This is my first review of a coil! If you told me a few years ago that one day I'd be reviewing a piece of metal that looks like a coil witha wavy pattern in it I would have said you are mad!
Advance the clock a few years and here I am installing a pair of "Aliens" into my Petri dripper and getting all excited to find out how the vape is.
Today I am talking about a pair of Alien coils by a talented local coilmaker and supporting vendor, @smilelykumeenit
Some history and backstory:
Firstly, I am not experienced with so called "exotic" coils. I have a fused clapton in my Billet Box and have tried one or two exotics over the past year but almost all my vaping is on simple coils with round wire that I build myself. i dont like having to rely on getting commercial coils and i havent learnt yet how to build the exotics so i have stuck with basic coils and have been very happy with them.
A while back I asked @smilelykumeenit to build for me some coils for my Petri V2 RDA, which I love. I've been using normal round wire on it for some time and I know it well. I bought the coils and picked it up from him at the last ECIGSSA JHB Vape Meet in December. Yes I know its been a long time and long overdue. But i wanted to find a juice that worked well on my normal round wire setup and get to know it well so when I switch to these coils I could compare. Took me longer than I had hoped.
I dont have experience with exotic coils, so perhaps take this "review" from the perspective of how a normal round wire vaper perceives the difference when switching to exotic Aliens
First up, here are my existing coils that were in my Petri. Standard 26g NI80 and CB2. 2.5mm ID.
Here are the Aliens from @smilelykumeenit. They are 3mm ID and he made them especially for the Petri. Just gorgeous.
Coils are in. No pulsing yet because they need to be cleaned first. I struggled a bit to get them in, my noobness with installing these types of coils and the thick legs getting in the way of each other because two legs share the same post hole. After this photo i cleaned them with warm water and sunlight soap using a toothbrush. Position of the coils is quite close to the posts and fairly high up so the airflow hits the bottom portion of the coil. Ooh, they look so shiny!
Pulsing and glowing nicely, i didnt overdo it. Just a bit of pulsing and snooker cue through them with the screwdriver which gets them going nicely. Coils were evenly glowing which means they were made very similarly. Lol, i sometimes have issues getting them to glow evenly when i build my own basic coils. No problem here with these coils.
Another photo. I just love how they look. Quite mean actually!
Went for Cotton Bacon V2 wick because it works well for the juice. Will explain the juice later. Its a bigger ID than im used to, so a bit more cotton. Made it fairly tight and trimmed the ends so they drape on the deck. Maybe i could have trimmed them a bit more, but its fine.
All in and lubed up. Measuring 0.33 ohms. (They were 0.28 ohms when i initially installed them.) Ready to go! This part is so exciting for me.
The juice I'm using is Loaded Glazed Donuts 6mg. Have been vaping it for quite some time on my normal round wire coils in the Petri so I know it well. Its a lovely juice. But always felt like it needed a bit more bakery to come through.
So what's the verdict?
Wow, what a vape! It's glorious. Thick and dense, very rich. Plentiful. Way more than my basic round wire coils!
It's a lot smoother than I thought it would be. Like a smooth six cylinder engine The vapour that comes out also feels a bit smoother. No popping or spitting. It does have a deep "guttoral growl" which I like.
I tried it from 50-70 Watts and it feels right for me at 65 Watts. 50 is too low and above 70 is too high. Am vaping it on the Cuboid with fresh batteries. Coil combination comes in at 0.33 ohms.
The flavour is much more than my simple round wire coils. I do pick up slightly more bakery, which I like. The actual flavour itself is not far off but the whole experience is elevated because of the bigger volume. Lots more vapour. My kitchen area is now very hazy! Lol.
Its a BIG vape for me. Bigger than I normally vape. I am doing shortish 2 second toots. They are very enjoyable. It's like a high intensity sudden surge of vapour. The downside for me is that after a few toots the drip tip gets a bit too warm. But the first few toots are perfect. Vapour temp is warm. Suits this juice and that's what I was hoping for.
Another thing, this setup guzzles lots of juice
Overall, I am very impressed. Surprised at the smoothness. Flavour is outstanding. The vape is too big for me as a "workhorse vape" but I can see myself using it in the evenings for some bigger vapes on great juices.
Will keep on using these coils and continue testing to see how the coils hold up and how it fares on other juices over time. But first impressions for me are that @smilelykumeenit makes brilliant coils that work superbly well.
