Chemistry question for a layman: Which is safer for health, silica wick vs cotton wick?

[Va4rizor]

I know this is probably splitting hairs but is silica safer than cotton as a wick for a vaporizer? To my knowledge organic matter produces carcinogens when burned, even burnt toast. Do silica wicks pose a threat? With harm compared to air pollution in the average city are they both negligible?

*Edit: Sorry I worded things in a confusing way. This is a question by a layman not for. I was also guessing that actually burning the cotton would create carcinogens because it is organic, from a plant in this case. Silica is basically a form of glass. I was also asking if the silica wick could pose a threat from impurities.

 

[devauto]

I am afraid I am not a chemist, but my guess is that the cotton will be less harmful than the silica from the perspective of your question. However, I suspect that walking through any major city in the country will introduce far worse risk to your lungs than either wicking material ... again, just a guess on my part.

 

[InTheShade]

Welcome to the forum Va4rizor, great question. I suppose the short answer is that we don't really know as there is are no long term studies for either.

But I will say that silica wicks (for the most part) are impossible to burn at the temperatures we use - if you want proof, take a bic lighter to some silica and see. So long as you keep your cotton moist, it won't burn either.

I had a similar question a few months back and found an excellent discussion about silica and the dangers (or lack of) associated with it. Let me see if I can find it.

EDIT - This is a much older thread but I can't find the discussion I was looking for. It's 11 pages, some of it is silly bickering to be honest, but there is some good information in there.
This has been a question asked a lot on the forums and I suppose the answer is, we don't know if vaping in general is as safe as we may think - although all initial indications are that it is - and so that would include the long term safety of the wicking materials we are using.

As anything else, I highly suggest you do some research and then make your own informed decision at your own risk ( I suppose you started it by asking this question )

Finally there is a medical-research forum right here in ECF that you can look at. I think you'll need 15 posts before you can actually post in there, but you can review the articles.

 

[krew406]

Silica may be impossible to burn but it sure tastes horrible when you dry burn it

 

[Va4rizor]

I am afraid I am not a chemist, but my guess is that the cotton will be less harmful than the silica from the perspective of your question. However, I suspect that walking through any major city in the country will introduce far worse risk to your lungs than either wicking material ... again, just a guess on my part.

My edit:
*Edit: Sorry I worded things in a confusing way. This is a question by a layman not for. I was also guessing that actually burning the cotton would create carcinogens because it is organic, from a plant in this case. Silica is basically a form of glass. I was also asking if the silica wick could pose a threat from impurities.

 

[InTheShade]

Silica may be impossible to burn but it sure tastes horrible when you dry burn it

LOL yes it sure does - but I think that is mostly coil and super-heated air you are tasting. Burn a piece of silica with an open flame and it doesn't actually smell of anything much.

 

[*deleon517*]

no matter if im using silica, cotton or any other strand type (i commonly use butchers twine and candle wick as well). I always boil the wicking material and dry it out as best as possible. Then let it dry for 24 hours to get off any machining/impurities it may contain. Is it possible for the ejuice or any other elements like heat to still cause harm. Sure there is but I will still take it over going back to smoking with thousands of know carcinogens.

 

[BreatheCream]

I have my worries about respirable silica particles from wicks. In high enough quantities, such particles cause micropneumosilicosis, a mouthful of a disease that is quite horrible and quite incurable. It's highly dependent on the size of the particles, but I figure getting burned and broken in a wick, they're going to end up in any and all different sizes, and at least a few will be falling in the "danger" range.

I have definitely gotten little "bits" flying up into my mouth while vaping on old heads, and I'm sure others can relate. Who knows what they are.

On the other hand, the amounts needed to cause actual silicosis are probably orders of magnitude higher than one would get from vaping, and sawing through a small piece of fiberglass auto body, for instance, probably exposes one's lungs to more respirable glass fiber than a year of vaping, but still, less is more when it comes to this stuff.

For this reason and those already mentioned, I'm probably going to try to stick to cotton as my wick material, once I start building.

 

[Dakota Jim]

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s I am just glad that we aren't forced to use asbestos as a wick material.

I personally do not like the way cotton wicks and tastes even though it is much more readily available and much cheaper.

just my 2 cents

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

As above, Silica doesn't really burn unless you can heat it well past 1000 F. The burnt dry hits you get when Silica dries out are from the coil heating the wick and the heated air you're pulling in passing over the coil into your mouth (or lungs). The main difference between the two is that cotton is going to burn and incinerate much faster if you continue to fire it as it dries. With silica, you're just going to get the awful taste that makes you feel like something is about to catch on fire inside your coil.

With that said, I prefer cotton. I find that Silica has too long a break-in period for me. I don't want to wait until 1/4, 1/2 or even a full tank is through before the taste leaves. With cotton, there's no taste - at least not with the cotton I'm using (basic white cotton balls from my local Walmart - not organic - just boiled at home). I know how many puffs I can take before it gets dry and even if I didn't, I can feel the higher heat levels build as the cotton dries up, so I know to either drip more or slow down.

