Typically, they come in about 10 to 40 milliliter small bottles. Nitrite “poppers” remain available at adult novelty stores or online, because what can you not find online. Just make sure that when a doctor offers you a nitrite or nitrate, it’s a real medical doctor and not a “doctor of love.” For example, doctors may use some form of the compound to treat heart problems such as angina or as an antidote to cyanide poisoning.
This doesn’t rule out all uses of nitrites as there are medical purposes. The FDA warned specifically about using nitrite “poppers” for recreational purposes or sexual enhancement. But, of course, no one mixes alcohol or Viagra with sex, right? These substances include blood pressure medications, sildenafil (Viagra), and alcohol. “It’s like fucking the same dude,” Javier tells me, “people have different opinions”.The risk of bad effects jumps even higher when you combine poppers with other substances that can also dilate your blood vessels. So how should I choose which poppers to buy? There are a thousand and one labels to “get you feeling like the Holland tunnel”. Buy “Man Scent” to unleash your piggy fantasies, or maybe stick with classic “Rush” to accentuate the peak of your dance-floor abandon. Like much in late capitalism, branding is nearly everything. Popular labels – like Jungle Juice, Man Scent, and Amsterdam – are even produced in the same factory. “All the types of poppers are basically the same bullshit,” he tells me. To hear from a true expert, I spoke with Javier who works at a sex shop in Brooklyn. There are even “European” – isopropyl nitrite – and “American” – isobutyl nitrite – versions (though for once, arguably, the American product is better). A fairly innocuous “drug”, poppers remain mired in a semi-legal grey zone, with new recipes devised to evade creeping regulation. First used in the 19 th century to treat chest pain, they are now a common accoutrement of a wild night at the club, or in the bedroom. Inhale, and they smooth muscles surrounding the body’s blood vessels, relaxing minds and sphincters. The label tells us: “use this product only for its intended use”, yet the variety of false “intended uses” advertised on poppers bottles is in turn far surpassed by the sheer number of brands to choose from.Īs a chemical class, alkyl nitrites (AKA poppers) are vasodilators. Choosing which brand to buy can be almost as hard as getting the cap screwed back on while dancing or having sex. “Which one do you want?”.Įven as a gay man, I could not assist her in the fraught task of selecting the best alkyl nitrite vintage.
“You mean nail polish remover!” retorted the cashier, opening a cabinet to reveal dozen differently packaged small brown bottles. The girl giggled uneasily, leaned into the counter, and whispered: “Do you have… poppers?”. Recently, as I waited to pay for a bacon-egg-and-cheese and an overpriced juice at my corner Bodega, a couple approached the counter with excitement.
From how to huff to the Coke method, read your go-to guide for boshing the little bottles here.