using cookies

Hi there, I have never used cookies before, however I am trying to implement them to make things a little more secure. Rather than passing a sql statement via a hidden input tag I am setting a cookie. This works fine except that when I look at the sql after it is pulled from the cookie everything is escaped, for instance. SELECT * FROM inventory WHERE name='Watches' would become SELECT manufacturer FROM inventory WHERE name=\'Watches\' This is a problem cause trying to use preg_replace doesn't seem to work. I get an error saying that the delimeter must not be a \. What a bummer. I am a little stuck. I will take any suggestions. Maybe I am just going about things the wrong way. *** Shrug *** Thanks Ken