Cotton - How Difficult is it to Keep Wet?

[Kemosabe]

im trying to move away from silica wicks. the breaking down of them and possible inhilation of the fibers is worrying. so i went SS. im having trouble with it and i almost had to get checked into the nut house due to my frustration, so im trying to go with somehting (for now) that will be a bit easier to work with.
cotton seems like the ticket. it appears that it will allow me to avoid silica, get great flavor, and also give me a clue as to if my rba skills are lacking in the SS mesh oxidation, coil building, or *gasp* both. or double gasp, something even more complicated that i havent figured out yet.
i had read that cotton can burn and that it will give off noxious fumes if it does. this is exactly the type of thing im trying to avoid by moving away from silica. so, my question is exactly how hard is it to prevent the cotton from drying out.
ive got the Vulcan DID clone, running it (hopefully lol) on my provari. ive got a few different gauge resistance wires, in both kenthal and nichrome. i doubt these details matter, just trying to describe my "set up" to get the best help i can.
thanks

 

[BGabe]

What I do is wrap my coil "bare". I use a darning needle and wrap the wire around that. Here is a video I did.
A7 RBA set-up for bottom feeding - YouTube

It's long, but you don't have to pay attention to the second half unless that's how you want to set up your cotton wick. I've since moved onto a different type of cotton that I'm able to twirl and stick it through the coil after it's been placed. Here is the cotton I'm using, it's in the "fabric" dept. at Wal Mart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cotton-Cord-Filler-6-32/17354716

The flavor is beyond amazing. I've never been able to taste such so many hints in my juice as I do with this. The best part is, it's VERY cheap. Once you get a good coil, all you have to do is occaisionally change the wick. As far as keeping wet, I use it in an A7 on a bottom feeder and it's very easy for me to keep it wet. But, you definitely don't want it to get dry. It tastes terrible. I will probably do another video with this setup soon.

 

[BGabe]

If you could, post some pictures of what your working with right now. It may be something simple if we could see it

 

[Kemosabe]

my main question was just a general inquiry about cotton. i havent tried or even purchased any cotton yet. im just wondering how difficult it is to keep wet. i cant find the thread, but one member warned heavily about the noxious chemical that is produced when cotton burns. im trying to figure out if cotton burns easily, or if its hardly ever the case and not somehting most people worry about.

If you could, post some pictures of what your working with right now. It may be something simple if we could see it

heres a (crappy) photo of my coil. this was my attempt at SS mesh. post #10:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-i-did-try-frustrated-newbie.html#post7809336

 

[BGabe]

The answer, in short, is Yes. Cotton does burn easily. But, in the case of a bottom feeder, it's easy to avoid. I have no experience with using a cotton wick in a GEN style. And yes, when it does burn, the fumes are definitely smoke, not dry vapor. So, you have to be careful. It's worth a shot IMO. Refer to this thread for some ideas

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/346524-spin-e-coil-sure-coil-e-wind-e.html

 

[Kemosabe]

i see. thanks for filling me in. i do have a vmod but i havent yet looked into bottom feeder RBAs. if i can become successful with my DID clone, i certainly consider it.

 

[RosaJ]

I re-wick my vvn coils with cotton yarn and have not had any problem with them burning. Would you vape a dry tank? That would be the only way they would burn, but then again so would silica, cartos, etc. As long as you keep ejuice in it there's no chance of them burning.

 

[donnah]

I just tear off a piece of a cotton ball... roll it into a "wick" and wrap the kanthal around that. Works really well.

 

[j4mmin42]

If you have the metal tank DUD, just make sure to keep it nice and full at all times...

 

[tmcase]

Cotton wick will burn eventually no matter how wet you keep it. Even bottom coils like the Penelope with juice flow control will burn the wick in half eventually. The coils get very hot and burn through the wick. I've never gotten a dry hit with my Penny with a cotton wick but the coils eventually burn through the cotton. It's worth it though. The flavor is great. You can tell when the wick is starting to get burnt way before it starts putting out nasty fumes. You'll start to taste a mild burnt taste before that happens. In my opinion cotton is safer than silica and taste a lot better once you break it in.

