length. Doing this, I would think the Atlantis would be a great flavor producerā€¦but itā€™s not an RTA and thereā€™s probably no accounting for stock coils here. Also, this would account for why I get a good amount of liquid into the drip tip of my Goblin Mini - because it concentrates the vapor to the point of forcing it back into a liquid. I havenā€™t rebuilt the deck using a single coil, but Iā€™ll bet if I did it would reduce that liquid forming in the drip tip.

So one more fascinating observation. The length of the chimney. I think the distance the vapor travels in the reduced chimney size can also impact flavor and vapor. The longer it is, the more time it has for vapor particles to reform into liquid. This logically would reduce the amount of vapor, and that would mean less flavor too. I had bought a 7ml tank/extension for my Atlantis last year. Flavor went from blah to hardly there at all. The chimney is a good bit longer, but the same diameter as the stock. I know, not an RTA, but the premise of flavor vs how it is constructed still applies.

Things are starting to make sense.

There may be something to that but Iā€™ve gotten my best flavor from large tanks, (TFV$, Crown, Triforce) are all large , airy and flavorful. Iā€™m going to try @JimK build to see how it compare to my usual. @daath once stated that he got good flavor above 1 ohm. So Iā€™ll try it before I knock it.

I donā€™t know on the Goblin Mini how going to the single coil will affect flavorā€¦Iā€™m sure it will be less if only slightly. I can almost guarantee it will reduce the juice that forms in the drip tip though. I will also rebuild mine sometime today just so we can compare notes. Thanks for all that!

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So Iā€™m sitting here and it occurs to meā€¦I can actually test my theory about airflow, vapor production and flavor as it pertains to RTAs.

So, I have my Subtank Mini on the eVic VT 60w. I have the RTA built with 22ga, 5 wraps, 2.5mm ID. We all know the key to the best vape in the Subtank Mini is wicking. Iā€™ve always done it right and youā€™ve heard me say itā€™s not my favorite tank. Itā€™s not that I donā€™t think it has good flavorā€¦it does. But to achieve that Iā€™ve found it has to be run rather hot. I canā€™t chain vape hot which is pretty much meā€¦chain vaper. Anyway, here are what I found.

I like airy draws and lung hits. So on the most open air setting I achieve great flavor at 450F. I canā€™t take more than about 5 successive hits before my tongue and mouth start to feel uncomfortable. In fact at this setting, although itā€™s excellent flavor, my mod would sit for a while before I touched it again after it gets too hot.

I moved to the second highest airflow. If my theory holds water, this should cause liquid to reform up the chimney. I can neither confirm or deny. The restricted airflow at 450F causes the vapor to be substantially warmer. So I lowered the temp to 300F and worked my way up till the taste was comparable to the open air flow. I found it at 400F. Still a hot vape but itā€™s tasty. Vapor volume is quite a bit less.

Lowest air. I went ahead and changed right away to 300F and worked my way up. I got back to the same intensity of flavor at 380F.

So then I simply left it at 380 and went to the largest air setting. Almost no flavor. Vapor is so so, but taste is gone. I increased until I was satisfied, and that again took me to 450F. I will try this again with a smaller gauge Ti build later. But what I learned from this experiment may seem kind of anecdotal, but itā€™s useful to me. And that is due to the design of the Subtank Mini, in order to achieve maximum flavor using the single RBA section, you need to provide enough power to the coil to compensate for the limited airflow and smaller chimney. My suspicion is it would be a better tank if that chimney was larger in diameter. I knowā€¦lots of people love it. For me though, I canā€™t take the heat needed to make it vape at top flavor. At least not with the current build. Iā€™ll reply back more about this once Iā€™ve triedā€¦umā€¦26 ga Titanium.

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Hereā€™s some light reading on small coils. :wink:

Iā€™ve just always called my smaller coils micro coils, even though some would say a 2.5mm ID coil is not a micro coil. Iā€™m not one to split hairs over teminology. I should just call it exactly what it isā€¦a 2.5mm ID coil, and skip the terminology; some folks get all bent out of shape over terminology. :smirk:

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boy i be leave talking tank builds is like talking about flavor to some extent if i built and i like it is is great same goes with juice DIY as of now i am running dual not even twisted i am low on wire and lazy 26 GA .32 build on Goliath v2 kanthal after using nothing but ni200 or titanium for the past four months titanium for the most part kept breaking ni 200 tempered and did not care for tinny taste then started looking for something different so kanthal it was right back to were i started a week ago if some one told me i would have been put in kanthal in my rta i looked at them and just shook my head but here i am and in joying the heck out of it at 33 watts third tank full today that is why i love RBA keeps it fresh

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Isnā€™t a microcoil just a contact coil?

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VU has a thread on it.

But letā€™s be honest. Many of these terms we use and bandy about is simply the vernacular of the hobby. Who is the final authority on what defines marco, micro, nano? The word micro doesnā€™t even seem to fit as a good descriptor for contact coils. And is contact coil the right terminology? Hell I donā€™t know. Iā€™ve called them that just from hearing others do it, but Iā€™ve called them closed coils too since the way my brain works that makes more sense. And hereā€™s the big whatever. Given enough time, the accepted terms for things becomes something concrete and sacred. LOL? OMG if you donā€™t know what that meansā€¦I mean come on, itā€™s 2015! Where were the language police when abbreviations, born out of the need to text quickly, worked their way into our language? Does it even matter? For me, not that much. Itā€™s groupthink man. If anyone wants to argue about it one way or the other, insisting a microcoil is this or that, ask themā€¦says who?

