vaginapagina | Tampax and general tamon questions

Hi VPer's! Two questions/observations today:

1. I'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed the subtle change in tampax tampons. I have been a tampax girl since I started my period, and would love to continue being one, except my last pack that I bought (about 3 months ago) SUCKED. It's like they don't actually absorb the blood, but just let it hang out around the surface until I change it. Sometimes they even leak (I know I'm using the correct size - regulars, because while I was on HBC I had a pretty light flow). I hate the new "skirt", because it doesn't stop any leakage, and I'm beginning to think that the whole tampon is being made of (or at least covered in) this plastic-feeling cloth. Just an observation, and I'm wondering if anyone else had noticed the crappy change as well. You fail, tampax, you fail.
2. Another thing I've noticed lately is that the bottom portion of my tampon seems to be really wet. I think it's pee, but from everything I've ever heard, that's really not possible. Except when this happens during the day, the bottom is wet and YELLOW, because I take a daily multi that turns my pee a bright yellow (just a side effect - I'm drinking plenty of water!). The string is pretty dry, otherwise I'd think that maybe the string is absorbing pee and traveling by some weird sense of osmosis to the tampon. I have no other explanation for this, unless the tampon could be stimulating my g-spot and causing me to leak a little? Although (through experimenting) my boyfriend and I have determined that when stimulated, the liquid comes from my urethra, and not my vagina. So I hope you can get a grasp on my utter confusion here.
Come to think of it, I first noticed the wet tampon thing around the same time I bought my new box of tampax. Could this be related? Are there any other brands I should try? I'm thinking about getting a cup, but I think I would have a problem using it, because I'm overweight. Any suggestions or thoughts?