Question about flavor wick

[marshbunny]

Can I just use any kind of cotton (fibers from cotton balls for instance) to make flavor wicks? After I use my hand steamer to clean the heads (which works great), then dry burn, I can not keep up with those dang flavor wicks, they just disappear to the yonder place. I didn't really worry about it until one of my EVOD clearos started leaking badly and I didn't have any more new heads. It was a 1.8 and the coil-wick & coil were in great shape (burning red coils), but the flavor wick was gone, so I just took some cotton from my the cotton balls that I use for cosmetics and used that for a flavor wick. I made sure that the new cotton wick was saturated with juice, reassembled the head and it has worked like a charm so far. No more leaking and the flavor is good. If this continues to work long term, could I also use the same for my higher ohm 2.0s and 2.5s? Don't really see the need to buy silica wicks if this is a substitute. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

Cotton can be used as a replacement without any issues.

That said, I've actually stopped using silica altogether and moved to cotton wicks for all of my rebuilds and attys. You can slide the silica out and cotton in without any issues and since moving to cotton, I've not had a need for the flavor wicks on any of my Protank builds.

Silica wicks a little easier, but cotton wicks better and absorbs more, so the need for extra flavor wicks sitting on top of the coil is moot .

 

[Jsucool76]

Make sure the cotton you're using is organic and not bleached. If the cotton has any chemicals on it from the processing it, using it as a wick would mean you're basically inhaling the chemicals.

Also, remember, cotton is flammable, no dry burns (afaik)

 

[marshbunny]

Thanks for both your replies. I was worried about the cotton burning, made sure it was really soaked in ejuice before I put the head back together. I have a bunch of heads with no flavor wicks that I can now put into use.

 

[victoriadon]

Cotton is a very good wick just keep it wet. Boil your cotton prior to using and it with have most chemicals and particulate removed.

 

[marshbunny]

Cotton is a very good wick just keep it wet. Boil your cotton prior to using and it with have most chemicals and particulate removed.

OH NO! I did not know to boil. I have been vaping it like crazy for the past hour. I was wanting too make sure that the leaking had stopped. It was 100%cotton. I will make sure I boil the next time, too late now.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

If you want to make things a little easier, go to Walmart and in the fabric aisle, look for Peaches & Creme brand cotton yarn. It ranges from $2 to $8 and that way you don't have to worry about rolling cotton. I think it's between 2.5 and 3mm (comparing it to what silica I have on me right now) and it works with or without boiling.

It looks exactly like this (direct from their actual site - it's $2.49 on their site for 95 yards or 285 feet):

http://www.peachesandcreme.com/assets/files/yarn-files/01005-l.jpg


You can then twist that into your coils and forget about flavor wicks. I run 1.5-2.2 ohm coils that are wrapped on a 1/16" hex key and that yarn fits perfectly (again, when twisting it in). I vape at 8-10 watts and it stays wet, doesn't burn and I can vape 2-4 days without having to replace it.

OH NO! I did not know to boil. I have been vaping it like crazy for the past hour. I was wanting too make sure that the leaking had stopped. It was 100%cotton. I will make sure I boil the next time, too late now.

 

[marshbunny]

If you want to make things a little easier, go to Walmart and in the fabric aisle, look for Peaches & Creme brand cotton yarn. It ranges from $2 to $8 and that way you don't have to worry about rolling cotton. I think it's between 2.5 and 3mm (comparing it to what silica I have on me right now) and it works with or without boiling.

It looks exactly like this (direct from their actual site - it's $2.49 on their site for 95 yards or 285 feet):

http://www.peachesandcreme.com/assets/files/yarn-files/01005-l.jpg


You can then twist that into your coils and forget about flavor wicks. I run 1.5-2.2 ohm coils that are wrapped on a 1/16" hex key and that yarn fits perfectly (again, when twisting it in). I vape at 8-10 watts and it stays wet, doesn't burn and I can vape 2-4 days without having to replace it.

Thank you so much. I really didn't want to add that extra step of boiling. I'm still very new at this and am trying to learn as quickly as possible. Between learning how to do DIY ejuice, building heads, and jumping from 650 egos to VW&VV it's a little overwhelming.

