Greetings everyone,
Well after keeping up with this thread and seeing some of the vids on YT about actually rebuilding wicks on the 1st Viva Nova Tank (one that resembles CE2 style) I figured I'd give it a try again as I used to use MAP tanks all the time but got sick of cutting CE2's and having to get it to set perfect in the Delrin end caps so I just went back to Boge cartos and tanks.
I also have recently tried some Genesis attys and while the flavor was amazing, I am not that much a fan of the open draw and even tried it for 2 weeks straight as most things I've read\watched say once you get used to it you can't go back. The other issue I had with the Genesis ones I tried is it would still leak (very little) out of the connector, but the worst thing\issue I had was that after about half a tank my light color all PG Tobacco juice would start to become dark and start tasting bad, so I would have to dump out the remaining juice, rinse, dry burn and refill. I tried just refilling but I guess it was something coming off the mesh as I vaped. I remember the MAP tanks would also make my juice discolor but that was something to do with the vapor and it also wouldn't change the flavor.
Any way, sorry for the background, so I got a Viva and some raw cotton wick from Amazon that was un-primed and lead free (assuming means raw), there was a link somewhere on here as well as a YT video of someone doing a recoil\rebuild of a ViVa so just got that wick. I boiled the entire wick for 20 minutes and gave it 72 hours to dry. I then read a post where someone drilled out the end of the slots with a 3/32 drill bit to allow the wick to not be pinched, so did that. I coiled my cotton wick, fed the wire through the bottom and made sure to separate the positive and negative (didn't use non-resistance wire to make the ends) and tried it out. Ohms was around 1.7 and I got a good amount of vapor and no real dry hits but I still had some faint of some taste\flavor that was just off, not burning but flavor was not just my juice. I tried it for about an hour and figured I would try some regular 3mm silica wick I recently got from AV (I know this thread is all about safe vs. dangerous but just had to see). Anyway, did the same routine and took about 3 drags but this time I got a really really bad taste and even a smell so I figured I better check the rubber insulator (separating positive and negative) and you know what comes next...the wire started to burn it some, so glad I stopped.
Anyway, I figured I'd see if anyone had any feedback regarding the cotton wick, did I maybe not boil it enough, too much, etc.? I didn't wrap the coil THAT tight and when I removed it there were no burn marks as well as when I did this the rubber wire insulator wasn't scorched at all.
I just found the product for the cotton wicking I got and it was the same one in the YT video I watched:
Amazon.com: Cotton Square Braid Candle Wick - #1/0: Arts, Crafts & Sewing
So I guess my next step is to get some Non-Resistance wiring to make the ends so they don't burn that rubber?
I thought about getting a Penelope but still not sure....
Anyway, that's my experience so far...back to cartos

for now.
Thanks for any and all info\help\feedback, I truly appreesh
