Different Cottons for different wicks

[Micro24]

Great information you got here for the cottons. But would you help me? I'm a bit confused of all these boiling and soaking stuff.
So I'm planning for my first rewick with cotton balls, what do I need to do before I get the cotton balls to my coil? Boil maybe? The case of the cotton balls says it's 100% cotton, no other inscriptions, it doesn't say if it is unbleached or whatever. Help me please as I'm looking forward to rewicking using cotton wicks

 

[JD1]

Great information you got here for the cottons. But would you help me? I'm a bit confused of all these boiling and soaking stuff.
So I'm planning for my first rewick with cotton balls, what do I need to do before I get the cotton balls to my coil? Boil maybe? The case of the cotton balls says it's 100% cotton, no other inscriptions, it doesn't say if it is unbleached or whatever. Help me please as I'm looking forward to rewicking using cotton wicks

If you're not familiar with the brand you have a simple burn test might be in order. There's been a couple of posts where the cotton wasn't 100 percent cotton although it was marked as being so.

The boiling is to reduce any impurities. If the cotton is white it's probably has been bleached but may still have some blueing. Boiling also helps reduce the cotton taste that you'll have for a few puffs.

Cotton balls make excellent wicks but are a little hard for me to roll into a consistent diameter for any length. I'd rather use cheesecloth or the makeup rounds. Several are liking the cotton yarn the best.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nt-cottons-different-wicks-7.html#post8218062

Good luck and keep us posted. What equipment do you have?

 

[VClouds]

Just getting into the rba thing and reading about all the possible wick materials, thanks to all that contributed.

Cotton sounds like something I'll want to experiment with but I had a thought (one of those dangerous things) that I can't find any comments on so I'll ask it here.

Has anybody taken sewing thread (100% cotton of course) and tried braiding to form a wick?

My thought was that it would be much less likely to fall apart while forming the wick or even during use. Also the elements or fibers would be more in alignment to wick the e-liquid to where it's needed.

Comments very welcome

 

[Micro24]

If you're not familiar with the brand you have a simple burn test might be in order. There's been a couple of posts where the cotton wasn't 100 percent cotton although it was marked as being so.

The boiling is to reduce any impurities. If the cotton is white it probably contains some blueing and may have been bleached. Boiling also helps reduce the cotton taste that you'll have for a few puffs.

Cotton balls make excellent wicks but are a little hard for me to roll into a consistent diameter for any length. I'd rather use cheesecloth or the makeup rounds. Several are liking the cotton yarn the best.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nt-cottons-different-wicks-7.html#post8218062

Good luck and keep us posted. What equipment do you have?

What do you mean "equipment that I have?" If by equipment you mean the materials, I have is kanthal wire and just 100% inscripted cotton balls, I will look some other cotton materials such as that cheesecloth at the local store if needed.

And if by "equipment" you mean, what e-cig model I have, take a look at my signature.
Please ask further questions as I need to know more before I start rewicking.

PS: Thanks for the info though, now I know why do I need to boil cotton.

 

[xMackx]

What do you mean "equipment that I have?" If by equipment you mean the materials, I have is kanthal wire and just 100% inscripted cotton balls, I will look some other cotton materials such as that cheesecloth at the local store if needed.

And if by "equipment" you mean, what e-cig model I have, take a look at my signature.
Please ask further questions as I need to know more before I start rewicking.

PS: Thanks for the info though, now I know why do I need to boil cotton.

Definitely boil the cotton, the clean taste is worth it even if you're not worried about processing chemicals. Also try rolling the cotton into a uniform wick. Roll it between your fingers until somewhat shaped, then hold your hand flat and roll out the kinks until uniform. I reccommend trying to mount the coil first with a toothpick or pin, then side the wick through. Just make sure you let the wick soak in juice for an hour before vaping after it's all together.

 

[Micro24]

I have boiled some cotton today, I boiled it for about 25 min. next thing to do is to let it dry overnight.

 

[xMackx]

I have boiled some cotton today, I boiled it for about 25 min. next thing to do is to let it dry overnight.

If you squeeze out as much water as you can it will dry really quick, even quicker space apart on a plate. I look forward to your reports after building.

 

[JD1]

......And if by "equipment" you mean, what e-cig model I have, take a look at my signature. ..........

Yeal, I never thought to check your sig lol. I have a couple of the smok redux which rebuilds the same way. I usually wrap my coil around a small nail that's about 1/16th in diameter and then use a helper wick on top. I usually pull the cotton through the coil then push a small needle through at the bottom for mounting. I also double the positive leg and mount the coil so that the negative side shorts against the slots on that side. (Actually I weld nr legs any more but that's a good way to do it if you're not using nr.)

There's lots of good info in the vivi thread also. It's hard to tell from the pictures but I think my wicks are much smaller than this.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ivi-nova-rebuild-tutorial-18.html#post7074093

 

[JD1]

Just getting into the RBA thing and reading about all the possible wick materials, thanks to all that contributed.

