Wicking of Billow and Bellus

[LottaT]

Hi,
I have an Ehpro/Eciggity Billow and also a Bellus (as well as a dripper, figured I'd try one, but think tanks are more for me) on the way. I have now used the Billow for around a week, and I really love it. For those not familiar with it, it is a quite large tank with a dual coil set-up. It has a separate tank and build, so you don't have to drain your tank to build. There is a one piece chimney inside the tank and a cover, as the bottom part of a two part chimney and an additional build cover, which is like the bottom half of a two piece chimney, which fits inside the chimney itself - if that made any sense. I'm probably not too good at explaining these things, since I am quite new to this, just started vaping August 6th... Amongst others I have watched all kinds of videos on YouTube and can't help but get a bit excited, curious and feel like trying some fun and creative things, but it seems like all the creative wicking (and coiling) videos are all about drippers. Is all that stuff only for those who drip, not for those using tanks? I see that the build deck in general seems much more roomy on a dripper, which may pose a challenge, but shouldn't it be possible to do something anyways, handling these things somehow?

Doesn't anyone do something unusual when they wick (and build coils for) tanks?

What I have done so far, is to give the wick a bit of a tapered (layered, maybe, LOL) "haircut". Saw one guy on YT do it that way, and it just seems to make sense and also made it very easy to manage. I have started on top and cut it down into a point, which I have placed in each juice channel. It seems to work fine, I have had no dry hits and not even any "browned" ones (which I called them for lack of better words, not a dry hit but browned tasting, so something in between - I don't like them much), which I had often with my other non-RTA's (it was difficult to find the sweet spot on my device also, something that also seems a lot easier on my new Cloupor Mini Plus which I won in the giveaway).

I prefer to supraohm, this far I have used 1.6 Ohm coils, but right now I am using a .85 Ohm set-up (due to an idiotic ordering mishap I made, forgot to order double the number of Ohms, due to my dual coil setup, even if I knew better), which is a bit too hot for me. I have been using it at very low voltages, down to 2-something with the very max at 4 (tried higher but I just can't take it, cough horribly). My wish is to keep staying quite low, supraohm but also manage to maximize flavor, so I get a flavorful, cool vape... I guess that it must be easier to maximize flavor when you subohm and use higher voltages, since you have a much denser vapor (and lots of it), you probably get more flavor too...

So, is there something creative I can do with my wicking to make it as great as it can get? Is it an idea to try one of these "roll" methods (pulling the cotton apart, then rolling it up), maybe combining it with a taper, due to the narrow juice channels on the Billow as opposed to a big RDA juice well? I'm using Japanese cotton? Can one add some cotton in some places, to give additional wicking? I have heard some talking about cotton clouds, but again, just for drippers...

It would be a lot of fun if you experienced guys could share some of your experience. Maybe you have methods that aren't that common, which you like and could share?

When it comes to coiling, I guess that is in a different forum...

Thanks a lot!

 

[Mad Scientist]

For cotton wicks in a tank like the billow or Bellus, I use a bit looser cotton than I think most folks use. The cotton expands slightly so if there is good contact between wick and coil when the cotton is dry, that's plenty of wick density.

For coil placement, I place the coils as low as possible without shorting. The lower the better. Less distance for juice to travel up the wick.

For wick length, I trim the heck off the tails. I trim absolutely flush to the edge of the deck right around it. If the cotton wick density is right, no need to trim the girth of the tails, just the length. The tails should rest in the wick "cups" with no wick extending beyond the cups down into the juice wells and no wick girth outside the cups. When all of that is met, it's wicked right. On the verge of leaking but not leaking.

Finally, let the cotton sit in the tank for a bit and only use lower wattage for a bit before vaping it at high wattages. It takes a while for the cotton to expand and sort of "break in." At first with the lower cotton density it might seem like it can't take very high wattage but once it expands that tiny bit to fit the coil perfectly, it will work really well. Nothing kills good cotton wicking more than too much density.

 

[LottaT]

Thank you so much, Mad Scientist! Very useful advice! Obviously a very common wicking method, only more loose/fluffy (not as much cotton)... I BTW forgot to mention that it is actually the Billow V2 I have, but I guess that doesn't really make any difference for this. The amount of cotton I have used already, is a strip of maybe 6mm with top/bottom layer pulled off, rolled very lightly. Just enough so that I easily have been able to pull the wick back and forth with ease (have done that too, to loosen it up after the rolling). Next time I'll try to trim it straight off as you suggest, instead of tapering. One of the things I have loved about this tank though, is that I have had no leakage whatsoever, maybe those little tails have contributed? Will be fun to see if that will continue, if I can find the exact right point. Since looser cotton is a good idea, maybe I could even try to pull it apart a little before rolling it up, as that obviously makes it very loose and fluffy, just not roll up as much as they do in the versions called things like Swedish Roll, Sushi Roll, Scottish Roll or whatever they're all called (think there are slight variations between different versions, but basically they are the same, they pull it apart to fluff it loosely, but then roll it up to a quite fat roll, using more cotton than what you'd expect, I guess. Saw it mostly used on RDA's, but saw mentioning of it for a tank somewhere also)...

It's probably time for a new wick tomorrow, or at least a rinse, so I might as well rewick and give your version a try!

I'll also check my coils and reposition them if they sit a bit high, they're probably a bit higher than what you're talking about, probably a result of me being a bit overly careful as a newbie, afraid of doing something wrong and shorting it...

Think I'll have to mix up some new juice today too. I have more or less just vaped the same juice for 2-3 weeks, a DIY lemon/menthol/koolada one, it's been so good I forgot about everything else. But suddenly I'm craving licorice... Maybe it'll be licorice with lemon, that is very yummy, if you're into licorice at all, of course... I'm not very advanced when it comes to juices/flavors, fruits and candy flavors keep me very happy! Sure beats tobacco any day!

Thanks again!

For cotton wicks in a tank like the billow or Bellus, I use a bit looser cotton than I think most folks use. The cotton expands slightly so if there is good contact between wick and coil when the cotton is dry, that's plenty of wick density.

For coil placement, I place the coils as low as possible without shorting. The lower the better. Less distance for juice to travel up the wick.

For wick length, I trim the heck off the tails. I trim absolutely flush to the edge of the deck right around it. If the cotton wick density is right, no need to trim the girth of the tails, just the length. The tails should rest in the wick "cups" with no wick extending beyond the cups down into the juice wells and no wick girth outside the cups. When all of that is met, it's wicked right. On the verge of leaking but not leaking.

Finally, let the cotton sit in the tank for a bit and only use lower wattage for a bit before vaping it at high wattages. It takes a while for the cotton to expand and sort of "break in." At first with the lower cotton density it might seem like it can't take very high wattage but once it expands that tiny bit to fit the coil perfectly, it will work really well. Nothing kills good cotton wicking more than too much density.

 

[SkvLTD]

I started using some JP cotton square pads in my B v2 and those are pretty simple - cut about 2mm-3mm thick strip, fold in half, twist 1 end, pull it all through, trim the ends and tuck it all around the wells/a bit into the bigger well half and call it a day. No problems whatsoever.

With normal cotton balls its the same hair-cutting and loose like-a-glove fitting like everyone else.

I do avoid packing in too much in there since there only needs to be enough around the wells to block them/mop up any micro-spills off the decks.

I personally place my coils higher since there's no issue with juice travel, but then more room for the airflow without pulling up any juice (or however you want to call that occasional moisture feeling).