iStick Pico + Melo III Questions/Problems

[Glytch]

I got a this mod about a week ago (my first decent mod, was on Twisp for 2 years) and I have a few questions that maybe someone can answer.

General Info

- I do chain vape at times
- I never let the juice run down to below the juice intakes but I do notice quite large air bubbles escaping at times
- I did the required research and prime my coils properly. I didn't get dry hits on any of the coils the first time I vaped and none while I was using them for the said number of days
- I use around 10ml of juice per day

I've used 3 coils in 10 days

One eLeaf 0.3 ohm coil (OCC Kanthal) - This was the first coil I put in the mod. The flavour was legendary (I was using Weiner Vape Roll Over 30/70 PG/VG). I got loads of vapour and loads of flavour. I ran the coil at between 30 - 40w and was during direct to lung hits of about 2.5 to 3.5 seconds. After 3 or 4 days I started getting a horrible metallic taste on the coil. Changed it out for a new 0.5 ohm. Someone suggested that these coils probably don't do well with lung hits longer than 3 seconds.

Two eLeaf 0.5 ohm coils (OCC Kanthal) - Less flavour and vapour. The metallic taste was less but still continued with both coils (even when new). Lung hits at around 40w for 3 - 4 seconds. First coil lasted around 4 days. On the second coil and trying short MTL at 35w but not that enjoyable. These 0.5 ohm coils also make the tank very hot when chain vaping which the 0.3 ohm coil didn't.

Metallic Taste and Hissing

I've been using DIY juices at 20/80 PG/VG and the metallic taste is still there as it is with the weiner vape roll over. I've tried the plastic drip tip from my Twisp and with no drip tip and while the metallic taste lessens I get spit back with the Twisp drip tip so I don't use it. Also with the 0.5ohm coils when I release the button after vaping I can hear the coil hiss for another 1 - 1.5 seconds which I don't think is normal. I know the ramp-up and ramp-down on higher resistance coils is longer but surely this can't be good.

Vapour's Tounge

The Weiner Vape Roll Over and my DIY juices are all strawberry based flavours so I have nothing to compare it to really. I taste more when I vape while drinking beer or coffee or right after having eaten some tasty food. Could I have vapour's tongue?

Suggestions Please

I want a coil that will let me do direct lung hits for 3 - 5 seconds with a reasonable amount of tasty vapour and last at least a week. I'm not averse to building my own coils but all the calculations I do with 26g kanthal come out at 2 wraps for below 0.5 ohms. 24g is apparently cumbersome to work with even on the ECR head as they need to pass past the rubber grommet at the bottom of the coil housing. Do I need such a low resistance coil? I rebuilt one of the coils using existing wire and rewicked with cotton. I did a spaced parallel build with 6 or 7 wraps which got me 0.9ohms but it didn't taste overly good.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated (unless it involves buying a RDA/RDTA, which I can't afford at the moment). I really want this device to perform like it did the first few days I had it.

 

[Spydro]

I have no idea what wattage the Eleaf coils can run at because I never bothered to find out... just tossed all of mine that came with my tanks aside and have only used Vaporesso .9Ω cCells in all my Melo tanks. The cCells can only run a little over 30W, so maybe you are burning your Eleaf coils at the higher wattage that you are running.

As for the .9Ω cCells, I take up to 8-10 or more second lung hits off them @30W with no issues at all, and I run 100% VG or VG Heavy liquids in them. Flavor is stellar (but not as good as in my Avo's).

@Rob Fisher (and others) will know what the Eleaf coils can take.

 

[Glytch]

Thanks @Spydro. The coils are rated for 30 - 70w.

I hope the cCell I've ordered will set things straight.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Rob Fisher]

@Glytch @Spydro is spot on... get the Vaporesso 0.9Ω or 0.6Ω (my personal preference is the 0.6Ω) cCell coils... but run them at 30-32 watts... the flavour is awesome and the coils last for ages!

 

[RichJB]

I'm not crazy about Eleaf's stock coils, I didn't have good results with any of them. They do last quite a while, around 14-17 days for me. That is with DIY 50:50 6mg juice which doesn't seem to gunk up coils as quickly as darker-coloured commercial juices do. But I only vape my Melo 2 tank occasionally now. I have a cCell 0.9Ω which I'll use in the tank once this .15Ω Ni TC coil is done. But my vaping is 95% on the Merlin and Avo now.

