Anyone have a copy of the Professor Wiki.pdf ?

Topic created by dr hugepenis
on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 02:57

dr hugpenis said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 02:57...

I have been making my own poppers for years and looking to learn other at-home synthesis methods.

I saw a lot of threads referring to a "wiki.pdf" (and a poppermakers subreddit) .. It looks like the PDF was at https://nublu.maitriworks.org/images/Alky%20 Nitrite%20 Preparation%20 wiki.pdf but this link appears to be no longer good, and the subreddit is locked.

Does anyone have a copy of the PDF they could post? I am most interested in the whole blue and green color changes, whenever I got those I thought it was a bad batch and threw it out! lol

Thanks all

dr hugpenis said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 02:59...

Just FYI, when I posted the above question, the link got corrupted with extra spaces but even without the extra spaces the link doesn't work...

SmegmaSludge said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 15:30...

It's also advised to drop the acid/ alcohol or just acid solution underneath the surface of the NaNO2/alcohol or just
NaNO2 solution.

The link worked for me. The above is a quote from it. It's incorrect because it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to drip the acid/alcohol mixture to the bottom of the sodium nitrite solution IF you want a good consistent popper that will preserve well.

Theory: when the nitrite forms, it's less dense and so floats to the top of the reaction mixture. If you add drops of acid directly to this newly formed top layer of nitrite, you are going to degrade your newly born popper and get all manner of inconsistenties in the final product. You won't be able to to simply wash the degradation products out with water. They'll still be in your finished popper making it go to hell sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 15:42...

When you sniff a good popper, it should NOT give any unpleasant or weird effects. It should not have any unpleasant off odors. It should smell clean and aromatic. If you have to ask yourself if it smells good....it doesn't. When the smell is right, it's recognizable without question.

Any weird effects would be overwhelming warming of the face, racing scary heart beat, plunging blood pressure that stays way low, spinning room, black out, staggering drunkenness AND hardly any ass relax.

There will always be a strong ass relax with still potent, pure poppers. There will be an overall pleasant sensation. The worst immediate effect may be a shakiness in the hands when inhaling heavily and a sudden reflex to breathe more heavily as if exerting oneself.

The Professor said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 16:26...

Dr:
The link is correct and the reddit is by invitation. if you are interested in support for the wiki (and a poster here has already misunderstood it) then please message the moderator for PopperMakers

The Professor said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 16:39...

smegma:
Your text, and proclivity to make multiple posts in minutes, sounds quite a bit like that loon anonymous(aka nitritespecialist
, ken Jones, John mulligan, a myriad of obnoxious and obscene makes when he wants to be an ass (you'll know him when he responds with lies, insults, ad hominem and straw man fallacies, etc
))

Anyway, for years I've been paying how important it is to keep the acid away from the yield as it builds. This is some by dropping the acid (if you are dropping acid into nitrite), below the surface of the nitrite layer.

With a slow stirring speed, each drop off acid causes a few microliters of sodium nitrite to become nitrous acid (a week acid) which floats upwards sand texts with the alcohol layer trip create yield, which floats to the surface.

Subsequent drops of the string acid will be passed THROUGH the yield, and won't deteriorate or otherwise destroy the yield.

That is NOT wrong, smegma, it's what you said, only weirded differently.

You might be confused by anon's junk posy as he tries to catch up to pepper making skills that he's been reading against for more than a decade, or you might BE anon.

Either way, it seems that you might need some sort in understanding the wiki.

The Professor said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 16:44...

Horrible typos today, apologies.

You might be confused by anon's junk posts as he tries to catch up
To proper making skills, skills that he's been raging against for more than a decade, or you might BE anon.

Either way, it seems that you might need some sort in understanding the wiki.

Anonymous said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 17:40...

Both Noyes and Vogel's state specifically to drop the acid/alcohol below the surface. Vogel states to drop it to the bottom of the reaction vessel. These are FACTS that can be easily verified with a free online google.

I have confirmed that dropping the acid/alcohol below the surface and even to the bottom is absolutely essential for reasons already stated. It's NOT optional....

Anonymous said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 17:43...

It's also not necessary to be directed to some third party asshole's site when Vogel's and Noyes formulas are virtually identical, work very well, and one doesn't risk being attacked when advocating and confirming what the professional chemists have published regarding the preparation of alkyl nitrites.

Anonymous said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 17:46...

Moreover, anyone advocating food grade sodium nitrite or alcohols that come without a factory seal is NOT advocating optimum quality control measures. Quality MATTERS immensely if you want a popper that will smell clean, have good effects and last a long time(weeks if not months).

The Professor said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 19:19...

You are sounding desperate for attention again Ken.

You evidently STILL don't understand that the wiki said, years ago, the exact same thing that you are thinking is a major discovery, and that I've been fighting against your 'willy nilly' just drop it in there approach for years now.

Suddenly accepting some of the making facts (like dropping under the surface, using temps as cold as possible) that I've been promoting for more than a decade, and that you have fought tooth and nail AGAINST? ridiculous!

Vogel and Noyes work in small batches, and for non-human consumption.

Using sulfuric acid precludes making it safe for humans, for reasons posted previously and available at the PopperMakers subreddit

This jerk will get you killed, he's a petty, small man with ignorant ideas that he's trying to foist upon all of us makers.

Perhaps if you had contacted an actual chemist and HONESTLY sought guidance in making, instead of belligerantly dismissing EVERYTHING you haven't though of, you'd not still be floundering 11 years later.

EVERY chemist you have come across has denounced you and your methods, yet you are 'the thing that would not leave"

One doesn't need to join our makers site, but a paragraph in a textbook is NOT enough information to succeed. You mock the wiki, yet the wiki mostly contains (after the first couple of paragraphs) explanatory text that describes what is happening, how to control it, and how to maintain purity.

NOBODY excepting Ken is EVER attacked or berated for their level of comprehension in the forum. Ken is lying again on that one.

You speak as if I don't care about quality, always, but particularly with regard to the Sodium Nitrite lately.

That is hilarious, since only a few week ago, you were over-the-moon with a refining technique for converting food grade powder to USP grade powder. Of course that youtube video you were watching was made by a literal crackhead (notice what he's doing in other videos, and the lack of wearing a shirt and you'd know right away that the guy is going to blow himself up eventually).

If you take the time to do it right, food grade CAN be refined and at much lower cost for DIY with identical results.

Yes, quality does matter; you say that as if I'd not thought of it before;
Trying to pretend to teach me something again I guess.

The Professor said on Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 22:14...

copy-paste

https://nublu.maitriworks.org/files/Alky%20Nitrite%20Preparation%20wiki.pdf

dr hugepenis said on Tue, 8 Nov 2022 at 14:31...

Thanks Professor, that last link did work for me. For some reason I had copied that link with the word "images" instead of "files" in the URL..

dr hugepenis said on Tue, 8 Nov 2022 at 14:48...

Also why did the forum change my name from "Dr Hugepenis" to "Dr Hugpenis" in my first two posts..... L OL... well maybe hugpenis isn't too far off.

The Professor said on Tue, 8 Nov 2022 at 17:19...

I'm glad you got it sorted
Enjoy!

Anonymous said on Fri, 11 Nov 2022 at 23:46...

So....it's been about 2 months since I bought my reagents and all brews have suddenly turned caustic and weak right out of the pot, despite using silica gel and wine gas for my alcohol and SN. Two months seems to be the shelf life of reagents once they are opened. I don't know which reagent, the alcohol, SN or even the acid.....is the most degraded, but presumably it's the SN.

This is why I don't recommend anyone make poppers at home. Yeah, you can tweak the ratios to try to get some kind of potency once a reagent or reagents have gone bad, BUT it's never as good.

The Professor said on Fri, 18 Nov 2022 at 01:29...

Don't let this dude gaslight you about ANYTHING; he's been failing at making poppers for 12 yrs, takes no guidance from knowledgeable chemists (ALL of whom have identified his methods as incorrect nonsense).

In this post, he's even sabotaged his OWN sodium nitrite to PROVE that it goes bad quickly, e.g. in two months.

NaNO2 will NOT decompose in two months, if handled properly.

He'd rather argue that and expose himself to the inevitable toxic side reactions of his methods.

Time is too short for insanity

Anonymous said on Fri, 18 Nov 2022 at 14:01...

Thomas the Professor in grand ol Nebraska has one single goal...to spread confusion and to attack anything certain truth seekers say. Why? Perhaps he has self serving interests. Perhaps he's just nuts.

He states clearly in his Wiki file that he constantly refers to that the sodium nitrite does degrade upon exposure to O2....He suggests he's adopted a sure fire way to prevent this. I tried all those measures and they all failed.

The clear FACT is that the reagents DO degrade and once they degrade sufficiently ALL brews out of the pot are smelly toxic garbage and absent distillation, which the Professor seems not to have ever tried and certainly doesn't encourage, the popper is unfit to inhale.

The Professor said on Fri, 18 Nov 2022 at 18:01...

It must be lonely in that echo chamber of yours.

Your claims get more and more extreme, and your attacks as well, yet NOBODY had EVER, in 12 years, agreed with you on ANYTHING that you are saying.

I'm fact, EVERY chemistry that has come across your posts has mentioned the fact that you're ideas are wrong and dangerous.

Truth seeker? Bullshit!

The Professor said on Fri, 18 Nov 2022 at 18:09...

Of course I distill, it's right in the name of my prep, simultaneous preparation and distillation.

Refining sodium nitrite is very simple, and preserving the powder is as well. YOU are the only one blaming your powder; your recent failure after two months reveals how you had sabotaged your own prep, either ignorantly or purposefully, in order to pretend that you're failures are the ingredient's fault.

Dennis said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 16:30...

I don't know...I read the Professor's link and it didn't mention distillation...maybe he's updated it???

Chemistry Guru said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 16:33...

