So, I decided to bite the bullet today and hoof it down to Sally's a pick up the fabled 3lb box of rayon they carry for $15 (which is crazy cheap).
I got home, wicked up some rayon, and dripped some of my favorite juice (a Gambit clone) that I'm very familiar with....and holy flavor explosion!
I know confirmation bias is a thing, and I know placebo effect can happen, but honestly, the flavors were a lot more clear cut, a lot more bold, and a lot...crisper if that makes any sense.
I seriously recommend my fellow mixers at least try some of this stuff if they haven't already.
Not sure when /u/kirkt will complete his research on the differences he's been noticing with rayon vs. cotton, but so far I have to say that I'm impressed.
I tried both for about 3 months interchanging them every time I would rewick. I prefer Japanese cotton over the rest. Apparently I'm in the minority here, but to me the rayon was so drastically different from the cotton I no longer enjoyed the flavors. I have become accustomed to a slight hint of Cotton flavor in every vape. And I love it.
I use rayon. I just can't do the Scottish roll because of it.
I do pretty well with wicking - I'll stretch it out until there's no clumps in it, and then i'll roll it back up into something that loosely resembles a cigarette filter in size and shape and use that for my wicks.When i get it on, I use the tweezers and "felt" the wicking to make it slightly more dense. Works for me. Granted, I don't know what the Scottish roll is - my technique works and I'm scared to screw it up!
Your way sounds good though. Google Scottish roll or look on YouTube. You will be amazed.
Fibre Freaks offer a product that is essentially rayon formed into sheets of jap cotton. I've been a convert from using cotton for a long time, and I enjoy the form factor of the fibre freaks stuff.
This is probably the only cotton I haven't used, this or PIMA cotton. I've used all of Cottonman's cotton, and the oils in the cotton (even the bathed ones) really change the flavor too much. I'm pretty much satisfied with jap cotton, though I do want to check out PIMA cotton
I could send you 15feet to try out. Not really my preferred wick anymore.
I go back and forth between the two. Your right rayon is crisp but cotton is easier to deal with in the sheets. I guess it depends on which way the wind blows that day. People are gonna argue their side on this but honestly i like em both.
Makes sense, though I have to say with the way the rayon is coiled up in this box at least it makes for very easy wicking. I just cut off a piece, roll it up (kind of like the Scottish Roll), and then cut that into two sections, compress it a bit, and wick it.
Care to provide a link where others can see what you're talking about?
Sure. Boop!
i used rayon for 5 months, friend gave me a bag of that "cotton bacon v2" stuff and i went right back to rayon. plus you cant beat the price of the stuff ffs.
So did you find the cotton bacom v2 nasty too? It has the strongest flavour, or maybe I'm just shit at wicking.
I find the cotton bacon takes a good drip and re-drip before that weird taste you speak of is gone. After I get a few good chugs it tastes better and better until eventually I don't taste it anymore
A tip i learned is to light the vapor on fire for like one or two seconds. Then blow it out. Then repeat this two or three times. Usually it is good after you re drip. If no blow on it while fireing to get the wick sorta dry but dont burn it. Then redrip and bam. Should be perfect.
I'm curious to know what you were using previously. When I did use rayon in the past it gave me a weird taste fresh, but went away after a few vapes.
I was using Cotton Bacon before. I got it when I first started and I was pretty conservative with my cotton usage so I didn't run low until recently.
I just rewicked my magma with rayon out of curiosity. Cut out a piece and compressed it into a roll. Wicked it into my 3mm coil. Initial drip : Weird chemically taste covering up the flavor. About 10 puffs in the flavor really shines! It could be placebo but my juice tastes better than it did with jap cotton a few minutes ago. Out of nowhere, I got a dry hit. ( cotton was still pretty saturated ) Re wicked with jap cotton, same juice same atty same build and vaped side by side. The rayon seems to have more pronounced top notes and brighter flavor. The weird thing is, it keeps dry hitting on me, then the flavor turns to shit =(
You're probably not using enough rayon. Unlike cotton, rayon shrinks as it gets wet. When I wick rayon, I pull as much as I can through the coil, usually to the point that the coil almost moves. A nice bonus is that I can take more rips with a rayon wick than with cotton.
Try wicking the rayon as tightly as you can. Like, make it almost choke out the coils, because rayon sort of shrinks a bit when wet. You don't want to be pulling your coils or anything, but I tried to get it as tight as possible, since I heard some people had dry hitting issues with rayon.
None for me so far at least.
I found the cotton bacon tastes odd. I use Japanese cotton pads and get a really clean taste. But with cotton you always taste the cotton if you aren't used to it. I remember when everybody was using cotton balls and silica still. I used a cotton ball awhile back and was disgusted.
Rayon works well and is almost nonexistent in the flavor department. Wicked right it can take a lot of abuse, but know this : if you get a dry hit off of rayon, you're gonna have a bad time.
That said, I've taken to buying bulk carded slivers of sea island cotton and boiling the oils out of them in distilled water. Bam, 1lb of what's essentially native wicks cotton for like $20.
>....the flavors were a lot more clear cut, a lot more bold, and a lot...crisper if that makes any sense.
Yeah, I find this as well. I've been using Rayon for the last 6 months or so, was using organic cotton before that.
I just got some Japanese cotton though. I'm finding with some flavours I prefer it, it does dull some of the top notes in a juice but seems to thicken the middle a bit. So far it seems maybe dessert vapes are better with cotton, and lighter, fruit flavours better with rayon. Still early days though, haven't done any side by sides yet.
EDIT: If you've got an atty you can use SS mesh in, give that a shot too. Even cleaner than rayon, it's kind of finicky to work with and not really worth the time/effort over rayon but it's interesting to have a play with though.
I was on a rayon kick for about 6 months, bought the big ol' box, gave away lots, gifted the box to my favorite B&M, still have plenty. It really does change flavor to something brighter. I've since used more subtanks as daily carries, tried some Cottonman, and the usual japanese stuff, but this post inspired me to wick with some very soon..
I love rayon. I have two of thoes boxes. Still not even 1/4 done with either and i have had them for almost a year... for me even besides flavor i like the fact that it lasts so much longer. Expecially will diy. With cotton after a few hours it starts to brown and by 24 hours the cotton has pretty much turned to dust. The flavor from tayong with my experiance is so much cleaner.