 

[dice57]

I use cotton in most of my builds. Boiling really isn't a problem. Just grab a big handful and boil at a low roll for maybe 1/2 hour. drain through a colander, squish out the juice, and let dry. Had to micro them to get totally dry, cotton holds the water big time. Now I have a years supply of pre-boiled cotton in a nice little baggy for future use. A $2.50 bag of cotton is enough wick material for a life time. lol, can get like 10 or more builds off of 1 ball.

The reason I boil cotton is to leech out any cotton taste. Some people can't taste it, some can. I now do rba's with micro and nano builds, so the cotton is always handy to have.

 

[marshbunny]

I use cotton in most of my builds. Boiling really isn't a problem. Just grab a big handful and boil at a low roll for maybe 1/2 hour. drain through a colander, squish out the juice, and let dry. Had to micro them to get totally dry, cotton holds the water big time. Now I have a years supply of pre-boiled cotton in a nice little baggy for future use. A $2.50 bag of cotton is enough wick material for a life time. lol, can get like 10 or more builds off of 1 ball.

The reason I boil cotton is to leech out any cotton taste. Some people can't taste it, some can. I now do rba's with micro and nano builds, so the cotton is always handy to have.

I didn't notice any unusual taste, actually tasted better after replacing with the old wick with cotton. I will be going to Walmart tomorrow to get that peaches & creme thou. I want to get ever last burn from my heads until they pop. Too new for that to happen yet, but know it will. This little discovery will save me a lot of money, I think (hope). This forum is certainly the right place to go for answers to most vapors questions.

 

[Recycled Roadkill]

I've experienced a few different coil failures from spitting and popping to the wick just burning out almost completely. While I'm tempted to try cotton and rebuild my own coils they're just a bit tiny for me to expect much results with rebuilding.

 

[marshbunny]

I've experienced a few different coil failures from spitting and popping to the wick just burning out almost completely. While I'm tempted to try cotton and rebuild my own coils they're just a bit tiny for me to expect much results with rebuilding.

What do you have to lose? Try it. I only tried it because it's better than having to wait for new heads to come in. Turned out to be pretty easy. If you had told me less than 2 months ago that I would be vaping, making my own ejuice, building heads and loving this shiny new mod, I would have thought your crazy. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

Cotton improves the flavor drastically, enough to where I will never use silica again, even in RBA's. Cotton is also a more natural approach but it can and will burn 100x faster than silica, so keeping it wet is every so important. That said, I chain vape with cotton all the time and have never had it burn out on me. I use 50/50 and 60/40 PG/VG mixes, both of which work great.

Recycled Roadkill

The coils are small, but twisting in the cotton is simple, you just need to do it a few times to get comfortable with it. The easiest way to tell if you're doing it right is to pull on the cotton wick once it's through. You're checking for resistance by doing this. If you can pull the cotton and the coil is moving with it, or it feels like the cotton is "stuck", then you're using way too much.

If you can easily twist it in and out without it feeling as if you're about to yank the coil out of the head, then it's perfect. It shouldn't be overly tight and shouldn't feel like your screwing in a nail (best way to describe it).

 

[marshbunny]

Cotton improves the flavor drastically, enough to where I will never use silica again, even in RBA's. Cotton is also a more natural approach but it can and will burn 100x faster than silica, so keeping it wet is every so important. That said, I chain vape with cotton all the time and have never had it burn out on me. I use 50/50 and 60/40 PG/VG mixes, both of which work great.

Recycled Roadkill

The coils are small, but twisting in the cotton is simple, you just need to do it a few times to get comfortable with it. The easiest way to tell if you're doing it right is to pull on the cotton wick once it's through. You're checking for resistance by doing this. If you can pull the cotton and the coil is moving with it, or it feels like the cotton is "stuck", then you're using way too much.

If you can easily twist it in and out without it feeling as if you're about to yank the coil out of the head, then it's perfect. It shouldn't be overly tight and shouldn't feel like your screwing in a nail (best way to describe it).

Thanks, I am learning so much. I will make sure that I keep it wet. I am still vaping on the cotton wick I just replaced, no leaking and flavor still much better than silica wick. YAY! I think I like this.