Which do you prefer, cotton or silica?

[Deanwick]

So I'm gonna get into rebuilding my kanger coils for my protank 2's. I've been watching all the vids posted through here and it looks way to easy to not give it a try. Plus all the hype about how much more flavor is there. I see some people prefer one or the other. From what I've read the cotton is the way to go for the most flavor out of a single bottom coil. Or is there some bad mamba jamba kinda silica wick out there too.

Another quick question: I saw a video on busardo taking wicks out of the stock coils. I assume that gives more flavor/vapor?


HAPPY vaping!

 

[sky4it]

I prefer silica when building my BCC clearos, but cotton on dripper, and probably only cotton when my order Russian 91 clone arrives, cause that be what people using, and they use to much silica on a bad build on the Russian 91

Silica dont burn man, no it dont unless you torch it with torch like one guy did. on BCC it uses so little silica I figure why not use it, but some say silica might be bad for your health, not sure, no body knows no they dont for sure

 

[VaPreis]

For my wife's protank heads, I build a 1/16" microcoil using 10 wraps of 30 gauge kanthal for a resistance of @ 2Ω. Same ID and wraps for mine, but instead I use 28gauge for @ 1.25Ω.

I use cotton yarn to wick them. White "Peaches and Cream" cotton yarn from Walmart. $1.50 for a lifetime supply.

Full piece (all 4 strands) for my wifes coils who only uses thinner juices at 60/40, and 3 strands for mine using a 50/50.

This setup is proving to work pretty well for us.

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Cotton changed my vaping life, it really did. I haven't rebuilt a PT (I have meaty fingers and old eyes), but many do with cotton. For a RBA of any sort, I fiddled around with just about every wick and coil type until the microcoil with cotton emerged to be the winner with me. A mini version of that technique can be utilized on the PT.

 

[VaPreis]

I should add that I don't have much of a preference when it comes to cotton vs. silica. I use silica or ekowool in builds for other things and enjoy them just fine. But for the way I build protank heads, cotton yarn seems like it was made to fit my coils, keeping it cheap and easy.

 

[tj99959]

silica ...........

 

[UnclePsyko]

I've switched over 100% to cotton, just the plain-ole organic cheapo stuff at Wally-Mart works fine. I don't have any issues with silica at all, it was fine for what it does. Cotton is much cheaper and easier to work with. Silica IMHO, does mute the flavors slightly. Not a bad thing really but cotton just seems to carry the flavor better. When building coils, you can pull just enough cotton needed, roll the end and feed it through... Silica is not so easy to use, it frays, doesn't like to be manipulated into place, etc... I had to build the coil around the silica whereas I can build whatever coil I need and wick away with the cotton.
Downside to cotton is some people can taste the cotton which is a turn-off and you cannot dry-burn a coil with cotton in place.
A dry hit with cotton is something a person never forgets.

I've never went the Eco-wool route. One day I'll give it a try.

 

[Deanwick]

Thanks for the incite so far. Didn't even think about adding SS cable wick to the list. Keep seeing this on some online vape stores. I'm my mind wrapping an electrically charged wire around another metallic conductor is not possible. Unless this SS wick is used for a different type of rebuild.


HAPPY VAPING!

 

[UnclePsyko]

Apparently, there are those who do push the envelope and use SS mesh or cable in a ProTank or Drippers with success, but I'm not that adventurous. The SS wicks are common in the Genesis RBA builds.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...422100-protank-stainless-steel-mesh-wick.html

 

[indoorsindica]

Cotton. Tried em all. Cotton is where it is at. Even tried hemp rope once...

Cotton is kind of finicky to work with at times, just takes getting used to "less is more" because it expands a lot.

Keep in mind some juices are made for use with silica and might not taste as great on cotton

 

[CommaHolly]

I don't rebuild,,,,,but I have rewicked, just to see if I'd like cotton,,,,,

(I did have help from someone who knows what they're doing),,,,,,,and I still prefer silica.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Silica. I just don't like the taste of cotton, even post-boiling several times. But that's personal preference and I'm sure most people wouldn't taste the cotton.

Plus I don't mind wrapping the wire directly on the silica, so the threading issues don't bother me at all.