Advance the clock a few years and here I am installing a pair of "Aliens" into my Petri dripper and getting all excited to find out how the vape is.
Today I am talking about a pair of Alien coils by a talented local coilmaker and supporting vendor, @smilelykumeenit
Some history and backstory:
Firstly, I am not experienced with so called "exotic" coils. I have a fused clapton in my Billet Box and have tried one or two exotics over the past year but almost all my vaping is on simple coils with round wire that I build myself. i dont like having to rely on getting commercial coils and i havent learnt yet how to build the exotics so i have stuck with basic coils and have been very happy with them.
A while back I asked @smilelykumeenit to build for me some coils for my Petri V2 RDA, which I love. I've been using normal round wire on it for some time and I know it well. I bought the coils and picked it up from him at the last ECIGSSA JHB Vape Meet in December. Yes I know its been a long time and long overdue. But i wanted to find a juice that worked well on my normal round wire setup and get to know it well so when I switch to these coils I could compare. Took me longer than I had hoped.
I dont have experience with exotic coils, so perhaps take this "review" from the perspective of how a normal round wire vaper perceives the difference when switching to exotic Aliens
First up, here are my existing coils that were in my Petri. Standard 26g NI80 and CB2. 2.5mm ID.
Here are the Aliens from @smilelykumeenit. They are 3mm ID and he made them especially for the Petri. Just gorgeous.
Coils are in. No pulsing yet because they need to be cleaned first. I struggled a bit to get them in, my noobness with installing these types of coils and the thick legs getting in the way of each other because two legs share the same post hole. After this photo i cleaned them with warm water and sunlight soap using a toothbrush. Position of the coils is quite close to the posts and fairly high up so the airflow hits the bottom portion of the coil. Ooh, they look so shiny!
Pulsing and glowing nicely, i didnt overdo it. Just a bit of pulsing and snooker cue through them with the screwdriver which gets them going nicely. Coils were evenly glowing which means they were made very similarly. Lol, i sometimes have issues getting them to glow evenly when i build my own basic coils. No problem here with these coils.
Another photo. I just love how they look. Quite mean actually!
Went for Cotton Bacon V2 wick because it works well for the juice. Will explain the juice later. Its a bigger ID than im used to, so a bit more cotton. Made it fairly tight and trimmed the ends so they drape on the deck. Maybe i could have trimmed them a bit more, but its fine.
All in and lubed up. Measuring 0.33 ohms. (They were 0.28 ohms when i initially installed them.) Ready to go! This part is so exciting for me.
The juice I'm using is Loaded Glazed Donuts 6mg. Have been vaping it for quite some time on my normal round wire coils in the Petri so I know it well. Its a lovely juice. But always felt like it needed a bit more bakery to come through.
So what's the verdict?
Wow, what a vape! It's glorious. Thick and dense, very rich. Plentiful. Way more than my basic round wire coils!
It's a lot smoother than I thought it would be. Like a smooth six cylinder engine
The vapour that comes out also feels a bit smoother. No popping or spitting. It does have a deep "guttoral growl" which I like.I tried it from 50-70 Watts and it feels right for me at 65 Watts. 50 is too low and above 70 is too high. Am vaping it on the Cuboid with fresh batteries. Coil combination comes in at 0.33 ohms.
The flavour is much more than my simple round wire coils. I do pick up slightly more bakery, which I like. The actual flavour itself is not far off but the whole experience is elevated because of the bigger volume. Lots more vapour. My kitchen area is now very hazy! Lol.
Its a BIG vape for me. Bigger than I normally vape. I am doing shortish 2 second toots. They are very enjoyable. It's like a high intensity sudden surge of vapour. The downside for me is that after a few toots the drip tip gets a bit too warm. But the first few toots are perfect. Vapour temp is warm. Suits this juice and that's what I was hoping for.
Another thing, this setup guzzles lots of juice
Overall, I am very impressed. Surprised at the smoothness. Flavour is outstanding. The vape is too big for me as a "workhorse vape" but I can see myself using it in the evenings for some bigger vapes on great juices.
Will keep on using these coils and continue testing to see how the coils hold up and how it fares on other juices over time. But first impressions for me are that @smilelykumeenit makes brilliant coils that work superbly well.
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