It's true that reagent quality is always checked in a professional lab. It would very difficult to test reagent quality in one's basement on every single reagent. Often times, we just toss out a reagent once it expires.

Medical labs consistently use that protocol. They use hundreds of reagents to run blood tests and when they expire, the second they expire, they are tossed. It's just factual.

PopperFactory 10C??? said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 16:40...

An extract from Everett Farr's patent for making isobutyl nitrite near Quakertown, PA. He's been in the business for 30 years and makes 23,000 bottles a day. 10C = 50F

The present invention also includes a method of producing the nail polish remover. The method includes charging a vessel with isobutyl alcohol and agitating; adding de-ionized water which is 10% by weight of the isobutyl alcohol; chilling to 10° C.; maintaining a maximum temperature of 10° C.; adding sodium nitrite; slowly adding hydrochloric acid; agitating for ten minutes; allowing to stand for 30 minutes for solution separation; removing the water and salt solution; adding sodium bicarbonate and de-ionized water; agitating for 10 minutes; removing the water and sodium bicarbonate solution; slowly agitating and charging with calcium chloride for 25 minutes; removing the calcium chloride; removing the isobutyl nitrite and weighing; charging the vessel with isobutyl nitrite solution; agitating; charging the vessel with butylized linseed oil and agitating for 5 minutes; removing the solution and placing in airtight containers containing nitrogen bath and activated alumina pellets; and adding silicone.

The Professor said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 18:30...

Factory:
That prep seems viable at first blush, he's cutting it very close with the small amount of water, but it should work fine. Jeff also get higher priority by going colder, but 10C isn't was bad as soon temp.

Most written preps DO work, when the ones using sulphuric acid ) the yield would not be for human use, but it'll work for diazotonation, etc.

Chem Guru said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 18:41...

Yes, labs check treatment and reactant quality. When I first met Ken, I assisted to him today, based on my personal experience running a national lab's bench stocks:
Hydrochloric acid is extremely stable if handled properly, and shelf life is in years.
Alcohols need more care in handling, but if all you need is 4 methyl groups, and the storage has been anaerobic, butanol, for example, well be viable for at least a year.
Sodium nitrite does oxidize, but very slowly.

When I first met Ken, he was scooping it out of a plastic ziplock bag, and trying to avoid clumps or pulling from the center of the bag; of course it would go bad quickly. After blaming the ingredients one by one, over the years, he's come around to the powder again as his problem. This time he sabotaged his own powder and it went down in two months, ridiculous, but it confirmed in his mind that he found the culprit.

The Professor said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 18:43...

Chem Guru,
This should be the post above, that I accidently posted in your name, apologies

The Professor said on Sat, 19 Nov 2022 at 18:50...

Dennis,

The wiki is an explanation and exploration of salty nitrite preparation, with a focus on DIY procedures (minimizing expense and exposure to harm is emphasized).

The prep I personally undergo happens in the vapor phase instead of liquid, and requires more expensive and potentially dangerous equipment.

The NUBLU prep is essentially a slight modification of an SDE extraction, and provides triple nine purity at the output.

Anonymous said on Thu, 24 Nov 2022 at 18:25...

OMG......I took a cue off the Farr Patent and used much less water....no added water in fact....and warmer temps and I've been getting an isopropyl nitrite that is absolutely amazing.....and much easier and cheaper to make. No wretched side effects either. Good mild citrus like odor with no trace of bitterness or excess sweetness.

20 mls Equate 70% isopropyl alcohol
Add 10 grams Consolidated Chemical SN
Add 7 to 8 mls Sunnyside muriatic slowly with constant mixing. Nothing is super cold...only chilled 45 to 50F.

Wash and neutralize...dry....and bottle dry with a bit of Activated Alumina and Kcarb.

The ass/prostate effects are out of this world.

Anonymous said on Sun, 27 Nov 2022 at 07:25...

From Sciencemadness Wiki
Isopropyl nitrite
Isopropyl nitrite separatory funnel by Doug's Lab.png
Freshly prepared isopropyl nitrite
Names
IUPAC name
2-Propyl nitrite
Other names
1-Methylethyl nitrite
Isopropyl alcohol nitrite
Nitrous acid, isopropyl ester
Properties
Chemical formula
C3H7NO2
(CH3)2CHONO
Molar mass 89.09 g/mol
Appearance Straw yellow liquid
Odor Sweet
Density 0.8684 g/cm3
Melting point −132 °C (−206 °F; 141 K) [1]
Boiling point 40 °C (104 °F; 313 K)
Solubility in water
Insoluble
Solubility Miscible with acetone, diethyl ether, ethanol
Hazards
Safety data sheet Sigma-Aldrich
Flash point -29 °C (-20.2 °F; 244 K)
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
LD50 (Median dose)
300 mg/kg (mouse, oral)
3,200 mg/kg (rabbit, oral)
980 mg/kg (rat, oral)[2]
Related compounds
Related compounds
Ethyl nitrite
Isobutyl nitrite
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
Infobox references
Isopropyl nitrite is a highly flammable organic ester. It has the general formula (CH3)2CHONO.