Cotton sounds like something I'll want to experiment with but I had a thought (one of those dangerous things) that I can't find any comments on so I'll ask it here.

Has anybody taken sewing thread (100% cotton of course) and tried braiding to form a wick?

My thought was that it would be much less likely to fall apart while forming the wick or even during use. Also the elements or fibers would be more in alignment to wick the e-liquid to where it's needed.

Comments very welcome

A lot of folks are liking the peaches and cream cotton yarn sold at walmart, micheals, etc. I like cheesecloth and the makeup pads or rounds as they're called. The rounds are 1 dollar at dollar tree.

 

[beanpusher]

i use 3mm 100% pure cotton yarn only in my dripper rba's. holds a ton of juice vs. silica. last way longer and once seasoned for a few days gets even better. real easy to work with doesn't fall apart on you like silica. even at .3 ohms they hold up well even when they are drying out. flavor is slightly muted but its advantages out weigh that by a long shot. best part is for under $2 i got enough wick for the whole year.

slight singes when getting dry. 6 coils on rda @ .3 ohms

 

[JD1]

............ @ .3 ohms

Wow! Who'da thunk it??? lol.

 

[Fenris4024]

Put this up in the "Working coils/ Atties" thread as well... but gotta say, LOVE me some cotton!!!



First set up on the AGA-T2 was the standard SS mesh (#500) and 32 AWG... had nice vapor, but the flavor just wasn't my thing ... had this "tinny" quality, that I can only attribute to the SS. (not to mention how fiddly the coil was...fussier than a 3 month old)

So, decided to get "fancy" with my wick and coil... (yeah, I know, not all that fancy, but for me its pretty darned good....)

She's taking a nice long bath in my brain melting menthol of choice... and tomorrow, I shall be in a nic induced coma I'd wager.

Weighs in at 2.0 ohms using 32AWG and just some cotton from a puff ball.

I do have a question though, if using the cotton puffs, do you find it easier to boil, then unroll it... unroll it and boil it, or basically "make the wicks" and then boil those? I've been making the wicks and then boiling them, as it just sounded easier to me.

 

[JD1]

........I do have a question though, if using the cotton puffs, do you find it easier to boil, then unroll it... unroll it and boil it, or basically "make the wicks" and then boil those? I've been making the wicks and then boiling them, as it just sounded easier to me.

Looking good. Keep us posted on how it vapes. Is cotton puffs cotton balls, and if so how in the world did you keep your wick that even? Good job.

I'm not sure but going by some posts I've read, I'd say most boil the cotton first, then make the wicks.

Vape on.

 

[Fenris4024]

Cotton puff balls (don't have any rounds really to work with, GF gets a little weird about me raiding her makeup stash lol!)

Just used even pressure and kept rolling it till it felt "right"... kinda like when you're rolling a SS wick.. your hands know pressures your brain can't calculate (to paraphrase Pdib from another thread)... took me a few tries initially, but after those, I just "got it" and went a'rolling.

I basically unroll the little guys, then cut them into long, even strips, then cut those in half (widthwise) and roll 'em up.

 

[JD1]

I like how fluffy they look as it looks like they'll wick really well. My first cotton wicks were from cotton balls but I made them too big and wrapped the coil too tight. By the time I learned better, I had picked up some cheese cloth which worked well, then some of the make up rounds. The make up pads are what I use now, but I'm thinking I may try the cotton puffs again.

 

[mgmrick]

Just tried my first cotton/yarn setup. Working real nice in a kanger protank

 

[JD1]

Just tried my first cotton/yarn setup. Working real nice in a kanger protank

Yea! I love success stories.

 

[xMackx]

Just tried my first cotton/yarn setup. Working real nice in a kanger protank

I have had the best results with clearomizers for cotton. Something about the air flow design and close juice contact just seems to make clearomizers perfect for cotton. The vivi mini nova is still my favorite, just perfect clean no burn/singe problems. Gennys and other designs do work well with cotton but are always more finicky for me on how they like their cotton. I would definitely recommend a vivi nova, kanger or any type of similarly built clearo for anyone wanting to try cotton. Glad to see you are getting good results.

 

[mgmrick]

Kangers are real easy to rebuild. Yeh I know who bothers to rebuild a 2 dollar coil....lol

 

[JD1]

Kangers are real easy to rebuild. Yeh I know who bothers to rebuild a 2 dollar coil....lol

I would but then again I'm a cheap son of a gun, lol. Well not really, but it's just that I do so much better at wrapping what I want than the factory does. My reduxes are in a different class once I recoil and toss the cotton wicks in there.

I'm really liking the dream 804s. Excellent flavor from these. The only con imo is having to plug the mouth piece to refill, but that only takes a second.