Cardiganwearer is back!
I have the wonders of chemistry to thank for my return.
Regular readers may have noticed my recurring mentions of poppers. I snorted the stuff for years and since the real (butyl) thing became illegal the rocket fuel that powers my obsession has turned into a smelly and much inferior fuel that does frankly fuck all unless inhaled in concentrations that turn one's red bits blue (google cyanosis).
Now I have long known that synthesizing isobutyl nitrite can be done at home but couldn't find some of the raw ingredients anywhere. The missing bits and the rest are now available on a well-known site where you have to put in incremental monetary offers to buy stuff (no names, no picking up on word searches; they're awfully prudish over there and I'd hate the supplies to dry up).
I won't give the recipe here, versions are easy enough to find, if not very easy reliably to execute. Strong acid is involved, no not that sort, the sort that burns holes in things. Take a look at the accompanying picture to see the effects. Other effects include the discovery that so-called stainless steel, the material out of which my kitchen sink is made, simply isn't. It turns black on contact with concentrated acid and the stains seem very reluctant to go. Who would have thought such chemical exposure wasn't part of the manufacturer's quality control?
So, I've managed to make small quantities of the gorgeous sweet smelling supposedly carcinogenic oily ester and it has taken me back to the days when Cardiganwearer was a real character, a man of substance and many exciting cardigans. It's hard to describe the effect it has on me. It's more than a vasodilator and I've rarely used it for that purpose (if you really want to put your fist up my bum, you're going to need a much smaller fist!). It seems to free the imagination and make the faintly ridiculous seem solid and concrete. I used to joke that it releases a hormone called preposterone that makes even the most preposterous things seem deeply erotic. It is interesting that the very few people I've spoken to who share my fetish have used poppers, let's hope they're good at chemistry with expendable kitchenware and cardigans.
While I haven't given the recipe here I'd be happy to exchange notes with anyone engaged in a similar endeavour. I can't and won't be supplying chemicals of any sort.
Now that I've got my mojo back, as it were, I'll see if I can't post more often.
