Does the cone serve a purpose?

[hobomike]

I was playing with my almost week old eGo and I was wondering, does the cone serve a purpose? I rather like the way it looks with a lr atty on it and no cone, and it doesn't seem to drop in vapor or th. And I must say, for my second foray into the e-cig, I'm impressed.

[mcquinn]

I think it reduces airflow to increase vapor production.But mostly cosmetic.

[MrG]

The cone also works to keep dripping under control.

[BillyBlack]

There is a lot of heat that is generated as you vape. Hit your PV a few times and then grab the atty body. This heat is usually lost to the air. With the cone you will holding some of this heat in, plus now the air inlet is at the top of the cone. The inlet air is now forced to travel between the heated atty and cone walls picking up some of this heat that is usually lost.

I've seen folks notch the bottom of the cone to increase air-flow, no good, as now the cone does become strictly cosmetic. If the draw seems a bit stiff your best bet is to widen the top of the cone a tad that way you still get the benefit of warming the inlet air.

[Royal]

OK, to put some of this in to perspective with something that everyone has experienced. Go outside on a cold day and you can see your breath. This is caused by the moisture content of your breath condensing in the cooler air. You will never notice this in a warm air environment.

Now, Let's take a look at some of the science involved here.
PG and VG are humectants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humectant. In our case, Meaning they absorb water from the air. When we heat a mix of PG or VG to a point that they will produce a steam, and once this steamed PG or VG hits a cooler air, it will condense in to a vapor like cloud. So there are three key elements at work here when producing vapor. Heat (nichrome coil - heating element, heated to a point to steam the liquid), Moisture content of the air (Humidity), and condensation (cooler air).

For us vapers, a lot of the moisture needed to produce a vapor is absorbed from our mouth, throat and lungs, but is also processed by the moisture content and the ambient temperature of the air intake of the device.

From my experience with the e-Go, The cone serves several purposes. One advantage I notice the cone adds to the device is by choking down the air intake somewhat. I say this because in most cases I notice an increase in resistance on the part of taking a drag when using the cone versus without. By reducing the air intake, it creates a richer fuel to air ratio. More fuel(steamed e-juice) -less air. This richer mix allows more of the undiluted steam from the e-liquid to be inhaled and condense more directly in the mouth, throat and lungs, which will then produce a more noticeable exhaled vapor cloud.
Anyone can experiment with this with any model e-cigarette by simply blocking off some of the air intake holes or notches with a finger or a piece of tape, while taking a hit.

The cone also serves to improve the looks (aesthetics) of the device, and also serves as a noise dampener by cutting down on the sound/noise made by the atomizer steaming the liquid.

And yes, since atomizers produce heat and the atty bodies do become warm, the cone does tend to hold in some of this ambient heat. So with this in mind, a slightly warmer air intake I suppose can in effect delay the condensation effect needed to produce a cloud of vapor just enough to somehow help in the noticed exhaled vapor, and I suppose could possibly even produce a moist convection effect depending on the relative humidity of the intake air.

Note: Any heat retained by the addition of a cone on an e-Go is not enough to steam a liquid, and only the liquid that is in direct contact with the heating element itself will be heated to a point of steaming. As far as this retained heat helping in decreasing time and energy needed to bring the heating element to a point of producing steam, is up for debate. As NiChrome, which is the most common material used in heating elements such as in our atomizers and cartomizers, is a mix of Nickel and Chromium, when combined displays special characteristics inherent for rapid heating and cooling which makes it an ideal material for such use.

Also, keep in mind that any breathable air temperature is going to be cooler than the temperature of the initial steam produced by the atomizer's heating element, so regardless, condensation will take place in order to produce a vapor cloud.

[hobomike]

And that's what I was looking for. Thank you kindly good sir!