Wick materials. Safe vs dangerous.

[Cyrus Vap]

hey road, thanks for the comment. I just sanded down the toothpicks until they were same diameter as the vivi slots, using round toothpicks and pretty much keeping them round through the sanding (round to the eye). the 9 strands are filling out the entire coil so far as I can see, so I don't think that's it, but maybe I'm wrong. That slot on the vivi head is pretty skinny so I took down a lot of wood off the toothpick, probably half the original diameter.

Just got in and took a few hits again without the top plug on to make sure that wasn't inhibiting flow, still no good, its just not wicking. I'm telling you the top coil gods are after me lol.

I don't know what 14 gauge needles translate into in mm, but I only need 4 (5 strands max) of #10 on those, anything more and it chokes and burns. This is my usual rba build and the wick totally fills out the coil, no gaps.

I wonder if we're all getting totally different results wrt to the optimum number of bamboo strands vs. coil diameter? That would be a ... moment lol.

Cool breeze I smell a new chart coming

 

[BJ43]

The top coil gods are out to get me these days lol

I decided to try the BJ oval finally in my mini vivi, I filed down two tootpicks so that they could slide in and out of the slot on the vivi head, built a coil, and pulled 10 strands of lydia through (got rid of 1 strand for 9 total, the 10 felt too tight)

Its not wicking shyte! lol. The juice is just sitting there. Occasionally I'll get a good hit, a really good hit, like holy crap its my ERA/A7 etc. But otherwise its dry hit city. My previous divine comedy was with the hemp in a CE2. Never had it this bad! Only thing I can think of us its so damn cold around here lately that the wicks just aren't taking up my juice as fast. This one wasn't as bad as the hemp, in that the juice wasn't quite beading off of the wick, but it still wasn't soaking in and puffing the way I usually see it do.

anyway back to the lab later this evening, just wanted to share my pain lol. Off to play doctor for the day.

Seems you made a smaller oval. Quig gets about 20 threads thru his. I quit using the Lydia's and went to being a hemp pothead, my hemp is 1mm and 2 threads swell and fill my oval. The 1mm seems to fit good in the vivi and/or the CE5 slot. Don't understand your Lydia's not wicking and beading, did you get some girlfriend on your fingers and transfer it to the wick?

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Seems you made a smaller oval. Quig gets about 20 threads thru his. I quit using the Lydia's and went to being a hemp pothead, my hemp is 1mm and 2 threads swell and fill my oval. The 1mm seems to fit good in the vivi and/or the CE5 slot. Don't understand your Lydia's not wicking and beading, did you get some girlfriend on your fingers and transfer it to the wick?

Yeah I'm guessing my oval is about half the size of quigs' oval. I don't understand it either man, as I've had perfectly functioning top coils with bamboo before, and I really don't think the oval coil has anything to do with it because as I said my round coil CE2 build was a crash and burn also lol.

I'm off tomorrow I'll rebuild and try to keep those ER nurses off my fingers

 

[Quigsworth]

I'm thinking the diameter of "joe average" toothpicks may be rather arbitrary...like I was saying to BJ, I swapped over to drillbits because of the easy "slide out-ability"...the drillbits I use are 2mm so my oval jig is 2mm x 4mm and ya, 20 strands of Lydia's (with a bit of room for swellage)...granted, that's waaay to big to stick in a Vivi but for an ERA or A7...it's perfect

 

[100%VG]

(Thread #980) I plan to check wal-mart and such. this looks to me very much like the cotton batting used for quilts. just be careful - i think there's quite a bit of the polyester fiber ones around .....
also, check drugstores and beauty supply shops .....

if worst comes to worst quig will have to supply us!

(Thread #981) I would so do that Tib...my local Apothecary (a 5 min walk from my house) has rolls of the stuff sitting on the shelf...it would almost be easier to buy 5 rolls of it, chop it up, stuff some envelopes with it and mail it to you guys than constantly posting the same old pic of what I bought

Hey Quigsworth,

I wonder if you could give us the address of this Apothecary Store in your neighborhood (and maybe even the phone number). Then we could order it for ourselves, getting the same total package that you did - all 10-year's worth . If you would rather not post that address (& phone #) for some reason, then please PM me with it.

