Taste like plastic IMO. Unfortunately it's all my LHS has so I'm stuck until my next A L T order. Still beats a lighter though...
I was slightly skeptical of wick at first..but then I decided to go ahead and buy 5 packs of bee line online. It was cheap, it came quickly, and the dude even threw in a free pack and wrote me a little note+gave me a smiley face . Since I moved 8 months ago I've been smoking nothing but the good, with the beeline I notice a little taste difference but not much. The main reason I got it though is because of the balancer chemicals that are in butane, and just that beeline is 100% organic hemp/bees wax. Why use chemicals when you can not? My lighter has lasted me 3x longer then it normally would as well. I can definitely understand that some people don't like it though..it's all about preference..
Waste of money IMO and way to inconvenient I'd probably start my sweatshirts on fire using one, and lighters don't require anything but flicking it. If you hold the light above the weed instead of touching it you don't even taste the butane I just don't see the point of hemp wick.
Keep it away from yourself and you won't catch fire, just like any other flame. And it doesn't matter if you taste the butane, it's still there. Some people use wick for the health factor as well as the taste factor.
I was never a fan of the taste added by hemp-wicks and have tried a few brands, also the hassle of lighting, ashing, re-lighting the wick lost its novelty real fast. That being said however I have nothing against it, just personal preference. I always keep wick on hand though in case my lighter dies cause you can just light a candle with a match and use it to re-light the wick when in doors and too lazy to make the trek to the nearest gas station for a lighter. Recently though since I got into oils and have a nice torch I've been using a plain pyrex rod as a glod-rod, works nice.
Hemp wick is approved by the american lung association. Is a lighter? I personally like it, but I smoke high grade stuff and taste matters to me. Since I quit using lighters, no more cough, no more sore chest the next day, no more sinus infections, herb tastes better, and I can rip huge ass hits. Seems to me a lot of people on gc don't know how to use it. Light the wick, touch it to your herb, pull away, inhale herb. No reason to smoke the wick itself lulz. To each their own.
I am a huge fan of hemp wick, but haven't been able to get any. Like an above, waiting for a while. I do, however, use beeswax candles or wooden matches whenever possible, and I DEFINITELY notice a taste between bic and wood or cotton.
I agree with u OP. I have always said I didnt notice any difference. I think its just another dumb thing to market to pot heads. Let the kids waste their parents money....