I've found you can get Tinder-Quik wet and light it with the supplied Spark-Lite device. Even when the outside gets wet, moisture doesn't penetrate into the tinder. I've never tried soaking them overnight, just tossing them into a glass of water for a minute. When you fluff up the end the inside is bone dry. And it does light more easily than naked cotton, if you can believe that. The frayed out fibres are very, very fine. The Spark-Lite doesn't put out a very robust spark, being essentially a Bic with no fuel. It won't light cotton balls quite as easily as the supplied tinder. Yeah, I was surprised, too.