Cotton confusion

[bulldog63h]

I keep trying to use a cotton wick in my RSST. When I prime it initially, it vapes really well. After a few hits though, it gets dry and burns. I have it going down into the tank and tilt to keep it wet while vaping but i can't even get an hour of vape time out of it. What is it that I'm doing wrong?

 

[Portertown]

I don't have any experience with the RSST, but I do use cotton wicks in my Kayfun Lites.
You may have too much cotton in your coil. When the cotton get fully wet it swells to about double or more it's dry size. The dry cotton should slide through the coil with little to no resistance at all. If it bunches up going into the coil it is too much cotton.
Too much cotton will swell when fully wet and block the juice from going into the coil.
It will work for a little while and then stop wicking.

 

[emus]

I never seem to reap the benefits of "expanding" cotton so I did a little test.

Laid cotton wicks on a ruler and compared dry to wet diameter using PG.

Loose untwisted cotton ball wick dry = 5 mm; cotton ball wick PG saturated = 5 mm.
Boiled cotton yarn dry = 3 mm; yarn saturated w/ PG = 3 mm.

Saturated one half of cotton wick w/ PG and could not see any expansion compared to dry half.

Maybe some members are willing to conduct more cotton expansion tests?
Perhaps results will vary w/ H2O, VG, cotton density, etc?

 

[bulldog63h]

Okay. So maybe i need to use half of what I'm using now. I'm having to twist the cotton to get it through the coil.

 

[emus]

This wick density works well at 30% VG.

 

[ConradM]

Try taking your fill plug out?

 

[donnah]

I wick my rsst with cotton as shown in the pic below.. notice how I've left excess cotton coming out of the top and then draped it down beside the coil and kinda stuffed it back down in the wick hole. It's been my experience that this not only aids in wicking but effectively seals the wick hole so the juice doesn't leak out the fill hole. (as much or as fast) I never had any luck with wicking (mesh or cotton) with the fill hole plugged. To me, cotton tastes and preforms just as good as mesh if not better plus it's a lot more portable.. I'm not afraid if it gets horizontal for a few minutes I'll have a mess.

(this is a DID, not a RSST but the concept is the same)


I don't have too much problems with wicking.. the natural tilt of vaping seems to feed the coil quite nicely. When the juice gets too low in the tank.. maybe 1/4 full.. then I find I have to tilt it to feed the wick. I usually refill it at that point anyway but it can be vaped dry as long as I keep juice to the wick.

also..I keep the wick and air hole towards me while vaping. That way the natural tilt of vaping will keep the wick saturated with juice. The amount of cotton is important too. Too much and it may get dry in the middle and be hard to get out when you rewick it.. too little and the coils that aren't touching the wick may glow and give a burnt taste. You should be able to pull the cotton through the wick (I start mine through it and then feed it through the bottom of the coil down into the tank with needle nosed tweezers) with the cotton sliding freely with just a little resistance. You want the cotton be fluffy, filling the coil without being too wispy.

 

[ConradM]

I've actually been testing my RSST with a thin mesh wick to see if it would leak. No leaks so far and I've had it on it's side. air hole down for a good 10 minutes here and there.

 

[bulldog63h]

When I was using 50/50 juice I could leave the fill plug in. Switching to 100%vg I had to start leaving the plug out. That was with a mesh wick. It's also a 400 mesh. I have been using genesis atty's for about eight months now, maybe more. In four years of vaping it's the best atty style I've used. I just couldn't figure the cotton thing out. It's working well now, so far. Hopefully it will continue to. We'll see, I suppose.

 

[ConradM]

I don't get the cotton craze. I much prefer the flavor from a mesh wick or a mesh wick wrapped in cotton. But not straight cotton.

 

[zero66]

Okay. So maybe i need to use half of what I'm using now. I'm having to twist the cotton to get it through the coil.

and also twisting makes the cotton a bit too tight...I try to thread it in without twisting as not to overtighten the fibers.

 

[emus]

I don't get the cotton craze. I much prefer the flavor from a mesh wick or a mesh wick wrapped in cotton. But not straight cotton.

Cotton wrapped mesh tastes great till first dry hit burn.
Cotton wick wicks faster and can take a more user error dry hit abuse w/o burning up.
Cotton wick supports on the fly TP refresh.