I know that I'm very late to this Post, but I started with Grym's very first Post, and I'm reading my way through the whole thing (days and days ). I'm not skipping anything because there's so much good info here. It's all amazing, and I'm enjoying following this Epic Adventure! I've been tempted to post my own comments about some of the problems (esp the Beeping Meter implying a Short thing), but was glad I didn't, as most of them were worked out shortly after I read them. However, I couldn't resist asking about this one. Can't wait to see if Raidy's Genesis guys ever submitted. I'm also making a document of Highlights that have interested me. My thought was that it would be good to post them in a Summary.

100%VG

 

[Quigsworth]

Hey Quigsworth,

I wonder if you could give us the address of this Apothecary Store in your neighborhood (and maybe even the phone number). Then we could order it for ourselves, getting the same total package that you did - all 10-year's worth . If you would rather not post that address (& phone #) for some reason, then please PM me with it...

No problem:

Pharmasave

2627 Shaughnessy St,
Port Coquitlam, BC Canada
V3C 0E1
604-942-7979

I did a Google Map directions...it's pretty straight forward from Alexandria, Louisiana...it's only about 2628 miles, but in current traffic, you're looking at about a 38 hr drive...you may want to wait till after rush hour.

Serious though, the raw cotton baton sold in a package the size of a Presto Log seems to be a Canadian thing, if you look at the stuff my US brothers are getting in TC's wiki MyWikkaSite: Cotton Wick Wiki but I've yet to see it in Bellingham Wa. drugstores...it's weird...my wife used my entire roll for her Xmas decorations this year (it makes great fake snow for her miniature houses that light up, and we can't seem to get enough of snow).

 

[hildicat]

CVS Rolled Cotton - CVS pharmacy

My only wick for the last several months. To date I think I've only used 1/10th of the total material in the package.

 

[chet]

ahhh this square braid cotton wick is just awesome. Wicks much better and sturdier against burning compared to multi-threaded cotton wicks.
Strongly recommended and thanks to whom oirginally shared the info.

Amazon.com: Square Braid Cotton Candle Wick - #2/0: Home & Kitchen

 

[xpen]

This has a 2mm and 3mm and is the second best hemp I tried.

10 20 36 48lb Natural Hemp Cord 4 Size | eBay

I'm just wondering if 3x 1mm strands wick any better/worse than 1 3mm strand...

I normally use 2.5mm silica wick, doubled, thus I'm wondering if I'll need to fit 5x 1mm hemp strands in my coil for having the same eliquid troughput. Provided silica and hemp wick the same, that is

 

[proteckt3d]

ahhh this square braid cotton wick is just awesome. Wicks much better and sturdier against burning compared to multi-threaded cotton wicks.
Strongly recommended and thanks to whom oirginally shared the info.

You got my attention how is it compared with bamboo yarn? Would this be a better choice?
In my A7 I'm using 100% cotton, threaded, and I have to say that it's not wicking that good. Currently using dekang VG.

 

[100%VG]

Pharmasave
2627 Shaughnessy St,
Port Coquitlam, BC Canada
V3C 0E1
604-942-7979

I did a Google Map directions...it's pretty straight forward from Alexandria, Louisiana...it's only about 2628 miles, but in current traffic, you're looking at about a 38 hr drive...you may want to wait till after rush hour.

Thanks Quigs. You guys are hilarious! Great information, and the best Comedy on the Internet. So I guess that's a little more than a 5 minute walk for me. But I think I can get there pretty fast by car. With some really good 24mg E-Liquid, and a really good E-Cig (like my eVic), I could Chain Vape, get all Hyper, and go into Hyperdrive. I'd get there in no time. Or maybe I'd use Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 technology and call them (so archaic, but somehow still effective).

Thanks again,

100%VG

 

[BJ43]

I hung 1 foot each of silica, Lydia's, square braid #2, and 1mm hemp from a coat hanger with the ends in two inches of water for a wicking race. The winner by a long shot was the hemp, fastest and highest, second Lydia's, third sguare braid, and last silica. Going to let them all dry out and try to roll a foot of cotton wick to do it again in the daylight and try to video it. Maybe a little food coloring in the water for contrast. It is really amazing how much faster and higher the hemp is. Going to leave them in the water overnight to see if any can get as high as the hemp. (high as the hemp) lol

 

[100%VG]

I hung 1 foot each of silica, Lydia's, square braid #2, and 1mm hemp from a coat hanger with the ends in two inches of water for a wicking race. The winner by a long shot was the hemp, fastest and highest, second Lydia's, third sguare braid, and last silica. Going to let them all dry out and try to roll a foot of cotton wick to do it again in the daylight and try to video it. Maybe a little food coloring in the water for contrast. It is really amazing how much faster and higher the hemp is. Going to leave them in the water overnight to see if any can get as high as the hemp. (high as the hemp) lol

Hi BJ43,

That's a great test idea, but what about doing the same test using a somewhat dark-colored E-Liquid. This test would be more useful and fair in judging an actual use situation, with the color contrast you're looking for. Water has a totally different viscosity than E-Liquid.

