Rayon in place of cotton?

[Cromeus]

This won't be a long topic, as I need to sleep, but I just went out to grab a bag of cotton, and noticed a new product - Rayon cotton balls, processed from bamboo. Has anybody tried using these? I'd imagine you'd have to boil the hell out of it to remove the 'processed' taste, but it's an even more pure form of long strand cellulose than we're getting from cotton.

Re: Cotton = naturally occurring long strands of cellulose.
Rayon = bamboo(or other high-cellulose plant material) with everything except pure cellulose removed via processing.

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[suspectK]

I was wondering the other day if there was something like this. Thanks

 

[bender817]

Let us know what you find out. I haven't used it, but if you boil it enough, and treat it like cotton it might work. On the other hand it might taste like panda poo, but I wanna know either way.

 

[Cromeus]

I'm heading out on a road trip in the morning, but if nobody's given info on it by the time I get back on Sunday, I'll try it out for sure.

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[Cromeus]

Nobody else? I'll pick some up tonight

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[Portertown]

You may want to investigate Rayon a little before using it for wicks in your coils. It is processed with some nasty chemicals, one being acid.
It takes some strong chemicals to break a fiber down to a liquid that is then formed into a filament.

I found the following when I googled rayon:

Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. It is made from purified cellulose, primarily from wood pulp, which is chemically converted into a soluble compound. It is then dissolved and forced through a spinneret to produce filaments which are chemically solidified, resulting in synthetic fibers of nearly pure cellulose.[1] Because rayon is manufactured from naturally occurring polymers, it is considered a semi-synthetic fiber.[2] Specific types of rayon include viscose, modal and lyocell, each of which differs in manufacturing process and properties of the finished product.

I would not feel safe using rayon for wicks.

 

[Cromeus]

I already read up on all that, but I feel confident that a long boil, changing the water a few times, will remove any trace chemicals. The ones I picked up are for cosmetic use/child care, so I'd imagine that it's already fairly safe.

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[Xcighippy]

You may want to investigate Rayon a little before using it for wicks in your coils. It is processed with some nasty chemicals, one being acid.
It takes some strong chemicals to break a fiber down to a liquid that is then formed into a filament.

I found the following when I googled rayon:

Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. It is made from purified cellulose, primarily from wood pulp, which is chemically converted into a soluble compound. It is then dissolved and forced through a spinneret to produce filaments which are chemically solidified, resulting in synthetic fibers of nearly pure cellulose.[1] Because rayon is manufactured from naturally occurring polymers, it is considered a semi-synthetic fiber.[2] Specific types of rayon include viscose, modal and lyocell, each of which differs in manufacturing process and properties of the finished product.

I would not feel safe using rayon for wicks.

Portertown, Thank you for doing the legwork by looking this up. As you have with my post on using pill bottle "cotton". After reading this a few times, I would have to respectfully disagree with you on not feeling safe using rayon for wicks.
The words nearly pure cellulose, and manufactured from naturally occurring polymers kinda makes me feel it is safe or should I say as safe or possibly safer than cotton. I burned some with a lighter and it burns very clean, no melting at all and very little ash, almost cleaner than cotton.
Of course I am basing all this on the "cotton" I got from a bottle of Natures Valley Melatonin that so far has all the properties of Rayon that you described. Haven't seen the Rayon balls Cromeus has to compare So I would suggest you burn some and compare it to cotton.

 

[doots]

I wont be doing rayon... each to his own but be warned that is nasty stuff.. certainly not for inhalation..

 

[xyanide]

While I agree that a burn test does tell you something about its chemical properties, your nose and eyes do not make a chemistry lab for analysis. To use an extreme example, the nasty compound called sarin has no odor or color.

I have heard of several people using organic bamboo yarn with great success so I would suggest trying that instead.

 

[Xcighippy]

I wont be doing rayon... each to his own but be warned that is nasty stuff.. certainly not for inhalation..

Silica is also some nasty stuff, certainly not for inhalation.... Is used all the time for wick.

 

[Cromeus]

I haven't so much as boiled mine yet, still reading up on it - whatever studies you're reading, I'd suggest checking what year the sources are from; the manufacturing process was changed in the 90s to produce a nontoxic, biodegradable Rayon, and the majority of what I'm reading is citing material from the 50s and 60s, as well as an alarmist email attributed to a scientist who has denied having anything to do with it.

I'm not saying it's perfectly safe, and I appreciate others looking into it, and I certainly won't take it personally if it turns out that rayon is a terrible choice. I'd rather be wrong (not that I've taken the stance that rayon = good) than the cause of somebody's illness.

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[Cromeus]

Report from 1991:

" The method produces a fiber that is free of chemical residue. This would allow the fiber to be used for food packaging."

http://www.purdue.edu/uns/html3month/1990-95/910121.Chen.CornRayon.html

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[bender817]

Just send me some. I'll vape it.

All this talk is really frustrating for guinea pigs like me. Panda food fiber or not it would be cool if it worked.

 

[Cromeus]

I've boiled it eight times, now it's drying, I'll try some in the morning. It doesn't have the smell to it that my sterile medical cotton retains ever after boiling, which might be a good sign

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[Cromeus]

Here's something people will like:

It doesn't go crispy as quickly as cotton.
I then stuck that bit of wick in my mouth and sucked on it - doesn't taste burnt either. In fact, after sucking the juice out, it doesn't taste like anything.

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[Cromeus]

Good capillary action:

Max VG juice from AiV, so I'm sure PG juices will wick even better.

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[Jjshbetz11]

Well how does it vape?

 

[vapero]

i need to know also!

 

[Cromeus]

Really well actually, no wick taste, and no burnt taste on dry hits! There's a taste, but it's way toned down compared to the cotton I've been using.

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