Soaking Cotton Wick Overnight Improved Flavour!

[Baddog]

Had an interesting discovery today. I was having nothing but problems with a cotton wick on a EVOD BCC microcoil. The flavour of my juice just wasn't coming through the way I know it should using cotton wick. I experimented with the amount of flavour wick's thinking that that was the culprit but couldn't seem to get the flavour of my juice to come through no matter what I did ... so I gave up on it and switched over to a vivi nova microcoil with cotton. Anyway, I came back to my EVOD BCC the following day having changed 'nothing' just sitting for a day and to my surprise the flavour had returned full force and was excellent again. I seems that for whatever reason leaving cotton wick for a duration seems to greatly improve the flavour. Throat hit and vapour are both fine using the cotton wick immediately but it seems that flavour is improved simply by allowing the cotton to 'soak' for a time.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[BlueMoods]

Only takes about 5 minutes for mine to do that, but that is probably the cotton used. The outside of the wicks get wet in a few seconds but, it takes a bit for them to get saturated, and that's where you get the most flavor.

 

[Baddog]

I'm fairly new to cotton. My first success was with cotton in a microcoil on EVOD BCC. Taste was absolutely phenomena! Since then however I've been struggling to maintain that flavour ... it seems to come and go. I just tried my first cotton rebuild on a Vivi Nova and flavour is again absolutely great and seems to persist unlike on the EVOD. Not sure why that is. Flavour on the EVOD (microcoil, 28gauge, 9 wraps, 1.4ohms) comes and goes ... often it seems to have a slight burnt taste even at low volts(3.4 - 3.0) but leaving it for a while seems to improve the flavour. Perhaps something else is going on here but it seems to me letting the wick soak helps regain the flavour but cotton on Vivi Nova doesn't seem to fluctuate, just remains constantly excellent flavour. Not sure why?

 

[mooshi]

The first couple of hits on cotton wicks tastes funny to me, boiled or not.

I switched over to the organic ones I'd found at Whole Foods and that made a big difference for me (without having to boil either). The first few hits still have a slight taste to it, but just barely.

I mask it with a few drops of "Sub Zero" (a strong mint ejuice from a local vendor - similar to the strength of an Altoid) and then I'm golden. I guess similar to BlueMoods, it takes about 5 minutes to get the cotton fully saturated. I still like masking it with the mint, though.

The current setups are micro coils measured at 1.2 ohms on an iGo-L w/ Brass King mod and modified Squid w/ Bogger Box.

 

[Fenris4024]

I'd say that a lot of it depends on how thick the cotton is, what you had to do to "pretreat" it (boil, sacrifice a stardust clearo to it, etc) and how tightly you rolled it too.... in a micro coil, on a dripper, I get gobs of flavor using the Super_X_Drifter specifications (CVS cotton), but it's not so much in an evod, and in a protank, its still to airy for me to appreciate it. I've let them soak a bit in those BCC's, and gotten better results, so there's something to the revelation.

In my Drunker Tank, I always let it sit for a while, just to get a good saturation, and it is great. I think "IF" you have the time/ patience for it, letting them sit is worth it, but once again, how you treated it and what cotton it is makes a big difference.

 

[Papadragon]

What about cotton yarn I asum you are talking about cotton balls ? I use cotton yarn

 

[Fenris4024]

I've tried the rolled cotton, cotton from 100% organic cotton balls, and cheesecloth in my Drunker... the cheesecloth seems to need the longest "soak" time. COtton yarn, I dunno about, because oddly enough, our wally world doesn't HAVE yarn, and so far what I have is working good, so I've not found a need to order any online.

In micro coils (on my rebuilt EVODs/ Protank heads and drippers) I murder the head off a Q-tip most of the time.

I'd imagine the yarn might need a soak time though, as of how its spun and made... but it should, in theory anyhow, have great capillary action to the coil.

 

[Pinggolfer]

i have a few Evods but have no clue to as where you purchase the cotton flavor wicks. Help!

 

[Papadragon]

Yes the yarn wicks very well and it's like 2.50 for 300 feet

 

[State O' Flux]

i have a few Evods but have no clue to as where you purchase the cotton flavor wicks. Help!

You don't necessarily have to purchase anything. Yes, you can buy cotton (and bamboo, another natural wicking material) wick in assorted sizes, ready to go, just like silica wick... but, a lot of folks just use what's handy around the house. Cotton balls seem to be one of the most common sources, as do the ends of Q-Tips.
You remove the air tube, remove the existing flavor wicks (2 in an EVOD) and replace them with a similar (single) thickness and length of cotton that you've rolled up into a "string". Cotton tends to swell more than silica, but, it's also more compressible, so the diameter that you use is a bit of an experiment on your part. You should be able to find plenty of threads and videos using a Google search that will narrow down your first attempt to a greater likelihood of success.

 

[Pinggolfer]

You don't necessarily have to purchase anything. Yes, you can buy cotton (and bamboo, another natural wicking material) wick in assorted sizes, ready to go, just like silica wick... but, a lot of folks just use what's handy around the house. Cotton balls seem to be one of the most common sources, as do the ends of Q-Tips.
You remove the air tube, remove the existing flavor wicks (2 in an EVOD) and replace them with a similar (single) thickness and length of cotton that you've rolled up into a "string". Cotton tends to swell more than silica, but, it's also more compressible, so the diameter that you use is a bit of an experiment on your part. You should be able to find plenty of threads and videos using a Google search that will narrow down your first attempt to a greater likelihood of success.

Cotton balls and Q tips I have. Thank you as I am new to this and will give it a try. I was under the impression there was a certain size cotton to use. Actually never thought cotton could be used as a wick.

 

[State O' Flux]

Cotton balls and Q tips I have. Thank you as I am new to this and will give it a try. I was under the impression there was a certain size cotton to use. Actually never thought cotton could be used as a wick.

One warning - cotton will burn very easily, unlike silica which has a fairly high heat tolerance - so, make sure your wick is wet before you fire it the first time. If the wick is still dry... the first hit will be very nasty. .. Once you burn a cotton wick... that's it, it's done, and time to throw it away.

 

[Pinggolfer]

One warning - cotton will burn very easily, unlike silica which has a fairly high heat tolerance - so, make sure your wick is wet before you fire it the first time. If the wick is still dry... the first hit will be very nasty. .. Once you burn a cotton wick... that's it, it's done, and time to throw it away.

When you say make sure it's soaked do you mean let it sit awhile in the Evod before firing it?

 

[State O' Flux]

When you say make sure it's soaked do you mean let it sit awhile in the Evod before firing it?

A bit vague wasn't I. ;-)

Yes... let it sit a bit. If cotton is anything like bamboo, and I assume it must be similar, it won't take long.