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Reuse of Cottons

All depends on concentration of solute and water. You can eventually dose yourself with cottons. I have also squirted out shots that I knew I accidentally put way too much into, into cottons. I'm not sure if I ever tried to utilize those cottons, but the idea was that I could just use that cotton later as my filter. I'm pretty sure I never actually did that, but you get the idea behind it.

Wonder if there is a safe way to save cottons. It seems trouble brews with wet cottons and time. It would be pretty useful if you could save cottons and use them for a shots, even if just supplementary.
 
Yeah... when you fiend so bad you start doing even more dangerous things than shooting dope..... like stealing, shooting old ass cottons, robbing your parents
 
I ended up taking my pile of cottons, mixing them with rubbing alcohol, then letting the alcohol evaporate so I had what I assumed was basically clean powder. If I had read this thread first I probably wouldn't have done it, but I did IV the powder without evident problems.

I think in the future I will just stick the cotton under my tongue immediately after I use it.
 
blahblahblahblah said:
When you are using cottons you know you have a problem and the opiate [ab]use has gotten out of hand.


Or when you are using filthy cigarette filters that you find on the road.
 
I never thought of that as a problem, shit I still do it on occasion

Cottons or cigarette filters? I hope you don't mean used cig filters.

Can someone please post the safest way to reuse cottons, in the sake of harm-reduction?

Best I can come up with is keep in dish, open to air (maybe slight cover overtop so dust and particulate in air don't fall onto dish), then when dry, store in airtight, dry container.
 
Best I can come up with is keep in dish, open to air (maybe slight cover overtop so dust and particulate in air don't fall onto dish), then when dry, store in airtight, dry container.

Thats it right there, and when you re-cook the cottons filter a few times with fresh cotton.
 
I-Love-Marijuana said:
Best I can come up with is keep in dish, open to air (maybe slight cover overtop so dust and particulate in air don't fall onto dish), then when dry, store in airtight, dry container.

i really have no idea about cotton filters, but i do know bacteria have a difficult time growing at low temperatures. i'd think storing them in the refrigerator or freezer would be better than leaving them out at room temperature.
 
Ah, good idea. If you were planning to reuse cottons, the best idea seems to me would be to freeze the suckers right afterwards, and then when you want to use them just add water. Should also keep the heroin from breaking apart into morphine too right?

Sounds like we're on to something here.
 
Were also talking about a junky that reuses cottons who lifestyle is highly dangerous and his frame of mind is not to health conscious.

That does sound like a decent idea though nice wet soaking filters directly into a deep freeze brought out and just reconstituted with a bit of water, refiltered [micron filter preferably] before injection. Sounds about the safest you can get when dealing with a dangerous situation itself.
 
in the interest of harm reduction ...everyone should KNOW

ANY REUSE is risky and dangerous no matter how you TRY to prevent infection, ..ect.

PLEASE SPEND SOME CHANGE AND BUY NEW COTTON
 
^ Its not that ppl dont have money for fresh cottons it's addiction shining in its most pathetic light. [I agree with you fully]

People reuse cottons to squeeze every drop of opiates into their system. You wake up sick, it's going to take at least an hour to cop and you have 20 or so cottons sitting right next to you and you know a shot from a rewash will make you feel slightly better however fleeting it is or psychological in its effects. It becomes part of ritualized drug behavior. Which IMO can become just as big of a psychological addiction as it is to the heroin itself.

Granted cottons never really do much except flip the stomach and slightly reduces w/d symptoms if your lucky. The risks greatly outweigh the benefits but for a strung out junkie risks are not even a concern unfortunately.
 
I have started keeping my old cottons in a little vial of rubbing alcohol in the fridge. My theory is fridge + isopropanol = so fresh and so clean clean.
 
