could but then wouldnt the rubber bungie holding them together burn jim.

i have used my fire straw to get water as a basic filter in the past for whatever reason i needed to use it as such. i placed some campfire charcoal in one end, just shoved some in, followed by a piece of cotton ball to hold it in. flip around put a tbspoon of sand in and cottom ball in this end. then when need the water just sip from the sharcoal end with the cotton ball pushed in. takes some fiddling with but works if there is enough water flow. allow the water to flow through and drink from the end like a water spigot. not going to purify water but rather clean the bigger crap out. when done just plull out the cooton and shale it clear to use at your fire. if something ssticks just use one of the bike spokes from your grill to push it out one end.