Reuse of Cottons

[melange]

I usually don't have cottons for very long, so I can't help you.


I usually do a wash shortly after anyways.

 

[enoughorangejuice?]

damn, don't reuse cottons! of all the things they are the easiest to obtain and the most inexpensive.

 

[phr]

The bacteria doesn't die from cooking up. You're not applying enough heat for a long enough time to kill all of it. Hypothetically, if you were cooking it hot and long enough, you'd be destroying a good amount of the dope as well. Cooking just helps it dissolve.

As for why it's dangerous, reread the thread again carefully. It was answered.

 

[stimpybear]

I posted this response in another thread, but it definitely bears repeating.

If bacteria are allowed to multiply, say in a wet piece of cotton for a few hours or days, they may produce toxins that can cause a fever, even though the bacteria themselves are dead. This fever will go away after a relatively short period of time. One type of this kind of toxin can survive conditions that would kill the bacteria for sure, such as boiling or autoclaving.

More technically, these toxins are classified medically as pyrogens = fever causing agents. They are also known as endotoxins. They are the result of the breakdown of the cell walls of Gram negative bacteria. Since these cell walls are made of lipopolysaccharides, these toxins are also lipopolysaccharides.

 

[phr]

to enoughorangejuice? - it's not about reusing cottons because we don't have any cottons left to filter. it's about squeezing old cottons with water to get the remaining amount of H in them.

and to phrozen - any sources that the bacteria doesn't die? why is the bacteria that grows on cotton some super bacteria that doesn't die but the normal bacteria from an H shot does?

i'm not saying you're wrong i'm just wondering. i haven't been given a clear answer to this and i reread the thread.

I don't have any sources. Maybe someone else here does(hfrs, ctdope, jasoncrest?)

I meant that the bacteria doesn't die when you first cook up dope and when you recook cottons. You're just not applying strong enough heat for the needed amount of time.

Stimpybear has a plausible answer though. It most likely multiples rapidly and produces toxins within used cottons. That's why the bacteria in used cottons is far more dangerous than the initial one in your dope shot.

 

[stimpybear]

its not that the bacteria necessarily produce toxins, but components of the bacterial cell walls themselves are toxic. i know that wikipedia is not really the best source, but it does do a relatively good job explaining it this time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endotoxin