Contents
1 Properties
1.1 Chemical
1.2 Physical
2 Availability
3 Preparation
4 Projects
5 Handling
5.1 Safety
5.2 Storage
5.3 Disposal
6 References
6.1 Relevant Sciencemadness threads
Properties
Chemical
Isopropyl nitrite reacts with hydrazine hydrate and sodium hydroxide to form sodium azide.

Physical
Isopropyl nitrite is straw yellow color and has a sweet, pleasant smell. It is immiscible and less dense than water. Isopropyl nitrite has a very high vapor pressure and a low boiling point, although it will decompose on boiling to produce nitrogen oxides and isopropanol. A low flash point combined with the high vapor pressure means it is very easy to ignite.

Availability
Isopropyl nitrite was available as the main active ingredient in some types of "poppers" (along with amyl nitrite), but it's harder to get hold of in recent years. In some countries, the sale of amyl nitrites may be be restricted or illegal.

It's better made in a home lab setting.

Preparation
Concentrated hydrochloric acid is slowly dripped onto sodium nitrite suspended in isopropanol, generating nitrous acid which reacts with the alcohol. The concentration of isopropanol should be less than 100% to ensure the solution does not get too acidic (which will rapidly decompose the ester) and that some of the precipitate byproducts dissolve. Diluted sulfuric acid can also be used but this will result in a larger amount of precipitate due to sodium sulfate's lower solubility compared to sodium chloride.[3][4]

Every reagent should be as cold as possible to limit decomposition to nitrogen oxides. An ice bath may be needed.

To limit exposure to this compound, the reaction is often conducted in a separatory funnel, which can be easily closed to limit vapors, and is also a convenient way of removing the aqueous layer.

Projects
Make sodium azide
Antidote for hydrogen sulfide and cyanide poisonings
Handling
Safety
As well as being highly flammable, being an organic nitrite it promotes vasodilation in the body, pushing more blood to the brain. Hence breathing fumes of isopropyl nitrite can have some mild strange side effects that mostly end up in a headache. Proper ventilation is required when using this compound.

In case of nitrite poisoning, small dosages of methylene blue are recommended (0.1 ml of 1% solution per kilogram of patient's weight, intravenously). Not to be confused with large dosages, which are toxic in the same way nitrites are, and are used to treat poisoning with blood agents like cyanides, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide (isopropyl nitrite itself can work as an antidote in these cases).

Storage
Storage is best done in a cold place such as a fridge or freezer, but care must be taken to prevent as the vapors travel quickly and can easily find a source of ignition.

If care is taken to make sure the ester does not contain any acid before storage, it will not quickly decompose and may be stored cold for many months. Anhydrous calcium chloride is often added to keep the compound dry, as prolonged exposure to water may cause hydrolysis.

Disposal
Acid hydrolysis of the compound destroys it quickly, with the evolution of nitrogen oxides. It is recommended to either burn it or simply let it evaporate over pouring it down a sink, as its solvent properties may adversely affect a plumbing system.

References
R. F. Grant and D. W. Davidson, J. Chem. Phys. 33, 1713 (1960), Dielectric Study of Some Liquid Alkyl Nitrites
http://www.chemblink.com/MSDS/MSDSFiles/541-42-4_Clear%20Synth.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmpmLjfkkM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipqSn0nnZBU
Relevant Sciencemadness threads
Isopropyl nitrite synthesis
Categories: Articles containing unverified chemical infoboxesChemical compoundsOrganic compoundsNitritesAlkyl nitritesVolatile chemicalsEsters of inorganic acidsPsychoactive substancesLiquids
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This page was last modified on 6 February 2022, at 16:15.
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Anonymous said on Sun, 27 Nov 2022 at 07:29...

The previous text from ScienceMadness.org states to limit the amount of added water, but to make sure the alcohol has "some" water. I found 70% isopropyl alcohol and 32% HCl allowed for enough water. The SN does NOT need any more water.

I have not tried calcium chloride yet....it's sold in home centers as a salt to de-ice sidewalks. It's likely not pure and may not be anhydrous enough. It also sucks up residual alcohol in addition to water....Everett Farr used it in his patent.

The Professor said on Sun, 27 Nov 2022 at 23:55...

1. consolidated chemical doesn't sell NaNO2; liar
2. Calcium chloride CANNOT be safely used to to 'suck up' residual alcohol; combination of blatant lie and misunderstanding

Anonymous said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 14:43...

https://consolidated-chemical.com/Sodium-Nitrite-1289.htm?categoryId=-1

EveretteFarr said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 14:46...

Patent and method for making 23,000 bottles a day at his PA facility.

BrewMeister... said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 14:49...

It figures....the embittered, wheel chair bound, disabled Vet with PTSD in NE just can't accept that Everette Farr makes 23,000 bottles of poppers a day for the last 30 years, using methods and temps totally different from his own moldy basement techniques.

Anonymous said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 15:38...

