Author: grphototraveller

electronic_cigarette
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Mike Vapes & Augvapes Intake RTA, a gush post https://ift.tt/2LfGO1y

Setting the stageI’m not an experienced reviewer. I’m an above average user of vaping products (based on my local community), but not a pro by any means. I’ve used a Twisted Messes RDA, a Horizontech Arco II, a Smok Prince, 2 Kylin Minis (me and the wife), a Reload RTA clone, a Wotofo Bravo and I’ve helped friends with, and tried friends’ personally owned RTAs, RDAs and tanks of various types. That’s not an extensive or impressive list, but I felt like you should know where my perspective is coming from. I also wrap my own coils and make my own e-juice. While I wouldn’t consider myself an expert at either, yet, I am trying to master the entire process, lower my costs and control my entire vaping experience. It’s a process, as I’m sure many of you would agree.Some of the pitfalls that have frustrated the living hell out of me with my RTAs so far include building on the deck, getting the wicking just right and actually acquiring a good flavor from my build. This can be extra frustrating when trying out new juices I’ve made, as you might imagine. “I don’t know if it’s the new recipe, or this build… but this sucks”.So I spent months watching different reviews on YouTube by the likes of Mike Vapes, Jai Haze, Rip Trippers and others. I’ve scoured reviews here, dug through the web using my google-fu and… basically have done everything I can to find the right tank to suit my style and needs. You see, I handle all of the mixing, coiling, building and wicking duties for both my wife and I. If her vape frustrates or disappoints her, boom… she buys cigarettes again. I, myself, vape to help ease my anxiety. When my vaping frustrates me, everything gets worse… and then I build her deck poorly, and she buys cigarettes again, which trips my anxiety… which… well, it’s a nasty circle.Along came Mike, with his Intake RTAThe moment I saw Mike’s review/announcement about the Intake I knew I needed to try it. The very moment our money lined up, I ordered two of them. One for my wife, one for me. There was no hesitation. What inspired me to choose this RTA over every other one I’d seen or tried was honestly the build deck. Here’s why:The Bravo RTA had relatively decent airflow. Overall, it seemed fairly promising. But, keeping my coils from shorting out on the side of the chimney/dome was extremely annoying. And the shared posts, very frustrating. It didn’t seem to always work out in a way that worked for my OCD. I need things straight, even and in line with each other. The wires in the shared post would kick off to the side, skew or just otherwise… frustrate me. It got to the point that I just avoided using this RTA as much as I could. Wicking was easy, flavor was “ok”. Airflow was fairly good… but every other build I’d burn through my cotton or bizarrely caramelize my cotton next to the dome after less than a day and… just, no. Some people love this thing, it just really isn’t for me. Not after living with it for a while.The Kylin Mini… anyone who owns one can tell you how crappy this thing is to wick. Yeah, I know how to do it. I can do it in my sleep at this point. After all, I’ve been building two of them routinely for half a year now. But at the end of the day… why should it be this annoying? Maybe my experience was exacerbated by the fact that I was maintaining two of them simultaneously, but it just wasn’t an enjoyable experience. To get the flavor I wanted I also needed 3.5mm to 4mm cores, and by then the airflow was so blocked by the coil, and the coil was so damned close to the chimney/dome that I just didn’t enjoy my vape. These guys are now our backups.The Reload clone… my wife loved the hit & flavor off this thing. But it was cheap. It leaked like mad. Every time she handed it back for a rebuild, I had to spend about half an hour cleaning it before I could even begin building. The build deck itself was easy. Wicking was easy. But the maintenance just made the whole thing unenjoyable from my end.What I’ve found with the Intake is that the build deck is really a dream to work with. I’ve heard of some who’ve been frustrated by the posts, and the lack of a lip sufficient enough to place the coil leads into securely. Well, that’s really not that big of a deal, in my eyes, if you watch Mike’s video or simply practice a bit. I’ve intentionally rebuilt my personal Intake 6 times in two days, just to see if I was going to have issues or do anything wrong and… no, it’s been automatic and easy every time.What struck out at me before I purchased is the same thing that stands out to me now. The build deck prevents you from grounding out your coil on the chimney/dome. I mean, build between the air tubes & posts, and you simply can’t go wrong. You’d almost have to intentionally try to build wrong to cause a problem. The wicking… you really don’t have to comb or otherwise thin your wicks if you’re at 3mm or below. It. Just. Fits. Every time. I tuck them in, see where they lie, pull the ends out for a second, clip off the extra, and tuck them back in… so that you can barely see the ends when you look at the wicking slots from the side. If your wicks are hanging beyond the grooves used by the dome, they’re too long. And finally, the airflow. Honestly, this is mostly for my wife’s benefit, but I can’t fathom a way to make it leak. My wife, I’m sure she’ll find a way eventually. She makes every RTA/RDA/Tank leak eventually. But this one, I have faith it will take a while if she ever eventually pulls it off. Her Kylin? I could build it, use it for a day without leaking, hand it to her and she’d have it leaking by the end of that next day. The Reload? She had that thing leaking almost non-stop. Again, I could use it and have 0 leaks but one day with her, leaks.The Intake is a friggin champ. There may be better. I’m sure there is. But I haven’t experienced better. The flavor, for me, is better than the Kylin Mini. My wife says the same. 0, absolutely 0, leaks. 0 spitback. 0 flooding. Soooo easy to build on. I. Am. In. Love.A word on airflowMy wife likes a very restricted hit. I have her built at 3mm core, and with her airflow wide open she loves the draw. Me, I prefer very airy vapes. I’m at 2.5mm in mine and I’m just fine for airflow. Not great. It could be better. But I can get accustomed to this draw.I highly recommend this RTAI love this thing. The air flow system, the build deck, the ease of use, even the top-fill mechanics. Hey, maybe I’m just jaded by my previous tanks? Maybe I’m just crazy. Mike… if you were in town, I’d buy you a beer. You are the man. Keep it up.

Submitted July 22, 2018 at 04:05AM by WykkydGaming
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