A cheap alternative to PTB

[Pumaman]

Update: Went Organza shopping today. No luck at Wal Mart or Micheal's finding Organza brand ribbon, but I DID find Offray ribbon so I finally went with that. Upon returning home and checking the internet, I apparently was looking for Offray Organza the whole time. Offray being the brand, Organza being the style...oh well.

Anyway, came away with 1 1/2" Offray Arabesque white, wired, polyester. The material between the wires is very similar to a PTB, but slightly finer. I cut through the wires off for this run and used the material in the same fashion you would the PTB in the rho mod.
For 4 vapes it behaved exactly the same as a PTB, then I got nothing. I spent 5 minutes scratching my head, as it was so similar I could not figure out why it would behave so differently. After pulling the fill out, examing, refolding, cursing, I realized the atty had come partially unscrewed from the battery...

So, after getting back on track it is my now informed opinion that Offray Arabesque 1 1/2" wired polyester behaves exactly the same as a PTB when used in the manner I outlined, just as Hellen A. Handbasket said. Good news for anyone who wants to save money and not waste tea, or try different methods with the material. Sadly for me, it also tastes exactly the same as well. This is confounding me since I read in another thread that the Polyfil that comes in the cartridge is PET as well, yet I don't get the same taste. I even ran a double blind test with 2 510's, same liquid, one PTB and one Polyfil, both newly topped off to make sure I wasn't imagining the whole thing. Could be that this method puts so much more of the material closer to the atty it gets more heat and transfers the taste? Anyway, I'm going back to playing with the nylon tulle until my #80 stainless steel mesh arrives. I fully expect it to leak like a sieve, melt the cartridge, and maybe even throw sparks, but we will see.

 

[isande]

About the tulle & possible melting...

My husband's 901 passthrough got stuck on today and we didn't notice until it scorched the desk. The atomizer survived and surprisingly so did the nylon tulle filler in his cart, which was deliberately cut to protrude a bit beyond the cartridge.. no sign of melting or other damage to the tulle whatsoever and it tasted just fine.

I am now confident that under normal conditions the tulle will not melt.

--K

 

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

Puma, glad to hear you had good luck at the craft store. Odd about the taste though. There shouldn't be any. Have you cleared out your atty (and cartridges/mouthpieces) lately? A nice Everclear soak might help to remove any odd tastes. A friend of mine complained of odd tastes, and after he did the soak and refilled all his carts, wah lah... vapin bliss. Turned out a few dry vapes scortching his atty and his sampling of 5 different juices had mucked things up for his atty and his taste buds.

BTW, just to clarify - the PET plastic is the Lipton gossamer teabags not the polyester fiber filling normally found in the carts or in bags at the craft store. So your comparison with ribbon vs. polyfill fiber was polyester in both. Shouldn't be any taste difference, as they both have the same heat resistance properties.

Let us know about the wire mesh.

 

[chris2650]

Hey thanks Y'all!!!!!

I bought some $3 Tulle at Michaels today, cut off a 6in by 2in pce, rolled it up, folded it, jammed it into the (801) cartridge, dripped about 20 drops of liquid on it and I'm happily vaping for a few hours now. Looks fine, works fine and so far... and that's been my big ARGHHH with cartridges...it is CONSISTENT

Only time will tell but it's looking good! And easy enough to do for lazy people (me)

Chris

 

[Archer]

Guess I'll be visiting the craft store today. This sounds like a great mod, thanks for sharing.

 

[ournature]

how does this nylon-mesh tulle compare to PET piramyd tea bags?
is it softer or about the same consistence?

 

[isande]

It is softer, which seems to make it wick a little better but also makes it a bit harder to work with.

--K

 

[talmadgemonroe]

nope, it doesn't melt! the best part is that it stays pliable and "sproingy" in the cart (PTB seems to get brittle after sitting in a cart for a few days, has anyone noticed that? maybe it's just me). I'm loving it!

I have noticed too that the PTB gets brittle after a while and dark colored no matter what juice I use.

 

[cmdrmaxwell]

after 6 tries in my 510 i gave up. i found a roll of organza ribbon and was anxious to try so i cut some and started vaping away only to find that i could only get a couple of puffs till the burned taste kicked in and in addition was the taste of what had to be the ribbon! i never got it with any other filler. i even washed it and could not get past it. i went back to PTB even with the same atty and again after a couple of puffs the taste of the ribbon was gone. if it works for you hooray, i will have to keep searchin!

 

[Flitzanu]

hmm.

at first discussion, Tulle was found to have a fairly low melting point and not recommended to use?

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/27693-update-tea-bag-filler.html

 

[Stehle]

hmm.

at first discussion, Tulle was found to have a fairly low melting point and not recommended to use?

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/27693-update-tea-bag-filler.html

You know Flitzanu I gave up on the whole Tulle experiment thing after reading that thread when the use of this material first came up.

Instead we turned our attentions to bulk PTB material, but that turned out to yield no results. (Robert has been contacted recently from this link... I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.)

Well so many have had good results with it I guess back to Micheal's I'll go.

