Estes recovery wadding looks and feels like Toilet paper. It protects the parachute etc. from the hot ejection gases produced by an ejection charge. In my experience, this is often too thin, and quite a bit must be used to get a good result. I would recommend Quest Recovery wadding which is is pre-cut into about 6 squares (a good size for most rockets) and is thicker, and crumples better to fill a body tube. It is much better in my opinion.

I have used 3 packages of this in the past six months and have had no chute scorching issues. I use a couple more sheets than each estes rocket recommends.

good for small rockets, and i suppose for larger too but you need alot of it. i always keep some handy.