I heard vivi nova's silica wick is not safe, will this help?

[paulw2014]

I read on another thread that silica wick is not healthy because they tend to break off into needle like small particles that can enter the lung, and according to Wikipedia, long term inhalation of silica can possibly cause cancer.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

People talked about using different materials for wick, such as cotton or stainless steel. Cotton has the drawback in that it can burn easily so dry burning is out. Stainless steel...well, let's leave that for seasoned pro for now, too much unknowns when it comes to taste and wicking properties.

So I was thinking, can I just put some kind of air filter over the mouth piece to filter any particle or "needle" from getting inside my lungs? I'm sure there are all kinds of material that can be used for this purpose, such as those particle filters sheets on dust/paint mask. I can cut out a small round piece and seal it to my mouth piece using maybe silicone...

What do you think of this?

 

[j4mmin42]

Technically, it would be really hard to find a filter that would really work AND fit on the end of an ecig. However, you can always try rebuilding the coil on your Nova if you feel up to it- I had horrible luck with my Nova tanks and have about 4 heads that need to be rebuilt. Switch the silica strands out with some other material, or different brand of silica fiber.

If you browse my posts you'll see I'm not a fan of the Nova's at all. But with enough fiddling, they do sometimes work, and there are those out there who say they have had good luck with them and have become fanboys/fangirls. I tend to steer people away from them because there are so many different issues going on with them all at once.

And yes, silicosis is very, very bad for you. Not something to mess with, for sure.

 

[filter]

just because smoking is worse than vaping doesnt mean qv shouldnt practice harm reduction with vaping as well. vaping is all about harm reduction, remember?

 

[papercrow]

So I'm no expert but...

The question is how big are these 'slivers' of silica? You may be able to find a material that would filter them out, but would there then be sufficient air flow? It would kind of be like putting a filter on a cigarette. If this magic material exists (maybe someone with any amount of technical know-how could interject) you might be able to put it the mouthpiece. Or if it's a fabric, maybe you could pressure fit in where the drip tip goes?

 

[Angel Wings]

i was told by a well respected veteran that as long as i do not get dry hits i should not have a problem.. he said key word "should not." i do not get dry hits, so maybe i am being too cautious. but oh well.

yes, the best thing would be to use something other than silica. cotton? it burns. if you dry hit on silica, you will burn cotton. believe me, it burns. i am looking into candle wicks. yes, i have ss mesh attys but i love the viva, i just need to find another wick that i like.

until then, i cut a couple of small pieces of the blue foam we use to use in our carts, push it up into the drip tip and hope it filters any silica that happens to come its way.

i quit smoking to be healthy not to replace it with something that is harmful as well.

sure alot of people will say "well, we know what smoking does." yeah yeah yeah and we ALSO know what silica does.

heck, we also know what diacetyl, acetoin and acetyl propionyl do to your lungs and some folks continue to vape it. Not me...

i quit smoking and started vaping to be healthier, not pick up another habit that could further damage my lungs. I will take precautions.

 

[Boden]

I work with powered silica at the foundry. It needs to be dry to become airborne. I cannot imagine that the wick in a PV would shed when wet with a liquid like PV or VG coating it. If anything the fluids as they vaporize should glue the fibers together. I'll look at a used silica wick from the Vivi under a microscope to see if the fibers are frayed/shedding. This could take a few days so be patient.

 

[Cookster]

I read on another thread that silica wick is not healthy because they tend to break off into needle like small particles that can enter the lung, and according to Wikipedia, long term inhalation of silica can possibly cause cancer.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

People talked about using different materials for wick, such as cotton or stainless steel. Cotton has the drawback in that it can burn easily so dry burning is out. Stainless steel...well, let's leave that for seasoned pro for now, too much unknowns when it comes to taste and wicking properties.

So I was thinking, can I just put some kind of air filter over the mouth piece to filter any particle or "needle" from getting inside my lungs? I'm sure there are all kinds of material that can be used for this purpose, such as those particle filters sheets on dust/paint mask. I can cut out a small round piece and seal it to my mouth piece using maybe silicone...

What do you think of this?

I think it's a GREAT idea Please post when you figure something out. Thanks.

 

[klynnn]

I guess common sense is out of the question these days. You think we all aren't practicing harm reduction?

 

[Angel Wings]

just because smoking is worse than vaping doesnt mean qv shouldnt practice harm reduction with vaping as well. vaping is all about harm reduction, remember?

