And at 6 bucks a pop they don't break the bank either lol. I have three and a couple of spare heads.
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And at 6 bucks a pop they don't break the bank either lol. I have three and a couple of spare heads.
When I first tried cotton, my first few wicks were too big. It takes a little trial and error to dial it in.
So, you put one wick through the coil and one over it? Doesn't reduce airflow or drown the coil? Is the uncoiled wick thinner?
Got a redux with a flavor I don't care for..needs rewickin' !
Yes one through the coil and one over. Both are small and don't restrict air flow around the sides.
Late to the game on this thread but thought i'd share my experience. I started using cotton a few months ago cause I wanted an easier sourced wick I didn't have to order online for. First was cotton balls, but the flavor was way too cottony for my taste, then tried cotton batting, and pretty much the same. I boiled each for at least 20 min or so and dried out first so it wasn't that, just didn't like it, though looking back I may have just been using too much and my wicks were too fat. Either way, I went back to silica for the time being, until a few days later I was rummaging through a kitchen drawer and found my wife's ream of cheesecloth. This could work, I thought, so I cut off a small piece, boiled her up, dried it out with a blowdrier and twisted up a wick. Still being inexperienced I made it too fat, but the tase wasn't near as over the top cotton as the other 2 types I tried b4. I didn't let it soak or anything, matter of fact I still don't. Just a few big puffs, no inhale and the flavor starts to normalize.
I do different SIZE cotton wicks for different applications. In a drip atty like the Igo-L i spin a 1/16" coil, but in a tank where I need the wick to hold onto more juice I use a 1/8" coil with a double wick. not one laying over the coil, haven't tried that.
Any way, cheesecloth has been my wick of choice ever since, I got so used to it that all the silica I had b4 I started to taste so gross to me now and I wonder how I ever used that stuff and enjoyed it. Not to mention, I can pick up a 3 yr supply for like 4 bucks at pretty much any grocery store anywhere. Gotta love cotton!
I do different SIZE cotton wicks for different applications. In a drip atty like the Igo-L i spin a 1/16" coil, but in a tank where I need the wick to hold onto more juice I use a 1/8" coil with a double wick. not one laying over the coil, haven't tried that.
Any way, cheesecloth has been my wick of choice ever since, I got so used to it that all the silica I had b4 I started to taste so gross to me now and I wonder how I ever used that stuff and enjoyed it. Not to mention, I can pick up a 3 yr supply for like 4 bucks at pretty much any grocery store anywhere. Gotta love cotton!
I looked at cotton rounds at dollar tree and think yous should consider the raw cotton cigarette filters RAW Rolling Papers. Or find other pure %100 cotton with nothing whatsoever added and hopefully organic so you don't have to boil off pesticide. I emailed them like a week ago if they can confirm if these have nothing whatsoever added, but got no reply and e-mailed again yesterday and havn't heard back.
Raw filter: "The use of Unrefined/Unbleached Cotton is very important as conventional cotton is treated with synthetically produced chemicals", I assume this means there's nothing whatsoever added, but making sure.
Cotton rounds just look like bleached cotton balls and says tampons on the bag.
Raw filter: "The use of Unrefined/Unbleached Cotton is very important as conventional cotton is treated with synthetically produced chemicals", I assume this means there's nothing whatsoever added, but making sure.
Cotton rounds just look like bleached cotton balls and says tampons on the bag.
I think you should try it yourself before trying to recommend it or get someone else to try it first. If you think it's so great, order it already.
I, for one, don't wish to contribute to that industry any longer. There are other cotton materials that are certified organic (no pesticides, etc), including yarn and cotton balls which are easily sourced locally.
The word tampon on the packaging is in fact a different language (meaning buffer, or pad). Tampons in the American sense don't look like flat cotton rounds, so I don't really know what you're getting at.
If the vendor isn't responding to your requests for information, I don't think that's a vendor many folks around here are going to want to do business with.
