Rayon Wick - Better Flow, Flavor, Longevity, and Nic Hit!! - Pt.2

[Herrick]

Awesome! Yep, that really is the most difficult aspect. Prepare to enjoy your juice far more than before and to save untold amounts of $ in the process

I'm looking forward to saving money and not having to order e-liquid. It's kind of like coil-building in the sense that you can just make another coil when you need to instead of ordering them.
I'd like to start with recipes that don't require weeks of steeping.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

I'm looking forward to saving money and not having to order e-liquid. It's kind of like coil-building in the sense that you can just make another coil when you need to instead of ordering them.
I'd like to start with recipes that don't require weeks of steeping.

One I really am enjoying is

7% Tahitian Vanilla Cream (Wf)
2.75% Banana Puree (Wf)
3.5% Crispy Wafer (Wf)

Amazing after 3 days heck even good right away.

 

[DavidOck]

Thanks to the people who encouraged me to start DIY e-liquid. I watched a few videos including a great one by New Amsterdam Vape and it looks like the most difficult thing is choosing from all the different recipes. I might start this within the next couple weeks.

The only really important thing, when mixing, is be very careful to get the nic level you want. I, and many, mix down fro 100mg/ml stock. Watch your calculations (several good, easy and free apps for mixing), you don't want to end up with a juice that's, say, 30 mg/ml when you wanted 3!

A suggestion. When you get a new flavoring (other than things like sweeteners, smoothers and such), try a small batch of it solo. Knowing what each individual ingredient tastes like, to you, will let you make more intelligent choices on what to adjust when they're used in a blend.

That said, one of my favorites I always have ready:

Honey Dragon Tea - all TFA
Black honey tobacco
DragonFruit
Green Tea

Your choice on nic % and PG/VG ratio. (I vape at 18%, roughly, and roughly 65% PG. Lazy mixer here, I keep a working stock, that only needs flavors, that is just a bit higher than my desired nic level, and just lower than my desired PG level - most flavors come in PG, so adding them lowers the nic and raised the PG%)

Start with all at 5%. While it does improve with some steeping, it's fine right after mixing.

 

[Herrick]

The only really important thing, when mixing, is be very careful to get the nic level you want. I, and many, mix down fro 100mg/ml stock. Watch your calculations (several good, easy and free apps for mixing), you don't want to end up with a juice that's, say, 30 mg/ml when you wanted 3!

A suggestion. When you get a new flavoring (other than things like sweeteners, smoothers and such), try a small batch of it solo. Knowing what each individual ingredient tastes like, to you, will let you make more intelligent choices on what to adjust when they're used in a blend.

That said, one of my favorites I always have ready:

Honey Dragon Tea - all TFA
Black honey tobacco
DragonFruit
Green Tea

Your choice on nic % and PG/VG ratio. (I vape at 18%, roughly, and roughly 65% PG. Lazy mixer here, I keep a working stock, that only needs flavors, that is just a bit higher than my desired nic level, and just lower than my desired PG level - most flavors come in PG, so adding them lowers the nic and raised the PG%)

Start with all at 5%. While it does improve with some steeping, it's fine right after mixing.

How much do you make when you try a new flavor? 10MLs or so?

 

[awsum140]

I've found mixing 30ml of a new flavor works for me. I tried the 10ml route and found out I ran out before I could make a real determination, unless we're talking clam or Limburger for flavors.

 

[DavidOck]

How much do you make when you try a new flavor? 10MLs or so?

Depends. If it's a brand new flavoring I'm trying out, yeah, generally 10 mls. That gives me a KF full when mixed, and lets me get some steeping in on the rest to see how it changes.

