Ok guys, I found a new source for hemp. Above is a pic of 1kg of the new stuff with my remaining bag of the old green remedy variety, which is no longer sold. Bastards do not even return emails, so screw them.
Anyhoo, ima try out the new stuff and check into doing a few chemical tests on the wick materials I have available. If anyone out there has access to an FTIR spectrometer…please contact old trw.
If this wick checks out, I’ll be offering free samples to anyone thats been a member of the forum as of the day of this post. I’m planning on asking for postage from anyone that wants some and I’ll ship on Saturdays until I’m out, then I’ll buy more.
Please don’t PM me just yet, I’ll let you know how it turns out and where you can buy your very own lifetime supply once I check it out.
I’m super stoked and hope I can get everyone to check out what an awesome and eternal wick hemp makes.
Quick update. I’ve just built a Freakshow V2, 3mm, 6.5 wraps 22ga Ti, rinsed the build in vodka and then hot water…this hemp seems to have very little to NO flavor.
I’ve requested a quote for chemical residue testing, so we’ll see how that goes, but very encouraging results so far.
First of all, thank you @therabidweasel for your generous gift of some hemp for wicking.
I wasted little time trying this out. What I’ve found is…
Wicks like a dream! This stuff delivers juice as fast as you can vaporize is. For this reason alone it gets 5 stars for performance.
Resists scorching far better than cotton.
Has a break-in period where the taste of the hemp is quite evident. It’s not unpleasant in my opinion. Earthy, somewhat grassy and/or woody. Nothing to make you gag. Let me say I’ve yet to try the speed break-in method but will do that eventually. For now just wick, wet and go.
Tobacco vapes mask the break in taste wonderfully for me. I can still taste it some, but that taste pairs quite well with baccy. I can imagine it would also do well with many darker flavors (coffees, caramels, anything heavy-laden with brown sugar or maybe even whiskey. Thinking Castle Long).
Lifespan of the hemp far exceeds the coils needing to be cleaned. Grrrr! I’ve considered trying to carefully pull the hemp out, to a dry burn to clean, then reinstalling the same hemp. Not done it yet but may try it.
Not as easy to handle as cotton. The fibers like to keep their form so bending into a wicking slot is a challenge. The diligent vaper will get it done though.
Lastly, once broken in, this stuff delivers very clean tastes from the juice. I’ve not had any of the off-taste that comes with cotton that’s got a little age on it.
Final analysis is that if you can get past the break in period and not too frustrated with the straight fibers - well what’s not to like?
The increased wicking performance and lifetime are the reasons I’ve abandoned all manner of fancy coil. Yes, Claptons taste better, but I’m not rebuilding once a week. Hemp is my 90% solution and I very much doubt I could slam big builds with LiPo PWM mods as hard with any other wick.
Please do try the speed break in! It took me a year to figure that out…and it got me thinking about the sorts of residues that might be on our wicks when installed. I will be performing tests, it’s just more $ than I have now.
Once you get used to the transparent flavor of hemp, I wonder if you will find cotton as offensive to the palette as I do.
No problem reusing hemp for a many, many weeks. But, maybe rebuild using the speed break in instead!
I’d be stoked to find a good source of hemp wick that was in long strands like you show. Awhile ago all I could find were small bags of very wadded up wick material…worked fine but it was quite a job working it into a decent wick. I did like how it performed tho. I know there is, or was, ElfWick, and some dubious stuff off ebay. Can you tell me/us where to find some really nice hemp wick these days (August 2017)? Really appreciate your tutorial, and if anybody else knows please chime in!
I’ve been witholding the source as I really wanted to do some tests on the wick. That said, the new variety has the exact appearance of the old. It certainly has no more flavor, and I’ve tested on a few guinea pigs like @SthrnMixer so I’m going to post the link below.
Irrespective of the wick you use, I’m a strong advocate of cleaning with vodka and then hot water to remove any residues. There is no break in time for this wick if you do that IME.
This wick is only sold in 1kg (2.2lbs) packages and that’ll set you back $50 shipped. Note this is 60x the amount of wick shown in the bag with the dollar bill. It is a massive amount of wick, especially considering that it lasts so long.
