Semperfli Kapok is the ultimate in dubbing, very buoyant and half the thickness of superfine dubbing. A natural hollow fiber when dubbed into split thread it retains its buoyancy and will help your dry flies float better than any other natural dubbing.
Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) has been available for many years growing throughout the tropics where it is cultivated for its fibers. Kapok is a moisture-resistant, quick-drying, resilient, and buoyant fiber and weighs only 1/8 as much as cotton. Kapok has been used in life jackets and life boats, supporting as much as 30 times its own weight in water. Additionally with Kapok buoyancy is lost slowly, Semperfli has left it for days in test baths and it very slowly over days absorbs water.
Traditionally Kapok is very difficult to dye however the team at Semperfli have been working with computer based dying machinery which has enabled it to bulk dye Kapok with repeatable colors every time. Working with their pro team they defined a range of very natural / earthy dubbing colors to produce the best dry fly dubbing available in the market.
Individual Kapok fibers are on average 1.8cm/0.7", with diameters of 30 to 36 micrometers (a micrometer is about 0.00004 inch) making it finer than even the smallest superfine dubbing, indeed HALF the thickness of superfine dubbings.