If it's a new recipe, but of flavors I already know, usually 30 mls. ESPECIALLY if it's a tobacco flavor, as they can sometimes take a long time to steep for best flavor, and I'm usually not patient enough - a 10 ml taste tester would be gone before the steeping is done

 

[Fozzy71]

I do 20ml single flavor testers in 30ml bottles and that is enough for me to drip test it a couple times a week for at least a month and I usually still have 10ml+ (or 15+ if I only test it once a week) at the end of a month. If you do multiple single flavor testers at the same time, that would possibly compliment each other, you can then mix all the single flavor tester leftovers together at the end of the month and you may end up creating a recipe in a round about way if the mix tastes good together. I did this quite a bit when I was testing all my real flavors super concentrates and most of the mixes were quite good, though I am a bit worried about the one in my steep box that has 12 or so flavors all mixed together..... It should be the fruitiest thing I have ever vaped lol:

- carrot cake
- cream cheese
- honey
-strawberry gelato
- sweet cream
- boysenberry
- melon medley
- orange
- pear
- yogurt
- yumberry

it smells uber fruity

 

[PaulBHC]

I mix my own unflavored. Doesn't get any lazier than that.

 

[markfm]

I buy 100 for storage, then cut to 50 for mixing.

DIY can be as easy as you want it. Nowadays I vape 10% natures flavors diacetyl free vanilla, with a couple percent of watever else I'm feeling like (cream, French vanilla, a berry,...). Once every 16 - 18 months I order a quart of the vanilla, plus a couple of one or two ounce bottles of random things, and during the year will pick up a few odds and ends if something catches my eye. Vaping 3mg my per ounce eliquid cost is in the noise. Twisted 26 kanthal is cheap, and I have the several lifetime 3# box of cellucotton rayon.

 

[JeremyR]

Just checkin' in. How's everyone doing?

I haven't had much going on. Been using my two limitless RTDAs exclusively since I got them and just re-wicked one yesterday. It hadn't needed it since September 8th of last year. I know that because I looked at the metadata from the picture I took of it with my phone. It still didn't really need it. I was just curious if I was dropping much flavor. I was a little, but it wasn't enough to cry about and I think that was just because the notch coil needed cleaning. It has a pretty thick layer of residue built up. It cleaned up nice though. Pulled the old wick and rinsed it off and it came right back to bright white. That's even after I'd made a few burnt hit mistakes from not paying close enough attention over the course of the last 7 months. I'm not sure how many hundreds of ml I went through, but it was at least a few.

Rayon is making me even lazier than I already was. I don't expect to ever get really good at building.

Hey IML8!

I know! That's why I liked it so much. It's perfect for the lazy vapor. You just want to vape like you smoked, not have to fiddle with stuff all the time and have failures leave you vapeless.

I go months and do nothing but vape day in day out.. It's to the point now I re-wick quarterly, maybe, on my daily carry. I've got friends set up, vaping daily around 25w, going 8 months before I rebuild for them.. that's once a year. Nuts! Lol

 

[Hoggy]

+1 on the 3# box. A couple tips..

100mg/ml in 100% VG has an indefinite shelf life in the freezer, compared to in-PG - according to a chemist that was on here, along my own experience with old PG vs. old VG. It's also safer as it takes much longer to absorb through the skin than its pg counterpart. I'm not recommending it for new mixers, but I always rub any that gets on my fingers on my bare arm/skin - with no ill effects, save for my first psychosomatic experience with getting a bit on me when I was new.

Also, until you might be sure that you're going to stick with mixing your own, you may want to go for the plastic syringes as most/all do at first. If you're going to stick with it though, I'd recommend investing in glass syringes - building up your collection slowly here and there for better affordability. The plastic ones invariably start binding or falling apart in one way or another - plus you don't have to put tape over the numbers on the glass ones. Also, there are several flavors that will swell up the rubber stopper or melt the plastic. Someone else pointed out the best ones to get for whatever reason, linked to in my sig. I've slowly built up 3 1ml, 2 2ml, 1 5ml, 2 10ml, and 1 30ml over time. And that's likely where I'm stopping. I use techniques to use a single syringe for many flavorings most times (unless I'm mixing coffee, mint, and pizza - then I'd use 3! ). To compliment them, I most often use 1.5" SS 18 gauge dispensing tips, found on Ebay for cheap.

.... Of course mixing by weight is only really practical/viable if not getting most or all of your flavoring in 4oz/16oz bottles - in which case you'd still need a syringe or something anyways (cause they don't have dropper-tops). Many times the difference between a 1-oz/30ml bottle and 4oz/120ml bottle can be as low as one dollar, so it can be most economical. And if it's a flavor that you like anyways, like say Banana, then even a bad one [to you] can be used to add notes/complexity to a good one. Just look up flavor reviews to see if many are saying a particular brand of a flavor is bad to them, and you'll likely be set with your 4oz 'testers'.

