Rayon Wick - Better Flow, Flavor, Longevity, and Nic Hit!! - Pt.2

[Divinemadman]

Hi JeremyR,
I hope it's ok to request for some insight and advice on this thread about the shoulder of the rayon wick turning brown. The tails don't seem to brown, just the parts from the edge of the coil. And it's not the whole shoulder that browns, it's just the outer parts that face the chamber not the posts. The rest of the shoulder does not brown.
The picture should say it all. Would really appreciate your advice. And thank you for all your tutorials and insight on wicking with rayon.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

View attachment 689257 Hi JeremyR,
I hope it's ok to request for some insight and advice on this thread about the shoulder of the rayon wick turning brown. The tails don't seem to brown, just the parts from the edge of the coil. And it's not the whole shoulder that browns, it's just the outer parts that face the chamber not the posts. The rest of the shoulder does not brown.
The picture should say it all. Would really appreciate your advice. And thank you for all your tutorials and insight on wicking with rayon.

I think thats a sign of an imbalance, slightly thick on one end vs the other. You can try thinning out the dark area some.

 

[MsLoud]

View attachment 689257 Hi JeremyR,
I hope it's ok to request for some insight and advice on this thread about the shoulder of the rayon wick turning brown. The tails don't seem to brown, just the parts from the edge of the coil. And it's not the whole shoulder that browns, it's just the outer parts that face the chamber not the posts. The rest of the shoulder does not brown.
The picture should say it all. Would really appreciate your advice. And thank you for all your tutorials and insight on wicking with rayon.

Imbalance and airflow I have found create this darkening of the wick.

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[JeremyR]

View attachment 689257 Hi JeremyR,
I hope it's ok to request for some insight and advice on this thread about the shoulder of the rayon wick turning brown. The tails don't seem to brown, just the parts from the edge of the coil. And it's not the whole shoulder that browns, it's just the outer parts that face the chamber not the posts. The rest of the shoulder does not brown.
The picture should say it all. Would really appreciate your advice. And thank you for all your tutorials and insight on wicking with rayon.

100% madman,
that's exactly what we're here for!!!!!

You've got great advice already from our great rayonati members.

Typically that is a sign of excess wick in that spot or it is touching the chamber walls.

Either way first start by simply trimming the brown spot off and that should balance the wick or stop it from touching.

Alternatively you trimmed a little much off the other side. Either way do the trim and you should start running clear; With a well balanced wick, that will reduce gunking even further. This is the key to getting maximum maintenace free life.

What you may be seeing is the ebb of the juice into the excess rayon. This can ebb and flow causing more gunking over time. Rayon likes to keep itself evenly saturated. When you add say a nob of rayon on the side it won't respond in transportation of juice at the same rate as the main body of the wick.

Its like a highway with a rest area. Cars pull off and stop, while everyone else is flying by on the freeway.

With excess by the coil it will draw juice back out. (Ebb, flow back)

 

[cigatron]

"Its like a highway with a rest area. Cars pull off and stop, while everyone else is flying by on the freeway."


Excellent analogy.

 

[Divinemadman]

Much thanks and gratitude to all of you. Really appreciate all the advice and the time taken to share. Cheers!

 

[Divinemadman]

One other thing, would this also mean that the density inside the coil is too much? Should I put less rayon in the next time? Thank you

 

[Alter]

No... not less rayon. Even though it can be packed to be coil distorting tight when wicked, you add juice to the wick and it all of a sudden loosens up...settling upon itself. Its in the tails to how much bulk you get rid of. I do think the having the wick touch the edge could cause brown but something else to consider is that it could be half cooked juice being pushed back on the wick browning it cause the juice flows on the outside of the fiber. The cotton since it flows inside the fiber just plugs up with the crusties, scorching the fiber inside the coil that doesn't get juice to it anymore thus turning the outside blackish.

 

[VictorViper]

Yep, if it's minor like that you should be able to just vape the discoloration right out of that tail. Vape it drier before dripping or squonking next time and see what happens.

 

[Alter]

Rayon has been a great wicking material for me. As long as it performs letting me vape over 100mls before before it begins to tire out but usually the coil cocoons long before the rayon dies. Having it go a bit brown or any color is no biggie for me.

 

[Thayamax]

After I make a new wick I check it after a day or 2 of vaping on it to check for brown areas at the bend. If there are, it generally means I didn't trim enough thickness from the tail or the wick is touching the chamber. Either way, I trim off the brown area and my wick is good to go for weeks.

 

[JeremyR]

The brown piece should be trimmed off, only the portion that's brown.. tiny scissors work great. It will typically come back otherwise.

