No, I did do my research. 
And yes, I realized the risk of purchasing 1.75mm filament. But this is a hobby… and experimenting is half the fun is it not?
Was mostly looking to see if there were any new tips with the software that may have sprouted up in the past few months. Looks like there might not be. A bit discouraging but that’s ok, I’m only out one spool of filament 
For reference to anyone else who may be reading this thread looking for help, here are links to some other attempts at 1.75mm filament:
1.75 mm filament with a LulzBot Mini (a thread by Lulzbot that links to a couple other good threads)
Lulzbot Mini 3D Printer Review - YouTube (uses 1.75mm on the Lulzbot Mini in the video)
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/3mzig2/my_experience_using_175mm_on_the_lulzbot_mini/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/4e8shv/looking_for_help_lulzbot_mini_175mm_colorfabb/
Changing the retraction settings in Cura did help a lot for me, but still isn’t 100% reliable.