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I'm quite embarrassed by this revelation.
I've been using my desiccant jar for years thinking that it keeps my fiber needles dry. Recently I have been having problems with NOS BCN needles breaking down far too quickly. They were no better after a week in the jar. I thought perhaps I need to get some fresh desiccant.
On looking into buying some, I realized that the desiccant should be blue and when saturated it turns pink. At the back of my mind, I always knew that but do I now feel stupid or what!.

That's very interesting Chunny - I'll be interested to hear whether the original stock BCNs work better after being kept with activated desiccant. I don't use N-O-S BCNs myself, but I don't find a problem in this regard with new BCNs, even though my Victorian house isn't very dry. However dryness definitely seems to make a difference with bamboo fibre needles.

I use silica gel packets - they do the trick, though I don't know when are saturated. So far, so good - love the BCNs.

BassetHoundTrio wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 8:38 pm I use silica gel packets - they do the trick, though I don't know when are saturated. So far, so good - love the BCNs.

I believe you can recharge those by drying them out in the oven set on low.