What are those super-long cotton swabs called?

July 31, 2005 1:19 AM

On CSI, I always see them using these super-long cotton swabs to stick up a dead person's nose - what are these called, and where can I buy them, preferably on-line? They look exactly like regular Q-tips, except 3x larger.

I plan on using them to neatly scoop out the remaining bits of foundation in all my make-up bottles - regular Q-tips are far too short for doing this, and too messy. Thanks to everyone in advance!

posted by invisible ink to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

A quick google search for "single tip swab" came up with this link but you should be able to get them locally at the pharmacy.
posted by squeak at 2:22 AM on July 31, 2005

Radio Shack. Used to clean electronics, like tape recorder heads.
posted by fixedgear at 3:25 AM on July 31, 2005

Like everything else, Mcmaster-Carr has a large selection, pg. 1869 or search for "cotton swab".
posted by 445supermag at 6:27 AM on July 31, 2005

AKA Cotton tip(or tipped) applicator
posted by Jazz Hands at 8:53 AM on July 31, 2005

A couple of quick google searches lead to buccal swabs.

DNA+Cotton+Swabs

One of them yielded the word Buccal...which i'd never heard of before.

So, Buccal + swab in google yield quite a number of places to find them...two of which were sidebar ads (which I'm not posting here)
posted by filmgeek at 9:29 AM on July 31, 2005

I work in a hospital and we use them all the time. Not sure of the brand. They go by various names. You may want to try a medical supply store.
posted by 6:1 at 11:17 AM on July 31, 2005

Buccal means "relating to the cheek."

Anyone, like a life insurance company or a researcher running a trial, who asks to swab your cheek is after your DNA, FYI.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:43 PM on July 31, 2005