Cotton Question

[CShaver]

So I've been using the same organic cotton from Walgreens in my builds for over 2 months now. Everything has been fine up until the last week or 2.

I've been getting a horrible taste when I first put the cotton in. It doesn't taste like it's burnt, but it's (for lack of a better way to describe it) such a cotton-y taste. I can't taste my juice for about 100 pulls.

Is this why people boil their cotton? I'm not sure why I'm tasting it now and havent tasted it for the last 2 months.

 

[minitater]

Yea, that's one reason why I gave up on cotton many months ago and went to braided cotton wicks. Easier to handle, wrap and seems to have eliminated that burned taste I had with cotton ball wicks.

wt

 

[HughDaHand]

I have noticed that some of my cotton balls will give a taste for a while while others don't. I just figured that some cotton plants have a stronger flavor in them than others. It also might be that that cotton was grown in a different soil will have a stronger flavor to them. Kind of like how some oranges are sweater than others, and California oranges taste different than Florida grown.

 

[dannyrl]

When I first wick my coil, I saturate the cotton and fire it until the cotton is dry again. Then I re-saturate it and give it a taste and repeat as needed. Put all your cotton back in the bag and keep it sealed, maybe your cotton is "aging" and collecting this flavor (purely speculation, I'm not sure if that's even a thing). But I have found that the cotton I used that's been out of the bag (yeah, yeah hygiene, blah blah) especially had this cotton taste. I've read that a cotton-y taste means there's too much cotton, try making less dense wicks.

 

[Zombiecan]

I bough some organic cotton from one of my local B&M shops to try it out. I starting using whatever we had in the bathroom cabinet which was a target store brand regular cotton and it wasn't too bad I didn't boil it or anything. When I got the organic cotton from the B&M they told me it was already pre-boiled and ready to use, when I got home and opened the little baggie it came in

it kinda had a perfumy/fragrancy smell to it... I heard of this before so I thought nothing of it and wicked my rda with it and I did notice a bit of an off taste to it but it went away after a few vape hits but was still kinda put off by it. I started to run low so I went to CVS and picked up this Organic Essentials organic cotton

and a gallon of distilled water. I boiled half the bag for 15 minuets and pat it dry with paper towels then let it air dry in sunlight with a clean paper towel over it. The I put most of it in a ziploc bag and squeezed most of the air out

and dated the back of the bag. The rest I put in another ziploc bag for my regular builds because I know that bag is going to be opened and closed more often which is why I only put like half a dozen cotton balls in there at a time. Anyway I started wicking with it and right away I noticed and a clean non-perfumy non-fragrancy vape right off the bat. The cotton smells nice and clean and the VTF is amazing and there is no "break in period" for the cotton at all IMHO. Anyway I hope this helps somehow lol

... Sent from my LG G2

 

[Zombiecan]

... Sent from my LG G2

 

[CShaver]

The "aging" could be exactly the problem. I've had the same bag for 2 months since wicks don't use a lot of cotton. I never use the same ball later, but I've also been keeping the bag unzipped.

I'll pickup another bag this weekend and see if I get the same weird taste. If I don't, then the old bag is getting thrown out lol

 

[Zombiecan]

The "aging" could be exactly the problem. I've had the same bag for 2 months since wicks don't use a lot of cotton. I never use the same ball later, but I've also been keeping the bag unzipped.

I'll pickup another bag this weekend and see if I get the same weird taste. If I don't, then the old bag is getting thrown out lol

I would also recommend rewicking more often because you'll always a fresh organic cotton wick I there and it's cheap either way and like you said cotton wick doesn't use alot of it anyway so why not just change it out every couple days? I know I do sometimes every day actually lol and it's always a fresh clean vape. Just pull the old cotton out and dry burn the coil to get it clean, pop some new organic cotton in and vape on!


... Sent from my LG G2

 

[CShaver]

I would also recommend rewicking more often because you'll always a fresh organic cotton wick I there and it's cheap either way and like you said cotton wick doesn't use alot of it anyway so why not just change it out every couple days? I know I do sometimes every day actually lol and it's always a fresh clean vape. Just pull the old cotton out and dry burn the coil to get it clean, pop some new organic cotton in and vape on!


... Sent from my LG G2

I usually go 5-7 days on a wick, so I can probably replace it more often. My biggest problem with replacing the cotton is I never think about it when I have a near-empty tank. It's always right after I fill it. So I say to myslef, I say "Self! When this tank is gone, so will that cotton!" 5 days and 10/11 tanks later and I finally remember to change it

 

[Butters80]

I first tried cvs rolled cotton without boiling first and couldn't get past the taste. I figured it would be silica till the end. A month later I figured I'd try boiling/rinsing the cotton in distilled water and it's been the most consistent, easiest to work with wicking material for me yet. Oh, I also keep mine in a gallon size ziplock for storage.