I wish I could say, definitively, which to recommend. I use standard silica, ekowool and now voodoowool, and also pulled cotton ball. In theory, wick should be wick, and cotton should be cotton, but it doesn't work like that for me. Sometimes I get a stonking wick build that wows me, another time I'll get a cotton build that wows me, and sometimes both are just mediocre. So, I suppose my recommendation is to use both and chop and change as fancy takes you.