I just put this reply on his FB thread as well, figured I'd copy/paste my assessment here as well...
Derek,
First of all, let me say that I APPRECIATE your dedication to finding a safe material for vapers, and at least going a little beyond general, uneducated statements of "well gee, dat chit is bad fer ya"... In short.. I appreciate that you have actually made an effort to put some science behind your statements and for taking the time to actually show your findings... My hat is off to you for making the effort.
There are some things that I would like to correct though, just to further the clarification of what your findings are, because unfortunately I feel that you were wrong in *some* of your assessments.
First, you stated in the video that "What your left with is these two squares of ceramic material" ... but then later in the thread go on to talk about the material as Silica. On this Atlantis coil, after examining the fibers and seeing the characteristics my assessment would be that this is actually a "high temp silica" product and NOT a ceramic based product.
As I understand from your own statements that you are familiar with silica, I would assume that you know there is a BIG difference between silica and ceramic, so I will guess that it was perhaps just a mistake of wording.
I don't like these wick pads that are in this device. To me, it looks like they are a blend of high temp silica along with a cotton blend. I would imagine they are using the cotton to bind the silica shards and for absorption purposes and using the silica to handle the heat. But, you're right in your assessment that once the cotton burns off, what do you have left? You have loose silica shards that could potentially be inhaled, in my assessment, this would not be good.
Another thing that you had said is that "silica has much bigger fibers" - I think you might have been confused or perhaps accidently got the two materials twisted around by accident. Silica shards measure between .5 and 3 microns in size and primary material is glass, whereas Ceramic fibers are measured on average between 7-13 microns in size (in the xc product which we properly treat and call "READYxWICK". A quick math on this would show that Ceramic particles are actually between 3 and 20 times LARGER than silica shards, not the other way around.
Since you work in an industry related to silica, I'm sure you are aware of why these #'s are important. In general, the scientific community feels that anything UNDER 5 microns in size is considered to be a "health risk" because they are small enough to penetrate flesh and soft tissue just by contact. So silica which comes in between .5 and 3 microns in size are ALL under that 5 micron size threshold which has been determined, hence making high temp or regular silica somewhat of a health risk. (I say somewhat loosely, in my opinion I would say highly, but I'm being conservative). This is what makes a product such as "READYxWICK" so nice. Its particle sizes are between 7-13 microns, most of which are between 10-12, which is more than DOUBLE the size threshold of concern.
Also, you hit on an important key element of WHY we properly treat our material (READYxWICK) before we ever ship any out. Our treatment process includes heating this material in high end precise digitally controlled kilns at temperatures reaching nearly 2,000 degrees in a heat treatment process that lasts over 24 hours. This process burns off any of those "organic" compounds, chems, and elements which could otherwise be inhaled into your lungs during a vape, leaving ONLY material which is bonded together and can handle the heat without breakdown.
That brings up another point I'd like to address from your video and your posts that I would like you to consider...
Just because there are particles left over after a "burn off" does not mean that you are inhaling them. In the case of THIS wick that is inside the Atlantis, I WOULD agree with your assessment of it not being good because of the chance of inhaling the particles, because the material that they are using to bond them together is cotton. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't seem smart... why would you bond a high temp resistant material in shards with a material that will burn away after a few harsh dry hits...?
My GUESS would be, because they are smart enough to know that once that happens, and the head breaks down, the user will need to replace it, creating additional sales and NOT giving a crap about the vapers health. This part, drives me NUTS.
I will also say, that I DON'T like the idea of sucking into my lungs the byproducts of burnt off cotton. I understand what your argument about them being "organic" but the fact is, organic or not, we were not meant to suck down fumes of burnt off cotton into our lungs on a daily basis, but this rarely gets press because cotton is such a standard in vaping. That said, cotton is a Million times better than Silica, but in my opinion, cotton vs a product such as READYxWICK which is made of Ceramic compounds, there is no question that readyxwick is more safe. Cotton burns out within 1-14 days whereas there have been man records of a SINGLE wick of READYxWICK has lasted in daily vaping devices for over a YEAR... why is this important? Simple, it means that the material ISN'T breaking down at anywhere near the rate of other materials such as cotton or silica. (if it were, there wouldn't be anything left at all of it anywhere even close to a year).
As far as the Atlantis coils, I believe them to be "high temp silica" blended with cotton. As you may know with your work with silica, high temp silica is actual the "alternative" to its more durable brother "ceramic" material. Silica is made of glass, ceramic is made of ceramic. High temp silica CAN be exported outside of the USA, whereas ceramic XC based material can NOT be, which again goes to the assessment of this material actually being silica and NOT ceramic.
Like I said in the beginning though, I DO appreciate your efforts to put more science behind your claims and will ALWAYS support those who attempt to do so. I would love to work with you in regards to these assessments and would be happy to donate my time to helping your research.
Thank you for taking the time to do these tests and for caring enough to go beyond empty claims and actually trying to back up your findings with science, but please be careful to make sure that your findings are accurate before fully referring to them as scientific assessments (which I know you haven't done yet).
Good work on this, thank you for bringing this important topic to light!