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I said I would comment after rebuilding the Goblin Mini with the single coil. First, the design of the little block to cover air and juice channels of the unused side works quite well, but I feel that silicon piece is a bit flimsy and wouldnā€™t withstand all that much of being put in and taken out. Even if it was always used, it would reason youā€™d want to remove it for cleaning. Maybe Iā€™m underestimating its durability though.

So, the first thing I noticed when trying this is the airflow. Although only cut in half, it feels much more restricted, like 1/4 the air flow compared to when fully open. Iā€™m suspecting that is due to the reduction in chamber size when using the block.

As for vapor and flavor, well what can I say. Vapor is decent, and flavor is good. But to get there I had to crank up on the power. Whereas I could get that sweet spot with the dual coils around 470-500, with the single coil that range is narrower, 510 - 530. Over 530 is just too hot to take more than a couple of hits, then that dreaded lip burn. I did notice less collection of liquid up the chimney and into the drip tip, but it still happened.

And while the air restriction was painfully obvious, even with the air flow shut off I still found it lacking in enough restriction for a comfortable mouth-to-lung hit.

I believe though that this little tank is suitable for most people and certainly anyone who does lung inhales. If youā€™re a flavor chaser, definitely the dual coil. But a single coil will get great flavor too, you just need to crank it up a bit.

So far the best flavor build Iā€™ve had is dual 26g titanium, 7 wraps at 2.5mm ID. This comes in about 0.11 ohms and on TC will produce seriously good flavor

Oh, and @Jimk I still need to build that 10 wrap Kanthal coil you talked about. Sorryā€¦I got in the TI groove and havenā€™t looked for a way out :smile: Iā€™ll do that tomorrow.

I tried a duplicate of @Jimk Goblin Mini buildā€¦ 10 wraps 317L, 2.5mm ID, single coil and it came out to .75 ohm. I figure I would need 12 to 14 wraps to duplicate the resistance.


My finding were a lot similar to @SthrnMixer.

At 12.5 watts I got no flavor. I increased the watts to up 30 before I started to get a decent flavor. When I got to 40 watts it was a good vapeā€¦ the airflow was restrictive for my taste but the flavor was good.

I was doing a parallel taste test with my preferred build in my other Gob Miniā€¦ 6 wraps Ti, 2.5mm ID, dual coil @ .06 ohm, airflow wide openā€¦

This build will not run in wattage modeā€¦ in temp mode it was optimal for me @ 500F and 65w.

I can only say my version was better for me because thatā€™s how I prefer my vape. Nor can I say his build is bad because thatā€™s what he likes.

Same tank, two different paths to vape satisfaction.

IMO, The final conclusion came down to preference.

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I said I would do your build. Canā€™t do it though, I donā€™t have any 28ga SS. In fact I donā€™t have any 28ga anything right now. My apologies, but I think I hit the main points to discover using the Ti wire.

I also have copd but I have no trouble with lung hits. I vape around 20 watts and use high vg juice though. It just seems smoother to me. I vape both ways but I prefer subohming to mouth to lung. The flavor is just better to me and the clouds are smoother and thicker. Thats JMO though. Everyone is different.

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Glad to hear it. Guess my COPD is worst than I thought. Not sure I wanted to know that but oh well. I use higher VG as well. Doesnā€™t help for me. Believe me, I do wish my lungs were a little better than they are. At least I stopped the stinkies before they actually killed me. Could be worst, rightā€¦

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I think they caught mine early and I am on some serious meds for it. Some flavors I canā€™t vapeā€¦cinnamon is oneā€¦even strawberry gets harsh after awhile. I seem to do best with mild tobaccos and coffee vapes. It just seems smoother to me than mouth to lung. At least they caught yours and you quit smoking, thats the main thing. That will keep it from getting worse, although it never goes away. I thank God for vaping because I never couldā€™ve quit smoking without it. Smoked for 33 years, a pack and a half a day.

Actually when I was first told I had beginning stages of COPD I kept smoking for 5 or so more years till I discovered vaping. I smoked a total of 47 years averaging 2 packs a day plus and at least a couple of those years I smoked more like 3 packs a day till I forced myself to smoke outside which cut it down. Iā€™m far from proud of these facts, for sureā€¦

When they diagnosed me with copd and emphysema my 7 year old granddaughter called me in tears, said she was ā€œwowwiedā€ about me lol. That was enough for me. I started vaping with an Ego and disposable c4 clearo the next couple of days. Only menthol tobacco juice lol. I quit smoking 2 weeks after that and have never looked back and its been over a year. I love vaping more than I did smoking and I feel like a new person.

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Great story? You had a good reason to quit. I quit more so for my wife who of course wants me to stay around. I quit for me too. Believe it or not I bought my first vaporizer and quit the same day. I was determinedā€¦

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