 

[Sucker_dad]

cotton all the way for me, it has nothing to do with flavor and everything to do with cost. 1 cotton ball costs me $.01 and it will last me about 3 weeks of replacing wicks almost every day. How much would it cost to do that with silica? But hey that's just my 2 cotton balls worth.

 

[Dconnor]

Cotton all the way for me.

 

[bhswmc01]

Cotton - for both cost effectiveness and flavor.

 

[stylezuk]

Always found a funny taste to Silica so use cotton but at #BBCVapeMeet noticed many using Monster Vapes silica and all they had to say was good things so next on shopping list.

 

[UnclePsyko]

For some, it's about the flavor, others it's the cost. For me, it's a cross between both with convenience thrown in. Some juices just don't taste right on cotton. Some are too muted on silica. Not a One-Size-Fits-All.
Personally, I vape some serious coil-clogging NET's so it's a matter of all the variables mentioned.
My favorite liquids just taste sharper and cleaner and not necessarily stronger with cotton. I was dry-burning after every tankful with silica with marginally improved performance after a few days. So it was way easier and cheaper for me to just switch to cotton so I could just pull the wick, pulse the coil clean and slip in a new wick. Takes only a couple of minutes and a single cotton ball lasts for weeks. Way quicker than having to rotate heads for soaking, rinsing, dry-burning, etc...
It's all personal preference, taste and convenience/cost when you think about it.

 

[VIAWOL]

Cotton. The first time I went to rebuild my protank I was going to use silica because it was all I had. As I began the process and I was holding the silica in my fingers I noticed little tiny fiber fragments sticking to my fingers.... my mind instantly went back to the days of being an apprentice plumber and being the one sent to crawl thru the insulation to get to a hard to reach pipe. The little fragments looked exactly like the fiberglass insulation that covered my cloths and skin. I remember the irritation it caused, how it inbedded into the fabric of my uniform, and how I eventually had to throw them away because no matter how many times I washed them they still made me inch when I wore them. After my mind returned to the present I stopped building the coil I was working on and I grabbed my keys and ran right out to Wal-Mart and bought a lifetime supply of cotton yarn ($1.50) and have refused to use silica ever since. I have even gone as far as to volunteer to rebuild all off my families coils for them just to keep them from using it to. Just a personal opinion tho and personally, I may be a bit crazy.

This post was found in an ancient ruin, possibly left by aliens.

 

[Deanwick]

Cotton. The first time I went to rebuild my protank I was going to use silica because it was all I had. As I began the process and I was holding the silica in my fingers I noticed little tiny fiber fragments sticking to my fingers.... my mind instantly went back to the days of being an apprentice plumber and being the one sent to crawl thru the insulation to get to a hard to reach pipe. The little fragments looked exactly like the fiberglass insulation that covered my cloths and skin. I remember the irritation it caused, how it inbedded into the fabric of my uniform, and how I eventually had to throw them away because no matter how many times I washed them they still made me inch when I wore them. After my mind returned to the present I stopped building the coil I was working on and I grabbed my keys and ran right out to Wal-Mart and bought a lifetime supply of cotton yarn ($1.50) and have refused to use silica ever since. I have even gone as far as to volunteer to rebuild all off my families coils for them just to keep them from using it to. Just a personal opinion tho and personally, I may be a bit crazy.

This post was found in an ancient ruin, possibly left by aliens.

That would be my problem too! I got everyone in my family but one sister so far HOOKED On vaping. I'm the oldest out of four. My mother stopped "smoking" when she was pregnant with me, but when she gets intoxicated she would bum from me or my pops, on occasion, whoever was the closest. When I got my dad hooked on vaping she couldn't bum anymore cigs so she would just steal our rigs from us, right out of our hands! He went out and got her her own rig with little to no nicotine (0-8mg) and she carries it whenever she knows she is going to need it since we started throwing elbows to keep her away. Hahaha


HAPPY VAPING!

 

[jdanderson1449]

+1 for cotton. I use yarn for the most part. It's stupid cheap to start with and my wife is a knitter so there is yarn a plenty. It only has a slightly weird taste until the cotton gets good and saturated then it's the most pleasurable vape around.


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