Semperfli Kapok Dubbing- This dubbing is the ultimate in dubbing for your fishing flies. It is very buoyant. It is known as a life jacket for flies! Kapok is a natural hollow fibre and when it is dubbed into split thread it retains its buoyancy and will help your dry flies float better than any other natural dubbing. It is half the thickness of superfine dubbing! Some tyers refer to it as ‘instant moles fur’ or ‘moles fur in different colours’ as its rather similar with very short fibres. It is absolutely ideal for tiny dry flies and great for nymphs. It provides perfect definition on small flies instead of an ‘explosion’ of bulky traditional dubbing on a small hook. Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) is a natural fibre, it has been available for many years growing throughout the tropics where it is cultivated for its fibres. It is a moisture-resistant, quick drying, resilient, and buoyant fibre and weighs only one-eighth as much as cotton. Kapok has historically been used in life jackets and life boats, supporting as much as 30 times its own weight in 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 Dubbing with repeatable colours, every time. With Kapok Dubbing, buoyancy is lost slowly. It has been left for days in test baths and it slowly absorbs water, over this time. Individual Kapok Dubbing fibres are on average 1.8cm/0.7”, with diameters of 30 to 36 micrometres (a micrometre is about 0.00004 inch) making it finer than even the smallest superfine dubbing.
