RDA Rookie Wicking Question

[BobbyGWurd]

Hey All!

I'm in my first week of rebuilding my coils and think I've finally started to get the hang of it a little bit (by that I mean I've got a setup where I haven't burned my wick right off the bat), but I still have much, much to learn.

I will probably have a lot more questions as time goes on, however, my first issue that I seem to be having is with my wicking.

I'm using organic cotton balls and from what I've followed from a video on YouTube, I'm pulling the cotton through the coil and tucking it back underneath so the coil has a bit of cotton that it is sitting on (hopefully that makes sense).

I'm finding that my juice is mostly sitting in the side of the wick that's folded over and not being burned off by the coils. I guess what I'm asking, is this a normal thing? Any pointers on wicks for a beginner?

Thanks guys!

 

[Dan011z]

Hey All!

I'm in my first week of rebuilding my coils and think I've finally started to get the hang of it a little bit (by that I mean I've got a setup where I haven't burned my wick right off the bat), but I still have much, much to learn.

I will probably have a lot more questions as time goes on, however, my first issue that I seem to be having is with my wicking.

I'm using organic cotton balls and from what I've followed from a video on YouTube, I'm pulling the cotton through the coil and tucking it back underneath so the coil has a bit of cotton that it is sitting on (hopefully that makes sense).

I'm finding that my juice is mostly sitting in the side of the wick that's folded over and not being burned off by the coils. I guess what I'm asking, is this a normal thing? Any pointers on wicks for a beginner?

Thanks guys!

Search for Scottish Roll.
Better to watch on video than me explaining.
Good luck.

 

[BobbyGWurd]

Search for Scottish Roll.
Better to watch on video than me explaining.
Good luck.

OMG Thank you so much! I'm going to have to get some cotton pads this weekend and give that a try. It looks fairly simple.

I think I also learned something about my own wick watching a tutorial. I think I'm folding my wick too tight so my juices are just getting stuck (if that makes sense). I learned some things! Thank you!

Edit: I also think that my coils being off-center may be causing some issues as well. Could this be a problem?

 

[Mr.Mann]

OMG Thank you so much! I'm going to have to get some cotton pads this weekend and give that a try. It looks fairly simple.

I think I also learned something about my own wick watching a tutorial. I think I'm folding my wick too tight so my juices are just getting stuck (if that makes sense). I learned some things! Thank you!

Edit: I also think that my coils being off-center may be causing some issues as well. Could this be a problem?

Hard to say without seeing what you are doing. But when watching videos of wicking, take EXTRA notice of how the much force the user employs to get the wick through. There should be *some* resistance to the wick going through, but it should not disrupt the coil or it should not need to be pulled with much force. You shouldn't have any gaps where no wick is touching the coil but it also shouldn't be so tight that liquid will not flow easily through it.

Make sure your fibers are running in the same direction and also, juice it up from the bottom of the well and wait a few minutes to see if the saturation rises. If it doesn't, you won't have to vape dry hits to find out that it is the case. Check its absorption, from the bottom up, first. It shouldn't take but a couple minutes at most to go from the well to a (almost) fully saturated wick and through the coil.

I feel your pain though. When I first began building, the coils were the easy part---wicking, on the other hand, was where all my problems were. Wicking is VERY important, maybe even more than the coils themselves.

 

[BobbyGWurd]

Hard to say without seeing what you are doing. But when watching videos of wicking, take EXTRA notice of how the much force the user employs to get the wick through. There should be *some* resistance to the wick going through, but it should not disrupt the coil or it should not need to be pulled with much force. You shouldn't have any gaps where no wick is touching the coil but it also shouldn't be so tight that liquid will not flow easily through it.

Make sure your fibers are running in the same direction and also, juice it up form the bottom of the well and wait a few minutes to see if the saturation rises. If it doesn't, you won't have to vape dry hits to find out that it is the case. Check it's absorption, from the bottom up, first. It shouldn't take but a couple minutes at most to go from the well to a fully saturated wick and through the coil.

