While I can't remember where I read it, some dude did some actual side by side testing in an electric setup with different antenna configurations and winding around a straw proved in his particular case to be worse than just running the wire straight and cutting it off at the same length as the straw.
Don't get me wrong, worse didn't mean "unacceptable" or "doesn't work", it just meant less received signal strength under his specific circumstances.......
I've never tried either method, I'll dig around and see if I can find the link as it was a very inteesting read.
Here it is, Your Milage May Vary.
http://www.rc-cam.com/ant_exp.htm