 

[cmdrmaxwell]

if tulle or organza works for you go right on ahead, if it didnt try the blue open celled foam. they are called the HOT magnum sleeves size U. i have used it in my 510 and 401 since yesterday afternoon. i filled each one and vaped for hours, i swear! i have not needed to do the thermometer shake, the analog pack or had to take the cart out and fiddle with a paperclip. when they were empty they were EMPTY! yeah i overfilled them as usual and got a mouthfull but i get greedy when i try a new filler. i cut it slightly longer, filled the cart first then stuffed it in. it really lasts a long time! only thing i notice, and it might be because i have cut all my liquids a lot, is that i dont get much throat hit. i am expecting a bottle of 36mg unflavored to mix up some new flavors and ill update if it changes.

 

[Flitzanu]

if tulle or organza works for you go right on ahead, if it didnt try the blue open celled foam. they are called the HOT magnum sleeves size U. i have used it in my 510 and 401 since yesterday afternoon. i filled each one and vaped for hours, i swear! i have not needed to do the thermometer shake, the analog pack or had to take the cart out and fiddle with a paperclip. when they were empty they were EMPTY! yeah i overfilled them as usual and got a mouthfull but i get greedy when i try a new filler. i cut it slightly longer, filled the cart first then stuffed it in. it really lasts a long time! only thing i notice, and it might be because i have cut all my liquids a lot, is that i dont get much throat hit. i am expecting a bottle of 36mg unflavored to mix up some new flavors and ill update if it changes.

do you have any stats on the make up of the material?

 

[kristin]

I've been thinking about this for a month or so now, since I threw out an old wedding veil while clearing out to move!

I looked up Lipton bags and found they were PET. Looked up PET and found out that it is called polyester in textiles. So, when I go to the store, I'll be looking for 100% polyester tulle or organza. Be careful, some are nylon and some have silk or cotton fibers blended in them, which could affect the taste vs. PTB. Also, you may want to wash it in plain, hot water or with baking soda before vaping, to get any chemicals or whatnot off from the factory.

 

[JohnandMe]

Okay, I went to michaels today to try and find some LorAnns Cotton Candy Oil to add some more flavor to some Cotton Candy e-juice I recently got. I happened to see the Tulle in my search for LorAnns oils (that they did NOT have - BTW) and for $2.99 grabbed a roll. I LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!! The taste is wonderful - so good in fact, I no longer need to get LorAnns oil for more taste! amazing!

I was a little concerned it might melt and decided to do some research on the PET that Kristin mentioned vs. 100% nylon. I found that there are really only 2 types of Nylon that would make up this material Nylon6 or Nylon66. Since Nylon66 is more expensive and got this roll for so cheap..I'm guessing it's Nylon6. Now for the melting points:

PET = 260C or 500F
Nylon6 = 220C or 428F
Nylon66 = 255C or 491F

So it clearly does have a lower melting point (the Nylon6 anyway) but I dont think it is that much off the PET (apparently what the PTB are made of).

I use a 510 and take 3-4 second drags and have not had any melting of the Tulle. I will keep ya updated on how things go though.

Oh and so far - NO LEAKING!! My PTB's leaked a lot on me even if I didnt top them off...so then I tried the top fold PTB mod and the draw was so hard...the draw on the Tulle is very nice.

 

[Scottbee]

If Kristin will jump back in here... in a different thread she mentioned that she found a ribbon material that is made of the same material as the PTB (near as she could tell). She bought some and was using it.

So as they said on the "Newlywed Game"... "Let's bring the wives back in here and see what the have to say...!"

Kristin?

 

[buttercrunch]

I'm happy to see more people are trying this! I've been using it for a while now and love it...I don't know why anyone is still using PTB...this is better in every way

 

[treelvr]

Total noob and haven't done any mods, but I wonder if the off taste was caused by a dye in the fabric? The fabric is being wetted by the juice, and perhaps a dye is leaching into it. Tea bags are meant to be soaked in hot water; decorative ribbon isn't really meant to be soaked.

Would love to try this but with an undyed fabric.

 

[JohnandMe]

The fabric I have it white...I didnt get the dyed ribbon. I dont think polyfill is meant to be soaked either but it works for some people none the less.

 

[kristin]

If Kristin will jump back in here... in a different thread she mentioned that she found a ribbon material that is made of the same material as the PTB (near as she could tell). She bought some and was using it.

So as they said on the "Newlywed Game"... "Let's bring the wives back in here and see what the have to say...!"

Kristin?

Umm..yeah...let me get back to you on that one. I'm back to using my straw mod, lol!

It did get stiff after a while of use (which i've heard PTB does) and I got a sour taste in my French Vanilla Coffee. Blech. I don't think you can use it as long as the straw mod before getting fresh material.

I did the double fold, roll, semi shred shown in another thread. It really is not easy to do, so you don't want top have to be replacing it often. I think the ribbon is softer - it doesn't hold a crease like the PTB seems to in video demonstrations. The method does wick the juice well, though.

I just bought some PTB (finally found some) and I'll let you know for certain if it's the same stuff as the sheer nylon/PET ribbon!