Cotton wicks???

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jim Diamond

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jul 21, 2013
393
240
North Texas
I just got some Kanthal 32 in and can't wait to start trying some of this. I'm curious, how long does one of these cotton wicks usually last before it needs replacing?

And when it does need replacing, do you just take the old cotton out, dry burn the coil, and thread some new cotton inside it? Thanks! JD
 
Last edited:

Nanology

Full Member
Aug 7, 2013
8
2
IL.
I just recently made my 1st cotton wick, most say it will last longer than silica and also easier to work with, silica falls apart, never used it myself. Cotton also gives you more of a warning when it is getting dry by getting warmer.
Yes, many just take the cotton, burn and re-wick it!

Just ordered $70 worth off of fasttech, I'm going to make cotton my standard!
 

BDUAres

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Nov 27, 2012
147
282
Texas, USA & London, UK
While waiting for my 3mm silica wicking and 32ga wire to be delivered to try my hand at rebuilding my coils for my Protank, I decided to mess around with my wife's cotton ball supply in the hopes of making the heads a bit less gurgly as they are prone to flood after a while. I yanked the top wicks out of a couple of Protank heads, pinched off a bit of cotton ball and rolled it between my fingers until it was an approximate size for the head slots, trimmed it up, and gave them a try.

The taste at first was a bit burnt, even though I let the tanks sit and saturate the wicking, inhaled without firing and watched the bubbles float up, etc. Then after 20-30 puffs it started getting better, and 45 minutes later the taste was about normal for a new head. Gurgling seems to be completely gone and it was a cheap fast and dirty solution to that problem. These were week old heads and now they are firing like new. Once the wire and silica gets here I will rebuild them properly, but for now they quite decent. 2 thumbs up.
 
Last edited:

Vr6 Turbo

Full Member
Verified Member
Apr 11, 2013
64
16
Orange County
I just got some Kanthal 32 in and can't wait to start trying some of this. I'm curious, how long does one of these cotton wicks usually last before it needs replacing?

And when it does need replacing, do you just take the old cotton out, dry burn the coil, and thread some new cotton inside it? Thanks! JD

Exactly. That's the nice thing about cotton set ups. Just pull the cotton out and put some new stuff in.

How long they last will obviously vary. But, in all honesty, I've found that I need to replace the wick more often than with silica. I guess it's ok since I can just slide it out, dry burn coil glowing red, then just slide another one in.

Be careful to not make your cotton wick tails too long like you would with silica in say an Igo. I wanted a juice hog for a long day at work so I made it long and I'd get dry hits. So I popped the cap off of my igo and the fails were still fully saturated in a pool of juice yet the wick in the coil area was dry. I'm guessing the horizontal strands in silica helps the juice travel/wick longer distances. The cotton falls on its face in that respect so not ideal for dripping a lot of juice in a dripper.
 

lladnar550

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Feb 21, 2013
373
314
North Carolina

BDUAres

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Nov 27, 2012
147
282
Texas, USA & London, UK
Be careful to not make your cotton wick tails too long like you would with silica in say an Igo. I wanted a juice hog for a long day at work so I made it long and I'd get dry hits. So I popped the cap off of my igo and the fails were still fully saturated in a pool of juice yet the wick in the coil area was dry.

That was my problem exactly!

I thought I was doing myself a favor making the wicks slightly longer than the original Protank wicks. Wrong move! I cut them down to the edges like the originals, and they hit perfectly now, no burnt taste, like brand new! Thanks!
 

BDUAres

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Nov 27, 2012
147
282
Texas, USA & London, UK
OK I went out to Wal-Mart and bought some of the Peaches & Creme white yarn. Tried one piece in place of the top wicks in my Protanks and while at first they worked great I soon had flooding.

Cut another piece and added one to each Protank head, and it is perfect! No gurgle, no flooding, no hot juice hitting my tongue. At first the taste was very subdued, but within 10 minutes it was back to normal, and just shooting clouds of vapor! A definite winner there! No boiling or anything, just straight cut and vape. Good stuff!

Update: After vaping last night and all day today, 24 hours straight, often chain vaping, I have to say that this is great! Not a single gurgle or flood of the Protank, no burning of the wicking! Nothing but great vapor and taste, and this yarn is now my number one to reach for when I have to rebuild, and this one 109m ball of yarn should last me a long time.
 
Last edited:

Vr6 Turbo

Full Member
Verified Member
Apr 11, 2013
64
16
Orange County
That was my problem exactly!

I thought I was doing myself a favor making the wicks slightly longer than the original Protank wicks. Wrong move! I cut them down to the edges like the originals, and they hit perfectly now, no burnt taste, like brand new! Thanks!

Glad I could help! Ya I thought I was bein all slick but didn't work out so well lol. Now in my drippers like the igo I don't have the tails longer than an inch(max). Even then sometimes ill uncap it and see the tails are fully saturated yet the coil is barely saturated.

Anyways, glad I could help I used it in my protank for the first time last week and although taste is cleaner, I'm still getting that rubber/plasticy taste. I'm pretty new to the protank(I'm mostly a genny or dripper guy) but is there a solution to this? I might try and zap some nr wire on the tails in case it's the wire on the grommets heating up cooking the rubber. Don't know if it'll solve it but worth a try since I have the mini zapper
 

BDUAres

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Nov 27, 2012
147
282
Texas, USA & London, UK
I used it in my protank for the first time last week and although taste is cleaner, I'm still getting that rubber/plasticy taste. I'm pretty new to the protank(I'm mostly a genny or dripper guy) but is there a solution to this?

After I tried out the cotton ball with varying degrees of success, I grabbed a ball of that Peaches & Creme yarn everyone was talking about. Think it was like $3 at Wal-Mart, and I tried one layer of it in place of the flavor wick and it only lasted about 10 m inutes before it started flooding. So I popped in another piece and it has been perfect. I vaped on it non-stop on my mech with an 18650 pushing the 1.8 ohm coil for about 48 hours before it started tasting burnt, so I yanked it out and found a burnt mark on the bottom layer. Changed the yarn wicks out for fresh ones and am vaping away like it is brand new again. I have yet, even when it got slightly burnt, to have an episode of flooding or juice in the mouth, which I would normally get after a little while even with brand new heads, so the 2 layers of cotton yarn seems to be the perfect solution for me and it only takes a minute to pop the head out, cut 2 little pieces of yarn and install them in the head.
 
Last edited:

mackman

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Aug 19, 2013
2,744
6,140
NorCal
The stuff (white peaches and cream) is amazing. With all the chatter about it I picked some up and on a whim rebuilt the coil in a Ismoka BCC Mega @ 2 ohms and holy crap! I loaded the tank up with a juice I liked but the flavor was just lacking. The flavor after a few tokes just jumped all over me, not to mention the vapor output is tremendous compared to the stock coil. Paid $1.47 for enough to supply the whole neighborhood for eons :thumbs:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread