Hi guys,
This topic of materials which record sleeves are made is a very interesting one and I would like to know the facts. I think I have it figured out but perhaps others would like to chime in. I just sacrificed two sleeves to flame. One was a VRP discwasher brand and the other was the "polyethylene" sleeve I wrote about earlier. The VRP sleeve was cut and the white insert removed for the burn test as it doesn't contact the record. When both items were ignited they behaved the same and both had a blue flame. They bubbled and dripped burning droplets. The cooled residue was clear with no hint of ash. These products are definitely not organic and I suspect they both are polyethylene.
The white VRP insert is definitley organic as it burns with a yellow flame and is used up in the burning process leaving only ash. Keep in mind that this material doesn't contact the vinyl but serves as a stiffener of sorts.
I next retreived what I believe is a real rice paper sleeve and sacrificed part of it to the same testing. The recording was Mozart, Don Giovanni, K. 527, Fritz Busch-conductor, RCA Victor Shaded Dog without a date but it is old. This album sleeve is opaque and is noisy when handled (just like wrapping paper) and can be easily torn. The three edges that are sealed are of the folded and glued variety. This material burns yellow also and is reduced to ash.
When burning the sleeves that I believe are both made from polyethylene the odor is not organic (i.e., like burning a newspaper would be), and I don't think one would want to breath the fumes as a sniff was quite enough.
There may be a supplier of rice paper sleeves somewhere but I'm not aware of one. It's my belief that rice paper has become a generic term used to describe quality and to divert the audiophile away from the inevitable questions that would arise when using an appropriate description of the type of plastic. I can certainly understand why a seller would avoid referring to the type of plastic that is used because many of the early aftermarket plastic sleeves were found to "spot" vinyl.
In closing I would also like to mention that I performed the same test to a small piece of sleeve from a MFSL pressing. The product burned, bubbled and dripped flame just like the VRP and generic polyethylene sleeves.
This post was not made to start any kind of arguements and the experiments were done to satisfy my own curiosity. I've come to the conclusion that polyethylene is the preferred material used today and that real rice paper sleeves would have folded and glued sides.
Patrick
