Author Topic: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish  (Read 4307 times)

CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« on: 15 January, 2020, 06:56:12 pm »
On a short ride today that went over the ranges I was horrified to see a very large number of CO2 cartridges (soda stream, tyre inflator type) in the verges and on the carriageway over several miles.  There were also a large number of boxes that probably contained 12 cartridges scattered around as well.  The dozens (could have been in the hundreds TBH) of Stella cans, fast food wrappers, pop bottles etc I can understand (well I can't but you get my drift) but the CO2 cartridges - what is going on??

This is a road away from habitation with only outdoor pursuits, MTB, dog walking and so on, to attract people to the area.

Am I showing my sheltered upbringing again?

Kim

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Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #1 on: 15 January, 2020, 06:59:03 pm »
Are you sure they were CO2 cartridges?  Usually what you see are discarded nitrous oxide cartridges (whipped cream, for the molishment of), which the cool kids like to inhale via a balloon before lobbing out of the window of their hatchback.  They're a bit smaller than the CO2 ones used for tyre inflators, paintball guns and so on.

ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #2 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:00:45 pm »
Indeed, it's nitrous oxide. The partying dentists strike again.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #3 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:03:49 pm »
What they said. A couple of years ago, riding through the centre of Bristol on a Sunday morning audax, I remarked to my companion how the changing fashion in intoxicants meant you were now less likely to puncture but more likely to faceplant.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #4 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:15:26 pm »
Indeed, it's nitrous oxide. The partying dentists strike again.

People camping next to me at Boomtown 2018, gettingvready for the party




ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #5 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:30:46 pm »
Maybe they were a troupe of balloon animal artists getting warmed up for a competitive sausage dog heat.

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #6 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:47:44 pm »
Sheltered life is indeed the correct answer.

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #7 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:00:43 pm »
Maybe they were a troupe of balloon animal artists getting warmed up for a competitive sausage dog heat.

The balloons seemed stronger than their lungs...

IanN

  • Voon
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #8 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:05:21 pm »
Hence the theft of Entonox cylinders from hospital gas stores.
Morons
Enterprising morons, but morons nonetheless

ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #9 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:06:39 pm »
Maybe they were a troupe of balloon animal artists getting warmed up for a competitive sausage dog heat.

The balloons seemed stronger than their lungs...

There's sadly been a lot of allegations of doping on the competitive balloon animal scene.

Kim

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Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #10 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:08:01 pm »
Hence the theft of Entonox cylinders from hospital gas stores.
Morons
Enterprising morons, but morons nonetheless

Not if the nurses nick it first...

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #11 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:08:59 pm »
Matt silver and threaded = CO2
Chrome silver, no thread, usually a bit smaller = Nitrous

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #12 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:43:18 pm »
It's sold as a whipped cream foaming agent.  CO2 makes the foam go rancid, or something.  It isn't especially harmful but some stupid kids manage to freeze-burn their windpipe by trying to take it straight from the canister, and the odd moron inhales so much that they asphyxiate themselves, the same risk as with helium balloons.

They'll probably ban it soon, just for the litter problem.  There was a handful of them in the front garden of the local convent recently.  Stoner nuns.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #13 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:19:05 pm »
It's used because it's very soluble in fat and oils (like cream) and foams when depressured. You can't use carbon dioxide because it's acidic in solution and will curdle the cream. Anything with oxygen in it will reduce the shelf-life substantially, and you can't use butane etc. in foodstuffs.

I remember it from the dentists, they snorted you up on that stuff and took your teeth and then woke you, let you vomit for a bit and told you not to eat any more sweets. Worst. Tooth. Fairies. Ever. I remember it was a bit like being sealed into a 60s prog rock music video that you could only escape by vomiting tar and screaming.

I'm perhaps missing the popularity. I was persuaded to try a balloon at a party some years back and all it did was make my ears ring. I'm more troubled by the decapitated cans of deodorant I find on the path through the woods. Which means some kids are getting their kicks by snorting Lynx Africa.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #14 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:21:35 pm »
It's lighter fuel canisters in the woods round work.  Not sure if it's feckless kids in the evening, or bored employees at lunchtime.  Same goes for the used condoms and empty cans of Red Stripe.  We're not City slickers on champagne and charlie, even if it's the same industry sector.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Kim

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Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #15 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:42:01 pm »
It's used because it's very soluble in fat and oils (like cream)

Presumably this is also related to how it affects teh branez...