I agree, you shouldn't recommend things you have not tried or condemn them.
Ok, I understand you don't want to support the tobacco industry.
I'm between cotton/hemp/bamboo before I buy anything is why I havn't bought those filters.
Cig filters would likely be a PITA to make into a long wick if it even stays together, but I'm using tiny BCC wicks. However the short wick of the 'upgraded' vivi nova version which appears as a step backwards suposidly makes a better vape because it omits certain parts of the juice mixture from sticking to a long wick while others get vaped separately.
Whatever you get, I'd check with the manufacturer if anything's added. Try a trick question like: "Are there any addatives, because that would help it hold up to certain products I'm using"
I'm between cotton/hemp/bamboo before I buy anything is why I havn't bought those filters.
Cig filters would likely be a PITA to make into a long wick if it even stays together, but I'm using tiny BCC wicks. However the short wick of the 'upgraded' vivi nova version which appears as a step backwards suposidly makes a better vape because it omits certain parts of the juice mixture from sticking to a long wick while others get vaped separately.
Whatever you get, I'd check with the manufacturer if anything's added. Try a trick question like: "Are there any addatives, because that would help it hold up to certain products I'm using"
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No matter where we buy our cotton remember it wasn't sold or processed for our intended purpose so taking the time to do a burn test and boiling the cotton will help ensure a clean wicking material.
Burn Test
Doing a burn test is important to determine your cotton is 100% cotton without any sythetic fibers. Some companies will add synthetic fiberslike nylon or polyester to stengthen the cotton when weeving into ropes, twines, or yarn. I have bought twine labeled 100% pure cotton later to do a burnt test and find synthetic fibers.
How to Perform a Burn Test:
Take a few inches of the cotton in question and slowly bring it to the flame. It should catch fire easily without any melting, if it does melt that is an indication of synthetic fibers. If it is 100% pure cotton the flame should be yellow without much odor. Now blow out the flaming cotton and it should smell like burnt paper. If it smells like burnt plastic that is another indication of synthetic fibers. Now squeeze the left over char between your fingers, charred pure cotton should feel very soft. If the char feels hard that is another indication of synthetic fibers.
Boil the Cotton
Processed cotton often contains sizing, added to strengthen and protect the fibers during processing. Boiling in water of processed cotton products (candle wick, yarn, etc) seems to remove these products. Place the product in a pan of water and bring to a rolling boil, maintain the rolling boil for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. When finished boiling, place the pan (with the string still in it) in the sink and run water into the pan so that the water overflows the sides. This will flush the sizing, which floats on top of the water, from the pan and prevent the string from coming into contact with the sizing if it is pulled from the water with the sizing still present. This process can be repeated if needed to remove additional sizing.
http://www.tomcatt2.com/wiki/TomCatt
Burn Test
Doing a burn test is important to determine your cotton is 100% cotton without any sythetic fibers. Some companies will add synthetic fiberslike nylon or polyester to stengthen the cotton when weeving into ropes, twines, or yarn. I have bought twine labeled 100% pure cotton later to do a burnt test and find synthetic fibers.
How to Perform a Burn Test:
Take a few inches of the cotton in question and slowly bring it to the flame. It should catch fire easily without any melting, if it does melt that is an indication of synthetic fibers. If it is 100% pure cotton the flame should be yellow without much odor. Now blow out the flaming cotton and it should smell like burnt paper. If it smells like burnt plastic that is another indication of synthetic fibers. Now squeeze the left over char between your fingers, charred pure cotton should feel very soft. If the char feels hard that is another indication of synthetic fibers.
