I believe crow used to use scoria with better results than ss scrubbers and copper packing but last I heard he achieved even better results with coking coal.
I'm about to start building a packed section too and will start with ss scrubbers and then try scoria to see the difference. If I'm not happy with either then I'll try the copper mesh, I doubt I'll need to though as I think ss scrubbers and scoria both work well.
I've also heard the need for breaking up the scoria to around the size of a pea for best results. As you can imagine that's a long boring jobs that will need lots of rum and patience :handgestures-thumbdown: :handgestures-thumbdown:
So there's a good chance that if I am happy with ss scrubbers then I'll never know if the other materials are better :laughing-rolling: