Do Cotton wicks give out a denser vape

[LycanFury]

Hi there Veterans,

I recently used a piece of cotton gauze boiled it a several times, also changed the water after each boil. Used it make a wick for my Vivi nova ( just rolled it), then put a coil 4/3 wraps of 32 awg kanthal A1, i got 3.7 ohms on that, checked on my VAMO. when i put in the juice (RY4 DIYed) and fired it at 8-9 W the throat hit was too much to handle and the vape was much more dense, also the taste was different, more clothy (i don't know if its even a word), hollow tasting like air with hint of RY4 and lot of throat hit.

Can some one let me know am i doing it correct, is it safe? i am not breathing in cotton strands, right? the vape is dense, so much that my lungs feel it literally.

i read that silica has its side effects, cotton would be safe according to the "Safe wick material thread", would this pass should i use gauze strands instead of rolling it, or am i just being paranoid.

please advice.

Thanks
LF

 

[Steeler Girl]

I know there are certain type cottons you are supposed to use. Not sure about that, but I am sure someone will chime in. I can say when vaping with cotton, definately tasted it. The cotton taste went away after I ran about 3-4ml through it.

 

[LycanFury]

I know there are certain type cottons you are supposed to use. Not sure about that, but I am sure someone will chime in. I can say when vaping with cotton, definately tasted it. The cotton taste went away after I ran about 3-4ml through it.

Come to think of it it has reduced a bit after 2 tanks through, but its still there, i heard on some cotton wick usage video on you tube, cotton as wicks is an acquired taste, didn't know it would be so drastic.

 

[Steeler Girl]

It will eventually go away.

 

[slimest]

There is a very funny topic about using organic wicks. Ask them, guys use bambook, cotton etc
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

 

[hildicat]

Hi there Veterans,

I recently used a piece of cotton gauze boiled it a several times, also changed the water after each boil. Used it make a wick for my Vivi nova ( just rolled it), then put a coil 4/3 wraps of 32 awg kanthal A1, i got 3.7 ohms on that, checked on my VAMO. when i put in the juice (RY4 DIYed) and fired it at 8-9 W the throat hit was too much to handle and the vape was much more dense, also the taste was different, more clothy (i don't know if its even a word), hollow tasting like air with hint of RY4 and lot of throat hit.

Can some one let me know am i doing it correct, is it safe? i am not breathing in cotton strands, right? the vape is dense, so much that my lungs feel it literally.

i read that silica has its side effects, cotton would be safe according to the "Safe wick material thread", would this pass should i use gauze strands instead of rolling it, or am i just being paranoid.

please advice.

Thanks
LF

I'm not sure, but 3.7Ω with only a 3/4 wrap of 32g Kanthal seems awfully high. I would only expect to see around 2~2.5Ω. Did you use NR wire or twist up the legs of your Kanthal? Perhaps some of your coils are touching each other, or touching the inside of the cup. Before you give up on the cotton I would suggest trying another build.

 

[LycanFury]

I'm not sure, but 3.7Ω with only a 3/4 wrap of 32g Kanthal seems awfully high. I would only expect to see around 2~2.5Ω. Did you use NR wire or twist up the legs of your Kanthal? Perhaps some of your coils are touching each other, or touching the inside of the cup. Before you give up on the cotton I would suggest trying another build.

Twisting the legs of kanthal, it would really helpful if you could point me to any link or video show this. I know its a dumb request but see if you could find a link or something Thanks.
As far as my kanthal goes there is a seperate thread which I started to get some answers on that. All the videos I saw 3/4wraps should ideally give 2 to 2.5 ohms..

 

[LycanFury]

Hildicat,
Tried a little common sense and twisted legs of the new coil I put in 3/4 wraps got doen till 2.9 ohms, lol thanks
The vape is still dense, and it feels very dry at the back of my throat, hope thats how it is supposed to be, let me know if I gotta tweak some more.
LF

 

[hildicat]

Wish I could be more help. I have not done it myself, but I've read where people double up the legs instead of using NR wire.

Cotton is surely a different vape than silica in my experience. You may also want to play with the thickness of your wick. The cotton wick will swell when wet much more than silica so your wick needs to be somewhat loose in the coil before you add juice, otherwise you can choke it.

There are many variable you can play with before you give up, but I really believe that everyone has their own taste and some folks just don't care for a cotton vape.