And to anyone who thinks blue and green colors are normally seen in a good popper reaction....ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

The addition of the acid should be slow enough that the blue nitrous acid that is formed immediately IS then immediately captured by the alcohol, forming a yellow colored floating nitrite. A green color, especially in the water layer, indicates the alcohol is too impure to capture all the forming nitrous acid, which then gets corrupted by impurities, turning the water layer green, brown, yellow, according to whatever impurities are present.

Anonymous said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 15:42...

Blue nitrous acid is very unstable and has to be made right when it's needed. Thus, you don't want to see enduring blue in the pot because then you risk losing Nitrogen as the unstable nitrous acid begins to decompose. If there is plenty of alcohol in the pot, and there is still a lot of blue or green present.....there is either far too much acid and sodium nitrite in the pot OR the alcohol has degraded, contains impurities that will not capture the blue nitrous and form nitrite, leaving you with a ton of unfun impurities in the crude nitrite, none of which can simply be washed away. You must distill at that point.

The Professor said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 18:49...

Bullshit Ken!
1. The powder you posted isn't USP grade, and you demand that USP grade is the only type worth using. Liar

2. Everett Farr makes amyl ampoules, not isopropyl nitrite. His stuff is for angina, your stuff is poisonous. Liar

3. Look up on your favorite quota how calcium chloride can't be used to dry alcohol, your favorite chemist from last century even knew that.

He didn't know it would be successful at 100 Celsius, and he didn't know that calcium chloride and alcohol combine to make a drug used to chemically castrate cattle.

The Professor said on Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 22:32...

Anon seems to think that nitrous acid is so unstable that it ne3eds immediate release......not so.

In atmosphere, HNO2 is very rare and decomposes almost immediately. In water, however, formation of HNO2 is stable enough to increase in concentration. The formula for decomposition rate is dependent on concentration and temperature. at 1 atm STP, its decomposition rate doubles every 20 degrees celsius. here's a chart (they satarted with 100ml:

time (minutes) HNO2 amount
0 100%
30 94.527%
60 84.4568%
90 82.6541%

150 75.4283%
180 68.7778%
210 65.5846%
240 62.3084%
270 59.5958%

Several hours of time is plenty of time, and it will be even longer at -12C

your observation about color are meaningless, of course, and have nothing to do with the alcohol. Also, you claimed for years that impurities CAN be washed away (and they can, but not with just water or saline, there has to be a carrot at the end of the stick).

once again, the idiot that demands it's so easy is unaware of the poisons he's inhaling, and attributes 'impurities' to anything that displeases him.

how's this for two-faced bigotry?

he claims nobody knows a thing without testing, and at the same time is 100% certain that impurities are the cause of his isopropyl failures (they are not, no surprise, it's just a case of him making them weak enough to pamper his damaged spleen).

Anonymous said on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 18:25...

Anyone posting popper preps on Reddit and WikiLinks is posting methods that will make toxic garbage because their mixing strategies are WRONG.

Everett Farr makes 23,000 bottles a day. There are photos of his operation online. All those little 10 ml bottles with RUSH labels. He uses VERY little water, 10% by weight of the alcohol. He uses calcium chloride to dry. He says isobutyl nitrite smells pleasant and fruity. All so easy to verify online.

Dennis said on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 18:27...

Yeah....I think the nutcase Professor has just about popped a cork. His desperation is obvious as he lies for the sake of lying about stuff that is easily verified by googling.

DragQueenSally said on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 18:39...

Oh yeah....I verified all the ANON poster comments by simply googling. Everything the Professor said was a lie....was in fact true.

Anony said on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 18:43...

Everett Farr, 65, is not the person you might expect when you think of nitrites and queer history. For one thing, he says he’s never tried poppers. For another, he’s straight, married, and has two adult children. He lives in a big home in a ritzy Pennsylvania county and owns a few cars, including a Corvette the same yellow as a bottle of Rush. But he’s not exactly flashy. When he met me at the train station near Philadelphia to drive me over to his plant in the last week of June, he was wearing shorts and sneakers and driving a modest, cluttered blue passenger van. The Corvette was parked inside the factory, covered in a layer of dust.

Farr requested three things in order for me to visit his factory. First, that I didn’t name or photograph any staff who work for him. Second, that I didn’t name his company, despite it being easily searchable in public records. He said that the story could make things difficult for him with insurers and suppliers (not to mention the feds, who he fears might tie him up in costly investigations, shut his trade down, or even prosecute him), so he asked that I refer to his company by its former name: SVT, which used to stand for Superior Video Technology. And third, that I stress as clearly as I can how he labels and sells his products. “As far as I’m concerned, I sell nail polish remover,” he told me repeatedly. That is indeed what is printed on the bottles — whatever else you might call them is your business.

In 2009, Farr registered an official patent for a nail polish remover composed of an alkyl nitrite solvent. He said he came up with the idea — somewhat ironically described in the patent filing as “less odorous” than typical acetone-based removers — after a woman in his factory complained the liquids were always ruining her fancy nails. Given this categorization, Farr and his lawyers argue his manufacturing of alkyl nitrites falls under a Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act exception listed in the 1990 ban. “I’ve been taught that I read the law, I interpreted the law, I comply with the law,” he said. “And that’s really it.”

