The Shredder Wicking Method.. getting better flavor from cotton pads

or to any other wicking method / material… super curious to know… let’s hear it folks

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I use this method to use up my scraps of Cotton Bacon, Cotton King and Native Wicks. For cotton pads, I use a modified version of the Scottish Roll. I peel off as thin of a layer from the cotton pad as possible.Then I stretch it as thin as possible… paper thin, then roll it up. It creates layer upon layer of absorbent capillary goodness. I think overall I like using the modified Scottish roll.

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nice idea @Jim22 , my thought with this approach was to avoid the “rolling” part - for a fluffy’er wick inside the coil - if that makes sense - think of trying to simulate the way silica wicking worked in the past, where each strip of cotton acts on it’s own - i wanted to get faster absorbing action, the tiny spaces between the strips helps ensure more air for cooking liquid by the heat - which i feel reflects as a denser vape. or maybe this is just how i imagine is happening :slight_smile:

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Without imagination, we would never have anything new! There is no right way as to how we wick, its what we think works best for us and gives us confidence when we vape.When I first started building, I was shown the conventional method of cutting a strip from a cotton pad and pulling it through. It just never made sense to me to pull a square piece of cotton into a round coil. And so my journey began. My friends think I am nuts rolling up cotton, but I have it down now and can do it pretty quick> Thanks for the tutorial, I love reading stuff like this.

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I guess I can’t use this method because I use Cotton Bacon

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That’s because cotton bacon comes out of the pack already perfect for wicking! :+1:

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I use Rayon only but thought I would try this with it. I purchase my Rayon in a huge box and it comes as a long strand of rope. I cut a small strip and I flattened it out. I then cut the strip in half length way and rolled only one end to insert into my coil. Inserted it into the coil and it fit perfectly without all the tugging and rolling of the rest of the coil to get it in. No miss shaped coil when I was finished and it’s hitting better than ever. I guess I was using to much Rayon prior to trying this, Thanks for the idea.

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I got the big box of rayon too haven’t really used it yet do you thin out the tips?

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I never thin out the tips. Rayon works different than cotton. It shrinks instead of expanding like cotton does. It also uses the tails different than cotton and needs the extra tails to travel up to the coil. If you could look at the way cotton adds juice to the coils as well as look at Rayon and how it adds juice to the coil with a microscope you could see the difference. Rayon uses the outside of the fiber to move juice to the coil while cotton soaks it up internally. This difference is why you don’t want to thin the tails with Rayon.

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Next time I wick the Nanos I’ll do one with the strips and the other with my usual scottish roll to compare. I like KGD, have recently added Drago egyptian cotton to my arsenal. The Drago is a juice monster and lasts longer, but is harder to work with.

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@Letitia, yes pls, curious to learn the results of your side-by-side :slight_smile:

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Got it makes sense to me thanks I’ll try the rayon and not thin out the tips

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Good morning. Apologies for the late reply. This morning I did wick both Nanos. I left backing on the strips as you did (tho it just felt so wrong. lol). Strips nano has a 3mm ss316l 4 wrap spaced tri core fc .25Ω coil paired with Therion 166. Used 4 strips and I never twist my wicks in coil. Thinned tails and cut same length as yours. 80vg/20pg, wicking beautifully. Definite success.
Other Nano has my usual scottish roll wick, tails are thinned and a bit shorter. 3mm ss316l 6 wrap contact tri core fc .44Ω coil paired with Exus Ark. 80vg/20pg, also wicking beautifully.
Have to admit strips Nano seems to be wicking a bit more efficiently. Do believe it would hold up better during a heavy chain vaping session. Whether this is due to spaced vs contact coil I don’t know.

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Tried this method tonite also. Seems to work very well. I like the versatility of it if you happen to cut a little too wide or narrow. Thanks for sharing!

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@Letitia, thank you for taking the time to try this method and for sharing back…

should be easy, next time you wick the spaced coil, use strips, and same juice, and you can compare. happy vape!

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awesome ! i just wicked my (recently acquired) Ammit 25 single coil with the Shredder - it’s tricky given the larger juice channels - i’m also still trying to see which coil set up works best with it for flavor - with the strips i feel it’s wicking faster and i get more pronounced vape.
pleased to hear of good experiences with this method… that’s a real reward :slight_smile: - thank you guys

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I’m never going back, I have seen the light! It just works better then any other way I have tried and I have tried many. I’m a shredder believer!

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Just had to comment on this. I have tried the pancake method, the scottish roll, the sushi roll and they all have very good qualities but I always look for something that can give me a tad more flavour. Found this method literally an hour ago, tried it immediately and it’s everything you advertised. Really think you should make a YouTube video showing the world this method. New, innovating and it just works! Well done

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Dang, vaping sure is evolving, I only remember the Scottish roll, and the toilet paper roll (where you just roll it up and smash it in)… now I gotta google all of these other things and techniques.

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Hey @Steyn777, i appreciate the feedback and so glad you enjoyed this. it’s awesome to be able to give back after learning so much from all the friends here.

re YouTube, i consciously kept this as an “only on ELR” thing :slight_smile:

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