As someone who’s been vaping for over six years, I’ve had the luxury of experimenting with more builds than I can count. I’ve been using rebuildables for the majority of my time vaping and to me, the most important thing has always been flavour production.
If you look online, you’ll see many guides on how to get the “best” flavour and while much of the end result is dependent on personal preference, I feel that I have found a building method that produces great results for the majority of people.
In my view, there are four key elements to achieving great flavour and I’m breaking them down today.
1. Coil Type:
Your choice of coil is the starting point for any build and there are so many varieties these days, each bringing different properties to the table. From the most basic round wire builds, with instant ramp up time, to huge exotic coils, which can handle insane amounts of power, there’s something to suit all tastes. In my opinion, if you’re looking for flavour, the best option is a coil somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.
For this reason, I’ve settled on a simple Fused Clapton as my go to when trying to get great flavour from a standard 22mm-25mm atomiser. I find that a 3mm inner diameter Fused Clapton with 2 cores of 26g wire and an outer wrap of 38g or 40g provides the best compromise between ramp up time, power handling and flavour production.
These specs may change slightly for extreme atomisers. Especially large atties may benefit from a triple or even quad core Fused Clapton, while very small atomisers may benefit from a smaller inner diameter of 2.5mm. In my view, the especially large exotics, such as Framed Staples, excel more in vapour production and power handling, without conferring any noticeable increase to flavour production.
The 3mm 2*26/38 Fused Clapton is my “benchmark” coil, that works wonderfully as a single coil build in 22mm atomisers, or as a dual coil build in 24mm-25mm atomisers respectively.
2. Coil Placement:
Coil placement will vary according to the airflow design and build deck of your atomiser but I have found a way to consistently maximise flavour potential. Most RDAs hit the side of the coil with airflow, either directly, or through a channel system. I find that positioning the coil in such a way that airflow mostly hits the bottom half of the coil increases flavour output.
Placing the coil in this way forces air to flow from the bottom, up the side and over the top, thereby cooling all the hottest parts of the coil and concentrating flavour.
In atomisers that jet air to the bottom of the coil, this is less of a factor and in this case, you don’t have to worry so much about coil placement, other than being careful not to block too much air by placing the coil excessively close to the airflow.
3. Wicking:
Wicking is another important part of the flavour equation, though it’s often overlooked by new builders. Good wicking will supply the coil with more e-liquid, which keeps it from overheating and will also prevent spit-back, which can become particularly problematic in very small atomisers, or larger dual coil atomisers running at higher power.
You’ll want to start with a good wicking material. I generally use Muji, Cotton Bacon Prime or Rayon. They all have slightly different properties but there is no noticeable difference in flavour output in my experience.
The main thing here is learning how to wick for maximum flavour. To me, this means fitting as much wicking material through the coil as possible, without causing it to warp out of shape. This is sometimes referred to as “wicking hard”.
Running a smaller amount of wick through the coil, or “wicking loose” results in less wicking action and can also cause e-liquid to pool on the edges of the coil, which in turn causes noticeable spit-back, which is not an enjoyable experience to most people.
“Wicking hard” causes a more efficient wicking action and seems to spread e-liquid more evenly across the coil. I find that I get no spit-back whatsoever when I wick this way and it works just as well for RTAs as it does for RDAs. When using this wicking method for an RTA or RDTA, it is important to check that you are not choking off the wicking channels, so do comb out the ends of your wick if this is the case, otherwise e-liquid will not flow freely from the tank section to the wick.
4. Power Output:
The final and most subjective part of getting the most flavour out of your atomiser. For my benchmark Fused Clapton build, I find that 35W-45W per coil is the best range. This translates to 70W-90W when I am using two of my benchmark coils in a dual coil atomiser.
This range of wattages will vary significantly if you choose to use a different build, so simply adjust this range depending on the mass of your build. A dual Tri-core Alien build, for example, should easily be able to handle 120W of power, when using standard cores of 26g.
The important thing about power output is finding the range. Too much will result in a super-hot vape, with diminished flavour. Too little power will not allow the coils to heat up properly, which will also result in diminished flavour.
If you are using a different build to my benchmark, simply play around with different power outputs until you find a range that eliminates ramp up time, whilst maintaining a pleasant amount of heat and flavour production.
If you follow these steps, I’m confident that you will be able to achieve the best possible flavour from your atomiser. Of course, we all have our own preferences when it comes to builds, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter!
