Best type of cotton wick -- yarn / from cotton balls / pipe cleaners / etc.

[jersey_emt]

I read that some people are having good results using cotton as a wick and I would like to give it a try with my smok Scar rebuildable dripping atomizer. If it makes a difference, I'm only making single coils with the (3-post) Scar for now because I'm new to rebuildables.

What would be the best source of cotton for this? Some thin cotton yarn would probably be the easiest, simply trim and pull through the coil. Pulling some strands from a cotton ball and twisting it would also be pretty easy.

But what about thin cotton pipe cleaners? The metal core would help the wick stay in whatever position / orientation while in use. Some interesting things could be tried, like wrapping a spiral of wick inside the body of the atomizer.

 

[Sad Society]

I use regular 100 % cotton balls...Walmart brand. Some ppl use organic. IDK about using cotton pipe cleaners, the metal core could cause a short.

Cotton balls work good because you can make the wick any size you want.

 

[Steamix]

Still got a few pipecleaners from my pre-vaping days ... doesn't look or feel like cotton.
But maybe you got access to that. Worth a try. Just fire it up without taking a puff first, I'd say. No fun inhaling some exotic gunk from melting plastic fibers...
But if you wanna got heavy metal, SS ( aka stainless steel mesh ) works fine in dripping atomizers.

 

[jersey_emt]

Still got a few pipecleaners from my pre-vaping days ... doesn't look or feel like cotton.
But maybe you got access to that. Worth a try. Just fire it up without taking a puff first, I'd say. No fun inhaling some exotic gunk from melting plastic fibers...
But if you wanna got heavy metal, SS ( aka stainless steel mesh ) works fine in dripping atomizers.

Yep I use 100% cotton pipe cleaners to clean my pipes. The only worry would be shorting out onto the metal core but I don't think that will be a problem if I do it right. The core is very tiny, and even on the thinnest pipe cleaners I have there is plenty of cotton surrounding it.

Basically, if it works, it would be a "guided" wick. You set the shape of the wick and it will stay that way.

SS mesh is also something I've haven't tried -- actually, I haven't tried anything other than silica -- so I'll give that a go as well.

Thanks!

 

[Jazzi Mike]

Man I never thought of using pipe cleaners. The issue with cotton ones is that you can't dry burn them. If they had silica, you could torch them and oxidize the metal. They would be pretty easy to use.

Anyways, using 100% sterile cotton balls and rolling them into a wick is not too difficult, especially if you build micro coils.

 

[Dj Xy]

I have had good luck with 100% cotton smokeless candle wicks made by Ner Mitzvah.

 

[Exile]

These seem to be the most popular types of cotton to use...

100% Sterile Rolled Cotton (this is what I use) - CVS Rolled Cotton - CVS pharmacy
100% Organic Cotton Balls - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cottonballs-Organic-Essentials-80-Ball/30254526
Sugar & Cream (brand) White Yarn - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sugar-n-Cream-Yarn-Cones/24629135

 

[jocat54]

I have had better luck with cotton balls than with the cotton yarn. The yarn must be twisted to tight in comparison to the cotton balls, both work well but to me there is a big difference.....cotton balls win.

 

[lewmaster]

cotton balls are just too easy to work with and cheap and easy to find. I use them from drippers to genesis atomizers to Protanks and they work great for everything.

 

[Sontu]

I use both cotton balls and yarn. I tend to use the yarn in drippers, it fits perfectly in my micro coils wrapped on a 5/64 bit. I got a lifetime supply directly from the Peaches and Cream website for ~$10 (2,100+ foot cone). I use cotton balls for pretty much everything else.

 

[nosaj03]

I use both organic cotton and the yarn. I like the yarn for its uniformity and the cotton pieces for its versatility. Both have yielded excellent results.

 

[jersey_emt]

Well I gave pipe cleaners a try, and they do work, just not exactly like I had hoped.

They do not wick at all. This makes sense when you think about it, because it is made of very short strands that radiate outwards from the metal core. So this means that if you use a long piece and wet the entire length with juice, only the juice right near the coil gets vaporized. Any juice more than a few millimeters from the coil itself just sits where it is.

But it does work very well if you use only a short piece (just enough to span the width of the coil plus 3 or 4 mm on each side), and add just a couple of drops of juice. You have to constantly re-drip after only a few puffs, but those puffs are excellent.

 

[ta2dave76]

I use cotton hand picked from the fields of TN.