Just saw this thread. Well, I’m not going to post wiki notes on rayon, you’ve all done your homework. The reason I started using it was because of the no break-in period that I get with cotton. With rayon it’s the immediate flavor I’m expecting. I’m not crazy about it’s texture but got used to working with it. It is more time consuming because you can’t just cut off a strip like with cotton. Idk, I’m not a diehard rayon user, I just got used to it. I still have plenty cotton.
This is an interesting subject though. I thought all rayon came from bamboo and I see I’m wrong. Bamboo is interesting to me because bacteria can’t grow on it. I use bamboo cutting boards.
Something else that people having issues with Rayon might consider. It is an allergen to some like PG. People allergic to it can’t be in laundry rooms while drying loads of Rayon clothes without suffering some form of respiratory distress.
Almost every morning when I would sit down with my vape I got used to my throat not being down with it… Maybe after 7-10 good toots I’d be “acclimated” again (same happened with cigs on a more profound hacking/retching lvl)… that is until I switched to rayon (graham beauty 44130)… I don’t get that anymore.
I used to get pneumonia every winter when I smoked… I’ve always been super sensitive to things I inhale (pollen, burning tree carcasses, walking down the chemical isles in department stores, etc)…
Washing my hands thoroughly before building is an absolute must, because I swear the oil on my hands is a pretty profound irritant and/or detriment to flavor.
Rayon changed vaping for me, both in throat sensitivity and flavor… and rayon wick jobs last foreevvveeerrrrr if you get them packed tight enough without tearing the fibers…
I mostly use TC and keep all my builds set to <370*F… and in the ones I can’t, I can taste dry hits coming from a mile away… and TBH, I hardly ever even get to a point where TC is even a needed “anti-dry-hit” feature, I just like it cuz it seems to produce a much smoother vape in my setups.
I’ve seen a lot of people around the net say there’s no break in on rayon, but I think there totally is (about equivalent to higher end cottons)… I’m actually pretty bummed I struggled with cotton for 3 years before finding out about rayon… I prolly wouldn’t have fallen off the vape wagon for the few months that I did due to the harshness I was getting from cotton (O.G. cotton bacon at that)
Also, on reddit I saw a lot of people argue about wicking materials breaking down through use and theoretically being inhaled… even with high end cottons there’s no way they’d be looking like this, let alone still tight in the coil, after almost 2 weeks and 100ml+ (cycling a lot, and flavor has yet to even begin going downhill):
I remember the rayon shirt or two I had as a teenager and how it felt like fake silk, then realized quickly that polyester shirts don’t breathe at all compared to cotton and found that out first hand over a few hot summer days where I felt like I was wearing a plastic bag - so sticky and horrid when you’re even slightly sweaty…
Ever since I’ve refused to wear anything synthetic: eveen my socks and underwear are merino and it’s always only cotton or merino I wear depending on weather.
I refuse to even wear the shitty shirts they give us at work and prefer a long sleeved cotton shirt to the short sleeved synthetic t-shirts with the logo they want us to wear.
Wikipedia tells me - Rayon is a regenerated cellulose fiber that is made from natural sources of cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products.
The shirts we used to wear to school that were so disgusting, were made from nylon, which used to turn yellow, and make you sweat and stink.
I’ve seen a bunch of arguments about rayon on reddit & other forums, the general consensus seems to be that it’s organic material that is then processed to become rayon. If I find the threads I’m referring to, I’ll come back here with links as I found the discussions to be helpful in my own decision to try out rayon. Some people seem to be totally opposed to it & others seem okay with trying it. Kinda like the “to heat” or “not heat” debates surrounding steeping.
My own personal experience is that I absolutely LOVE rayon in RTAs, omg it changed the game for me. I’m totally capable of wicking most RDAs with cotton well enough, but I was seriously struggling with constantly-leaking RTAs no matter what I was doing (haven’t busted out my top airflow RTAs to play with yet, I felt like using those first would be cheating myself if I actually wanted to learn lol). The rayon seems to last much longer, allows for easy/ “clean” flavor changes & has been working out great for me. I just HATE how it feels, gives me full-body shivers just touching it! I’m not 1000% comfortable with it yet, as I’m still on the fence about it’s safety due to how its made (& bc of threads like this), but for now I’m enjoying having the option to use it in my RTAs
funny story about that, I literally posted on Reddit whining about how I’ve hated touching cotton my entire life (like squeezing a cotton ball or pulling the cotton off a Q-tip, I literally CAN’T do it lol full body goosebumps then squeal n throw the cursed cotton fuzz away). I was complaining that I was afraid to start building bc of that reason… turns out I’m fine with building with cotton & it’s rayon that gives me the heebie jeebies however the ends have justified the means so far so I’ll suffer for my RTAs for now
Good for you! I have tried just about every cotton under the sun, but my favorite is Cotton Bacon Prime. Every now and then I will pull out some rayon for shits 'n giggles (I bought a lifetime supply a few years back ) - have to admit that stuff does feel weird!
Well that sure makes for a a satisfying part to this op topic, thnx Rex
Rayon here for lot of years, even on mesh, can’t find any fault and I’m still stunned it hasn’t made it all the way to take over all cotton bacon, pre-made coils etc. I imagine the sellers would really want their wicks and coils to last 3x as long so what gives
I tried rayon a couple of times and didn’t like it. I still have a big box of it but not sure if I’ll try it again. I’ve been hooked on Cotton Man products for about a year. Somebody here mentioned it (Mavaton X) has a break in period which is true. It doesn’t take long though. I initially got rayon because Profile users were raving about it at another forum. I remember the flavor being almost amplified but also noticed a weird taste. I was told to have super clean hands and all that before hand. This thread has me a bit curious to try it again. I’ve grown leaps and bounds as a builder since I tried it last…
I like rayon, I like cotton. I’ve never been comfortable using rayon on mesh because it doesn’t expand like cotton does and after experiencing a dry hit on mesh a couple of times, well…I don’t want to experience that again. I’ve found that rayon does wick faster than cotton, so I was experimenting with combining both in my mesh tanks. I’ll take a hunk of cotton and spread it out, then lay some rayon in the middle and roll it up. My thinking is that the rayon will pull the juice in faster and saturate the cotton. So far, I haven’t noticed any major difference so don’t think I’ll be taking the time to do it again. I do use rayon quite a bit with regular coil builds and have no worries - works great.
Great minds think alike or just think. I’ve done that, too, made a Scottish Roll with a combo of cotton/rayon. I did get great results from the Scottish Roll technique and the extra work is worth it but not worth it enough for me to use it all the time. If I were primarily a dripper or squonker I would take the time to roll me a Scottie
however the ends have justified the means so far so I’ll suffer for my RTAs for now 
) - have to admit that stuff does feel weird!