Health wise, it's a double-edged sword more than likely. With silica, you could potentially risk bits and pieces flying up if you're drawing hard all the same. If you're doing light draws on most builds (i.e. not cloud-chasing builds), you really don't have any worries. With cotton, as long as you're able to keep it wet, it's not going to burn up and fall apart and you're not going to inhale burnt cotton or actual smoke.

 

[SwaggerMcJagger]

Silica wick is safer cos its harder to burn

 

[Bunnykiller]

if you keep both of them "wet" seems that neither pose a real threat while vaping, altho I have some doubts about Silica when handling it when dry ( cutting, wrapping coils on it) I use fingernail clippers to fine tune the length of my silica and have noticed floating "fluff" in the air just after snipping. Probably no worse than handling Fiberglass insulation or cutting fiberglass panels with a circular saw, well maybe cutting the FG panels is worse, lots of dust. Ive cut FG panels and there seems to be no side effects other than long run on sentences...

 

[Va4rizor]

I have my worries about respirable silica particles from wicks. In high enough quantities, such particles cause micropneumosilicosis, a mouthful of a disease that is quite horrible and quite incurable. It's highly dependent on the size of the particles, but I figure getting burned and broken in a wick, they're going to end up in any and all different sizes, and at least a few will be falling in the "danger" range.

I have definitely gotten little "bits" flying up into my mouth while vaping on old heads, and I'm sure others can relate. Who knows what they are.

On the other hand, the amounts needed to cause actual silicosis are probably orders of magnitude higher than one would get from vaping, and sawing through a small piece of fiberglass auto body, for instance, probably exposes one's lungs to more respirable glass fiber than a year of vaping, but still, less is more when it comes to this stuff.

For this reason and those already mentioned, I'm probably going to try to stick to cotton as my wick material, once I start building.

Good point to add, I've read about snorting pills causing silicosis too. I doubt the particles from a wick are significant enough to cause a problem but for peace of mind and those with respiratory problems already it's something to consider when choosing a material. Silicosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[spaceman84]

There's always ceramic wicks to consider.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

It's all basically up to the individual but I switched to organic unbleached cotton after I noticed shards of silica breaking off the wick.

 

[Beretta]

I'm 100% organic cotton for now. Finally figured out the proper way to build a cotton wick for my Kayfun Lite +. I'm not worried about the burning of cotton temporarily, compared to the years of combusting tobacco. Temporarily inhaling the combustion of cotton is nothing to worry about. As soon as you detect the flavor change, just change out the cotton. No big deal. Also, like others have said, the cotton WILL NOT burn as long as it is soaked with liquid, and you don't have the voltage/wattage setup too high for the resistance of your atomizer.

I've been getting fantastic vapes from my organic cotton balls from Rite Aid and a properly built micro coil on my KFL+.

 

[greatdyskensia]

So I work with many forms of gems and crystals. I wonder if I can set up a rig strong enough to heat up an extremely small piece of silica (obsidian) in a G-pen. Since that stone takes heat extremely well, would I need to create my own head that won't melt or is that plastic durable enough. I'm searching for permanent wick solutions.

 

[BreatheCream]

So I work with many forms of gems and crystals. I wonder if I can set up a rig strong enough to heat up an extremely small piece of silica (obsidian) in a G-pen. Since that stone takes heat extremely well, would I need to create my own head that won't melt or is that plastic durable enough. I'm searching for permanent wick solutions.

The idea of using a silica wick (or any wick, for that matter), and not just a piece of silica mineral, is that it absorbs and holds a decent quantity of e-juice in contact with the hot coils, and draws in more juice to keep the area around the coils moist. Unless you were actually melting the obsidian, spinning it into very fine strands, then assembling the strands into a wick-like material, a simple piece of obsidian will not do much for you in terms of vaping.

At least, that's my understanding of things.

 

[Asbestos4004]

having grown up in the 60s and 70s i am just glad that we aren't forced to use asbestos as a wick material.

I personally do not like the way cotton wicks and tastes even though it is much more readily available and much cheaper.

Just my 2 cents

hey!!!!!!!!!!

 

[emurs]

As above, Silica doesn't really burn unless you can heat it well past 1000 F. The burnt dry hits you get when Silica dries out are from the coil heating the wick and the heated air you're pulling in passing over the coil into your mouth (or lungs). The main difference between the two is that cotton is going to burn and incinerate much faster if you continue to fire it as it dries. With silica, you're just going to get the awful taste that makes you feel like something is about to catch on fire inside your coil.

With that said, I prefer cotton. I find that Silica has too long a break-in period for me. I don't want to wait until 1/4, 1/2 or even a full tank is through before the taste leaves. With cotton, there's no taste - at least not with the cotton I'm using (basic white cotton balls from my local Walmart - not organic - just boiled at home). I know how many puffs I can take before it gets dry and even if I didn't, I can feel the higher heat levels build as the cotton dries up, so I know to either drip more or slow down.

Health wise, it's a double-edged sword more than likely. With silica, you could potentially risk bits and pieces flying up if you're drawing hard all the same. If you're doing light draws on most builds (i.e. not cloud-chasing builds), you really don't have any worries. With cotton, as long as you're able to keep it wet, it's not going to burn up and fall apart and you're not going to inhale burnt cotton or actual smoke.

This is the same from my experiences with trying both.