Wick materials. Safe vs dangerous.

[Cyrus Vap]

So I got the Cheap Line set up with stainless steel, no hot spots, no issues, and ...barely getting any vapor, and airflow sucks lol. I have to play with it some more tomorrow.

Anyway, real reason for posting. I took the cotton batton and twisted up a wick, ran it through a CE2 in place of the silica. The taste is REALLY bad. Kind of like the bamboo yarn taste I've complained about, but ten times worse ! Hopefully it goes away.

Did you have to "break in" your cotton batton for a while Quigs?

 

[notsmoking]

Sorry to say Cyrus, that really bad taste is your juice ......not the cotton

 

[TomCatt]

For the cottons that are giving a bad taste (from sizing or whatever) has anyone tried a rinse with IPA or PGA (I'd rinse with water after and let dry)?

 

[Charlz]

soaked, rinsed, boiled...I've done it all. It takes about 3+ mls for the bamboo taste to go away. I haven't broken in a cotton string yet but I'm working t it slowly and it's going away. It's important to occasionally empty out the juice and start over or it will continue to be there for a long time. Seems to taint the juice. In a 2.5ml clearo I vape 2 mils and dump the rest and fill again. It's usually gone by the end of the second refill.

 

[Dr.Jerryrigger]

Hey Bopper,,,,,,,,,,,,, you more than 12 pages behind,,,,,,,,,,, ha,ha,,,,,
great post

Ha ha ha, zing!

 

[BigBopper]

Hey Bopper,,,,,,,,,,,,, you more than 12 pages behind,,,,,,,,,,, ha,ha,,,,,
great post

Yep, just catching up now.

 

[TomCatt]

soaked, rinsed, boiled...I've done it all. It takes about 3+ mls for the bamboo taste to go away. I haven't broken in a cotton string yet but I'm working t it slowly and it's going away. It's important to occasionally empty out the juice and start over or it will continue to be there for a long time. Seems to taint the juice. In a 2.5ml clearo I vape 2 mils and dump the rest and fill again. It's usually gone by the end of the second refill.

How about soaking in some PG or VG, for like a day or so? Maybe pop it in some PG, zap in microwave for ~10 secs then let soak for a day.

 

[BigBopper]

Your screw idea actually prompted my "jam a drill bit in the wick hole and wrap around that" idea...I really like the coil guide idea and may grind a screw down so that the ID of the coil was the same ID of the wick hole (with a screw or bolt it wouldn't be) but ya, props on the screw idea...keep em' coming...and in the spirit of "Pulp Fiction"...ketchup.

I can't take credit for the idea, nor can I give credit where due as I can't remember where I saw it.
The idea is to wrap the coil in the threads of the screw to properly space them. If you want more wraps, find a finer threaded screw, less wraps, coarser thread. Size the screw based on the barrel diameter. Your drill bit is on the same track, but the flutes in the drill bit would be spaced way too far apart.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

LOL funny, but I don't think its the juice

The most tasteless for me so far has been the michaels cotton yarn and the medical gauze, any taste they have vanishes real fast. The bamboo has been the most stubborn, and now the cotton batton it seems

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Tom Catt that's actually a really good idea, I'll give it a whirl

 

[tiburonfirst]

get going, guys - i need all this figured out BEFORE i get chopper's atom! on order now!

 

[DonG]

Most of my new cotton wick flavor issues came from whatever i had handled just before making the wick. Cotton being so absorbant will pull everything from your fingertips while coiling. Had one start with a soap flavor because i did not rinse my hands well enough. The point? Only handle cotton with CLEAN hands.

 

[Quigsworth]

I can't take credit for the idea, nor can I give credit where due as I can't remember where I saw it.
The idea is to wrap the coil in the threads of the screw to properly space them. If you want more wraps, find a finer threaded screw, less wraps, coarser thread. Size the screw based on the barrel diameter. Your drill bit is on the same track, but the flutes in the drill bit would be spaced way too far apart.

I never even thought about using the flutes in the drill bit, just wanted the smooth hard shank facepalm: some of the terminology we have to use...it's why I gave up tube mods)...

 

[Robert T]

You got rid of your Provari?

I never even thought about using the flutes in the drill bit, just wanted the smooth hard shank facepalm: some of the terminology we have to use...it's why I gave up tube mods)...

 

[Quigsworth]

You got rid of your Provari?

Yup, reality was, I really had no need for a VV device of that caliber when most of my attys are RBA's, and also, when I do use io6's (I still really like them and they're handy) they're all 1.8's and I prefer to bottom feed...I just found I was just using the Provari as an ohm meter, plus it's just not pocket friendly...I wanted to trade it off before I trashed it...hell of a device though, I'll probably miss it

 

[Charlz]

Most of my new cotton wick flavor issues came from whatever i had handled just before making the wick. Cotton being so absorbant will pull everything from your fingertips while coiling. Had one start with a soap flavor because i did not rinse my hands well enough. The point? Only handle cotton with CLEAN hands.

That's 95% right there! I've mentioned before to others that an inexplicable taste was probably me. Literally me. It's touchy though, no pun intended. Oils won't wash off hands without soap.....soap leaves a taste.....it's tough to do finicky work with gloves on and even latex may affect taste. Clean water as hot as you can handle may be the best bet (and not getting impulsed by a good thread idea and immediately start messing around with something.

I've started boiling whatever I've finished before I vape on it and it helps a lot.

 

[Charlz]

so seeing as I'm using exactly the same bamboo, cotton and kanthal that Cyrus is using, I just rebuilt a ce2 using every precaution, even stopping to wash my hand a couple of times as they might get a little sweaty during the rewiring. Washed again before putting in the cotton and boiled, rinsed and boiled again with fresh water.

I usually blow dry the cotton because it makes it super fluffy but I'm going to let it air dry in the minor chance the hot air from the hairdryer could be infusing a foul taste. So seeing as it's been cold and rainy in CNY, I'll give it about 24hrs to dry completely, maybe more....and report back.

 

[kwalka]

Anybody tried wool? I'm going out to buy a sheep, I'll report back in a few days.

 

[Quigsworth]

Is that really why you're buying a sheep?...cause I did that...it was a dreamy time..but then she changed, she got all needy and demanding ...so I bought a Llama

 

[asdaq]

My mom had sheep, llamas and alpaca. You don't want to wick with these, trust me. Especially if you can taste the hint of onion and broccoli in the cotton from helping with dinner preparations.