Fiber inhalation risk, let's discuss filter options

[Randy C]

Ok.. I love cotton in my rba. The taste is absolutely amazing! Unfortunately from what I've been reading, any fibrous wick material carries some degree of risk of fibers breaking free- creating an inhalation risk. I've read a number of posts where people are using blue aquarium filter material as a filter medium in their rba, but the safety of this is wildly debated.

I'm looking for ideas for a filter that can be inserted in a drip tip. I was thinking about SS mesh pipe filter. Any other ideas?

 

[Racehorse]

I tend to look at nature as teacher. How does nature filter particulate material? How does nature provide particle aggregation?
How does nature provide negative and positive charges and ionize stuff? How does nature clarify and settle?

Soil and rock layers. Stuff like that.

I know a few engineers who deal with water filtration all over the planet, I"m going to talk to them tomorrow night on the phone, maybe they want to start a side biz.

 

[bubbajoe72]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it with cotton fibers. Silica fibers, maybe, but cotton, no. Unless you plan on wearing a protective dust mask all the time, you inhale far more dust in your house than what is in the cotton wick. Plus the chance of getting an appreciable amount of cotton fiber from the wick is slim. You're more likely to inhale more fibers from those cotton clothes you're wearing than from the wick of an atty (you ever clean out the dryer lint after washing a bunch of cotton clothes - yeah, you're breathing that). The cross section of the wick where it comes in contact with the coil is small so the amount of fiber in that section is small. Plus, the wick must be completely dry and will more than likely turn to ash at which point you will hopefully re-wet it.

 

[Randy C]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it with cotton fibers. Silica fibers, maybe, but cotton, no. Unless you plan on wearing a protective dust mask all the time, you inhale far more dust in your house than what is in the cotton wick. Plus the chance of getting an appreciable amount of cotton fiber from the wick is slim. You're more likely to inhale more fibers from those cotton clothes you're wearing than from the wick of an atty (you ever clean out the dryer lint after washing a bunch of cotton clothes - yeah, you're breathing that). The cross section of the wick where it comes in contact with the coil is small so the amount of fiber in that section is small. Plus, the wick must be completely dry and will more than likely turn to ash at which point you will hopefully re-wet it.

Very good point.. I kind of feel the same way..

 

[BJ43]

Ok.. I love cotton in my rba. The taste is absolutely amazing! Unfortunately from what I've been reading, any fibrous wick material carries some degree of risk of fibers breaking free- creating an inhalation risk. I've read a number of posts where people are using blue aquarium filter material as a filter medium in their RBA, but the safety of this is wildly debated.

I'm looking for ideas for a filter that can be inserted in a drip tip. I was thinking about SS mesh pipe filter. Any other ideas?

A long time ago when I was still using silica wicks I always put a piece of and analog filter in the mouthpiece. You can buy just the filters in tobacco shops for folks that roll their own.

 

[LucentShadow]

Personally, I'd be more concerned with inhaling particulate from the filter media itself than from wet, natural fibers. Whatever media that is, it's likely to be dry, and cut to a certain size.

I worked in a fiberglass manufacturing plant for a couple of years, and the act of cutting the material was by far the largest cause of particulate in the air and on the material.

 

[Randy C]

A long time ago when I was still using silica wicks I always put a piece of and analog filter in the mouthpiece. You can buy just the filters in tobacco shops for folks that roll their own.

Did that filter tighten the draw much?

 

[Racehorse]

You would have to know the size of the particulates you're trying to filter. Mesh and screen only work for larger particulates. Think sink strainer.

Other materials, cotton, stone, etc. have more surface area per cubic measurement and therefore will filter out smaller and more particulates. The normal cigarette filters for "light" cigarettes are probably very good filters because they can filter out much of the smoke particles (very small). That is one reason they are "light". You really have to draw hard to get any smoke.

But our bodies have natural filters anyway. Your nose and sinuses have the microscopic hairs and mucous to catch and wash away foreign material. Also the throat mucous picks up a lot. (how we deal with dust mites, pollen, mold spores). Even the lungs and respiratory system have this constant flow of mucos.

Most particulates are not a big concern. From what I can see, there are only 2 areas of concern:
1) If any of these particles are carcinogens like asbestos, etc.
2) chemicals in a gaseous state. The gas molecules are so small, very few filters (other than gas mask type cartridges) can stop them.
Most inhalted gases go directly into the lungs and can be quite damaging......carbon monoxide, etc. or when breathing the steam for a microwave popcorn bag which contains diacetyl.

People who cooked microwave popcorn and opened the newly steaming bag and inhaled "ah this smells good!" really put themselves at risk, for instance, because diacetyl is very lung-damaging. Most inhaled gases, other than what is normally in the atmosphere and the inert gases are just not very good for your lungs.

There are still a few juices out there that "contain a small amount of diacytl" and people say "oh it's only a little bit". I sure won't vape it.

If you want to do research on respiratory filters, start w/3-M and MSA ---- makes a lot of them for various industries.