I am thinking about wick replacement (so I don't have to keep buying new coils). A like the idea of sterile cotton gauze (will be easy to get from the local pharmacy once my granddaughter wakes up and we can pop up there). Only thing is so many threads say to boil cotton, but no one says why. If it's already sterile, why would I need to boil it?
Just my thoughts on cotton for wicks.
Sterile cotton is just cotton that has been sterilized to kill bacteria. It can be sterilized by heat, gas, etc. I retired from the Pharmaceutical industry and we made sterile products that were meant to be injected, used in eyes, ears, etc. The drug product, the bottles, tubes, caps, etc were all sterilized. The sterilization process does not remove any chemicals or toxic items.
Any cotton used for wicks should be 100% natural cotton with NO additional things added.
I like to use organic cotton balls from CVS as I feel they are just cleaner because of the organic farming.
I do use some of the Peaches and Cream yarn and some of the rolled sterile cotton, but I am not sure if they are organically raised and produced.
I boil all of the above types of cotton in DISTILLED water for twenty minutes, rinse in distilled water and boil for another twenty minutes in distilled water. I then place the cotton on stainless steel mesh which I place over the top of an empty pot and let it dry for a couple of days until fully dry throughout.
I do not use tap water as I think it may leave the chemicals from treating the water and minerals from the water in the cotton in high amounts. I find the distilled water boil gives me a cleaner taste than tap water boil.
I bag the cotton in a ziplock bag to keep it clean. I always wash my hands before touching my cotton as the oils from your skin can be wicked into the clean cotton and effect taste.
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