My boiled cotton balls > What have I done wrong? (pic)

[Lexx]

Ok, let's clear up a few myths here:

Sterile cotton means it's sterile, not free of chemicals. In fact it likely contains more chemicals.

Organic cotton will be grown without chemicals and bleached with hydrogen peroxide h2o2, it breaks down into water & oxygen. No need to boil organic cotton, its entirely pointless unless you want to infuse your cotton with whatever chemicals are in your tap water...

Non-organic cotton is one of, if not the, most chemically treated crops on the planet. Don't use it, unless you don't care about your health...but isn't that why we quit smoking?

 

[beckdg]

i won't speculate how cotton balls are sterilized.

though, i will say there are a lot of ways to perform sterilization that are in no way clean. nor do they remove chemicals such as pesticides that could be used on a crop.

sterilized simply means made unable to reproduce. nothing more, nothing less. since it's often the biological warfare that surrounds the medical profession and hospitals... and sterilization is part of their cleaning procedures, clean and sterilized are often thought of as synonymous though they certainly are not.

peroxide added to water becomes water and oxygen within seconds. it's common knowledge in small circles relating to high tech fish keeping. planted tanks are often treated for algae with small doses of h2o2 with no adverse effects to the inhabitants. it is a known bleaching/sterilization process as is passing the water through UVC light with long exposure times at close distances. neither of which would convince me to drink the water.

DISCLAIMER: i boiled once. that was enough for me. no more. it is a risk i take.

 

[Ryedan]

I've never boiled cotton. Sterile or organic is clean to start with. The water you're boiling them in is probably more contaminated until you boiled it. We use sterile cotton on open wounds...so I doubt there's anything too harsh in them. I've never tasted anything in mine.

I've never heard of anything sterile being dirty!

Well, there may be a difference in safety requirements for cotton that is used on open wounds versus cotton that we heat up, possibly burn a bit and inhale from all the time. Of course, I don't wash mine either so you know what my decision on this was . The hydrogen peroxide taste for a few minutes has kinda grown on me.

I dont really think the fluffyness is that important, i use cotton from qtip heads which is pretty pressed on and they work great

I thought I was probably the only person using Q-tips. I started with them when I first got a dripper about half a year back. I think a Q-tip lasts me for about three weeks worth of wicks. Just have not thought it was worth the space to get a bag of cotton balls

 

[03FXDWG]

That cottony/peroxide taste goes away after the first few puffs. If doctors use it to pack inside of wounds & holes left from teeth extractions, it's safe enough for me.

You will only use a tiny little wisp of it at a time. That's why 1 cotton ball can last months. I recently swapped out the scorched silica wick on an EVOD head for cotton. I went all week just refilling the tank--at least once per day and often twice. I soaked it in vodka at the end or the week then rinsed with hot water and let air dry for a day--my normal cleaning routine. I opened it up to swap out the cotton & dry burn but it was as clean & pretty looking as the day I first wicked it so I put the chimney & grommet back on and called it good for another week. I was using a DIY liquid 70PG/30VG with no added sweeteners or colors but still; 1 week heavy use and no visible buildup or discoloration.

 

[CommaHolly]

Ay dios mio ...

this

 

[AntnyMikal]

What I've found in my experience over the last 2 weeks:

Wife's pure cotton(not boiled, sterile)- was okay, strange taste for first few hits even if saturated, favors seemed slightly muted in the beginning too

Organic not boiled- same as above but didn't last as long, wicked better, when flavor kicked in it really kicked in

Organic boiled 2 times 10min ea tap water- same as above but only lasted maybe 3-4 drags then all good to go.

Organic boiled and rinsed 2x in distilled water- almost zero strange taste maybe first or second drag maybe, wicks better seems to fluff up and hold more juice.

My opinion, I'd at least boil it once just because you never know what they clean or bleach it with. I personally did half a bag of organic with distilled because I didn't like that taste and it helped with wicking for me.

On a side note, I hated waiting for it to dry so I took to identical bowls put them in one then the other bowl on top and pressed them out a few times then, threw half of them I did in the microwave for a couple minutes. Worked pretty good, had about 12 cotton balls 2 of them in the middle started to burn a little all the rest were dry or almost dry, they worked just the same as the ones that took a day to dry.





All Day Vapin'

 

[Strangebrew]

I don't use organic and boiling is overkill... As Dad said, "I remember when DDT came out and it was the best."

 

[Flt Simulation]

I can be .... retentive at times ... but I am not going so far as to boil cotton balls!

Nope ... not going to boil cotton for wicks

 

[bhswmc01]

LOL same thing happened to me last night - have been using cotton yarn previously, and decided to give organic cotton balls a try. With a little effort, I was able to unroll them when they were still a little damp. TOTALLY worth the effort - the taste is superior as compared to the yarn.

I'll probably keep boiling, it seems to make the cotton easier to use.

 

[humpstyles]

Bought a whole bag of Maxim Organic cotton balls (USDA approved and whatnot). Took about 1/3 of them, unraveled them, and boiled in tap water. Let dry on a paper towel for 2 days. The taste is great, and the vapor production is huge. Normally vape a few EVOD tanks, then just slip the cotton out, dry burn the coil, slip a new wick in, and go at it.

I think I am going to take it one step further soon. I'm going to try boiling them twice with distilled water, then microwaving dry. This seems to be the best method out there after all the research I've done.

Happy vaping guys.