Sure, I'll weigh in. My wicking was the Suck until I tried rayon (dry hits, leaking, and I mean BAD leaking and etc.)
Rayon plays to my strengths, (overstuffing the coil) and even with rayon, I found I had to dial it back a bit, as if it's too tight in the coil, the rayon will break in two in the coil.
I've never had dry hits with the Siren and if I were to, I would immediately diagnose myself as having too much wick.
Rayon shrinks as it gets wet, so what I do is use a REASONABLE amount in the coil, enough so there is the slightest hint of "resistance" if I try to move the wick. THEN I trim and thin my tails quite a bit (you need to do that a bit more with rayon in most tanks, in my opinion. I find that with tails, less is more. Because the wick is using a capillary action where it draws eliquid up through the wick to the coil, (think: exactly what plants do, like celery, you try to chomp too much celery at once you'll wind up with a bunch of fibers in your mouth and a lot of saliva going nowhere) if your tails are too thick you can wind up with a "choked" wick that has dry spots in it, and hence, dry hits.
This is true for cotton by the way, as well. And yes, it sounds like you aren't cutting your cotton by the grain, if you look closely you will see what looks almost like wood grain and you need to cut WITH the grain, not across the grain. This may enable you to use cotton more effectively if you so desire, but unless you are in love with cotton (I was more in hate with cotton). Why not try rayon for eleven bucks you can get enough rayon to last a life time (although you can for sure start with the smaller box, I did. Sally's is a good source be sure to get the rayon marked 100% rayon, they also sell a cellucotton (the Brand is Graham) which is cotton and you don't want that. You can also get it from Amazon if you so desire, plus it lasts longer, withstands heat better (seriously I have a mod that just LOVES to change its resistance seemingly by magic until I finally locked in my settings, LOL) and I have had a mouthful or two of my puny MTL setup that was all of a sudden 67.4 watts, etc., and you'd THINK that would have killed my wick instantly, but it didn't. I get a ton of life out of my builds and wicks with rayon and frankly I have a fine motor tremor so you'd think that just rewicking and dry burning or cleaning the coil would be no big deal, but for me it's a bit of a chore, so I appreciate that extra wick life.
You can also rinse rayon with distilled water (carefully and remove the tank first) for flavor changes and whatnot. I tried it first because someone said it was a "thing" and I was curious. My "cleaned" rayon held up longer than I imagined it would although arguably this method is JUST as time consuming as rewicking (and you have to leave it in the coil) so I don't really much, but I do think it's cool.
Rayon solved ALL my leaking problems. In fact I had to use LESS than I imagined, and really trim thin tails, or else I got dry hits which frankly is preferable to leaking all over my mod and etc., but rayon is AWESOME once you know how to use it. The folks on this thread solved ALL my problems with two or three questions, seriously.
Rayon Wick - Better Flow, Flavor, Longevity, and Nic Hit!! - Pt.2
No offense to cotton intended or implied. Etc. I just find rayon far easier in almost all ways and it tastes "fine" and by that I mean No Taste Whatsoever. Good luck,
Anna
