#5 I take that back, I haven't tried SS rope. Being SS, I didn't see how it would taste any better than mesh which wicked fine for me.
5: I agree cotton is the most reliable, the silica now sits in a drawer for back up if I ever need it.
I'm using cotton in BFT's, I have some hemp fiber for vertical
coils but it's been more trouble than it's worth IMO. I still use silica or Ekowool in a dripper half the time, it wicks fine in a small space and dry hits aren't nearly as nasty compared to organic fibers. It's hard to beat the price of organic cotton balls though, one bag should last years. Also, cotton ball is the easiest to pull
through a coil. I'm waiting for some hemp sliver to arrive, it may take the place of cotton in the BFT's... but it's nowhere as cheap.
For first coil I made on the SQuape I used cotton and a microcoil. It worked perfectly. That's the only time the first coil made on a new
device worked well for me. Cotton for the win!