The Anti cotton 1%

[jamesfarrell]

Who doesn't like cotton? I certainly don't. Have tried multiple types. Organic, non organic. Boiled, unboiled. The stuff just tastes horrible IMO. Ecowool, silica and SS mesh for this kid.

Join me on my anti-cotton crusade.

 

[doots]

initially cotton can taste rather wonky for the first 5 minutes or so but after that its great. give it a chance. good luck with your campaign..

 

[asf146]

well you have to add juice to the cotton before you vape it silly....

 

[oedo808]

I like silica and ekowool on fruity and tobacco flavors just because it requires less rewicking and tastes good but I feel like silica mutes my custard and cream flavors to the point of a barely flavored juice. I've been meaning to try SS mesh in a genny and have a few sheets it just seems like a hassle. I'm afraid I'm not in the anti cotton 1% as I certainly don't mind cotton but being a new at rebuilding I started with cotton and am now venturing out.

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[p.opus]

Cotton irritates my throat. I always thought I was doing it "wrong" or something and then Dimitris The Vaping Geek also admitted to going back to Silica. It made me feel better. I wasn't the only one.

I use 2mm Ekowool in my Kayfun builds and could not be happier. It's a basic 3/4 coil in a nest, Not some rip-trippers vertical chimney contraption. Easy to build and performs perfectly for me.

 

[rjtoole]

I did not like cotton at first but like doots said it has a small "break in" period. Cotton is cheap, a bag can last you a very long time and in a world of micro/nano coils there is no other wicking material easier to work with.

 

[pt91]

Tried and tried but so far all cotton tastes like vaping through a dirty wool sock to me.

 

[oedo808]

I think I immediately boiled mine 3 times in distilled water before I started using it and receive great flavor. I just don't like changing wicks so I've half switched to silica. Not to mention that I keep my airflow as loose as possible on my KFL+ clone that I don't get sufficient juice flow requiring primer puffs and the occasional dry hit. This eased me into silica so I don't have to worry about the lingering taste of burnt cotton after a slip up.

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[CloudZ]

Sometimes, not every time, I taste the cotton for the first 5-10 pulls. After that, all I taste is vapor unless I did something wrong like accidentally burning it. Usually when someone has a problem with cotton, they are using too much or firing the coil when it isn't fully saturated. However, I won't rule out that some folks could be especially sensitive to whatever little flavor it imparts on the liquid. Senses of taste vary a lot.

 

[Jugband]

I completely agree with the majority here. Cotton does have an awful taste for the first few pulls, after that your good to vape. It's so easy to work with. I'll never go back to silica or echowool. And I bought a bunch of both right before I discovered the wonderful world of cotton.

 

[BeRight]

I can partially join your campaign: Tried cotton rope/yarn - easier to work with but continues to have a strange flavor to me ( boiled/smoiled still weird taste. I am a dripper so taste really hits

Another downside is it takes more work: rolling and inserting into coils and changing out more frequently: daily for me - heavy vapor - taste goes off by end of day and cotton pretty black in area of coil. Not high temperature friendly - must keep wet at all times - more attention needed for a dripper

Of course upside of cotton: improves taste, lifetime cheap supply.

I also wonder about those tiny fibers I see under magnifying glass - do they end up in my lungs during the occasional dry hit.

Silica: doesn't taste all that bad to me after a few hits - very easy to work with - very durable - rinse repeat - higher temperature tolerance - my second choice

I haven't tried ekowool nor stainless steel mesh - would tiny stainless steel particles make it to my lungs?? - I prefer a tight strong draw

 

[bce22]

i have a bunch of ekowool that I haven't really used yet. I may try some ekowool in my kayfun for some fruit juice I have and see how it works.

 

[dylanlg2]

99% ...! I started out with silica and I purchased way too much of it, thinking that was going to be my go-to wick... I was sooo wrong.. I hate the way silica breaks apart so easily... after running my fingers down it and seeing the results I definitely dont want to be putting those silica fibers in my lungs.. I handle my wicks pretty rough while installing them anyways (not the careful and slow type) so the silica would be falling apart every time I finished a build and it never came out looking good lol.. looking back I should have been wrapping micro coils instead of normal ones and just feeding ekowool through them afterward but I was dumb.. until I found the light when I went a block away to CVS and picked up a 5 dollar box of cotton that seems to be a life supply worth.. sterile, unboiled, throw it in, juice it up, vape on. easy and holds ridiculous amount of juice so that I can take a solid 6 or 7 hits before redripping..

 

[horton]

Well, I resisted and resisted giving cotton a try and finally did in my Russian and was very pleasantly surprised. Everything was dandy until I started to get a tickle in my throat and then had a few major coughing / feels like something is stuck there sessions. I really had a hard time imagining it was the cotton wick, but that was the only change I had made. So, put the Ekowool back in and no problems. Thought I was losing my mind and was glad to see p.opus had the same kind of experience.
I do have to say the flavor with cotton was good after a little break-in period. But, until I can figure out why I had that odd experience with my throat I'll stay in the silica camp, thank you very much.....lol

 

[asf146]

I use 2mm eko wool. not too thick and holds a lot of juice. paired with a 4/5 wrap of 28 gauge kanthal

 

[emus]

Remove top cap, fire and smell the vapor. If vapor smells like wet sock wick is not set up right.
My batting average is pretty good of late getting no cotton undertones on fresh virgin cotton wick.

 

[Lucky1384]

I'm still determined to get cotton right, just to prove I can! I have a week off work coming up and plan to experiment then. Until then, silica has been very good to me. Even with a micro coil I find it very easy to change wicks when changing flavours. For the price of a huge length I don't bother trying to clean it, just pull the old one out and slip a new one in.

 

[jamesfarrell]

I've tried multiple times. I think it might not be so much the cotton, but the design of the Kafuns. I remember I have a cotton wick with a micro coil in a AGA T2 and I thought it was alright. You guys really boil the cotton? Come on, seriously?

 

[Lucky1384]

I've tried multiple times. I think it might not be so much the cotton, but the design of the Kafuns. I remember I have a cotton wick with a micro coil in a AGA T2 and I thought it was alright. You guys really boil the cotton? Come on, seriously?

I've never boiled mine so far. Somehow I think the chemicals they treat water with would be worse than what's on organic/sterile cotton. Even the bleached stuff I get is sterile and doesn't use chlorine in the process. I draw the line at boiling in filtered and deionised water

 

[DaveP]

I've gotten the dirty sock flavor when I clean heads with an ultrasonic cleaner. I thought it was residual water in the wicking, but it turned out to be a combination of a wick still slightly damp, combined with poor juice saturation on start up. So far, I like cotton. I rewound and rewicked a few Kanger PT coils using Kanthal 32 and Q-tip cotton. I found them to be superior to a standard off the shelf PT coil. Vapor was clearly superior to a standard factory built coil. You just have to make sure cotton stays saturated, IMO. An adjustable air flow tank helps with that.

I just watched a video that will be beneficial to anyone wondering how hard it would be to re-coil a Nautilus, which is a great cotton wicked tank. This guy has it down pat.