I saw a study that someone did on the different SS Mesh (320, 400, 500). He did something similar with rolled SS, just like those made for an E-Cig, by placing them in E-Liquid. Then he tested them with Kerosene in a similar fashion, and went so far as burning the Kerosene like a candle, judging Flame Height (Intensity) and the time it took to burn all of the Kerosene. Each test on each liquid tried was done with 3 SS Wicks (i.e. 3 of 320, 3 of 400, 3 of 500), to verify that Mesh and eliminate his preparation efforts for making said Wicks. He also tried them on 100% PG, 80/20, 73/30, etc., and 100% VG. His home-made testing showed that 500 SS Mesh was superior for everything - especially 100% VG. I know this isn't a SS Thread, but I think a similar test on the different Wick Materials that you are studying would be excellent.

Just my

And since nobody waits for an overnight saturation to Vape, I'm thinking something more of a Real-Time test might render more useful information. Sure, a race to see which one gets the highest saturation up the length, but more of a limited time frame.

I guess that's 4 Cents by now (this is getting expensive ),

100%VG

 

[Quigsworth]

That'd be BJ as well on the Kerosene mesh races...

Hey BJ, how's the taste on the 2nd best hemp (the stuff I can pick up at Micheals)...wicking isn't a super big deal for me bf'ing the ERA/A7 gear but taste is...is the 2nd best just as clean as your 1st choice hemp?...I'll boil, always do, but does it hold or does it start to disintegrate?

 

[BJ43]

That'd be BJ as well on the Kerosene mesh races...

Hey BJ, how's the taste on the 2nd best hemp (the stuff I can pick up at Micheals)...wicking isn't a super big deal for me bf'ing the ERA/A7 gear but taste is...is the 2nd best just as clean as your 1st choice hemp?...I'll boil, always do, but does it hold or does it start to disintegrate?

I have only used it a few times and as far as taste it was fine for me, but my taste buds may not be as sensitive as yours. Too many Margaritas, of both types.

 

[100%VG]

That'd be BJ as well on the Kerosene mesh races...

So Beege,

What do you think about doing a test similar to your SS Mesh testing on these organic fibers? Time consuming, yes, but how telling it would be. If you still have your old testing setup, it probably wouldn't take much to modify it for this. I don't mean to seem pushy - just sayin'. Do I need to make a video of myself, down on my knees, begging?
I've got a six-pack of cold E-Beers with your name on it!

100%VG

PS
I've been searching for that original SS Mesh Test post or yours, and haven't been able to find it (though I just realized I could search for Kerosene). I think it was those pages that had some other information about organic materials that were suggested as being better (vs Silica), which got me started on this whole quest. I came across this post while looking for that one. Maybe it's embedded in here somewhere. That's partly why I'm reading from start to finish - looking for it. But if you can remember, I'd like to know where it is, as I've quoted from it several times.

 

[Cool_Breeze]

So Beege,

What do you think about doing a test similar to your SS Mesh testing on these organic fibers?

How about a 1' long SS Wick up against those mentioned above...

 

[100%VG]

Hilarious!!! One Foot? Really?
Yup - definitely the Best Comedy on the Internet!!!

 

[lightbud404]

SS mesh gives a smack of metal, lowers efficiency factor of device - transfers heat outside useful area. too many operations to make it work. May be you just new in subj? I'm in subj since 2010 and tryed a lot.

perhaps you need to keep trying

 

[BJ43]

How about a 1' long SS Wick up against those mentioned above...

My ss sheets are only 8 in, I will see i I can find the 8 in wicks from when I did the ss race and put one up against organic. I stated in an earlier post the maid threw away my little kerosine lamp bottles but I saw an six pack of little jam bottles at the super I will get and make some new ones. Will do the burn test with 100% VG. SS versus organic. I will leave the taste tests to Quig.