Zippo re-wick of rebuildable stardust

[Yinzer]

Hi everyone -- just figured I'd share this real quick. As my first venture into re-wicking, I decided to not yet mess with the coil. I cleaned off a used coil, dry burned, rinsed. Then I removed the original wick. I had it siting there awaiting something.

Picked up a wick for a Zippo lighter in Rite Aide. 79 cents. Good for two re-wickings. I unraveled the wick (there are three copper wires and some cotton around the silica internals) then slid the silica wick out.

I separated out about half the threads. I wet the ends, twisted them, and slid them through the coils. Didn't take long at all.

Once I had them through, I trimmed to be able to fit the tank over.

Last, I used a piece of the silica trimming and draped it over the insulator, which sits above the coil. Then I placed the silicone cap on tightly.

Filled it up with some juice that's about 30% VG, 24mg. Let it sit, then vaped. The wicking is incredible....no burnt taste, even up to 4.6 volts on a 2.8 ohm head.

The flavor is hugely improved. The throat hit is intense. Vapor production about the same. I could only take two or three hits before I got dizzy. That didn't happen with the original wicks

Some pics. It's an easy job. I'll try re-coiling next time

 

[vsummer1]

Well, it is a cotton wick... many people use cheesecloth and love it.

 

[Yinzer]

The Zippo's a cotton wick? I had no idea. Looks / feels almost identical to the original wick material. I'm glad you corrected me. I assume they cannot be dry burned, then.

I will try cheese cloth next time. Cheaper

 

[LeftCoastVaper]

Cotton wicks definitely taste and draw better than silica, imho, but losing the dry burn ability is a deal breaker for me. Depending on your juice, these coils can gunk up pretty quickly, and once that happens all the advantages of the cotton are lost. Of course, if you don't mind rewicking and recoiling every couple of tanks, it may be the way to go...

 

[Yinzer]

Didn't take very long to re-wick. Less than five minutes. And I can dry burn with the wick out. Plus, it seems to have eliminated dry hits...even all the way to an empty tank, I get decent hits.

However, with cotton wicks, at about 4.4 volts, these things eat juice like crazy.

 

[LeftCoastVaper]

Maybe I'm just too lazy to go to the bother of disassembling the coil-wick setup every time I want to burn, which is frequently. But I find that if I twirl the tube around after each hit to wet the top of the wicks I don't get any dry hits. Also helps to either notch or cut down the cap, and/or spread the wick slots slightly.

 

[Boden]

I did this tutorial for the vivi nova heads but the heads you are using are very similar. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-yarn-vision-vivi-nova-rebuild-technique.html

 

[Yinzer]

I actually purchased rolled cotton at Rite Aid ($5 for a huge roll), peeled off a strip, rolled it up, and worked it through the coil. Trimmed. I didn't have to re-coil. Took some finesse, but eventually got it through.

Talk about a completely different vaping experience. The flavor, TH, wicking, not a single dry hit even with the juice running empty...incredible. I'm not even bothering with the stock wicks anymore. This roll of cotton will last months.

Downside...the clearo gets really thirsty at 4.5+ volts