Ether? What is it? Safe? Easy to get?

[haribo1]

The hangover from ether is just awful. Like an alcohol hangover but with a lot more nausea. The only thing I would huff is nitrous oxide.

 

[TVcommercial]

I did it once, from Starter fluid. I used the method where you mix it with water and all that to get some of the other crap out.

I liked it. At first I felt sort of drunk, then I had some auditory hallucinations, then some visual distortion (wouldn't call it hallucinations). Things were funny, and I couldn't feel my brain for a bit (hard to explain).


Although the experience was actually enjoyable, I wouldn't do it again just because it isn't safe, like everybody said. I don't think I suffered any permanent damage, brain or lung wise.

 

[ranunky]

when i was a freshman in college i soaked some paper towels in diethyl either which i stole from my chem lab. however, no amount of huffing these towels had any noticeable affects. anyone know what i did wrong?

I pour it into a bag and huff from that.

Here's a nasty little fact about diethyl ether. It can react with the oxygen in air to form peroxides that spontaneously combust. Given that ether's already flammable as fuck, I'd say it's something best avoided.

They don't spontaneously combust. The peroxide formation just means that you can't distill ether to dryness. They real danger inm ether is it's extreme volatility and floor hugging properties of it's vapors.

 

[Ham-milton]

The peroxide formation means a lot more than that.

Diethyl ether peroxide is extremely friction-sensitive. Doesn't take much to cause an explosion.

 

[prince albert]

OK Ether. AKA Diethyl Ether. AKA Starting fluid or quickstart. Made from distilling ethyl alcohol and acid. It was the first anestetic. It is still used today in veternary applications. It gets you high like huffing paint/gasoline/nitrous/amyl nitrate. It is legal to buy. You will have a hard time buying it unless you have a legitimate reason. It is not a psychedelic. It is very harmful to ingest and extremely flammable. Nasty stuff, devil ether. Please suck the air out of whip cream cans insted.

 

[Tryptamine*Dreamer]

diethyl ether is the active ingredient in Starting Fluid. Usually when huffers use ether they are referring to starting fluid. Comes in a spray can at the auto store or grocery store in some areas.

I dont recommend this activity as it would destroy alot of brain cells and is a horrible idea, but thats where they get it from.

Starting fluid contains petroleum distillates, which are a lot more harmful than ether. If you want to try ether, get pure ether. There is a method that has been claimed to separate the ether from the other stuff in starting fluid, but it does not actually work. There was an Ask Erowid question on the topic, http://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.php?ID=3114

I've tried ether before. It's pretty similar to a high dose of ketamine IME, but wears of very fast. Once, I experienced myself as being three people at once. One was my normal self, one was an elderly black man, and the other was a little girl about six years old with curly red hair. It was very weird.

I used it during a mushroom+peruvian torch trip another time. I thought I had died and gone to hell. I thought I would be frozen in that spot forever. I finally figured out I could move, but still thought I was dead. I realized I was alive a little later, but was afraid to return to that area. I was afraid I'd see my dead body lying on the ground. It somewhat ruined the rest of the trip, but it sure was interesting!

I've only used ether maybe 7 or 8 times. I used starting fluid the first time(long ago), and pure ether after that.

 

[johanneschimpo]

when i was a freshman in college i soaked some paper towels in diethyl either which i stole from my chem lab. however, no amount of huffing these towels had any noticeable affects. anyone know what i did wrong?

It's a little late, and I don't know if anyone said it yet, but I'd wager the reason that didn't work is because the ether was soaked into the towels. What you need is ether in liquid form, because it has a low vapor pressure (vaporizes easily) so its actually the vapors you inhale which make you high.

 

[marquee]

Couple points on ether -

• Really try and ensure that you don't use anything except lab-grade, otherwise you're running a not-insignificant risk of inhaling something really nasty and dangerous.
• Ether isn't particularly good for you, but it's far less toxic than many inhalants. I don't know how harmful it is relative to other substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, etc.
• It is very flammable, as others have noted. An idea worth considering would be to use in a humid environment, such as a shower or bathroom.
• All these issues considered, the best method is to soak a towel (cloth works better than paper, if only paper is available, use a sizable wad) and place this in a plastic bag. Leave some room in the bag, wait 10-20 seconds for the ether to vaporize, and inhale from the bag. Don't breathe all the way till the end, or you will be drawing the liquid out of the material of the towel and into your lungs at a high concentration, and it's somewhat irritating. It can be imbibed, and while it doesn't taste horrible (compared to other delightful brews I've encountered), it's by no means pleasant and as far as I can tell doesn't even work well.
• Subjectively, it feels unlike most other psychoactives, and whether it is enjoyable is arguable. It kind of engenders a feeling that everything about you is "rushing" (don't know how else to put it). There's some degree of a good, euphoric feeling, but it's not very strong. Wears off after 5-10 minutes, leaves your breath smelling exactly like ether, probably because you're exhaling it.
• Worth a try? Only if it's convenient, I don't think this is not something you should feel you ought to go out of your way for.
• I also highly recommend it right before clubbing. Nothing engages the ladies like the fragrant aroma of diethyl ether.