I'm not a fan of lower resistances, the worst results I got with the Eleaf stock coils was the Ni, slightly better with the Ti, best with the regular kanthal. I get a slightly metallic "fake" taste on all the Eleaf TC coils, and TC generally doesn't work that well for me. It's an anaemic vape. For the RTAs, I build kanthal to about 1Ω and vape at 30W. That is a sweet spot for me. Maybe try a DIY kanthal coil at around 0.6-0.7Ω, play around with different wicking and wattages and see if that works better for you?

 

[Glytch]

Great advice @RichJB and @Rob Fisher. I'll soldier through this month and buy some wire at the end of August and see how it goes. I'll let you guys know.

 

[Silver]

Sorry to hear your troubles @Glytch

I am running my Melo3 Mini on the supplied 0.5 ohm coil and so far so good. I only vape it at about 30W and am vaping a 50/50 blend.

Maybe you should try get another 0.3 ohm coil and try it. Maybe your first one was a dud of sorts (that metallic taste that crept in). That can and often does happen with commercial coils and after trying just one dud it can put us off that coil for life!

That said, I generally have not had much luck with commercial coils and I trust my trusty DIY coils far more. Unless I mess up something in the build, my sweet spot coils for the various devices tend to perform flawlessly and reliably with only the occasional rewicking required depending on the device.

 

[Glytch]

Thanks all. I'm still confused as to why even the 0.5ohm coils only lasted a few days. I opened the last one up and the cotton was proper black in the centre. Am I vaping like a philistine? It's my first time using a proper mod with VW and all. One of the main reasons I moved was to avoid buying coils.

I will try rewicking my DIY coil later when I get home and keep trying till it tastes good. Also might try rewicking the current coil I have vertically.

I'm also still perplexed by the metallic tastes on all the coils I've tried since the 0.3ohm. Do I have vapour's tongue?

 

[Silver]

Thanks all. I'm still confused as to why even the 0.5ohm coils only lasted a few days. I opened the last one up and the cotton was proper black in the centre. Am I vaping like a philistine? It's my first time using a proper mod with VW and all. One of the main reasons I moved was to avoid buying coils.

I will try rewicking my DIY coil later when I get home and keep trying till it tastes good. Also might try rewicking the current coil I have vertically.

I'm also still perplexed by the metallic tastes on all the coils I've tried since the 0.3ohm. Do I have vapour's tongue?

Mine doesnt have a metallic taste
I doubt the metallic taste is vapers tongue
Have you tried with a platic drip tip? Sometimes the metallic drip tips in the old mini protank 2s would give me a metallic taste so I swapped to plastic/delrin tip and it was much better.

 

[Warlock]

Hi there @Glytch My wife has been vaping an iStick Pico with a Melo lll using 10ml per day from 1-07-2016. It has a 0.5 ohm coil rated at 30 to 100w in it.The Starter pack was purchased at Vape King and the two coils are both EC coils. Because we often swop mods and tanks, we vape at 20w for convenience. With the airflow wide open I can do a 10 second draw (on the Pico) and at the end of the draw the mod gives coil at 0.53 ohms, voltage at 3.24v. We haven’t lost a coil yet. My ipv5 hasn’t lost a coil in two months.

My diy mixes are 5% nicotine, 30pg and 70 vg.

This is all just as a comparator for you. Hope it helps in some way.

 

[Glytch]

Have you tried with a platic drip tip? Sometimes the metallic drip tips in the old mini protank 2s would give me a metallic taste so I swapped to plastic/delrin tip and it was much better.

I've tried without the drip tip and with the twisp plastic drip tip and the metallic taste does go away quite a bit. Maybe I need to get a different drip tip. Weird that it didn't happen in the first few days though.

This is all just as a comparator for you. Hope it helps in some way.

It does help. Turned it down to 20w and got similar readings on the 0.5ohm coil.

Maybe it's my DIY juice or something. Hope the ceramic coil/new drip tip or something helps

 

[Silver]

I've tried without the drip tip and with the twisp plastic drip tip and the metallic taste does go away quite a bit. Maybe I need to get a different drip tip. Weird that it didn't happen in the first few days though.



It does help. Turned it down to 20w and got similar readings on the 0.5ohm coil.

