Pete,
I've been using the stuff for a couple of years on and off with certain units. It's not the best for everything but I'm finding in the ERA it's teriffic. I don't find it needs to be in a kiln, I just take my torch to it and heat a piece till its glowing orange for a bit and its ready to go because of how I'm setting it up in my coil, i believe the kiln thing was because of also how big of a piece was being used, where here we are using only 3/8" in size. I also compare the specs to regular Silica and the Silica breaks down much easier and faster then the XC sleeve does. It holds up better to the heat then silica does for sure , I believe the XC4 doesn't break down until 2500 degrees which will never see in an Atty. there's lots of controversy over this but heck regular Silica breaks down much easier then the XC sleeve does, and if that's the case then do you want regular silica in your throat ? The body doesn't break down the Silica to well so when you look at which holds up better under heat it's the XC sleeve , where the silica keeps showing a burn, black mark under the coil the XC-116/XC4 does not with using it inthe ERA.
What I did Pete was a simple test, I put XC4 in one ERA & 2mm Silica in another ERA, I used them both for a while and the silica breaks down pretty quick, burns and gets black at the coil, which is breaking down when this happens and small silica particle then break loose. The ERA with the XC-116 & also XC4 isn't even getting a black mark on it at all, and not showing any signs of breaking down. Especially how I'm using it by putting a needle in the sleeve then wrapping my wire around it taught, then trimming both ends clean about 1-16-1/8 from the end on each side of the last coil. Not one piece has moved or is breaking down. So in this particular application when I compare the Silica vs XC the XC is not only winning on which breaks down faster but it's also providing me more flavor too.
I'm gonna end this just saying again that there has long been debate on this type of wick but when you look at which actually breaks down more in this application the silica does and the XC out performs the silica in this application from my findings. It's also such a small piece approx 3/8" and locked into place with the wire that nothing can escape, unlike how it was used in some other products. You still need to keep it wet like anything else, and maybe a bit more then regular silica, but you will see the difference in flavor right away and also won't get that burnt flavor taste that you get when you take a vape and you should have squanked but didn't . I would like for someone else to try it and see if they get the same findings I have.
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