Yea, like max said, it is pretty dry and flaky once you let all of the alcohol evaporate. If it is sticky like honey then you didnt wait long enough. I recommend turning a fan on low blowing over the dish as this will cut the wait time in half. Also, do it in a well ventilated room cause the smell is terrible.
As for the cotton ball, i got this info from reading the instructions for the extreme. it says that if you want to vape essential oils, you should put a cotton ball in the bowl and drip a few drops of oil on the cotton ball, i dont see why there would be a difference with what you put on the cotton ball. I would rather vape some bud though, and then just drop your kief hash (as i like to call it) on top of the spent bud, it will melt but the spent bud will stop it from dripping into your extreme.