Quote
I'm perhaps missing the popularity. I was persuaded to try a balloon at a party some years back and all it did was make my ears ring.

My medical experiences of the stuff were akin to low-bitrate RealVideo™[1].  By the time it stops buffering and reality catches up with you, they've finished doing the painful thing where you need to not squirm.  Hopefully.

On one occasion (as part of a long and boring hospital stay) I ended up discussing it with one of the younger nurses, who was slacking off by tending to the less dull and relatively low-maintenance patients in side rooms.  She mentioned that they'd liberated a cylinder of entonox for a recent party, one thing lead to another, and she found herself sprawled over a giant bagpuss.  I reckoned that was probably an optimal outcome.


Quote
I'm more troubled by the decapitated cans of deodorant I find on the path through the woods. Which means some kids are getting their kicks by snorting Lynx Africa.

We can but hope *that's* the pyromaniacs...


[1] Teenagers, ask your parents.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #16 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:48:31 pm »
Like every expectant father, I tried the Entonox as soon as the midwife left the room.  It did absolutely nothing,  I reckon they're just pumping outside air into the system to save costs, and hoping there's a placebo effect.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #17 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:51:45 pm »
Like every expectant father, I tried the Entonox as soon as the midwife left the room.  It did absolutely nothing,  I reckon they're just pumping outside air into the system to save costs, and hoping there's a placebo effect.

You didnt try hard enough.

Wifey and I got through a tank and a half.  We took our own music, ambient trance.

It was fucking brilliant.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #18 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:53:08 pm »
No happy gases for expectant fathers in Poland. Or mothers, more to the point.

Still with pregnancy, there's a place down the road sells 'cream supplies'. It's the same place that advertises 'gender reveal fireworks'. This really doesn't seem like a good combination.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #19 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:53:16 pm »
Having illicitly tripped on Entonox as a young doc, I did so quite happily when I had a colonoscopy a few years back, choosing this in preference to Stronger Drugs.

At least medical gases are properly colour-coded, so that N2O is BLUECO2 is GREY, and O2 is BLACK.

A street name for nitrous oxide is bluebottle.

ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #20 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:55:25 pm »
Our student house featured two nurses. The stories I could tell. Honestly, it was the first time in my life I've had to ask an attractive woman to please put some clothes on.

I don't think to this day that anyone really knows how anaesthetics work, unless our resident knock-out monkey knows better.

Judging from the lack of burnt stuff, it seems the kidz are getting high on the Lynx effect. Or they're trying to conjure up a giant pungent cloud of lady-attractant. Which is stupid, any fool knows the only way to do that is Old Spice.

Adam

  • It'll soon be summer
    • Charity ride Durness to Dover 18-25th June 2011
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #21 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:56:27 pm »
Matt silver and threaded = CO2
Chrome silver, no thread, usually a bit smaller = Nitrous

There's loads of chrome CO2 unthreaded canisters available.

But yes, the nitrous ones are smaller.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #22 on: 15 January, 2020, 11:50:47 pm »
Like every expectant father, I tried the Entonox as soon as the midwife left the room.  It did absolutely nothing,  I reckon they're just pumping outside air into the system to save costs, and hoping there's a placebo effect.

You didnt try hard enough.

Wifey and I got through a tank and a half.  We took our own music, ambient trance.

It was fucking brilliant.

For you perhaps;)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #23 on: 16 January, 2020, 10:03:53 am »
I didn't realise it was actually illegal.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/16/justice-secretary-hits-back-at-criticism-of-nitrous-oxide-ban
Presumably the defence is making a cake.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: CO2 Cartridges as rubbish
« Reply #24 on: 16 January, 2020, 10:11:55 am »
I like the first paragraph of that story.

Where are we on the war on drugs anyway? Did we win?