PAP-Cap & buchwheat pillow

[sleepycarol]

Okay a few questions.

I don't know much about the different buckwheat hulls available. I found my hulls for my pillow at an online health food store. I gave approximately $1.00 per pound plus shipping. You had to purchase $20.00 worth of items and so I purchased 20 pounds of the hulls. The hulls appear to be nice and clean and did not discolor my hands any when I filled my pillow. The hulls did have a slight smell that took a few days to disappear. Hard to describe, it didn't smell like chemicals really. The odor has been long gone now and my pillow is "odorless" now.

I assumed buckwheat hulls were buckwheat hulls pretty much. I do know that the ones Bret sent a link for was over twice the amount I paid for mine (he was not afflliated with this particular site). I do not have a sample of his to compare mine to. If price is the sole object here then his hulls should be superior to mine.

I noticed that the hulls on SAG's link is listed at https://tbmpy.com/product_pillows.htm are reasonably priced (although I am unsure what the postal cost is). BUT the hulls are listed at pillow filling OR organic mulch for your yard.


MUL-TEX Buckwheat Hulls
Ideal for yard mulch or for pillow-making. 2 cu. ft. Ship weight: 23 lbs. Shipping: UPS Ground; Cost: $12.90 ea.+ SH


The cost is approximately $.50 per pound. Anyone have actual experience with these hulls?

[yardbird]

Thanks very much YB, that's a great summary of helpful tips.

Sanborn, eh? That's not too terrifically far from the Birkett Mills down there in Penn Yan.

SAG

Nope... Penn Yan isn't that far. I took care of that post office as well as 427 others when I was contracting for the Postal Service

[yardbird]

I assumed buckwheat hulls were buckwheat hulls pretty much. I do know that the ones Bret sent a link for was over twice the amount I paid for mine (he was not afflliated with this particular site). I do not have a sample of his to compare mine to. If price is the sole object here then his hulls should be superior to mine.

MUL-TEX Buckwheat Hulls
Ideal for yard mulch or for pillow-making. 2 cu. ft. Ship weight: 23 lbs. Shipping: UPS Ground; Cost: $12.90 ea.+ SH

The cost is approximately $.50 per pound. Anyone have actual experience with these hulls?

Well.... price alone isn't a good judge of quality. Technically... ANY buckwheat hulls could be used in pillows. And any hulls can be used as yard mulch. But if you had nice, clean, whole hulls and you could easily sell them for $1 a pound (or more) for making pillows..... why would you dump them in your yard? And the better hulls really do make a difference in the pillow because they flow better (remember these are free-filled) and in my opinion they last longer if they are not all broken and crushed from the start.

I don't have any direct experience with those MUL-TEX hulls. You might have a really good deal there. Or.... you could be stuffing a pillow with yard mulch. You really can't tell unless you order some, unfortunately.

[-SWS]

Careful Hull Selection- Pesticides, mold, and mildew are the bane
of many land-based pillow makers. However, hull barnacles acquired in the
shipping process can be a seafaring pillow maker's worst nightmare (above).

[StillAnotherGuest]

I don't have any direct experience with those MUL-TEX hulls.

Birkett also has a "fluffy" grade that's less than $1.00/pound if we go get the bag (30 pounds). So we'll have to go "six-sies" (like "halvsies", only more people).

SAG

[johntee]

Regardless, SAG will report out his findings in objective, scientific fashion.
He will also investigate that bulk hulls deal and be willing to provide product as an intermediary (at cost, or less to anybody a little short on coin right now) for those who want to try the craft project.

Hi SAG. Let me know if you'd like me to send you a sample of the hulls from the pillow I'd ordered last year from Many Moons Alternatives. (Not the hulls that have been in the pillow; some of the extra ones that I removed to make it the right firmness.) As I remember, I was impressed that they seemed consistent in size, with no breakage and no dust and no smell. Apparently they're grown organically in Canada and cleaned 5 times to remove broken shells -- http://www.manymoonsalternatives.com/ca ... p?cat_id=8.

(For obvious reasons, I won't send you the whole pillow -- I use it!! -- but if a scoop of the excess hulls would help you in your science experiment, just PM me with your mailing details.

Thanks!
John

[StillAnotherGuest]

Great idea, jt. We'll put together a side-by-side photo comparison.

And y'know, I went down to Agway (hey, they're usually big on stuff like this) to look for buckwheat hulls, but said "No thanks" when all they had was mulch-quality hulls.

But then looking at Mul-Tex, which is advertised as able to be used for mulch or pillows, got me to thinking, "Is a finer grind of hull better for some people?" "Does mulch-quality offer some control over the speed of hull-shift in the pillow?" "Does mulch-quality need to be avoided like the plague?" "Does mulch-quality transmit plague?"

Note to self: Try sunflower seeds. Large # of potential advantages.

SAG

[StillAnotherGuest]

Whoa! The Birkett Buckwheat Pillow came today! They certainly get points for speedy delivery.

The size is about 10" x 18 1/2". That may take a little getting used to. No discernible odor. Hulls look uniform, no dust inside (the hulls have been "triple-cleaned"). It's overstuffed, you're supposed to take some hulls out to "fine-tune" it. 100% Cotton muslin tight-weave zippered pillow. No spillage noted anywhere, zipper seems secure. Comes with a pillow case.

Interesting tidbits of information all over the place, including the carton. Buckwheat pillows need to be small so it won't be awkward in bed (they can get heavy). Makes sense. Buckwheat is a fruit. Who knew? The need for home-grown hulls so they don't need to be fumigated. No herbicides or pesticides.

Time for the real test!

Although in all fairness, SAG has a Sleep Latency of about 1 and could sleep on a maple stump, but we'll see what shakes out.

SAG

[StillAnotherGuest]

Well, it's apparent that there are a lot a lot of considerations here, and the sphere of analysis must out of necessity be increased to include a number of other factors. I think they can generally be grouped into psychological factors and physical factors.

Psychological Factors

If you're used to sleeping with a large pillow, or multiple pillows, then suddenly changing to a relatively tiny pillow kinda gives you a "something's different here" feeling.

One must be aware of the "placebo effect", or perhaps even the "nocebo effect".

Making a change in the sleep hygiene routine can have a significant effect (this could go in both categories).

Physical Factors

I tried the buckwheat pillow "out of the box", and it's apparent that an "overstuffed" buckwheat pillow loses most to all of it's properties and probably benefits.

Changing the neck angle during sleep could have notable effects (this too, could go in both categories).

One needs to be aware of the principles of "comfort measures", i.e., they only really apply to periods of wake. Comfort measures may not give you all that much bang for your buck if you have a short sleep latency, have no sleep maintenance issues, and arise pretty much upon awakening.

I removed 4 cups of hulls, and the "hull effect" is now apparent.

SAG