 

[RosaJ]

Of course cotton will burn eventually, everything does. None of these wicks are meant to last forever. Since I started recoiling my wicks with cotton I usually replace them every two to three days at most. It is so cheap in the end there's no reason to struggle with less than perfect wicks.

 

[JazzyTech]

I get good success rates with cotton #1/0 square-braid candle wick and Kanthal 32awg wrapped first on a screw. That gives me 2.1mm inside diameter; perfect for the braid size. wrap 4-6 times depending of preference, thread and vape. I don't chain vape like some, so you may end up getting dry/burned hits.

 

[Yinzer]

I use cotton makeup applicator pads. They trim very nicely, roll up nicely. Easy to re-wick without having to re-coil (vision V3 heads). I never get a dry hit. They wick much better than silica. I get three or four days, start to taste a little off, remove the old wick, toss a few cent new wick in place. Voila...amazing vape.

 

[JazzyTech]

I use cotton makeup applicator pads. They trim very nicely, roll up nicely. Easy to re-wick without having to re-coil (vision V3 heads). I never get a dry hit. They wick much better than silica. I get three or four days, start to taste a little off, remove the old wick, toss a few cent new wick in place. Voila...amazing vape.

Be sure to ask your gf/spouse before raiding her stuff. My wife's makeup and sewing drawer is now padlocked thanks to my experimenting

 

[tmcase]

I re-wick my vvn coils with cotton yarn and have not had any problem with them burning. Would you vape a dry tank? That would be the only way they would burn, but then again so would silica, cartos, etc. As long as you keep ejuice in it there's no chance of them burning.

Of course cotton will burn eventually, everything does. None of these wicks are meant to last forever. Since I started recoiling my wicks with cotton I usually replace them every two to three days at most. It is so cheap in the end there's no reason to struggle with less than perfect wicks.

Maybe I misunderstood you but you did say what is in red. No offense intended.

 

[RosaJ]

Maybe I misunderstood you but you did say what is in red. No offense intended.

None taken, it's all good! LOL I have not had any cotton wick burn on me because I replace them way before they have a chance to. Even with the premade heads I got from the vvn, I had to replace them often.

 

[tmcase]

None taken, it's all good! LOL I have not had any cotton wick burn on me because I replace them way before they have a chance to. Even with the premade heads I got from the vvn, I had to replace them often.

I got ya. I've been starting to do the same thing lately.

 

[JazzyTech]

In terms of reliability I've had the best luck with square-braid. Went 10 days once (vaping about 6-8ml/day) just to see. No point to this though, since it's much easier to just replace the wick

Nothing like the first few mls though mMmmMmmm

 

[LucentShadow]

I don't find cotton to be at all difficult to keep wet. I use a mini vivi nova most of the time, using short wicks that don't hang into the juice, and just make sure to tilt it enough to wet the wicks every few hits. I rebuild them after about a week, and rarely find any loss of fiber at the coil. Sometimes it seems slightly singed on the outer threads, but not significantly.

I currently use Aunt Lydia's bamboo crochet thread, and find it to be a bit more resilient than cotton. Hemp string would probably be even better, but I've not tried it.

Personally, I wouldn't call the fumes from burning cotton 'noxious'. Processed cotton should be around 99% cellulose, which generally produces carbon dioxide, water, and very little particulate when burned. I'd imagine that there would be traces of other chemicals, but we're talking about a minute amount of material over a fairly long time, if it gets burnt at all.

I do a burn test on all of the organic wick materials that I've used, just to try and make sure that they aren't mixing in synthetic fibers. Cellulose-based fibers should burn with a nice yellow-orange flame, with little ash left behind, and smell slightly of burning paper. I burned a clump of cotton balls once, out of curiosity, and it was barely noticeable in the air.

 

[Yinzer]

Be sure to ask your gf/spouse before raiding her stuff. My wife's makeup and sewing drawer is now padlocked thanks to my experimenting

My gf works for Sephoria, so gets the pads really cheap I find them much easier to work with than pulled cotton...