Linky:
OK folks, its free hemp time. I will send out samples if you PM me. I don’t have any nice bags, so it will be in a sandwich bag. I also don’t have time to be measuring amounts or getting special envelopes. I’ll ship priority mail for $5 starting NEXT Saturday until I am out. I will send you plenty of wick, roughly the bag shown with the dollar bill.
Disclaimer: You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit. Use it of your own volition and at your own risk. This is from the exact pile that I use and store in a closed container. I’m doing this because apparently “no one” likes a smartass so I need the karma…and I hate cotton wick. I accept no liability for anything, this is vaping, it’s all unknowns. If you aren’t willing to accept whatever risks my sending you wick might entail, don’t ask me for any. I will eventually test several wicks for residues and I will post that info in a new thread.
much love - a phrase stolen from my friend @Whiterose0818, who also means it when he says it.
Kudos to you for doing this for the nice folks on ELR.
Would send you a PM but shipping a sample over to Europe is more hassle and cost more than it is worth.
Norseman and everyone, I’m already shipping some to Auckland. I don’t mind shipping internationally, it’s just going to cost more and add a customs form for me.
So I’m glad you asked the question. I definitely intend to ship some to @daath, who needs only to PM me his addy in meatspace.
So the offer is open to the entire world, I love you all. I will ship anywhere if the recipient is willing to pay actual cost. The package will be lightweight in a tyvek envelope and customs valued at 1usd. Glad you asked as I had forgotten to mention it.
Finally I do not store (beyond it being in my messages on elr for the one year limit) or otherwise use your addresses for anything. If I send you stuff, gear or wick, I’ll always need your address. Just ask some of the folks I’ve sent multiple things over the years. I’m too disorganized and busy.
I was just poking around and see that they have a place in china as well. So after believing in it as iam sure u will, ship’n wordwide is available.https://www.hemptraders.com/articles.asp?ID=57
After several months (3-6) of using this 0.4ohm build at about 8volts on a LiPo PWM rig it started to taste of charcoal. I quickly scraped the coils with my pocket knife, threw the whole disassembled atomizer in a jar of vodka and then put that in the USC at 50C for 30 minutes. The result below is vaping like new.
Put in a small jelly jar with Vodka. Ran through 5 - 8 minute cycles on the USC with heat. Then rinsed with hot water.
Took a little while on low power pulsing it to steam off as much of the water as possible. Then started dripping juice until the crackle pop subsided.
All in all this took about 15 minutes to wick and dry burn. Add in the 40 or so minutes in the USC. No biggie. Vaping like a champion and the typical woody taste of hemp is nearly non-existent. All in all I’d say this is a good method for fresh builds and I’ll try cleaning the coils when they get funky and doing another bath like this. Not sure how that will play out with clapton wire, and if it’s a pooch screw I’ll rebuild with round wire so I can try your method above @therabidweasel
Hot diggitty dizzam homeboy! I’m going to get this whole damned forum hooked on hemp one at a time if I have to. Please try round wire once those captons clog up in a few days. I think you’ll find the flavor difference to be pretty minor. Now that you have proper wick, your coils don’t have to pull double duty.
I will! It was amazing when I purged out the remaining water from rinsing and I didn’t have that typical earthy taste as when not “conditioning” the hemp with the vodka bath. You told me in chat 3 hits of break in. I’ll say that by the time I had the water out and juice flowing it was pure flavor. Love it!
Yeah, I been sandbagging the technique. Steam…steam…juice…nummy. Enjoy yo hemp homie! Shtuff lasts forever. Don’t go buying 2kg like cosmic! You already have a lifetime supply.
@therabidweasel: after finding out that the new Horizon Arco sub-ohm coils uses flax paper liners, I thought to myself that hemp fiber would be a great wicking material. A few minutes of Googling and I found this thread. Isn’t the Internet amazing!? Awesome tutorial and R&D!
When u realize exactly how many decades of it u can afford to lose you can sell some off to ELR members for cost like @therabidweasel did or make some bracelets,socks,pants, lmao