Farr’s company website also makes no mention of poppers. (He decries other vendors who sell them online under that term as flouting the law and drawing undue attention.) The webpage notes only that the company is a manufacturing and engineering business that specializes in “diverse” fields, from dietary supplements to chain-link fences. “My website tells the truth,” Farr told me. “You just have to know what to read between the lines.”

Such contortions are common for any manufacturer that doesn’t want federal regulators shutting them down. “We sell cleaners, not poppers,” I was told by Brian Bondy, who with his business partner Julian Eterno employs three staff in Austin, Texas, to make a boutique product, Double Scorpio. (These cleaners can sometimes be purchased from fridges in gay bars.)

Farr first began making nitrites in 1991 when he was approached by someone in the adult industry about the possibility of bottling the products in the back of the autobody shop he ran. He then began working on other adult products as he met more people in the industry; one of his inventions allowed men to make molds of their own penises that could be used as dildos.

“As far as I’m concerned, I sell nail polish remover.”

He never expected to be bottling “liquids,” as he sometimes calls them, for three decades. But he can’t seem to quit. The money is good and reliable, and his 29-year-old son will require a full-time carer for the rest of his life. “I decided if I’m going to sell my soul to the devil, I might as well make money doing it,” said Farr.

Very few people outside his immediate circle know about this part of what he does. “My daughter didn’t know when she was in high school, but when she started researching on the internet, she figured it out,” Farr said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, honey, it put you through college!’” With a proud smile, Farr said she now delights in visiting gay friends’ apartments and pointing out the products her dad has made.

Inside the nitrites factory, a one-story warehouse about half the size of a football field in a nondescript industrial area, were rows and rows of industrial shelving, each overflowing with boxes of small bottles. Farr estimated that he gets new container shipments of the empty bottles from China two to three times a year.

A dozen or so workers were on the clock. At one noisy machine, a man placed bottles on a rotating silver tray that funneled them toward metal straws pumping alkyl nitrites from a large plastic drum. Then, the bottles continued to a separate part of the machine that affixes a lid. The factory’s daily output is roughly 23,000 bottles, which are filled with formula made during that same shift.

Amy Lombard for BuzzFeed News
The production line

Between supplies, labor, and insurance, Farr said it costs about $1 to make each 1-ounce bottle. He sells them to distributors for $4.50 each; the distributors then sell them to sex stores and bodegas for about $6. Those stores charge customers around $20. Farr estimates it’s a $40 million retail industry, of which he controls 75% of the market, though there are no trade figures to back up these claims — it’s just a feeling he has based on how long he’s been working in the adult industry.

One of the employees told me he first began working for Farr years ago, making dildos. Nearby, Farr’s sister-in-law was sitting at a table next to a radio playing classic rock as she popped silica balls into empty bottles. This helps ensure no water will spoil the product. “This is what I do,” she explained matter-of-factly. “If I’m not interrupted, I could do 18 to 21 cases a day. I was lucky if I got through seven when I first started.” At another station nearby, two men packed boxes of sex toy cleaner.

Over by the labeling area, rolls of brightly colored stickers sat on the shelves. In the 1990s, Farr licensed the Rush brands from Miller’s Great Lakes. He still makes those products, along with several other brands. Pac-West Distributing also makes Rush products, and it takes a careful eye to distinguish the two versions. (Trent Taylor, who now owns Pac-West and is suing Farr’s business, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. His attorneys finally told me in an email that it was not appropriate for any of the parties to comment on the pending litigation.)

Despite the different branding, Farr said the recipes are essentially the same across every bottle — even those made by his competitors. “The one thing that everybody has to realize in the end, and I hate to break the news to them,” said Farr, “but every single bottle is exactly the same thing. And it’s been that way since time and eternity.”

“If I’m going to sell my soul to the devil, I might as well make money doing it.”

A roll of Super Rush packaging was loaded into a Marburg machine — Farr still uses the same type that Freezer did in the ’70s. A parade of bottles entered on a conveyor belt and emerged on the other side covered with lightning bolt labels, then slid off and landed in a box. Farr said the sound of each one clinking into the pile makes him think of another dollar earned.

Nearby sat a middle-aged white man with a long beard. He said he began working for Farr almost 27 years ago after getting laid off from a job driving a tractor trailer. Does he know what he’s been bottling all this time? “I’m going to plead the fifth on that one. That’s what I’m going to do,” he replied.

“This has been out there since I was in school,” he said after some prodding. “I don’t tell people what I do. I just say it’s a cleaning product. I don’t get into it with people. Once I tell people it’s an industrial cleaning product, it stops right there. I don’t tell nobody nothing.”

Farr mentioned another employee who he says got out of rehab years ago and struggled to find a job until his dad called up and asked if his son could work for Farr. He’s now the main sales rep for Farr’s dildo company. “His father told me five years later I made a man out of him. I put him through Everett bootcamp,” Farr said. “I know it sounds corny. I get a lot o

The Professor said on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 19:45...

