What am I doing wrong? Tobeco Russian w/ XC 116 wick

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thirtyfour41

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dice57

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Most likely your coil is to tight around the XC116. It like it a bit loose. Also make sure you tuck the tails of the wick in after you secure the containment ring, otherwise can get fibers stuck in the threads and clog the juice channels.

With cotton the density through the coil is critical. A twisted strand should pull through with little resistance, then untwisted to slightly puff it up inside the coil. After I measure and trim the tails, I fold them straight up and slide the wring over the build, once tight then tuck in the wick into the juice decks.
 

Jonathan Tittle

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Based on the pictures, I agree with dice57, it looks like the coils are too tight around the wick. Even though it's not a cotton wick, it still needs some room to expand a bit. Too tight and it'll choke the wick and you'll end up with dry scratchy hits the entire time. I had the same issue with Ekowool when I first started using it a while back. When it worked, it worked well, but when it was wound too tight, it choked and flavor was horrible.
 

folkphys

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Here's how I did it.

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It is a tight 6-wrap of twisted 30g kanthal. Tight is fine because the xc-116 is so rigid, but the ends have to be long enough to stuff down in there it seems.
 

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folkphys

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Also, I imagine that setting up your coil at a diagonal to the centerline of the build deck tends to help here. It allows the longish wick ends to lay flatly down along the lower deck shoulders instead of bunching upwards (if you lengthened your wick still using your current coil orientation that is what would happen I think), maximizing juice contact at its point of entry.

I just don't think it has much to do with overly-tight coils. Again, the xc-116 is far more stiff than ekowool or cotton. But that means you certainly don't want your coils too loose around it because it doesn't seem to expand noticeably.
 
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thirtyfour41

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Here's how I did it.

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It is a tight 6-wrap of twisted 30g kanthal. Tight is fine because the xc-116 is so rigid, but the ends have to be long enough to stuff down in there it seems.

This is great. Because of the other setup I saw, I thought the wicks should be a bit shorter. I mean, they still touch the deck and reach the juice channels, but extra can never hurt... but I am running out of wick!
 

folkphys

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This is great. Because of the other setup I saw, I thought the wicks should be a bit shorter. I mean, they still touch the deck and reach the juice channels, but extra can never hurt... but I am running out of wick!

And it sure aint cheap! Hopefully, though it will last long enough to more than pay for itself. I just started using this stuff last week. Been all cotton up till now. The only thing I worry about using xc-116 in these Kayfun style atties is taking on and off the chamber sleeve so many times that the wick frays out beyond the point of usefulness. Luckily, I have found that even changing between vastly different juices only requires a short muddy taste overlap period. Or else I can just do a quick dry burn with the sleeve still on. I have found that these wicks (likely because of their rigidity/non-sponginess) need some primer pulls to get them going. Of course, I may just be over-filling my Kayfun when using its nano kit.
 
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folkphys

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I think I have enough for one more wick, then I have to restock. I was thinking of just buying like 3 feet of it just to have on hand, but cotton is so much more economical!


To be sure, but right now I almost think xc-116 tastes better. And it looks to be perhaps perfectly suited for the Kraken and the Fogger. I have a friend who loves the stuff in his Kraken and with the xc-116 I may have finally tamed the persnickety Fogger. Plus, it's a great choice for a few lazy vapists I know that love the taste of cotton micros in the various devices I have hot-rodded for them. and now using xc-116 instead of cotton might just keep them off my back for a few weeks with the constant tweaking, re-wicking, re-coiling, repairing and the like.

Plus, I've got a vape shop nearby with close to 200 available juice flavors and new experiments everyday, so I can shove a bit of xc-116 in my AG-TD (setup as a dual coil dripper) and I've got an excellent juice sampling machine. No more tasting new juices in those horrid CE-5's.
 

thirtyfour41

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To be sure, but right now I almost think xc-116 tastes better. And it looks to be perhaps perfectly suited for the Kraken and the Fogger. I have a friend who loves the stuff in his Kraken and with the xc-116 I may have finally tamed the persnickety Fogger. Plus, it's a great choice for a few lazy vapists I know that love the taste of cotton micros in the various devices I have hot-rodded for them. and now using xc-116 instead of cotton might just keep them off my back for a few weeks with the constant tweaking, re-wicking, re-coiling, repairing and the like.

Plus, I've got a vape shop nearby with close to 200 available juice flavors and new experiments everyday, so I can shove a bit of xc-116 in my AG-TD (setup as a dual coil dripper) and I've got an excellent juice sampling machine. No more tasting new juices in those horrid CE-5's.

I have a Steam Turbine clone on the way from FT and I think I'm going to try and set that up with xc 116 as well rather than cotton. Although cotton is cheap and easy, I hate changing it every two days or every flavor.
 

folkphys

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The wick holes in the ST may prove a bit too small for the xc-116, they were pretty tiny as I recall. I feel like the Kraken's might be slightly larger and it still required a bit of clever fiddling to feed the wicks though its holes. I had to take off the tank glass and wrap a short piece of 30g wire tightly around the bottom end of each wick, feed the tail end of the 30g through the hole from the top and with pliers yank it through from the bottom.
 

metamorpheus

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With 116 in the Russian here is what I did last and it seemed to work much better. Make an 1/8" mini coil and thread the 116 through. Cut it just a little after the deck so nothing goes down into the juice intake area. Take 4 very small pieces of fluffy cotton or hemp and place each piece going from the juice intake area to a side of the 116 protruding from the deck. Get it nice and soaked with juice, and youre good to go. The 4 corners build as I like to call it. It seems to stay saturated better and give better flavor this way. Enjoy.
 
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