Complete Beginner

[Deleted]

Thanks again for the advice. The sore throat isn't much of an issue as it goes away after I finish vaping (I don't vape all the time so it's fine..I just have 2 or 3 puffs every 1-2 hours, much the same as I was with a cigarette)...I don't really get a dry mouth as I am always drinking anyway as I go through a mug of tea or coffee every hour plus frequent glasses of water. I'll stick with the current juice for now as it may partly be because I haven't completely given up the cigarettes (down to 3 a day now) but that will be coming soon as I am starting to not like the taste of them!

The biggest, and most concerning, issue at present is the leaking. I took the Nautilus off the istick last night and propped it upright on a paper towel and, this morning, it has lost another 0.5ml of juice overnight...it looks like all the juice is leaking from the air hole on the ring at the bottom. I've currently turned the ring slightly so that no air hole is open to see if that solves it but I don't get why it is happening? The juice I currently have (LiQuid's Virginia Tobacco 80/20 mix 18mg) is quite thick so, if I used a thinner one, then I'd lose even more juice...I can understand a little leakage but to lose half a ml overnight seems wrong to me, given that I am using up more juice with leaking than I am with vaping!! Is this really normal for a Naultilus Mini or have I got a faulty one? I'm hoping closing off the air hole when not in use will sort it out but it still doesn't seem right to have to do that as, with the leaking, it also means I will have to unscrew the Nautilus from the istick after every use to be sure no more liquid leaks onto the top of the istick.

[chykensa]

@nursemorph - that does seem a bit excessive. When the tank is empty, might be worth giving it a rinse out and then carefully checking that all the seals are intact and not wrinkled or damaged in any way. If you have one, pop in a new coil (rinse out the old one and put on a radiator or somewhere warm to dry) and make sure this is nice and tight before reassembling the tank and refilling.
I'm not sure if closing the airflow holes will stop the leaking altogether or simply allow the leaking juice to collect inside! Experimentation is the key here!

One further point to remember is that in this colder weather, what we think is juice is sometimes condensation as the tank is warmed and then cools in the cold air; if you are vaping outside and then take the tank back inside, this might also cause this. Of course, if the juice levels in the tank are dropping away faster that you think they should, you probably have a leak.

[Deleted]

Yeah, there appeared to be condensation type stuff on the outside yesterday which I put down to the change in temperatures...but the overnight leakage is with it being in a single room with a constant temperature. I'll give your advice a try and take it all apart...was planning to clean it anyway to get rid of the juice smell on the outside. Luckily, the nautilus comes with a spare coil anyway so I can just pop that one in. Thanks...I'll post back what I find

[GeoffUK]

Hi @nursemorph

My first tank was a nautilus and it was fine for a week but then started to leak like a sieve. I took it back to the B&M and they replaced it no quibble. This made me suspicious, why didn't they try to repair it or at least check the seals and coil? I drew the conclusion that it must happen regularly and never used one again. I dabbled with the Triton for a good while, it is a nice tank and restored my faith in Aspire.

That was until I tried a UWell Crown. What a brilliant and simple piece of kit, it is my current weapon of choice.

Geoff

[Deleted]

Thanks GeoffUK Mine has done it from the start which has made me wonder whether it is faulty..though it could just be user error of course!

Well, I've taken it all apart, given it a rinse, dried it fully, put a new coil in and put it all together again with juice in so only time will tell now. I have had a look at everything with a jeweller's loupe (lucky I happen to have one!) and am seeing nothing that looks wrong and all the seals look good so we shall see what happens...won't really know fully until tonight whether it is faulty or maybe just me not tightening the coil enough. Thanks for the advice and fingers crossed

[GeoffUK]

No probs @nursemorph

A lot of folk love the Nautilus and I will probably catch hell for dissing it.

Remember to tighten the coil enough but not too hard, but most important is not to clamp down too hard on that mahoosive seal at the bottom of the glass. They say you should do it up just past the point you feel resistance and no more.

One other thing you might try is to close the airhole, take off the glass, undo the coil, remove the drip tip then chuck the whole lot in the bin and buy a UWell Crown.

[Deleted]

It's now been several hours and there is no sign of any leaking, or even the usual condensation-like spots...it looks like I may have just over-tightened the thread on the bottom when doing it up....made sure to loosen it a little earlier and, fingers crossed, it's sorted it...I'll know for sure when it sits overnight.

[greendog]

could be a rouge coil. they are mass produced so it happens from time to time.

[Deleted]

True greendog At some point I may try the coil again and see what happens but was planning to buy some more anyway so one coil is no real issue

[phatfil]

hope u get past the teething problems.. the juice is held in the tank by the coils wick, it should form a dam between the air in holes and the juice, only wicking juice to the coil aided by the slight drop in pressure when u suck a draw from the atty. and the odd rouge coil can leak ..

fwiw i use subtank mini atty's a lot, and am using Ni200 occ coils as im trying temp controlled mods and vaping, i have had 2 x dodgy coils in a row.. which was quite frustrating..