I feel your pain though. When I first began building, the coils were the easy part---wicking, on the other hand, was where all my problems were. Wicking is VERY important, maybe even more than the coils themselves.

These are all really good tips. It gives me some things to think about on my next builds.

And yes. To be honest, I was quite proud of my first few coils. I put more time in to them than most probably would, but in some failed wicking attempts I didn't even get to utilize them properly.

 

[Mr.Mann]

These are all really good tips. It gives me some things to think about on my next builds.

And yes. To be honest, I was quite proud of my first few coils. I put more time in to them than most probably would, but in some failed wicking attempts I didn't even get to utilize them properly.

The cool thing about wicking though is all you have to do is pull it out and do it over, which takes no time at all. Re-coiling, however, is not needed if your coils are glowing evenly.

Remember, if the first way wasn't quite right, change up your method a tad.

Here are a couple pics to chew on, and these wicks are juiced from the well up, not dredging the coils in liquid:

And these coils were more of an experiment, but you can get the idea since the wicks were juiced up from below. In both sets of pics, the liquid totally rose after maybe a 90 seconds which let me know all was flowing properly--and these are verticals! After they absorb freely then you can juice down if need be, but you won't need much as they will be ready to drink up like a fish:

After a haircut...but you can see in the previous pic that the liquid had already penetrated the coils...this was after I added some from the top.

 

[Dan011z]

Hard to say without seeing what you are doing. But when watching videos of wicking, take EXTRA notice of how the much force the user employs to get the wick through. There should be *some* resistance to the wick going through, but it should not disrupt the coil or it should not need to be pulled with much force. You shouldn't have any gaps where no wick is touching the coil but it also shouldn't be so tight that liquid will not flow easily through it.

Make sure your fibers are running in the same direction and also, juice it up from the bottom of the well and wait a few minutes to see if the saturation rises. If it doesn't, you won't have to vape dry hits to find out that it is the case. Check its absorption, from the bottom up, first. It shouldn't take but a couple minutes at most to go from the well to a (almost) fully saturated wick and through the coil.

I feel your pain though. When I first began building, the coils were the easy part---wicking, on the other hand, was where all my problems were. Wicking is VERY important, maybe even more than the coils themselves.

Rewicked every 3 days for almost a year and i still dont get it loooollll

 

[BobbyGWurd]

The cool thing about wicking though is all you have to do is pull it out and do it over, which takes no time at all. Re-coiling, however, is not needed if your coils are glowing evenly.

Remember, if the first way wasn't quite right, change up your method a tad.

Here are a couple pics to chew on, and these wicks are juiced from the well up, not dredging the coils in liquid:

And these coils were more of an experiment, but you can get the idea since the wicks were juiced up from below. In both sets of pics, the liquid totally rose after maybe a 90 seconds which let me know all was flowing properly--and these are verticals! After they absorb freely then you can juice down if need be, but you won't need much as they will be ready to drink up like a fish:

After a haircut...but you can see in the previous pic that the liquid had already penetrated the coils...this was after I added some from the top.

Thanks! The pictures are very helpful. May I ask which RDA you're using for your verticals? That is a pretty cool technique, but I don't think I could pull off a setup like that on the RDA I'm currently using.

 

[Mr.Mann]

Thanks! The pictures are very helpful. May I ask which RDA you're using for your verticals? That is a pretty cool technique, but I don't think I could pull off a setup like that on the RDA I'm currently using.

That's the 454 Big Block v2. You may not be able to pull off verticals, but you can juice up form the bottom just to make sure that your liquid is flowing freely and not getting choked. What RDA are you using? Sorry if I missed it.

 

[Mr.Mann]

@BobbyGWurd

It just occurred to me that when I had the same issues you're having, I was, too, using cotton balls. For whatever reason, after I moved to Japanese organic cotton (the square sheets), it all went away--well, almost. Off-wicking still happens to me sometimes, but not too often. Maybe you should try a bag of JOC.

