I got a small chunk of both Nextel and Ecowool, and decided that there hasn't been a new thread about it in over 20 minutes 
I followed the advice of torching them, and I think I may have went a bit overboard with that. Propane blowtorch seems like overkill. Nextel did turn red from torching, very pretty. In places, it turned black, less pretty. Ecowool turned black, started melting, and the end of it set on fire. I had to chop off that end.
Making coils with it is amazingly easy. I have this blunt syringe needle that I usually wrap micro coils on (18 gauge needle). It fits perfectly inside both 2mm Ecowool, and 116 Nextel. Then I can wrap my resistance wire over it pretty tightly, install it into the atomizer, and then pull the needle out. That releases the wick so it's not too tight in the coil that it would restrict wicking. Both wick extremely well. Subjectively, I'd say they wick as fast as cotton balls, and faster than cotton yarn.
The flavor is great. I'd even say amazing. Comparable to SS mesh. No cottony taste, no scratchy feeling of a fresh frayed silica. My ecowool does have a bit of a funk in it, but I think it may be related to it not being torched properly.
They don't seem to fray nearly as much as silica. As a matter of fact, I can move the wick inside the coil, and it doesn't fluff up from that. Both bend better than silica, without breaking fibers, but not quite as well as cotton yarn (duh).
The wicks dry up gracefully, like silica. At first I noticed reduced flavor, then some dry taste and reduced vapor, then the dryness became unpleasant and I squonked. So very similar to silica. No sudden burning of cotton, and no horrendous throat ripping dryness of SS mesh.
So far I'm impressed. I'll have to see how long they last in my setup.
Also, I apologize for lack of pictures. I was so excited to try that I forgot. And, since I only have a little bit of both, I'm reluctant to rip it out and start over.
I followed the advice of torching them, and I think I may have went a bit overboard with that. Propane blowtorch seems like overkill. Nextel did turn red from torching, very pretty. In places, it turned black, less pretty. Ecowool turned black, started melting, and the end of it set on fire. I had to chop off that end.
Making coils with it is amazingly easy. I have this blunt syringe needle that I usually wrap micro coils on (18 gauge needle). It fits perfectly inside both 2mm Ecowool, and 116 Nextel. Then I can wrap my resistance wire over it pretty tightly, install it into the atomizer, and then pull the needle out. That releases the wick so it's not too tight in the coil that it would restrict wicking. Both wick extremely well. Subjectively, I'd say they wick as fast as cotton balls, and faster than cotton yarn.
The flavor is great. I'd even say amazing. Comparable to SS mesh. No cottony taste, no scratchy feeling of a fresh frayed silica. My ecowool does have a bit of a funk in it, but I think it may be related to it not being torched properly.
They don't seem to fray nearly as much as silica. As a matter of fact, I can move the wick inside the coil, and it doesn't fluff up from that. Both bend better than silica, without breaking fibers, but not quite as well as cotton yarn (duh).
The wicks dry up gracefully, like silica. At first I noticed reduced flavor, then some dry taste and reduced vapor, then the dryness became unpleasant and I squonked. So very similar to silica. No sudden burning of cotton, and no horrendous throat ripping dryness of SS mesh.
So far I'm impressed. I'll have to see how long they last in my setup.
Also, I apologize for lack of pictures. I was so excited to try that I forgot. And, since I only have a little bit of both, I'm reluctant to rip it out and start over.
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