No doubt that was a driver for me. After the initial ‘wow’ factor of vaping itself wore off, I soon began to realize that if I wanted to see cost savings over analogs, I would need to DIY juice. I was far from ready then though, so did what felt to me like the next logical step… start DIY coils. I figured, it was daunting but disposable coils were maddening to me; so expensive for such a short lifespan. I’m not saying building was easy. I am saying building is easy, now. It was scary and intimidating and quite difficult at first. And, my first few builds looked more like Charlie Brown’s hair than a vape coil. But time passed and all is well.
After I got comfortable building (which helped me understand vaping in general a lot more), I then got all scared and intimidated again, deciding to DIY mix. The difference in technical complexity between building and mixing is so vast, I don’t know if I could have handled mixing without first defeating building. This is why I am fascinated and impressed with vapers that mixed before they built. Not easy!!
Here’s my progression. Once I finally, truly decided to quit smoking… tried vaping and it was the perfect solution. Yea!. Started with mechanical vape pens & stayed there for quite a long while. Tasted a few juices that were Ok… was more passionate for vaping cause it was the best way for me to quit the nasty Stix… had no idea all these flavor were out there. I only switched to mod box & tank cause pens & coils died too quick. Mods & tanks carried me all day for most part. I was happy. Prices & basic juice availability ( vape shop pissed me off) lead me to DIY mixing.
I know I can/could build coils. Just questioning the next leap forward.
My vape journey has been somewhat shorter than most.
Stopped smoking in july and by august was squonking and mixing.
Although to be fair thats probably mainly due the my local vape shops constantly being out of the only custard i liked. And what horrors that yummy custard inflicted on stock coils.
My vape time is spread over 4 years! Ordered first DIY supply early October. Testing Quix one shot for first time as I type this. Kings Custard ( first true custard ) is in steep for next 3 weeks. Yea I’m that slow on uptake. Hence the Noob frustration.
Never actually tasted a true custard. The extensive rave reviews called me to try them.
Its like accidentally stepping off the edge of the planet into a vast new universe. Feeling drunk on the desire for more.
see thats completely opposite of me , the only reason i even thought about uing an rda was because i started mixing my own juice … the rda was to test single flavors and to test recipes . I doubt i would have as many rdas that i have now if i didnt get into diy… i guess we all have our own reasons and stories !!
That’s right! I didn’t discover or explore RDA’s till I realized I could mix say 10ml tests. Started looking & found another world just for RDA. Mixing was a new world to explore & coil building is another fork, or parallel path. Overloaded
On that note, my tanks all came with the optional RTA kit & 1 premade coil. I could practice building on that platform while thinking about best RDA path to take.
Did cursory read on decks, coil material & cotton. Already schooled in Ohms law & inductance.
Question was, if my ADV is mixed for tank, how different can I expect flavor for RDA & vise versa? Then will I have different mix %'s for each gear set?.
I started by rebuilding disposable coils, worked fine but got real tiresome wrapping 1.5mm id 30g coils. then moved up to a Uwell with a rebuildable deck. Didn’t take long and I started mixing juice and building bigger and better equipment. All to save money (I think maybe I did, but sometimes I aint sure, LOL)
Okay, you have moved to subohm tanks and box mods. What is your normal base VG/PG? 70/30 or 80/20 and you shouldn’t notice much of difference other than a flavor improvement on an RDA. You may notice an improvement with a good RTA.
If your base is 60/40 or 50/50 then you make have to make significant changes in your builds or the type of RDA you use like a MTL or DL style RDA. Or single coil opposed to dual coil RTAs.
Building coils will also be a progression into many areas: what wattage works best, wicking material, wire type, and so forth and so on.
There is so much to explore. And some explorations will suck. Some will change your entire vaping experience.
@GSAutoTech As an Auto Mechanic you might like to tinker with some “Stovetop” coils for your next RDA. Here’s a pic of mine. The idea being you can just poke a little ball in there for multiple quick changes of flavors and Taste Test a buncha flavors in short order. When not testing I wick it HARD and put a huge core down in there …pretty hard to get a dry hit.
Right now I’m running 22Ga 316L Stovetops (slightly spaced as it’s difficult to make full contact). A little twiddly to make, but entertaining for a tinkerer, The only trick is making sure edges and coil legs don’t short against coil/posts. Below is a hemp wick topic but your reg cotton will work just the same
Made some adjustments to my mixes trying to get better flavor out of my atty’s. .15 ohm NiChrome, organic cotton, disposables. Next coil order will be SS.
Max VG had very thick mixes & dull flavor, slow absorption to cotton. Long & frequent pulls lead to semi dry hits. Now mixing between 20/80 & 30/70 PG/VG. Now have much better flavor & juice flow with light, acceptable throat hit. I know I’m becoming a flavor chaser.
It’s kinda funny that your hesitant to get into rebuildables because of time restraints but you do diy ejuice which is far more time consuming. I started with coil building first and moved to mixing due to frustration and general pickiness with commercial juice. To do rebuildables you don’t need to make your own coils, there are plenty of prebuilt options out there. Rebuildable attys are so much better flavor than subohm. I vape 95% rtas, for convenience and flavor. Rtas can be tricky to wick tho, often you need to figure out what works for each tank. I do however use only rdas to flavor test, I recommend a 22mm single coil rda. The recurve is decent ( better with the pmma cap) , good for the price. Mainly I use the entheon deck with the hadeon cap( rather expensive but awesome) I feel that gives me true flavor and all I need is a few drops to test a flavor. With subohm tanks it takes forever to switch flavors, with a single rda I can do it in a few puffs. There are plenty of other good ones out there, most are easy to build and wick. I think a good rda is almost mandatory for mixing
