I don't believe at all that its a wicking issue that is the cause of the seeping. I've wicked my merlin with the juice holes totally blocked, put some into the outside of the cup and packed it all into the cup, held down with a finger and pushed the wick up and away from the hole and they all seeped. I have a 3.5mmID 26/32 clapton inside the merlin so I had a lot of rayon tails so with trimming and thinning the tail it vapes IMO the best wicking with the rayon packed into the wells, juice holes not blocked and the juice control just open a ioda.
I have rebuilt merlin #1 with 2 orings(thin RBA one first then a smaller thicker ring that was forced into place when put back together) under the JFC ring. There is a slight gap now between the AFC and JFC ring, the JFC spins tight so it don't move when you remove the top to fill. There is also a thin oring on the side behind the AFC ring that I replaced with thicker oring also but its hard to get the AFC ring back into place but it did go eventually. This morning I had only slight mist of condensation onto my mod, so maybe now it might not seep but I do know that every time I break the merlin down to clean that I'm going to have to tap the base back together again...owell.
Merlin #2 is all in bits awaiting the jurys decision on if #1 is going to seep.
I have never had to hassle so much to get a atty to perform properly, my last well you can say take down to bits fix was breaking down kayfuns to drill the airflow hole larger and make my own kayfun fill screw orings out of carto condoms to stop the kayfuns from seeping through the fill screw.