Dont chuck dead, ex coils they can be rebuilt.. so you should only need to buy a couple of packs and just rebuild em if too tricky a job for yourself atm.. some folk in here have been known to recoil coil heads for others prr???????

[Deleted]

Woke up this morning excited like it was Christmas to check if the Nautilus had behaved itself overnight And it has!! There has been no sign at all of any leakage during the night, not even the little condensation like droplets that were appearing! So, it appears the culprit was either a faulty coil or I had just over-tightened the bottom....now I'll just need to remember to not screw it in too tight in future (my memory is useless these days so could be interesting!). As for the coil, I think I will just wrap it in kitchen towel and keep it in my ecigarette drawer as an emergency back-up.... thanks for the suggestion phatfil Re-coiling myself is not something I am likely to do as I don't have the patience these days and, to be honest, I can't really complain about one faulty coil as they are not exactly expensive to buy and I was planning on buying a load more anyway

Once again, a big thank you to everyone for helping me get to the bottom of the issue....once again proves what an excellent community this is

Edit: Hmmm...re-reading what I wrote earlier today has given me a giggle....I'm not entirely sure how I'd go about re-coiling myself..re-coiling a coil certainly but myself?    Certainly doesn't sound appealing  

[Deleted]

Another night and no further leaking despite opening it to refill and then doing it up again, remembering not to over-tighten of course! So, everything is looking good...have had the istick set at 10 watts for the last couple of days which seems to be a nice level for it to be at. Still having my 3 cigarettes a day but that will go over the next week or so but have already saved £18 since Sunday! It's gonna be tough later as I have to go into the hospital for a procedure (hopefully just as a day case) this afternoon so no cigarettes or vaping for several hours at least from lunchtime...did remember to buy a patch to cover me for that period though so, fingers crossed, I don't have too much withdrawal!

[Deleted]

Great news re the leaking and well done @nursemorph so far and the very best wishes for this afternoon!

[Deleted]

Hey everyone. It's been 2 weeks now since I started on my vaping journey so thought I would post an update.

For the first week, I continued smoking 3 or 4 cigarettes a day while getting used to vaping....however, I had my last cigarette last Sunday evening (I ran out and had decided not to buy any more) and, so far, have not had any cigarettes for the past 7 days! Had a couple of minor cravings on Tuesday but, other than that, have had no desire or need to smoke. My vaping usage has gone up somewhat since giving up, unsurprisingly, but, because I vape outside, I am only using it periodically rather than all the time...despite that though, I am only using 1ml of liquid a day which is less than I was expecting (using 1ml of liquid means my nicotine intake has increased since giving up smoking!)

Am still using the Virginia Tobacco liquid from LiQuid and, so far, is the only flavour I have tried (despite having several other flavours in the drawer) as, while it tastes almost nothing like tobacco, I do like the sweet flavour of it. Since the leakage issues with the Nautilus to begin with, there has been no leakage whatsoever from it, so it was simply a case of doing up the bottom too tight (have even put in the other coil today and it is fine). Am still getting a sore throat when vaping but it usually goes after a couple of minutes...the liquid I am using is a 60/40 PG/VG mixture so I could go lower on the PG side of things to see if it's that but I seem to recall someone saying that the Nautilus Mini doesn't like VG above 50% (was probably earlier in this thread!). I'll probably just stick with what I have for now and see how it goes as it may just be my body adjusting to vaping rather than smoking and the sore throat is only a major issue first thing in the morning but I read that lowering the wattage for that one may help. Have got the iStick still set at 10 watts as it seems a suitable setting for me so far.

So, yeah, so far so good....never imagined that vaping would have been this effective as all NRT products I have tried in the past failed after a few days as the craving for a cigarette would become too much! Finally, as I love numbers and stats and I have been keeping a database, I thought I would share some of the first 2 weeks' numbers with you:

Days since starting: 14

Days Cigarette Free: 7 (as of 7pm today)

Number of cigarettes not smoked: 165!

Money Saved: £65.50

The most important stat (beyond number of cigs not smoked) is the fact that, in 2 weeks, with the money saved I have already paid for all the vaping equipment I bought at the start!

Wish me luck on my continued journey

[pipeman01]

Congrats, you'l be glad to know from a heath / addiction perspective the tobacco addiction has cleared.

Your next addiction will be shineyitis.. doesn't impact health but does significant damage to your wallet. Given enough time, this addiction becomes less, but never seems to really go away... and just when you have it under control, the mad scientist appears and mixing becomes and obsession....