Maybe it's my DIY juice or something. Hope the ceramic coil/new drip tip or something helps

Maybe after some use the metallic tip is letting off a metallic taste that your taste buds can pick up

 

[Glytch]

I must be "blessed" to have such sensitive tastebuds

 

[Jan]

Two things try washing your steel drip tip or it can be the onset of a cold (read it somewhere)

 

[notna]

While the Melo is a good tank I've never been impressed with the longevity of the stock coils, for that reason I got myself a Billow v2 Nano for my Pico and couldn't be happier. I know you said no new tanks, but it's so much cheaper to run & easy to clean coils, re-wick between juices etc.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

 

[Glytch]

Okay. So on Friday a guy from the KZN WhatsApp Vape Group helped me build a parallel coil out of one of the 0.5ohm coils that was dead. I wicked it with some cotton wool I had lying around and it was vapeable but not great.

I bought some decent cotton wool from clicks yesterday and just rewicked the coil and it's tasting good. No metallic taste at all. So it seams the stock coils just don't do it for me. I'll need to get some kanthal wire at the end of the month and a ECR head and I should be set.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Glytch]

While the Melo is a good tank I've never been impressed with the longevity of the stock coils, for that reason I got myself a Billow v2 Nano for my Pico and couldn't be happier. I know you said no new tanks, but it's so much cheaper to run & easy to clean coils, re-wick between juices etc.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

Yeah. Figured that's the way I need to go. I'm looking at the Serpent Mini, Griffin or the Merlin

 

[AlexL]

[QUOTE="Glytch, Am I vaping like a philistine?
[/QUOTE]
bloody hilarious....

 

[Feliks Karp]

IME "metallic" tastes can also indicate dry(ish) hits, I think the definition of dry hits is a little subjective, not all dry hits are soul crushing butter churning blasts from vape hell, sometimes it's just a hint of cotton. Which would suggest to me that the wick is not wicking enough in between hits.

Also, if a coil burns out, you really should wipe down all the insides of your tank, that smell/taste tends to get in to everything, since you said the twisp tip lessens this taste that would also indicate in my opinion that burn cotton taste has infiltrated your tank. Strip it down and pit stop it before putting a new coil in.

My advice, since you doing DIY juice, would be to make a small batch of 60 VG/ 40 PG juice and see how that works with your vaping style.

 

[Glytch]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Glytch]

IME "metallic" tastes can also indicate dry(ish) hits, I think the definition of dry hits is a little subjective, not all dry hits are soul crushing butter churning blasts from vape hell, sometimes it's just a hint of cotton. Which would suggest to me that the wick is not wicking enough in between hits.

It seems it's mostly the stock coils giving off the metal taste. I rebuilt one of them horizontally and the metallic taste is almost gone. Seems to be a wicking problem with the stock coils that didn't suit my palate/vaping style.

 

[Imtiaaz]

It seems it's mostly the stock coils giving off the metal taste. I rebuilt one of them horizontally and the metallic taste is almost gone. Seems to be a wicking problem with the stock coils that didn't suit my palate/vaping style.

Sup buddy...I find that so weird though, I have been vaping mine at 40watts, stock 0.3 coils, according to the mod ohm's reading at 0.26, and I've been thrashing this thing, chain vaping, long draws etc and not one issue, with taste, draw, dry hits etc. and this is the 2nd 0.3 ohm coil I popped in here and still no an issues.

Baffles the mind lol @Glytch

 

[Glytch]

Sup buddy...I find that so weird though, I have been vaping mine at 40watts, stock 0.3 coils, according to the mod ohm's reading at 0.26, and I've been thrashing this thing, chain vaping, long draws etc and not one issue, with taste, draw, dry hits etc. and this is the 2nd 0.3 ohm coil I popped in here and still no an issues.

Baffles the mind lol @Glytch

Who knows dude. I guess there's no accounting for different vaping styles and taste buds.

 

[Imtiaaz]

Who knows dude. I guess there's no accounting for different vaping styles and taste buds.

Indeed buddy, doesn't help that you have super human taste buds either, lol

 

[Spydro]

Yeah. Figured that's the way I need to go. I'm looking at the Serpent Mini, Griffin or the Merlin

You might consider adding the Avocado's to your list of possibilities. I replaced the Melo III and Melo III Mini tanks on my Pico's with Avocado 22's, and run Avocado 24's on my Minikin's and Sig213. The Avo's have unseated all my other tanks (including the Serpent Mini I never liked, the ceramic coil tanks, etc), and are my go to's on all of the TC mods that I am still running now days.