I personally don't have a cocoon at 300 ml. This is a combination of proper rayon wick, medium golden color juice that's not over flavored, proper coil size for situation, power level that doesnt overpower the air flow of the atty and the draw power of your lungs, final key is cool down overdraw; or releasing power button and continuing draw for 1-2 seconds to finish vaporizing the juice while the coil is in the vapor heat range.

Continued sizzling after vape indicated the coil is still cooking the juice but your not vaping it. Over time this caramelizes the juice on the coil. The heavier the guage the longer it retains heat.

There are times you just can keep all this in line and you start to develop some gunking. There is one adjunct you can implement if you start develop some gunk build-up. Simply drip juice and wipe the gunk off the coil, redrip and go. I use a paper towel (ect.) folded to a point like a paper air plane... This keeps the coil from building up excess gunk and damaging the taste - further extending the usable life of the coil assembly multiple times without rewicking. (As long as your coil density was thick enough, otherwise things will just continue to get worse)

I use hangsen Arabic Tobacco at 3.3 - 3.5% & 95% vg. It's a golden brown. The darker brown or the sweeter the juice more likely it is to caramelize. To extend your maintenace intervals to the max you should cut the juice as much as you can without losing flavor.

Typically switching from cotton you can reduce flavoring by 25% and still have the same effect. It will usually take a day for your palette to adjust so give it a chance. Less flavor is good for many reasons besides longevity.

 

[VictorViper]

I've been toying around with a fancy "vaper's cotton" this week (VCC) and while it's lovely stuff (seriously, I want my clothes made of this cotton), it is laughably inappropriate for vaping. It also acts unusually, expanding and contracting drastically based on how wet or dry it is. I can't say I've perfected my wicks with it yet, so I'm holding off on final judgment until I find a density that isn't problematic. The cotton itself is combed beautifully and has very long fibres, and resists scorching unlike any other fibre I've used, but it's finickier than rayon, doesn't wick like "normal" cotton, and doesn't ever seem to break in.

Why am I mentioning this here? Because I simply can't understand the apparently successful cottage industry of snake oil salesmen in the cotton world. Rayon is easy to source, cheap, and flat-out superior to every wicking option I've encountered so far (still want to get my hands on hemp). And for Pete's sake, even among cotton options, plain 'ol KGD sits at the top.

So why, WHY is rayon not our defacto other wicking option at this point? Why is it still on the fringes of vaping? How are these fancy cotton suppliers still going?

 

[DavidOck]

Rayon is easy to source, cheap,

Can't make much money with it. Less than $15 for a lifetime supply, even pif-ing a lot. So "specialty" cotton for the big bucks.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

I'm thinking of taking some unflavored on my trip out west next month, to give my palette a break. It's laughable to think how long one could go without rewicking rayon with unflavored given I could get by with my favorite recipe on one wick the whole 16-day trip

 

[cigatron]

And for Pete's sake, even among cotton options, plain 'ol KGD sits at the top.

I try most every new cotton that comes out, only because rayon is so boring, it just works great all the time.....ho hum.
I haven't tried vcc yet but now it's on my list. So far Kendo Premium Gold is the best cotton wicking I've tried, it behaves way closer to rayon than kgd.

 

[TrollDragon]

... still want to get my hands on hemp ...

I ran degummed hemp wicks for a while, don't even waste your time.

 

[VictorViper]

Can't make much money with it. Less than $15 for a lifetime supply, even pif-ing a lot. So "specialty" cotton for the big bucks.

Sure, that part I get - the folks selling the stuff aren't fools. I'm looking at it from the angle of why it (Rayon) hasn't clicked with the vaping crowd at large.

 

[awsum140]

Sure, that part I get - the folks selling the stuff aren't fools. I'm looking at it from the angle of why it (Rayon) hasn't clicked with the vaping crowd at large.

I think one thing that prevents rayon from being even more popular is the misconception that rayon is some kind of plastic. Combine that with the number of folks that just don't use RBA/RTA/RDA atomizers and opt for prebuilt stuff and it's somewhat of an uphill battle. It would be nice if manufacturers adopted rayon the way they seem to have adopted cotton and it's surprising they haven't since rayon is so inexpensive.

 

[MsLoud]

Even in vape shop settings I've had guys/gals look at me as if I'm an alien when I show them my RDA. I guess it has to do with the FDA overreach about shops building for people. All you see are drop in coils. More people use those now than build. Those coils use cotton of some variation.
When you say Rayon, people associate that with clothing not vaping.

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