 

[xpen]

Just make sure the gauze is 100% cotton, then it'd be safe for vaping. Well, 'safe' according to our current knowledge that is

Cotton, like any other organic materials, has its own (slight) taste/smell, but it should go away in a short while.

The strong TH may be due to the gauze not bringing enough eliquid to the coils... 9W is possibly too much for it - by the way, have you set your vamo to NO2 (RMS)? - or simply that gauze isn't up to that task.

FWIW I've found rolled gauze to be less performing (and less resistant) than rolled cotton, so I've ditched it: now I use rolled cotton wicks in my rebuildables.

P.S. try having a look here

Hi there Veterans,

I recently used a piece of cotton gauze boiled it a several times, also changed the water after each boil. Used it make a wick for my Vivi nova ( just rolled it), then put a coil 4/3 wraps of 32 awg kanthal A1, i got 3.7 ohms on that, checked on my VAMO. when i put in the juice (RY4 DIYed) and fired it at 8-9 W the throat hit was too much to handle and the vape was much more dense, also the taste was different, more clothy (i don't know if its even a word), hollow tasting like air with hint of RY4 and lot of throat hit.

Can some one let me know am i doing it correct, is it safe? i am not breathing in cotton strands, right? the vape is dense, so much that my lungs feel it literally.

i read that silica has its side effects, cotton would be safe according to the "Safe wick material thread", would this pass should i use gauze strands instead of rolling it, or am i just being paranoid.

please advice.

Thanks
LF

 

[nelson996]

I use 2mm cotton candle wick and 5 wraps. Gives about 1.8 ohms. I always put my new wicks in last thing and allow it to soak overnight. It definitely helps. I wrap the kanthal on a 3mm screw then thread the cotton through. Make sure when you fit it in the vivi the kanthal is not pulling down too tight on the wick or lifting either!!! Also (last thing!), if you unravel the wick up to the kanthal, it helps wicking. Learnt most of these tips from people off this forum and they have served me well so far! Takes practice, but worth it.

 

[albcig]

i used cotton in my aga-t. powerfull TH and a strange taste. but my juice was mostly PG. today i got my 2 liters of diy liquid so ill make a high VG juice and see where it goes. cotton wicks far better than any material i've tried so thicker juice won't be a problem imo

 

[nelson996]

i used cotton in my aga-t. powerfull TH and a strange taste. but my juice was mostly PG. today i got my 2 liters of diy liquid so ill make a high VG juice and see where it goes. cotton wicks far better than any material i've tried so thicker juice won't be a problem imo

I use all VG with 20% water. I've found if it is too thick it doesn't wick quickly enough and you get dry burns. Too thin, it floods, gurgles and won't vaporize very well.

 

[rfurton]

Im using 100% cottons right now. and i definitely can say that it gives a good vape. cottons produce more vapor. but disadvantage is it needs to be wet all the times. im not using a tank atty so i often need to drop juice on it.

 

[CloudZ]

Sounds like your wick is choked and you may be overheating it. It should be a little loose inside the coil when dry, because it will expand when saturated.

 

[gravewolf]

Love the cotton gauze when I first tried it. It didn't give off any taste unlike the fibre glass wick. As long as it is kept wet it won't burn and it's a lot cheaper to replace when it does give out. It actually improved the flavor on one of my juices that I used to dislike. I'm never going back to fibre glass wicks cause it makes my throat itch, flavor is bad on some juices and they actually don't wick good when compared to cotton based wicks. I don't have any issues with it since using it for almost a week. I don't know if other people would like it but for me it does the job perfectly. But I am looking forward to a ceramic wick if they ever come out.

 

[Scott_Simpson]

I might mention that some of that "cotton-y" taste may, in fact, be scorched cotton! While it is true that cotton wicks will not burn when they are wet, one should really think of that as not merely wet, but saturated. I use cotton cheesecloth wicks in everything from Vivi Novas and Vision Eternitys to Penelopes, and I find that if I leave a new wick to soak for at least an hour before firing it up for the first time, I get hardly any cotton taste at all, right from the first puff, and it rapidly becomes totally transparent. On the other hand, if I get antsy and jump on a new wick right after I've rebuilt it, I get strong cotton taste and it takes a tank or two for it to subside, if it ever does.

 

[gravewolf]

Cotton is great, you know it's funny that I've heard that someone use an old cotton underwear as a wicking material......the flavor must have been very musky.....