Boil the Cotton
Processed cotton often contains sizing, added to strengthen and protect the fibers during processing. Boiling in water of processed cotton products (candle wick, yarn, etc) seems to remove these products. Place the product in a pan of water and bring to a rolling boil, maintain the rolling boil for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. When finished boiling, place the pan (with the string still in it) in the sink and run water into the pan so that the water overflows the sides. This will flush the sizing, which floats on top of the water, from the pan and prevent the string from coming into contact with the sizing if it is pulled from the water with the sizing still present. This process can be repeated if needed to remove additional sizing.
http://www.tomcatt2.com/wiki/TomCatt
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I think we're beyond that 'cotton wiki' at this point. It has a sort of value as if that person was one of the first to take cotton wicks seriously, but it doesn't have great info. Burn test and smell and feel after = still guessing. Emailing a company with a trick question's better that burn testing or assuming nothing whatsoever's added.
They suggest poducts with possible addatives etc. "Processed cotton often contains sizing..." = then don't use processed cotton and have to boil away sizing. Some's probably still in the wick after boiling.
It has some good points though like boiling= put the pot under slow-running cold water after it's boiled so the addatives overflow out instead of pulling the wick up through them and recollecting them. If you can find 0 addative cotton that's not organic, then boiling's probably a benefit to remove pesticide residue. Or boiling might be useful to break up the fibers so it wicks better and also removes a possibly unwanted taste.
They suggest poducts with possible addatives etc. "Processed cotton often contains sizing..." = then don't use processed cotton and have to boil away sizing. Some's probably still in the wick after boiling.
It has some good points though like boiling= put the pot under slow-running cold water after it's boiled so the addatives overflow out instead of pulling the wick up through them and recollecting them. If you can find 0 addative cotton that's not organic, then boiling's probably a benefit to remove pesticide residue. Or boiling might be useful to break up the fibers so it wicks better and also removes a possibly unwanted taste.
I know I'm a bit late to the game in this thread, but has anyone tried cotton cloth? Like 100% cotton T-shirt material? Obviously it would still be wise to boil it to remove detergents/etc., but I'm just wondering if this is a possibility? It certainly soaks up water easily enough, so wicking properties shouldn't be much different than batting/balls/rounds.
If it'll work, might be easier than try to to work with several single strands of yarn. I'd be the first to try it, but I'm still trying to get my first Drunker going with the yarn. 
I'm going to guess that it won't wick as well as loose weave cheese cloth or the cotton pads. Early on, I tried some cotton fabric and it didn't work well at all. (but I may have had the wick too big). The only way to know is to try of course, but I'm basing my 'guess' on posts from several that have tried different threads and weaves.
Mack (op of this thread) is my go to expert on all things cotton. I picked up the cotton rounds he shows on page 3 of this thread and they perform exactly as he said they would. I also picked up a handy pair of tweezers while I was at dollar tree for, (you guessed it), one dollar.
I still use cheese cloth as the main wick in my reduxes, but only because it's such a small wick that I can thread the cheese cloth through the eye of a needle and pull it through the coil easy peasy.
Geez, the wife and I were in the 99¢ Only store and didn't see the rounds, but we were looking in the makeup area, not the tampon section, uhmm, maybey I'll have her go back and look again. 
Interesting, I have lots of old T- shirts around.
Me too, that's what made me think of it -- walking around the house looking for things that are 100% cotton. These threads about the potential dangers of SS mesh have me re-thinking my wicking options.
Interesting. I have some old cotton shirts where the cotton is pretty much "worn out" and the fabric is very thin. I wonder if that might make a difference? All I can do is try, but I don't really have an RBA designed for cotton. I'm thinking about modding my AGA-T2 to accept larger wicks and giving it a try.
I'm going to cut a piece of the t-shirt material and set one end in some old juice and see if it appears to wick well.
It's not a guess if you're educated enough to know the difference between burnt plastic and burnt cotton. You say that the info is only good for someone who takes cotton wicks seriously which indicates you don't intend using cotton, which means you're here to question proven methods with no experience. Educating people how to do a burn test and boiling removing chemicals can effect people towards better health. Telling us on every post to email companies to determine chemical additives is getting kind of old. If you don't use cotton this really isn't your thread.
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