Vandy Vape B3 MTL RTA fast and loose review

[digicig]

For most of the last year(ish) I’ve been enjoying the auto vaping experience from first the Voopoo Argus and then when their Auto switches eventually failed, switching to a Drag X Pro – same PnP pod, but powered by a 21700 battery – and whilst that’s still working well (aside from a battery door issue) – really wanted a RTA MTL experience again – like the ‘good old days’ when 5ml was a HUGE tank and an 18650 mod could last all day.

My online Vape dealer here, is pretty good at finding the odd thing if you ask him via WeChat (kinda Chinese Whatsapp – without the privacy, but with payment, location and much more functionality) – and he let me know that he was going to be getting the Vandy Vape B3 in if I’d be interested. Did a quick lookie around and thought why not – might be good with all the added bits etc, and non-glass options too.

For those of you that may remember, (and anyone that doesn’t) I’m much more interested in the Shape of the Vape – the vapour ‘qualities’, the texture and mouth feel, the speed of the draw experience than a Flavour Hound or Cloud Chaser, but also pragmatic in that Battery and Juice efficiency are important too. The Pod experience was good-ish – but because of the Auto draw – as soon as the Switch failed I lost interest – and the juice use and battery inefficiency were excessive.

The B3’s arrival was quite highly anticipated – watched the usual YT reviews and waited the few days digging out coils and cotton I’d tucked away – as you do. The packaging was nice, and when the box was opened it came with a really interesting selection of ‘bits’ and accessories not usually offered. Not only the usual coil, cotton, screwdriver/allen key, but 3 Drip Tip choices – 2 Glass and 2
PEI tanks – a 2ml and 6ml (with extension tube) in both materials. For travelling purposes (as well as potential clumsiness, non-glass is good for me). Then there’s the 4 Airflow ‘pipes’ – 0.8, 1.2, 1.4 and 2mm – with no adjustable airflow on the B3 itself. These are ‘press fit’ – and can be easily swapped ‘in situ’, at any time, without disturbing the coil you’re running. A little different, but as long as the wick is sufficiently packed – it also means Zero leakage – if the wicking is loose – it’s going to gush out though LoL. Discovered, through trial and error, the old ‘Bunny Ears’ method works, but drop an extra small piece of cotton underneath the ‘Ears’ before you tuck them in – and never get a leaking problem!


The tank itself is nicely machined, and can be detached easily (upside down of course) and the coil and wick can be tweaked easily without having to worry about the glass falling off or having to drain the juice first. The only issue is it comes as a 2ml tank and getting the glass out is tricky at first – my advice would be to vape a tank or 2 in mini mode first for lubrication and then it should come off easily to swap to the PEI or the the larger 6ml options with the extension tube too.


Tried a few options – and so far my preference has proved to be:
Vandy Vape Superfine Fused Clapton coils – 30/38 2.5mm 0.7Ohm – but wrapping the legs an extra turn each which come in at around 0.86Ohms. Eventually found some wire online here (trickier than it sounds with the language barrier and things) – NiCr 0.32mm 8-9 wraps @ 1.3ish Ohms – which vapes nicely and 50m for less than £3.
Flash Wick cotton – having tried all the varieties I had and bought some new too – cotton Bacon (+ Prime), Muji. ThunderBolt SL, Chinese SL etc, the best option, for the B3 at least, for flavourlessness, wicking and longevity (24-36+ hours without a flavour drop off)
The Long DT for softer, slow relaxed 8mg home vaping on the Smok Fortis
A smaller DT (pictured above not included) in 2ml, high nic on the Cubis mini for out and about stealth vaping – with the same coil and wick set up.


So me basic set up has turned out to be: 5ml tank, with the 1.2 air flow bit, 8-9 wraps of 0.32mm NiCr wire, Flash Wick cotton – roughly 1.3Ohms at 18W – and the longer DT.

Cracking vape – swapped back to a more tobacco based DIY juice – and 65/35 PG/VG – less ‘sugar’ in the flavours and higher PG makes the coil/wick last longer. Even switching from 60/40 increased the coil/wick use by a few hours – and currently getting good flavour and vapour production for 24+ hours consistently!