 

[DuffyA2Z]

I don't know anything about the wicks you mentioned aside from reading the link you provided, if they are breaking up and getting into your system then yes that can be dangerous. FWIW Asbestos isn't dangerous unless its friable (broken up into pieces/dust) then it's a danger ...well unless someone likes to go around licking asbestos insulation ...but that's a story for another thread.


I'd avoid dry burning to help prevent the silica from breaking down.

Thanks for the heads up, vivi nova also has cotton wicks FWIW

 

[Angel Wings]

I work with powered silica at the foundry. It needs to be dry to become airborne. I cannot imagine that the wick in a PV would shed when wet with a liquid like PV or VG coating it. If anything the fluids as they vaporize should glue the fibers together. I'll look at a used silica wick from the Vivi under a microscope to see if the fibers are frayed/shedding. This could take a few days so be patient.

see my post on page one. this is where the dry hits come in.

 

[Angel Wings]

you can take a strand of silica, run it across your fingers and that thing breaks apart like i dont know what. all of the silica wicks, not just on the vivi, are fragile little boogers.

 

[Ravenous]

I work with powered silica at the foundry. It needs to be dry to become airborne. I cannot imagine that the wick in a PV would shed when wet with a liquid like PV or VG coating it. If anything the fluids as they vaporize should glue the fibers together. I'll look at a used silica wick from the Vivi under a microscope to see if the fibers are frayed/shedding. This could take a few days so be patient.

I'm very interested to see what you find although wouldn't it be better to analyze what's being inhaled? If there are very small slices of silica coming through the vape would it even be noticeable by inspecting the wick?

 

[Angel Wings]

Thanks for the heads up, vivi nova also has cotton wicks FWIW

who sales vivi's with cotton wicks?

 

[Angel Wings]

I'm very interested to see what you find although wouldn't it be better to analyze what's being inhaled? If there are very small slices of silica coming through the vape would it even be noticeable by inspecting the wick?

there has already been some folks talking about this. they claimed they took a hit off the pv and exhaled onto a mirror and partacles were on the mirror from what was inhaled...

don't know how conclusive it is but oh well. i have been and will continue to take precautions until i find a better wick for my vivi's.

 

[papercrow]

This would work! Shove a little blue foam in your mouthpiece. It would block out silica particles...right?

Quote "until then, i cut a couple of small pieces of the blue foam we use to use in our carts, push it up into the drip tip and hope it filters any silica that happens to come its way."

 

[Boden]

The more I think about this the more it sounds off. Silica starts to breakdown/melt at ~1000deg C, a PV isn't going to get anywhere near there. An average temp would be more like 173deg C. The silica would not break down at all at that temp. Breathing around a dry wick would have some (very little) risk, but once it's wet... I would considered it safe. I'll still look and see, I want to know for myself.

 

[Angel Wings]

This would work! Shove a little blue foam in your mouthpiece. It would block out silica particles...right?

Quote "until then, i cut a couple of small pieces of the blue foam we use to use in our carts, push it up into the drip tip and hope it filters any silica that happens to come its way."

thats exactly what i have been doing for about a month now.

 

[j4mmin42]

you can take a strand of silica, run it across your fingers and that thing breaks apart like i dont know what. all of the silica wicks, not just on the vivi, are fragile little boogers.

Ah good point here! many stock consumer-grade ecig items are made with silica wicks... from attys, to clearos and tank systems...they're standard on MANY of them. Biggest difference here is that in a tank system like the Nova that gets cleaned and reused, the wicks start to fray and come apart- and the particles it releases are SMALL (and some big pieces too, lol). For some reason the Nova wicks are especially fragile.

I'm very interested to see what you find although wouldn't it be better to analyze what's being inhaled? If there are very small slices of silica coming through the vape would it even be noticeable by inspecting the wick?

Yes and no. Seeing evidence of fractures in the silica would be a pretty good sign that pieces are being inhaled, imho. Seems like a good start, anyway.

 

[zephyree]

Its actually not hard to rewick with cotton. If you want to. I am a total noob and I just rewicked my ce4. The vivi nova is designed to be taken apart, while the ce4.... well not so much. So I imagine a vivi nova would be pretty simple to rewick. and the hits i am getting are pretty nice. real smooth and with better taste than before. I guess what I am saying is even if you aren't too scared of silica particles, it is still worth the effort to rewick.
and you can always vodka clean, etc. some say dry burning is over rated anyway.