For calculators, EjuiceMeUp might be the easiest for a beginning mixer. But it can quickly outgrow itself and become a real PITA to use (like having to always manually type all your flavorings in). That's where other calculators come into play. If you're comfortable with the cloud storing all your bad recipes, then there's all-the-flavors(ATF) or e-liquid-recipes(ELR). Otherwise the stand-alone one linked to in my sig is above-and-beyond all the others I've tried.

 

[Herrick]

Depends. If it's a brand new flavoring I'm trying out, yeah, generally 10 mls. That gives me a KF full when mixed, and lets me get some steeping in on the rest to see how it changes.

If it's a new recipe, but of flavors I already know, usually 30 mls. ESPECIALLY if it's a tobacco flavor, as they can sometimes take a long time to steep for best flavor, and I'm usually not patient enough - a 10 ml taste tester would be gone before the steeping is done

I'm impatient too. That's why I don't plan on trying to make any tobacco flavor stuff until I am a bit more experienced. It's gonna be painful though. I've been vaping tobacco ejuices almost exclusively for the whole year I've been vaping. Time to branch out.

 

[Hoggy]

oh yeah.. On the single-flavor testing aspect.. This can be quite boring, so it can depend on how much other vapable or good stuff you have laying/steeping around. If single testing something like, say a banana, I might do 5 or 10 or 15ml. If single-testing a mixer type flavor, like whip cream, I may do 2ml. For the tests at or above 10ml, I'll often put them in a 30ml bottle - so I can always use Hotrod's calculator to raise or lower percentages, or even add other ingredients. That calculator will tell you exactly how much pg/vg/nic/flavoring to add, to lower and raise percentages of something (using its 'modify existing recipe' feature) - in .00x ml, .x drop, and .00x gram gradations.

 

[JeremyR]

I did, in the Pharaoh rta, I wicked it tight in the coil as usual and fluffed the wick ends and starting tucking in the rayon starting at the bottom of the wick slowly working in more & more until the juice channel was full then cut off at the edge of the deck whatever wick remained. @JeremyR posted a while back that with juice channels that are larger you don't have to trim with the usual rules of 50-90% wick removed. I didn't get any dry hits or leaks.

Absolutely on point @Heartsdelight, thanks!

I'll add -

Ecigs and RBAs have changed quite a bit since we started using rayon. Most of it to increase juice flow and power capabilities of the rba. . So many aspects of the specific wicking has changed. For the most part getting much easier.

Density in the coil is most important. More important as you increase wattage.

There are many variables that will determine exactly what you do, like the size of coil in relation to the rbas deminsions. The amount of power and airflow. The tips provided in the op are to help users reach grail levels of longevity for a stress free vape..

Remember the second key point in thinning, the tail thinning starts where/when the wicking is longer than the chamber or deck or makes a sharp bend. Rare to see one like this today. With some atties your just trimming back tails to make room in the chamber, you don't want the wick touching the sides or top. Just formed nicely to fit without scrunching, bunching, or touching.

Depending on your setup you may thin a lot off the wick or none.

If you have a 200w capable rba and your running 50w you likely won't have much trouble at all, but if you want to reach higher ml run through with less gunk, you can start tweaking all the many factors till you reach the sweet spot.

 

[JeremyR]

There are about 50 more posts I need to reply to...

 

[Katdarling]

We'll wait.

 

[JeremyR]

❤❤ Rayon Girls ❤ ❤

 

[VictorViper]

If it tastes funny it's from your dirty fingers... I always wash my hands before wicking.

Hey, this kinda got shrugged off a page back (maybe as a no-brainer), but seriously, it's a huge step in good wicking, IMO! Especially after wrapping/coiling up.

 

[JeremyR]

Yep nothing like metallic taste on your wick.. or that fried chicken you were eating earlier.

That rayon carries anything that touches it.

 

[ricks]

Yep nothing like metallic taste on your wick.. or that fried chicken you were eating earlier.

That rayon carries anything that touches it.

or cheese