Why I only use a mineral wick - no cotton or rayon for me

A few years ago I work up one morning with a rash on my body. It started on my chest and within a few days had spread to my arms and neck. It was obvious that this was a toxicity reaction to something that I was exposed to. I was aware that this allergic reaction was potentially life threatening if I could not find the thing that was causing it. I thought that it must be something I ate but I had not eaten anything that I did not eat all the time (food allergy).

I was about ready to go to the emergency room when it dawned on me that the only new thing in my environment was an atomizer that a friend had given me that was wicked with rayon. I changed the wick to my normal mineral wick (Ekowool) and the rash immediately stopped spreading (within hours). By the next morning the hives had calmed down and the rash was noticeably lighter and on the way to disappearing.

Apparently, I am allergic to breathing heated rayon fumes (Isn't everybody allergic to toxics?).

I went looking for any research done on the toxicity of organic cotton and rayon and found this abstract:

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Acute toxicity of the combustion products from various kinds of fibers

by Keiichi Yamamoto

Acute toxicity of the combustion products from various fibers was evaluated in animal experiments. The materials used were cotton, gauze, acetate, rayon, polyester (PE), polychlal (PC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), silk, wool, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and modacryle (MA).

Rats, mice, and rabbits were exposed to gases released from these materials, heated with an electric heater. In experiments with rabbits animals inhaled gases through a tracheal cannula under urethane narcosis. As indices for toxicity, the time at which animals were impaired severely, was used in rat experiments while the death time was used in experiments with rabbits and mice. The concentrations of O₂ and CO in the exposure room were determined continuously, blood COHb and cyanide values were also estimated.

Gases from fibers containing nitrogen impaired severely and killed the animals earlier than any other materials. Blood analyses revealed the presence of high values of cyanide in PAN, MA, and silk experiments. HCN was considered to be responsible for the high toxicity of gases from these materials. In the case of wool, despite of high toxicity of its combustion products, blood cyanide and COHb values were not very high.

Gases from cotton, gauze, and rayon impaired severely and killed the animals relatively early in the exposure period. Toxicity of combution products from these materials was attributable to CO on the basis of gas and blood analyses. Acute toxicity of PE and acetate gases, being less than that of cotton, gauze, rayon under the present experimental conditions, was explained mainly by CO.

• Publisher Name Springer-Verlag
• Print ISSN 0044-3433
• Online ISSN 1437-1596

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 In light of my alarming experience and the known toxicity of combustion fumes from organic and synthetic fibers I think it is foolish to use any organic fiber or synthetic fiber as a wick with a vaping atomizer. I suspect that the risk is low if the wick never gets overheated but how do we define the point where heated cotton or rayon is too hot to be safe?

I am not taking any chances and will never use an organic wick of any type again. We all get an occasional dry-burn.

Ekowool is what I use. I highly recommend that others use it in wicking for the reasons stated above.

You can get Ekowool online (I like 3mm in my Kayfun) - Ebay has this listing:

Yes, it is more cost and trouble than cotton and rayon. I have to wrap my coil around the mineral wick because it is very difficult to pull the mineral wick through a coil (it unravels if you handle it excessively). It also means that I have to recoil every time I re-wick. So be it. It is worth the hassle.

Almost nothing officially is really known about the safety of vaping over time and we, as adults, take the long term risk that there might be an issue in the future. BUT... I do know that inhaling cotton and rayon fumes when these materials are overheated is a serious hazard to our health right now.

Think about it.