Everyone talks about these huge risks....but I am interested to know what the actual risks are, besides temporary cotton fever. Has anyone ever heard of anything drastic, or beyond cotton fever, happening to someone or having happened to yourself?? Obviously, its bacteria and shooting it directly in your veins can seemingly cause some type of infection...but I've never heard of anything else happening to anyone as a DIRECT result...I definatly wouldn't rule it out, as it obviously can do some type of damage. Obviously its not the greatest of ideas, but being a starving junkie, its inevitable. I know I've unfortunatly done it hundreds of times and in the beginning (when I first started), I would get really bad cotton fever almost every time when I would store the cottons in a bag/closed space and then just reuse the old filters as a filter. But then as time went on, I realized that it was much much better to keep the cottons out in the open air, and ALWAYS use a new cotton (or 2) to filter out the bacteria of the old cottons(which *drastically* reduced the number of times I got cotton fever...almost never). I know doing a rinse isnt the most sanitary and healthy idea, but being a bad addict, it was a good way for me to have an "emergency shot" as holding on to my drug of choice in case of an emergency was never an option, as self control is one of the hardest parts of opiate addiction. I have never tried any of the other suggesstions, but some of them may be beneficial if you are going to reuse them (esp the freezing suggesstion).

As far as using ciggarette filters...thats probably an even worse idea..from what I've heard.
 
Some of you may find this sickly repulsive. I purposly leave my cottons well saturated when prepin' a fix. I do this to ensure I have something to keep my cool with. Bacteria/Cotton fever. I just let the cottons air dry in a seperate cooker (or spoon). When it comes time to utilize them, resaturate them, add a little extra water (mind your syringe's capacity), cook to a boil and draw that shit up. Cottton fever is when tiny particles of cotton get in your blood stream. This usually only occurs when the cotton or cigarette filter is dry. Bacteria occurs when the cotton/cig filts are left containing moisture.
 
Cotton fever is caused by a bacteria that grows in cotton, not particulate matter. Cotton fever is the result of your immune system going into overdrive to destroy the bacteria, not necessarily the bacteria itself.
 
If you were planning to reuse cottons, the best idea seems to me would be to freeze the suckers right afterwards, and then when you want to use them just add water. Should also keep the heroin from breaking apart into morphine too right?

Bump (Not my own thread so I can do this).
 
Everyone talks about these huge risks....but I am interested to know what the actual risks are, besides temporary cotton fever. Has anyone ever heard of anything drastic, or beyond cotton fever, happening to someone or having happened to yourself??

I have had some pretty nasty things happen to me, once after a dirty cotton rinse instantly I felt an itching behind my eyeballs and I knew I was in for it. With in 5 mins my face was so swollen I could barely open my eyes, I was freaking out. It was an allergic reaction I believe from having the solution contaminated by a dog hair [which I am allergic to]. I have had abscess's form from a dirty hit that if I let go I could have gotten endocarditis and had serious issues with my heart. Also some abcsess's I have had have gotten infected and if I let it go any farther I could have gotten a untreatable condition which would cause the issue of loosing a limb. As is I have a scar from the incision from draining the abscess and and a discoloring from another abscess that will never go away. Its nice having a quarter sized mark on my inner elbow of all fucking places that is darkened and is staying that way. In the summer when I am tan, its obvious that I shot dope to anyone in the know because my tanned skin tone makes it pop out and be even more noticable even though I havent shot dope in that area for years.

Answering your question further no I personally know nobody that has had any MAJOR lasting effects from a dirty hit or cotton fever. Maybe some that have atrophied areas around their injection sites where body tissue seems to have just gotten destroyed and never repaired itself. I know know one who has had to have an amputation because of letting a infection go but I might know someone with endocarditis.

Dont take it as a joke serious shit can happen, and when your living a junkylife style you really dont give a shit and you dont take care of health issues in an orderly fashion only as a last attempt when its inevitable that help is needed. Thats when its usually to late. I would be more concerned about sharing needles and the risks of catching Hep or HIV over the concerns of a dirty/cotton hit as the dirty needles sharing bit happen much more and disease is spread everyday. Two serious issues concerning heroin addiction or IV use in general.
 
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