I love it when you show everybody what a deceitful liar you are; particularly when you do the 'it's so easy to Google the right answer' thing..... It always reveals your ignorance and manipulations, as well as your inability to understand simple words, and your straw man attacks.

Pretending that I'm condemning Everett far now, (I'm not, I'm condemning ken's misunderstanding of the Farr patent) only makes you look a fool.

And your parade of other personas, playing rope-a-dope, only makes you look like the simpleton you are.

Anonymous said on Fri, 2 Dec 2022 at 15:38...

Just made some butyl nitrite using alcohol I thought was degraded because all my previous brews were smelly toxic garbage.

I followed Farr's patent and finally got a good smelling potent and fun BN. The key is to add a lot less water during the reaction.

Lovin it here!!! Like the BN better than IPN so far.

Anonymous said on Fri, 2 Dec 2022 at 15:44...

10 grams SN into 7 mls DW...
10-11 mls 32% HCl
15 mls Butanol

Drip the chilled HCl onto the SN/alcohol mix. Temps are cool, but not subfreezing.

Once reaction is done, to aid separation, add a "little" more water as the nitrite will be locked up in the salty layer.

The Professor said on Fri, 2 Dec 2022 at 20:17...

This is so heavy on the bullshit that you yourself realized it was choking the reaction 4 years ago

Poppermaker said "For the third brew, I used my USP SN and UPPED THE WATER a little while reducing the acid......Now...for effects of the third brew. Been making poppers for 8-9 years and this is the first time, I had what I'm going to call a prostate orgasm."

Now, sure, your product turned rancid days later, but you 'proved' to yourself that limiting the reaction medium (water) was not working.

When you repeat yourself, it makes my job that much easier, just cut-and-paste my response from the first time you tried to fool people 4 years ago

Anonymous said on Fri, 2 Dec 2022 at 22:52...

Don't kill the messenger......all I did was what Everett Farr does to make 23,000 bottles a day of IBN. I can vouch, it produced a much better product than the lots of water method.

The Professor said on Fri, 2 Dec 2022 at 23:54...

Vouch all you want; you've destroyed your credibility

BrewMeister... said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 20:04...

Sending out turbid toxic garbage you call 99.9% pure is what has ruined your credibility in every way possible.

The Professor said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 20:44...

CORRECTION: Being an ignoramus that doesn't understand what he's doing, nearly killing himself by stupidly 'trying' to make ethyl nitrite, poisoning your neighbors, denying the reality of chemical bonds, misunderstanding simple text, misunderstanding simple videos, trying to sabotage other makers, trying to sabotage your own prep to make a point, cut-and-pasting past failures, pretending that they are NEW discoveries

AND being a willfully ignorant liar the whole time?

NOt that anybody has ever followed your making advice or agreed with your position on anything, and playing rope-a-dope (as 'Brewmeister' and all your other fake hallucinations)

your entire self is a reckless fantasy

BrewMeister... said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 21:30...

At least you didn't deny you've sent out multiple samples of toxic turbid garbage, calling it 99.9% pure.....gotta give you credit for that.

BrewMeister... said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 21:32...

And when I called your samples toxic shit, you then proceeded to attack me in every way possible. Motive is crystal clear.

BrewMeister... said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 21:34...

And when I questioned the purity of the your sent samples, since they were obvious garbage, you attacked me in every way possible, stating repeatedly that your product is 99.9% pure heaven.

PopperExpert said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 21:35...

Oh yeah.....the Professor thinks his product is a suitable replacement for Joe Miller's. Not by a long shot.

Nitritespecialist said on Sat, 3 Dec 2022 at 21:41...

And when those who've bought into the Professor's methods have ended up with toxic shit and questioned him...he always blames them. They didn't follow his protocol precisely and so they ended up with crap. And never does he have any real useful advice because he stopped learning 10 years ago and doesn't really know what the critical components are making consistently stellar, high purity poppers.

On the other hand, I suspect the alcohols have to be very very high purity during each reaction in order to get a popper that has good odor, good effects, releases gas upon each opening, and has a decent shelf life with effective preservatives.

The Professor said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 01:52...

yes, JUST like that ken; repeating lies seems to be all you can do.

keep 'em coming

Of course, everything all of your personas just posted is pure bullshit; it's evident that you think a lot of yourself, even though ALL of your failures in the past 12 yrs have been a waste of time.

Your ENTIRE 12 yr fiasco can be summed up in two words

TIME WASTER

One of our chemists posted years ago a quick test that condenses all your 'what odes it smell like' journey.

1. first prep make slightly acidic
2. another prep make slightly alkaline

You'll now have two end points, and you will experience a certain aroma with each.

