Ive used over the last 5 years things from muji cotton to cottonballs to tensel fiber. tried theCotton Bacon, Firebolt, Wotofo xfiber.
Currently running down my Muji, but I do remember how great the tensel fiber was for actually wicking juice and not retaining flavors when I changed juice profile in my dripper. Where cotton works more like a sponge, the tensel (Lyocell) just seemed to channel the juice(absorption and capillarity) to the coils faster and better with less likelihood of dry hits hits (chain vaper here) and the stuff just does not burn, where cotton does.
From what I understand Lyocell is a form of cellulose fiber a type of rayon. I have been using it for a few years in the form of Graham CelluCotton Rayon. It works great for me, never did much like cotton, dry hits and bad taste have not been a problem. Just have to make sure you wick very tight.
Agreed. since the cellulose fiber does not swell up like a sponge, it needed to be threaded through the coil tighter. I had great success using 40 gauge wire to create a loop and double the cellulose over to fish it through before cutting the ends… I came up with that when I saw that the cellulose fiber didn’t roll to compress the end and fish it through. Great flavor! and it was cheap as hell from a yarn supplier in bulk as a raw material.
Yes dry it can be a pain to twist to a point to get through the coil, I just wet lightly my thumb and finger twist it then (make sure your hands are clean), pull it through and snip off the twisted end right away. Works great for me. And yes 500 feet for about $16 last a long time.