Bee,

I am with you. The PF cotton balls burn great but are too messy. Also if they get wet they will not light with a spark. Using a small Zip-loc bag seems to be the best storage for tinder. The film canisters can be hard to open when cold. With the plastic bag you can see in and you can get into it with a knife if needed.

I suggest you switch from PJ cotton balls to Coghlan's Emergency Tinder. It burns for a good 5 minutes and will light from a spark no matter how long it is soaked in water. Just pull it in half and put the halves back togather with the frayed ends sticking up. It work the best of anything I have tried. A fat wood stick also works well. You scrape the side until you get a quarter size pile of scrapings. It will light with a spark. It only burns for about half a minute and it makes a sticky goo on your blade.