i think your problem may have been the fact that bugpins arnt the best for color as it is , not te dampening thing, what about pug pins creating a hole that is too small for some pigments,.. could that have been causing the bad heals, making you work harder and cause more pain to get it in, then you use a #12 and your making the right size hole and the ink is going in faster because of that... just an idea.. i dont use bug pins i can get smooth black and grey without

i guess if it was fine with coils this may not be the case or maybe its just that tatsoul makes one nice pin