Snorting - Dry Ice/Alcohol High Method

[Innerquest]

Using Dry Ice With Alcohol to Generate Inhalable Alcohol Vapors!

A quick clean High!

CO2 Sublimation in ethanol solution enables direct vascular absorption of inebriatory agents.

Carbon Dioxide pellets when submerged in Ethanol-Water undergo rapid sublimation releasing gaseous mixture of aerosolized ethanol with the sublimated CO, acting as dispersion medium.

Subsequent inhalation results in diffusion across vascular membrane and direct up take of the ethanol.

Translation: Put some dry ice in your alcoholic drink and sniff the vapors.

Caution: Solid Carbon Dioxide (Dry Ice) is at approximately -80 degrees centigrade.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Interesting idea - would like more practical detail.

[nEone]

Holy shit, that sounds dangerous.

I mean - I'm not a chemist or a doctor or anything - but I do know that dry ice can really fuck you up. If you touch it with bare skin, you can get frostbite really quickly and that shit hurts. I'd hate to think that anyone would misunderstand and put it in their drink and try to drink it - a frozen esophogus would really suck.

I'm also a little iffy about inhaling alcohol....I've heard pretty bad stories of junkies injecting alcohol in an attempt to get drunk - and it never goes well.

Those concerns aside - I'm also a giant fan of this new form of cookery called Molecular Gastronomy where science and food are put together in innovative ways - and this is REALLY innovative.

Does anyone with a more medical background have any thoughts on the dangers of this kind of delivery system?

[robertone]

Actually, inhaling alcohol (ethanol) is less toxic then drinking it. Swim even know of some bars where it is served as discribed above. Besides, ethanol vapors are used as medical first aid when acidic gas like HCl is inhaled by accident. More-over, methanol which is toxic when consumed, doesn't cause blindness when inhaled as vapor. That's why the ventilation regulation for handling methanol is not as strict as one would expect.

Reputation Comments on this post:

excellent followup info

[afarmer]

Originally Posted by nEone

Holy shit, that sounds dangerous.

I mean - I'm not a chemist or a doctor or anything - but I do know that dry ice can really fuck you up. If you touch it with bare skin, you can get frostbite really quickly and that shit hurts.

The danger is over-stated. At my friend's university one of his housemates stole a load of dry ice from the lab that he works in, and we spent ages playing with it, it's painful to touch it but you'd have to hold onto it for quite a while to seriously damage your skin, and the pain would be too much for anyone to bear.

[nEone]

Wow - that is solid info. Thanks!

I'd seen a news report on the vapor distribution systems in some bars, but kind of assumed it was a gimmick.

Well, now I'm very interested in this technique - I wonder if the aroma of say, a fine whiskey would come through.

[Pondlife]

There were some news reports about the AWOL (Alcohol WithOut Liquid) system in the UK back in 2004. Here's one example:

Inhaling alcohol may 'harm brain'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3493487.stm

I've not seen it in any bars round my way though, so I suspect that it was probably a short-lived fad like so many other things.

[robertone]

"It may harm brian". It surrely will harm the brain, drinking it will harm the brain too. However, the question is in which extend. Besides, there wasn't done any research that compares the caused brain damage of drinking alcohol and inhaling alcohol. When the level of alcohol in ones bloodstream extend 0.12 promille (estimated level, may vary from individual to individual), some brain cells will get hurt. An often forgotten fact is that natural food products and old fashion guessed bread contain some alcohol and that the human body produce alcohol as well, special when one is tired.

[yamman13]

This is like injecting alcohol, or using alcohol enemas: swim doesnt see the point, as alcohol tastes really, really good. So good, in fact, that a lot of people drink just for the taste, not the effects. Its not like weed where swiy only smokes it for the effects. Swim is sorry for the rant but he totally misses the point of not drinking alcohol.

[Digemlo]

Originally Posted by yamman13

This is like injecting alcohol, or using alcohol enemas: swim doesnt see the point, as alcohol tastes really, really good. So good, in fact, that a lot of people drink just for the taste, not the effects. Its not like weed where swiy only smokes it for the effects. Swim is sorry for the rant but he totally misses the point of not drinking alcohol.

Don't forget though, not everybody likes the taste of alcohol, and also, there are people who smoke weed partly (at least) because they enjoy the action of smoking in itself.

[nEone]

I don't entirely agree - first - alcohol can taste REALLY REALLY bad (actually, pure alcohol is flavorless) - and second, a lot of the enjoyment of taste is a result of scent....this method, while novel, might actually enhance that element.

Also, SWIM knows plenty of people who enjoy smoking weed not only for the effects, but for the flavor of the various strains - and have adopted vaporizors as a way to more fully enjoy that flavor without having to smoke.

I agree - I'm suspicious about this technique - but I don't think it's inherently stupid - it's just different. If the health aspects of it aren't markedly different than drinking, then I don't see why this is a terrible alternative.

[Paracelsus]

When looking for a novel way of getting drunk (not just a bit drunk-ish), I doubt that enough alcohol could be absorbed by inhaling. Therefore it will most likely don't damage the brain, at least when compared to drinking, which certainly does lots of damage.

Stupid news stories like the one linked to in this thread are just another example of how people are always afraid of anything they don't (or don't want to) understand.

[Jatelka]

Can I just point out that dry ice CAN cause frostbite within a few seconds. Therefore playing with it is particularly stupid.

[robertone]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

Can I just point out that dry ice CAN cause frostbite within a few seconds. Therefore playing with it is particularly stupid.

True, but one could even pour liquid nitrogen over ones skin without any damage, provided that the skin is really dry (not sweaty). But agree, playing without knowing what you're doing is plain stupid. The same with base jumping.

[keats]

I have to agree with yamman, even if one doesn't particually like the taste of alcohol, other methods I've seen discussed all seem overly complicated. If you're consuming alcohol for its effects then just think of it as any other drug. Drinking flavored liquid is much easier than smoking/snorting/shooting something, other than pill popping drinking is probably the easiest way of ingesting a drug. Why anyone would be so eager to try and inhale/plug/slam such a cheap and easily availible drug is beyond me.

[doppey]

i've heard that this is complete BS and was started as a joke on youtube. can anyone comment?

[st3v3]

Why increase the dangers of alcohol. One little mistake playing with dry ice while your already intoxicated can lead to a bad accident.

[robertone]

Originally Posted by st3v3

Why increase the dangers of alcohol. One little mistake playing with dry ice while your already intoxicated can lead to a bad accident.

Well... Opening a champagne bottle while been intoxicated can lead to [bad] accidents as well! But being served with an alcohol/dry ice inhalator is ok to Swim. When Swiy has the oppertunity to breath above a bottle, or better an open scale, filled with pure alcohol, Swiy will discover that pure alcohol actually smell quite nice

[st3v3]

Yeah . . . SWIM did that once (bottle injury), but SWIM wasn't even under the influence, lol. Anyway SWIM just feels playing with dry ice while being buzzed/drunk would be more or less asking for it. SWIM would probably try it if SWIM ever drank again and a sober individual to help assist SWIM was around.