Greetings,
You are going to have some people saying to not do it. I happen to disagree. I can't stand to leave the wicks in. There is a harsh taste that seems to come with the wicks for me.
I have been removing the wicks from all of my atties for about five months now and am very happy with the results. They work for great for dripping. I have also used them on carts, and they worked fine.
Atties are cheap, go ahead and remove the wicks from one and see what you think.
Does it affect the life of the atty? Got me. I use predominately LR 510's and they seem to last about a month.
Regards
Jim