EVERY one of your preps that you have been wasting your time on will smell somewhat like one or the other, demonstrating that the odor has more to do with the degree of neutralization rather than the potency or purity.

and then there's the chemist that has summed up YOUR BULLSHIT as 'many words that say nothing'

I notice you posting again on the reddit forum that you've been banned from, thinking that you are sharing your knowledge, when nobody sees the lies you post there.

Just another example of your bullheaded ignorance.

The Professor said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 02:00...

oooops, I forgot to remind you that the keen nose you seem to be so proud of only indicates that your prep has a LOT of unreacted alcohol (because you don't follow the known method of prepping a reversible, exothermic, very low activation energy, pressure positive reaction (like prepping alkyl nitrites)

you can talk about forcing the reaction, but it's evident that you don't understand , even a little bit, what the reaction wants.

Rage on Ken; you're a prince among kings!

Anonymous said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 13:55...

Useless toxic words coming from the arrogant Professor who pretends to have a Ph.D. after his name. Still hasn't denied the cloudy, white, turbid smelly garbage he's sent out, claiming it's 99.9% pure popper heaven.

He should be banned from every single internet site.

BrewMeister... said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 14:08...

Quality of reagents matters a lot. That's all I am sure of. The Professor assumes the quality of his reagents are high enough to get good poppers, each and every time. That assumption is FALSE.

BrewMeister... said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 14:12...

The other thing I am sure of.....isopropyl, isobutyl and butyl nitrite will contain toxic enhancing impurities, MUCH more readily than the amyl group. The hallmark sign of toxic enhancing impurities is plunging blood pressure that occurs within 5 to 10 minutes of whiffing and it won't rebound within minutes.

Anonymous said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 14:14...

I've tried every method under the sun, including the Professor's, and quality of reagents is by far, the single biggest factor in producing a good popper that doesn't need distilled. Temps and mixing strategies are secondary to reagent quality.

Anonymous said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 18:27...

100 years ago, chemists realized the alcohols used to make amyl nitrite HAD to be very pure lest there be lots of variation, which would require distillation to correct. I have found the same to be true. Important to note that amyl alcohol, when repeatedly exposed to air, will certainly degrade and turn formerly good brews into bad.

Dunstan and Wooley (Pharm. Jour. (3) 19, 487) give a process for the manufacture of iso-butyl nitrite which is exactly the same as that which they use for amyl nitrite. The quantities were calculated according to the equation :- 2C,H,,OH + H,SO, + 2NaN0, = 2C,H,,NO, + Na,SO, + 2H,O and a slight excess of sodium nitrite used. The acid was gradually mixes with the alcohol, the mixture cooled and poured very slowly to the bottom of a solution of the sodium nitrite in three parts of water, keeping the whole cooled to 10” or 12”. The amyl nitrite formed floats on the aqueous layer and is washed with alkaline carbonate solution and dried over fused potassium carbonate. If abso- lutely pure reagents are used, the amyl nitrite so formed requires no distilla- tion and is almost perfectly pure. With less pure grades of alcohol, distillation must be resorted to.

PopperExpert said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 18:30...

The previous is published and peer reviewed UNLIKE anything Thomas the Professor claims to know.

The Professor said on Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 21:11...

100 years ago, reactants were not as pure as they are now

Your bullshit has so much momentum in your mind that you evidently have overlooked the fact that the prep you just posted is valid for making nitrite, BUT, the use of sulphuric acid alone precludes the result from being suitable for human use.

Most of the pteps you find are like that, since alkyl nitrites are usually made in situ and not for human consumption.

If you want to make this for humans, you have to take more care, and the published explanation on how to control reactions that I posted here explains the route... Prep as cold as possible and at as high pressure as possible.

One thing that it does illustrate is that the parent alcohol doesn't really matter very much, the prep remains the same.

Various alcohols needing different mixing strategies and environments is something that you have consistently demanded was truth, yet it's just another of your time eating 'theories'

Anonymous said on Mon, 12 Dec 2022 at 17:06...

None of the bullshit that just spilled out of Tom's mouth changes what the chemists stated 100 years ago....YOU NEED absolutely pure alcohols to get a pure product right out of the pot. And pure alcohols will oxidize upon repeated exposure to air, which will taint the POT with impurities.

The Professor said on Mon, 12 Dec 2022 at 21:02...

1. To repeat what you already know, but have decided to deny, UNREACTED alcohol has a degrading odor as its terpenes oxidize

BUT

the common stated shelf life for most alcohols is about

3 YEARS

2. An alkyl nitrite that has limited (less than 0.5 %) unreacted alcohol will NOT degrade due to alcohol oxidization, since there is practically nil alcohol in it.

3. Poppers that do have lots of unreacted alcohol will develop strange odors if left open to air for weeks. BY that time, it will have evaporated away anyway.

conc: much like Ken's decades long waste of time trying to 'characterize' the aroma of alkyl nitrite (he was just experiencing a popper laced with much of the parent alcohol), his new time wasting idea is completely meritless.

If only Ken knew a thing or two, unfortunately , for the rest of us, his idiotic ideas (that he seems to be proud of btw) are not only blatantly wring, they are dangerous to life.

Anything else is