This is the cotton I recently began using (I used to use Koh Gen Doh, but this is too good of a deal and it's basically the same thing except for the size of the sheets). It will take about 2-3 weeks to arrive, but I will not need not need to order more for the foreseeable future.

 

[BobbyGWurd]

@BobbyGWurd

It just occurred to me that when I had the same issues you're having, I was, too, using cotton balls. For whatever reason, after I moved to Japanese organic cotton (the square sheets), it all went away--well, almost. Off-wicking still happens to me sometimes, but not too often. Maybe you should try a bag of JOC.

This is the cotton I recently began using (I used to use Koh Gen Doh, but this is too good of a deal and it's basically the same thing except for the size of the sheets). It will take about 2-3 weeks to arrive, but I will not need not need to order more for the foreseeable future.

This is my first RDA. I opted cheap as I wasn't sure if I would get in to rebuilding and didn't want to make a big investment. Now though, I'm starting to see the potential of rebuildables and I'm looking for something a little better.

I definitely want to give Japanese cotton a try. I've heard of Koh Gen Doh. My girlfriend said the cosmetics store she works in sells it so I will get her to pick some up for me. It seems like sheets would be easier to work with as well.

 

[Mr.Mann]

This is my first RDA. I opted cheap as I wasn't sure if I would get in to rebuilding and didn't want to make a big investment. Now though, I'm starting to see the potential of rebuildables and I'm looking for something a little better.

I definitely want to give Japanese cotton a try. I've heard of Koh Gen Doh. My girlfriend said the cosmetics store she works in sells it so I will get her to pick some up for me. It seems like sheets would be easier to work with as well.

I think it's easier. One thing I do recommend with the KGD is to gently peel back the top and bottom layers as I find those to be not as absorbent as what is sandwiched in between. Also, while I am no pooing on your choice of atomizers and can understand why you wanted to go that route, know that there are (nowadays) a quite a few options of super cheap RDAs that are not "clones". You can find some decent choices in the $15-25 range. And when you are ready to start hemorrhaging money, let me know.

 

[BobbyGWurd]

I think it's easier. One thing I do recommend with the KGD is to gently peel back the top and bottom layers as I find those to be not as absorbent as what is sandwiched in between. Also, while I am no pooing on your choice of atomizers and can understand why you wanted to go that route, know that there are (nowadays) a quite a few options of super cheap RDAs that are not "clones". You can find some decent choices in the $15-25 range. And when you are ready to start hemorrhaging money, let me know.

Oh I'm definitely ready to start spending some money . I've found this little guy to be a nice little stepping stone, but I want some new toys. Any suggestions you could make would be awesome.

I also just tried a new build. I got my coils centered a little better and they are firing more evenly after toying with them. I tried the Scottish Roll that you recommended, and although I didn't get it perfect, I'm already finding that I'm getting better clouds and much better flavor than my last build even with the cotton balls. I can't wait to try it with Japanese cotton. The juice seems to be flowing a bit better. I juiced from the bottom and after a couple of minutes it made it's way to the top, so I'll call that a win lol.

 

[Mr.Mann]

Oh I'm definitely ready to start spending some money . I've found this little guy to be a nice little stepping stone, but I want some new toys. Any suggestions you could make would be awesome.

I also just tried a new build. I got my coils centered a little better and they are firing more evenly after toying with them. I tried the Scottish Roll that you recommended, and although I didn't get it perfect, I'm already finding that I'm getting better clouds and much better flavor than my last build even with the cotton balls. I can't wait to try it with Japanese cotton. The juice seems to be flowing a bit better. I juiced from the bottom and after a couple of minutes it made it's way to the top, so I'll call that a win lol.

Great. But it wasn't me that recommended the Scottish Roll--I don't even know that that is. haha. Either which way, kudos to you for getting closer to what you want. When you get a chance, have a look at this thread.

 

[Mr.Mann]