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Has anyone ever drank Sterno ?

thegreenhand

thegreenhand

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I’m curious to hear experiences of this. I found it last night while rabbit holing in a Wikipedia binge.

For those unfamiliar, it’s a form of denatured alcohol. It’s sold in can form and used mainly as cooking fuel.

Apparently it has a somewhat well documented history of use, supposedly coming into popularity during Prohibition.

The band Canned Heat is also named after this phenomenon.

I guess I’m just curious to hear any first hand experiences of this ? I’m assuming it was largely negative effects people experienced, but I’m wondering what it actually felt like (seemingly good enough for many people to resort to it)

en.wikipedia.org

Sterno - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I never have but when I read your post my mind went right to the movie " The Andromeda Strain "

The guy that survives the " virus " did so because he drank sterno. In the movie he called it " squeeze " He drank it for his pain and whilst all the other people died....he did not. Dr. chalked it up to the sterno keeping his blood in a state of balanced Ph where the virus couldn't grow.

Fantasy of course but my mind went there when I saw sterno.
 
Nurse Ratched said:
I never have but when I read your post my mind went right to the movie " The Andromeda Strain "

The guy that survives the " virus " did so because he drank sterno. In the movie he called it " squeeze " He drank it for his pain and whilst all the other people died....he did not. Dr. chalked it up to the sterno keeping his blood in a state of balanced Ph where the virus couldn't grow.

Fantasy of course but my mind went there when I saw sterno.
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That’s actually incredibly fascinating… tho unfortunately I’ve never seen that movie myself

It’s definitely noteworthy that it served a (semi ?) central role in an artwork. Not every drug gets that’s sort of honor 🫡

Thanks for sharin
 
It's an older movie. 70's I think. If you like sci-fi you will enjoy it. It's a good rainy day movie and was made well. Acting was good ( not cheesy ) and the premise was believable.

And yeah. other than that movie I have never heard of sterno being referenced.........unless that's what they were drinking in that banjo playing movie where Burt Reynolds and his homies are paddling down the river in their canoe. Had to be more than moonshine for their nemesis to lose all his teeth and want one of them to squeal like a pig. :rofl:

Can't for the life of me think of the name of that movie but it was surely a classic.

Sorry for derailing your thread about movies. I couldn't help myself.

PS.had to google it. " Deliverance"
 
I once stumbled across a PA appeals court opinion from the early 1950s upholding the defendant's conviction for knowingly selling Sterno as a beverage/intoxicant — he owned a corner store on Philly's old "skid row" (near 9th & Race) that brought in more revenue from the sale of "canned heat" than everything else combined.
 
JTemperance said:
I once stumbled across a PA appeals court opinion from the early 1950s upholding the defendant's conviction for knowingly selling Sterno as a beverage/intoxicant — he owned a corner store on Philly's old "skid row" (near 9th & Race) that brought in more revenue from the sale of "canned heat" than everything else combined.
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Interesting

You’d think a bottle of 151 would be more appealing than adulterated jelly alcohol in a can if you really need a fix. But I guess there’s something appealing about it
 
thegreenhand said:
Interesting

You’d think a bottle of 151 would be more appealing than adulterated jelly alcohol in a can if you really need a fix. But I guess there’s something appealing about it
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It's cheap. That's the only appeal.

I've met homeless alcoholics who drank Lysol. That's actually pretty common around here. It's cheaper than booze, and it's available at 24hr convenience stores and other such places where sales aren't restricted to certain hours/days.

I never drank Sterno or Lysol but I've had my share of mouthwash and hand sanitizer. When I was severely addicted to alcohol I HAD to have something alcoholic first thing in the morning to avoid WDs. If I hadn't saved something decent from the night before, then any ethanol would do. Vanilla extract works in a pinch, too.

I do not miss those days.
 
jasperkent said:
It's cheap. That's the only appeal.

I've met homeless alcoholics who drank Lysol. That's actually pretty common around here. It's cheaper than booze, and it's available at 24hr convenience stores and other such places where sales aren't restricted to certain hours/days.

I never drank Sterno or Lysol but I've had my share of mouthwash and hand sanitizer. When I was severely addicted to alcohol I HAD to have something alcoholic first thing in the morning to avoid WDs. If I hadn't saved something decent from the night before, then any ethanol would do. Vanilla extract works in a pinch, too.

I do not miss those days.
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I’ve heard of mouthwash and hand sanitizer before, but the sterno was a new one on me.

Makes sense though, it’s readily available. And presumably it’s not taxed like regular alcohol which is why it’s cheaper
 
thegreenhand said:
I’ve heard of mouthwash and hand sanitizer before, but the sterno was a new one on me.

Makes sense though, it’s readily available. And presumably it’s not taxed like regular alcohol which is why it’s cheaper
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Right.
Sterno is really an old-school thing. It's been on the market for over 100 years and became popular during Prohibition and the Great Depression. For a long time it was probably the only readily available "alternative alcohol," or at least the most well-known.
By the way, it IS poisonous. Don't consume it.
 
JTemperance said:
I once stumbled across a PA appeals court opinion from the early 1950s upholding the defendant's conviction for knowingly selling Sterno as a beverage/intoxicant — he owned a corner store on Philly's old "skid row" (near 9th & Race) that brought in more revenue from the sale of "canned heat" than everything else combined.
Click to expand...
You’d be the dude to find that sort of thing. Do you just sift through old court decisions? Super curious how you came across that.
 
I definitely don’t plan on consuming it myself

And yeah I’ve spent some time talking with some homeless folks in Columbus, and they say mouthwash is a go to as well

It’s sad but you really can’t blame em. It’s cheap and does the trick.

I can’t remember the city (I think it was on the west coast tho) but as part of a harm reduction program they actually provided free alcohol to the homeless population. Just like a few of the little single serve shooters but it was enough to keep most of them off of the other nasty shit that this thread has discussed

Definitely an interesting idea, but probably does not fare so well in the court of public opinion
 
Sterno sounds like something that would fuck you up and make you blind or something.

Although when I was in college my roommate was pre-med and one weekend we went to the lab he worked in with an empty gatorade bottle and made off with some ethyl alcohol. I believe it was 189 proof, which according to my roommate is the highest alcohol content as a liquid before it turns to gas. Just half a shot of that in a 32oz cup of OJ was enough to give me the worst hangovers in my life. Didn't help that I would continue the evening downing beer. But it was a preparty with horrible after effects. Do not recommend.
 
I remember as a teen I was in a chat room that I frequented. There was this guy and he and I became friends because we were both so desperate to not be sober that we'd take almost anything. I remember one night he was talking about drinking "camping fuel". I frantically tried to get him not to drinkk itt but there is only so much that you can do in a chat room. He described the effects as being similar to alcohol and the next day he was in the chat room, so it didn't kill him.
 
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