All Bearclaw hybrid wicks, regardless of form, are simply a shell of 1/8th inch kevlar wrapped around an absorbent cotton core. The density of the core is balanced meticulously to give the best absorption possible. This gives long burns and bright flames with petrochemicals, but it also gives much more resilient flames when alcohol based fuels are used.

With white gas, a similarly sized cube (like our medium poi wicks) hybrid wick will dramatically out-perform an all-kevlar wick on any given burn. It will hold more fuel, burn longer, and show brighter throughout the burn. Unlike pure kevlar wicks, these don't have problems with alcohols. On Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, ethanol, even MEK, these burn almost as well as white gas on a kevlar wick. Plus, you don't suffer the small flame size and easy extinguishing that kevlar alone will provide.

The up side is that you don't need the longer burning, sootier fuels like kerosene and lamp oil. The down side is that the cotton is vulnerable to those fuels which can damage the wick by causing an internal smolder. The best way to avoid smolder is to use alcohol fuels (MEK, Isopropyl, ethanol, etc) or to dip the wicks immediately after extinguishing, to cool any internal coals. And, like any wick, lighting any wick while already warm will shorten it's overall lifespan.

Naturally, we've experimented with other fillers, like fiberglass and ceramics, to find a smolder-proof replacement. But we found them all to be under-performers when compared to straight kevlar alone. So don't be confused by other tool makers making "hybrid" wicks with these shorter-burning materials.