510LR Burned Wick, Do I just Toss it?

[Sandfury]

I bought my first two 510 LR atomizers a week or so ago to try dripping. Well, after a little while I started getting a horrid burned taste on everything. I tried my normal cleaning methods (Boiling Water, Crest Pro Health Mouth Wash in an Ultra Sonic Cleaner) and nothing worked. After a little digging on the interwebs I saw that a lot of people dewick and debridge their atomizers. So I proceeded to debridge with no issue then started removing the wick. As I was removing the wick I noticed that it was black on the bottom. Then after even more removal I noticed that the wick was (appeared to be) burned to the coil. Is there any way to get the burned on wick off the coil or is the atomizer just dead?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks !

 

[Papa Lazarou]

The wick material doesn't burn (at least it shouldn't). I believe it's made out of glass fibre or silica fibre type material that can withstand very high temperatures. The thick black 'crud' that covers the coil and wick after they've been used for a while is left by the juice (flavouring etc. which didn't vaporise cleanly). IMO the only way to get it off is by burning it off. I have used this method with good results - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/69834-my-atty-resurrection-method.html Don't use higher voltage on LR atty's and take care not to burn them too long - they can burn out quite easily.

I have used CE2 cartomizers a lot and with the wick and coil being so plainly in view on these, its clear to see what is going on. The wick around the coil blackens over time (just a few days). Dry burning is an effective method of cleaning it. A burnt tasting and poor performing CE2 (that's not down to a wicking issue) can vape like new following dry burning, and you can actually see the black crud turn to ash, revealing a clean white wick underneath.

I've never tried removing wick running through the coil (it's going to be difficult without breaking the thin nichrome element). However I believe the wick is there to get juice to the coil, and without it, I suspect the atomiser is not going to work very well. Hope this helps