The myths about standard cotton wool vs organic cotton wool

[jordan]

Ok so everyone is entitled to their own opinions on what they want to put in their RDA, but countless times I have seen people saying that you should buy organic cotton because it's 'safer' than non organic and doesn't contain bleach/chemicals/other nasties associated with mass produced products.

This is false information, organic refers to the way the cotton has been grown (without pesticides or chemical fertilizers) and has nothing to do with the process of treating the cotton before it arrives in your local store all fluffy and white and ready to soak up your juice.

All cotton whether organically grown or not has to have seeds and other detritus removed before it is bleached and sterilized. The sterilization process kills off any bacteria associated with modern farming. The bleach they use in the process evaporates at room temperature and by the time it arrives at your shop there will likely be no bleach left on the cotton (possibly trace amounts but seriously nothing to worry about)

So what does this mean in terms of vaping?

In short there is no health advantage of using organic cotton wool balls over tesco own brand cotton wool pleats. The only thing you want to look for is that it is 100% cotton, if it contains fragrances or anything else it has to state it on the packaging so aim to get the 100% cotton and you are fine.


If it makes you feel better to use organic cotton then that's your choice but telling new vapers that it's safer is misinforming them. This is not intended as a dig at anyone and hopefully it will be taken the way it was intended, as something to inform you guys that 'organic cotton is safer' is just another internet myth that seems to be taken as gospel.

[lenny59]

So you have definite proof of this ?

I really hope you have done your homework

As a Vendor I hope legally you are correct

[a1laserboy]

Does anyone have any proof of anything really regarding what we are vaping?

I agree that the organic argument is pointless. I just use cheapy cotton wool roll I got for £1.30. No bits in it, it's white and fluffy and seems to taste ok - in fact better than silica which also nobody knows about potential harm of inhaling broken off fragments from handling......

[enjay]

Me too, just cheap stuff but I boil it first just to be sure.

[giles]

Mea culpa.

I've advised people to go for organic, wouldn't do so now having thought about it a bit more following a similar post to yours on another thread. I don't feel particularly guilty about the advice I gave though - organic isn't much more expensive, a pack of either lasts forever, and as someone said elsewhere, maybe if they know it is going in a pack called organic they'll be a little more careful about what they do to it. As myths go it has been a pretty harmless one.

[lemental]

Just for information, I phoned up Wilkos a few weeks ago. Their organic cotton wool (links below) is bleached using non-chlorinated bleach. I boil mine three times with a change of water in between. Paranoid? Probably but I'd rather err on the side of caution and the 10 cotton balls that I boiled and dried will probably last me a year.

www.wilko.com/wilko-cotton-wool-2-for-ps220/wilko-baby-organics-cotton-wool-50-oval-pads/invt/0289756?VBMST=organic%20cotton

www.wilko.com/wilko-cotton-wool-2-for-ps220/wilko-baby-organics-cotton-wool-100-large-balls/invt/0289755?VBMST=organic%20cotton

[barrynorton]

Glad someone said it. Unscientific hearsay spreads like wildfire through this community. 'Old wives' must love the Internet.

[jordan]

Mar 6, 2014 0:38:14 GMT lenny59 said:

So you have definite proof of this ?

I really hope you have done your homework

As a Vendor I hope legally you are correct

Me being a vendor employee has nothing to do with it buddy.
But yes I have looked into it, when I first started on the higher end of vaping I was paranoid about battery safety, potentially inhaling FIBERGLASS (silica), ventilation on mechs, the risks of cheap silver plating on some mods ******* up conductivity etc etc. So I spent a lot of time looking into it, not just on vaping forums but on the actual manufacturing process of the different types of wick we use, torch and battery forums for the other uses of high drain batteries and the pro's/con's of ICR vs IMR vs Protected. I even looked into a few electrical forums to try get an answer about ultra thin cheapo silver plated contacts but that went straight over my head lol. 

Long story short, yes I have looked into it properly before posting this thread

[boyofford]

I kinda thought this was probably the case.

That said I have used non organic that tasted funny when anything but saturated.

And cotton from organic cotton makeup remover pads that tasted fine but smelt of perfume but didn't mention any perfume on the packaging.

In the end I've done the sheep thing and got organic balls of amazon.

[boyofford]

I have a question though..... Should I be boiling my wool?

I've read plenty of people do but I never bothered, maybe the first wool would of been fine if I had?

[andy01424]

basic like nail remover you dont use it if it has lanolin added to clean something or you end up with oil film on it,but do agree with Organic argument its like veg etc its not treated whilst growing,thats all it means what happens after its picked is different matter,but its still organically grown ie as nature intended,a wash a boil a dip if you want to er on side of caution then thats your choice,but do agree with what the Poster says

[jordan]

If you use too much or too little cotton in your coil it can taste funny, and if it's not saturated then it will definitely taste funny, or even burnt. It could also be that the cotton picked up oils from your hands, I always wash my hands before I thread my cotton through my coils as I get quite sweaty palms and it can give the cotton a funky taste if your hands are sweaty or dirty.

Boiling cotton doesn't really seem to make a difference for me in terms of flavour and I usually fire my mod after saturating the cotton and blow the vapour away before putting a bit more juice on the coil and screwing the chimney down on my kayfun builds. This proabably does nothing but It means I know my coil is working and gets the cotton wicking nicely.

As far as I'm aware boiling cotton is a preference and has no safety implications. Won't hurt you if you don't won't hurt if you do boil it.

[boyofford]

Mar 6, 2014 10:22:57 GMT jordan said:

If you use too much or too little cotton in your coil it can taste funny, and if it's not saturated then it will definitely taste funny, or even burnt. It could also be that the cotton picked up oils from your hands, I always wash my hands before I thread my cotton through my coils as I get quite sweaty palms and it can give the cotton a funky taste if your hands are sweaty or dirty.

Boiling cotton doesn't really seem to make a difference for me in terms of flavour and I usually fire my mod after saturating the cotton and blow the vapour away before putting a bit more juice on the coil and screwing the chimney down on my kayfun builds. This proabably does nothing but It means I know my coil is working and gets the cotton wicking nicely.

As far as I'm aware boiling cotton is a preference and has no safety implications. Won't hurt you if you don't won't hurt if you do boil it.

Definetly was something specific to that wool, I drip so start off saturated then less so, though I agree amount of wool matters for how quick it wickes.

Wasn't a burnt taste, wool wasn't dry enough, more of a chemical taste.

Leaving unboilled works for me, suppose no one really knows what is best for this for sure.