Silica vs cotton or hybrid

[hjw92]

What kind of wicking do you all prefer? Cotton or silica or both? or other like mesh or ss rope?
Just ordered some 2mm silica for my kraken clone.

 

[Bigflyrodder]

Personally I use cotton the most as it is super easy to work with and I can wrap nice tight clean coils around something solid. Still use silica in some builds and mesh in RBAs. Tried using a combo mesh with cotton wrapping in a vertical micro coil build on my RSST the other day (RipTripper build).

 

[Sthur]

I am 100% boiled cotton user. Tried mesh and didn't like it. Running cotton on pt rebuilds, dual trident dripper, rsst, and octopus.

@big try cotton in auto drip mods, works great. Cotton wick on an RSST - YouTube

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

Cotton yarn. 8 miles of it costs something like $2. I have Evod heads wicked with this stuff going on 4 weeks now. Zero flooding issues and it tightens up the draw the way I like. (I use 3 strands). And... organic cotton balls for my cheap dripper used when I sample new juice. $3.50 for 100,000 of them I think. Big coil. Easy to thread quickly.

And no... I don't boil diddly-squat. If Mrs. Kodiak knew I could use the stove I'd have to cook.

 

[hjw92]

I actually laughed when I read that!! I gotta try cotton yarn in my kraken clone

 

[MorpheusPA]

I personally like silica and don't care for cotton. But to each his/her own and all that.

 

[pt91]

tried to like cotton....boiled, you name it. Tasted like vaping through a sock to me.
Back to silica and readywick.
Wish cotton would have worked for me, I have boxes of it and it is so cheap but just not for me.

 

[hjw92]

starting to notice from experience that cotton is more absorbent and slower wicking. silica on the other hand wicks fast and doesnt absorb the way the cotton does. IMO cotton hinders flavor more.

 

[dabears34]

I use rolled sterile cotton. I like the flavor better than silica and its under $6 for a lifetime supply, so its not a too big of a deal the rewick for every flavor if the mood strikes me.

 

[NealBJr]

Hjw hit the nail on the head IMO. I use an old AGA-T2, and tried cotton. It couldn't supply enough ejuice and would dry burn too often. 3mm silica worked the best for me, but 3mm braided also did not wick as fast.

I do use cotton in my drippers though.

 

[k0rtnei]

I'm surprised! These are really the first vapers I've come across that aren't adamant about "organic cotton"...has to be organic according to all. I haven't tried silica other than what came in ready made coils. Nice to see others' views on this, I might give it a shot.

 

[Bunnykiller]

I have my RSST set up with silica and cotton, the silica is in the tank and feeds the cotton bed on the build deck, the coil is horizontal snuggled down into the cotton... works great...

 

[Rickb119]

I use cotton cooking twine that I buy at BBY. It's easy to thread some of the strands into the coil using a bead needle (hobby lobby) and it wicks very well. I do boil (twice) because it's natural, unbleached.

 

[Bejeebus]

I use CVS 100% sterile cotton roll ... huge amount will last me a lifetime. I use it on an RDA (AIOS in dripping mode).

 

[hjw92]

Hjw hit the nail on the head IMO. I use an old AGA-T2, and tried cotton. It couldn't supply enough ejuice and would dry burn too often. 3mm silica worked the best for me, but 3mm braided also did not wick as fast.

I do use cotton in my drippers though.

Even though you have both regular silica wick and braided, was the braided thicker? I read something online maybe even here on the forum someone saying that if you plan on ordering ekowool or braided that you should order it one mm smaller than your regular silica mm

3mm regular silica=2mm braided or ekowool?

Don't quote me on this, I've never purchased eko or braided to tell. Someone please give some insight.


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[AndriaD]

That "organic" label is nearly always 100% hype. All it means is that the plants weren't raised with petrochemical fertilizers or pesticides, which has zero to do with how it ends up tasting (even for food), and everything to do with how many suckers they can get to fork over big bucks.

I'm not yet at the point of rebuilding, but I have started to need to dry-burn coils when they get icked-up, so I have to replace the flavor wicks with *something*; I bought some of the Peaches & Cream 100% cotton yarn that was recommended by quite a few here, it's cheap at Walmart, and it provides superlative wicking for thin juices that tend to leak, AND it provides MUCH better and clearer taste. So much better taste (and wicking for my thin PG-based juice), that now, even with brand new coils, I open 'em up and toss out that flimsy little bit of silica and replace it with boiled 100% cotton P&C yarn. Improves taste immediately and stops leaks before they start.

Yes, there apparently is an issue with slower wicking, which can cause those nasty dry hits; that problem is mostly solved by taking a few puffs *before* pressing the fire button, to get the juice into the wick before you actually try to take a real hit. Seems to work terrifically.

Andria

 

[Tbev]

Cotton all the way, I use that p&c yarn and it has made me quite lazy. It works great, I use it in a kraken among others. I don't boil anything but I recommend sterile as opposed to organic, who knows what the hell organic cotton means, and i recommend, if the yarn is not the correct size, getting away from the rolled balls and getting cotton from the wound dressing section in the store, it's flat, easy to use / cut. If your using yarn, leave an extra inch or whatever in the tank so you can pull up n trim.

 

[epices]

I use cotton in the squape. I am silica-phobic (unless it is ekowool). Cotton is easy to use, super cheap and does not give off any weird flavors.

 

[Koudotai]

What kind of wicking do you all prefer? Cotton or silica or both? or other like mesh or ss rope?
Just ordered some 2mm silica for my kraken clone.

I much prefer cotton to anything. Silica and mesh both have weird tastes to me.

 

[AlexanderJ]

I'm intrigued by cotton, but I hear that you taste the cotton, at least at first.. Like someone said 'vaping through a sock'. Is it true that you have to 'break in' a cotton wick to get the best flavor?

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