Older Folks and Vaping Front Porch - Part 5

[bigbells]

My opinion regarding wicking material:

It seems to me that rayon wicks aren't quite as popular now as they once were, and that most people prefer cotton. Rayon is cotton too, but it's called cellucotton or rayon. I went from silicone, to organic cotton, to rayon, back to organic cotton, and finally, (I think) back to rayon. *

I believe that all wicking materials have some kind of offtaste to them for at least the first few pulls, and organic cotton doesn't taste any better than rayon. The thing that's wonderful about rayon is that it's IMPOSSIBLE to put too thick of a wick through the coil. If you can stuff it through the coil, even if you have to use a teeny-weenie jackhammer, it will work wonderfully well. An organic cotton wick will expand, and if you've got it too tight, it will choke off the juice flow.

To minimize offtaste, DRENCH the coil and wick with joose before vaping.

I learned most of the above from people in this forum, so I'm just supplying confirmation in my own words.

*I've also tried, with very limited success, SS mesh.

 

[MikeE3]

even if you have to use a teeny-weenie jackhammer

.... and from where can one of these be sourced?

 

[Semiretired]

.... and from where can one of these be sourced?

I would believe that the market would be very limited even if you could find one...

 

[Belhade]

I always thought the initial poor taste was due to skin oils from rolling the cotton between my fingers.

 

[DavidOck]

.... and from where can one of these be sourced?

Check with your dentist. They use them to pack in the amalgam

Rayon is cotton too,

Er, no, in spite of it being branded as CelluCotton. Rayon is from wood.

To minimize offtaste, DRENCH the coil and wick with joose before vaping.

Yep, I drench and fire a few times before closing up the tank, no "new wick" flavor.

 

[DaveP]

I switched back to my trusty Efest LUC4 charger today. The Xtar VC4 has been flaky lately. It will downshift from 1A charging to .5A. Unplugging and replugging the wall wart connector to the charger will usually fix it, but I got tired of doing that. It's probably a resistive jack/plug at the charger that's at fault.

I like the LUC4 anyway. It's the only charger I own that will charge 4 18650's simultaneously at 1A. The Xtar had a cool display, but the LUC 4 shows current voltage as well as a bar graph indicator.

 

[DaveP]

I had a lot of false starts with Rayon. I wasn't really sure whether cotton or rayon was safer. Once I got my first rayon wick properly sized and in use I stayed with it. The main reason I've kept using rayon was that I can vape a week or more on a wick and when I remove it and wash it out it looks almost new except for a light gray stain where it was under the coil.

Cotton, including Koh Gen Do, gets pretty nasty after 3 or 4 days. Cotton fibers apparently aren't as hardy as rayon fibers are under heat and juice contamination.

 

[3mg Meniere]

I suspect that rayon is no longer a subject of discussion because it is the standard go-to. Case closed, in short. IMHO.

 

[DaveP]

I suspect that rayon is no longer a subject of discussion because it is the standard go-to. Case closed, in short. IMHO.

It is for me. I can't see me going back to cotton.

 

[Iffy]

VSA*: E-cigarette flavors and aldehyde emissions: another failure to verify findings from a previous study

* Vapers Service Announcement

 

[bigbells]

Er, no, in spite of it being branded as CelluCotton. Rayon is from wood.

I'm not sure whether or not I knew that at one time, so thanks for the new knowledge!

I suspect that rayon is no longer a subject of discussion because it is the standard go-to. Case closed, in short. IMHO.

I have no idea what the "go-to" wick material is. I read about people using organic cotton more often than I read about people using rayon. In fact, if one Googles "rayon vape wicks", the number one search result is a 2014 thread from {using vaporized e-liquid beneath the surface of the Earth} that says "not a good idea". Obviously, many of us find that using rayon wicks is a GREAT idea.

 

[DavidOck]

Seems that many of the blister pack heads have moved to cotton. Yeah, a big step up from silica, but still...

So when people come from the hyped cotton heads to rebuildables, they figure if Kanger/Aspire/etc use cotton, it must be the best...

Nope, not in MY tanks!

 

[gerrymi]

A couple of years ago I asked when should batteries be retired. The consensus answer that I got was when they no longer held a charge long enough to justify using them.

I'm still waiting for a whatchamacallit that I can hook to my 18650 that will give me a readout..."New"..."Like New"..."Mature"..."Time To Head To The WWW To Replace"...

..

 

[Semiretired]

I'm still waiting for a whatchamacallit that I can hook to my 18650 that will give me a readout..."New"..."Like New"..."Mature"..."Time To Head To The WWW To Replace"...

..

Let us know if you find one...

 

[englishmick]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

Pic of my workbench this morning. Nice drip tip on the Motorola.

 

[bigbells]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

Pic of my workbench this morning. Nice drip tip on the Motorola.

View attachment 728195

Woot! Congrats on your retirement!

 

[misswish1]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

Big congrats!!! Enjoy it.

 

[DavidOck]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

 

[drmarble]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

Well done.

 

[Iffy]

Just got home after my last ever day at work.

Oh, happy day!