Gross "damp" taste for a few dozen puffs after rewicking

[Eskie]

Yeah, I probably went a little too far with my protocols by falsely attributing the taste to contamination. A quick cold water wash with some soap and drying my hands on a towel proved sufficient to produce pure taste now that I know to saturate and fire the wick a few times before using it.

Oh, it's good to pay careful attention to stuff like that. OK, the alcohol is likely overkill, but you'll be ready to do brain surgery once you're done with the wick.

Glad it all cleared up. IME those organic cotton pads can work just fine. And it does sound like you've got your building down really well, but at some point you might want to consider an rta to build on. Way easier than those little RBAs, at least with my large fingers.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I've just finished my first attempt and the gross taste is almost completely gone after 5 cycles of saturation and firing, I'm so happy! Though I did totally flood the airholes on my eGo ONE Mega base, which is something I had not managed to do since I've stopped using CL heads about 9 months ago, so I'll try to use less juice the next time around.

Yes, I've not used other types of rebuildable heads, but I did order an eleaf Lyche atomizer with an RBA head included for a ridiculously low price on Aliexpress just now (about 7 USD); though the RBA head on it is reported to be quite small and uncomfortable to build for being only 13mm large, but that should be trivial for somebody who had been rebuilding CLR atomizers with their ~4mm inner diameter for nearly a year.



Yeah, I probably went a little too far with my protocols by falsely attributing the taste to contamination. A quick cold water wash with some soap and drying my hands on a towel proved sufficient to produce pure taste now that I know to saturate and fire the wick a few times before using it.

YAY!!
I am glad it worked for you. I got the idea after I watched a utube video on 'how to' build and wick rta xxxxxx. He was showing off the build and was doing that and I thought this should work for taste also.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

After reading this I feel like such a slob. I never think to wash my hands off when I rewick.

I keep a bottle of alcohol sanitize gel on my desk for "in case" and it's very handing to clean my tanks if I get liquid on them as it removes it completely and makes my tanks squeaky clean. (and I also uses blue "car" paper towels instead of plain ones.. less loose paper fibers and much more solid).

 

[Alter]

When I did go through my brief period of using cotton I always had a breakin taste, it wasn't unpleasant but still there. I used hemp fiber instead, it was more robust and had no taste and the taste came from usually not enough wicking. If you have a breakin taste with rayon then its wicked wrong, usually too loose, you have to pack the coil almost to the point of distorting the coil. Rayon is great stuff and well worth looking into as wicking instead of cotton...any cotton.

 

[BrotherBob]

I'm having a bit of trouble with rewicking my rebuildable atomizer heads, they always get a gross "damp" taste for a few dozen puffs, but eventually it goes away.
So far I've tried 2 different types of cotton (some cotton balls bought at a local vape shop and square sheets of organic cotton bought online) and I've tried different procedures for cleaning my hands before getting to work (thorough wash with soap and drying the hands with paper towels, thorough wash with soap followed by rubbing alcohol and finally drying off with cotton rounds) as well as 2 types of rebuildable atomizer heads (CLR, ECR).
What's the source of that taste and how do I get rid of it?
EDIT: Apparently the unpleasant flavor is just a feature of fresh cotton wicks, the solution is to make sure you aren't packing in too much cotton, and to saturate and pulse fire the wick a few times before assembling the tank.

Welcome and glad you joined. Might reconsider type of wick material. By the second puff, I'm usually getting all the flavor I will get from a juice. Suggest you try it.
Might like to read:
Rayon Wick - Better Flow, Flavor, Longevity, and Nic Hit!! - Pt.2