Breathalyzer Experiments

How many times have you wondered, “Just what is my BAC?  How many beers can I have before I’m no longer under the limit to drive?  I feel pretty drunk, but am I even close to getting black out?”

These are all life-pressing questions that most of us won’t find out until we get pulled over while driving down the interstate at night with no lights on, off road, while pissing out your passenger side door.  But we at College Drinker like to put things to the test.  For the good of science, I subjected myself to continuous breathalyzer testing throughout a night of binge drinking.

So here is one night where my drinking buddy was my Breathalyzer:

Before I give you my test scores there is one thing you need to understand: BAC isn’t universal.  There are tons of variables from person to person and from test to test.  Me being a 5’10”, 180-pound male means I’ll have different blow outs than your little sister.  What we also found was that testing immediately after you even just take a sip of alcohol doubles your BAC.

The reason for this is simple science and can help you if you’ve ever in a sticky situation.  While BAC measures the amount of alcohol in your blood, a breathalyzer measures how much alcohol is in your breath (shocker right?).  When the blood filled with alcohol passes through your lungs, it passes over air vessels and gets caught.  This way, the proportion of alcohol within your bloodstream is equal to the amount of alcohol absorbed in these vessels.  So if you were to take a quick swing of alcohol and then test your BAC, the test will be invalid because there will be a much higher concentration of alcohol in your mouth than in your blood.

Enough science, lets get to the experiment!

Over the span of a three hour night of drinking I consumed eleven beers.  After which I tested out some common myths concerning how to lower a breathalyzer reading.  To start off the night, I did just that.

Can Mouthwash give you a positive reading on a breathalyzer test?

The answer in this case was yes.  After blowing a .00, I mouthwashed, waited a minute and then blew a .04.  Now normally for a 21 year old, this is no big deal.  However, you might have a case on your hand if you fail a breathalyzer test in a no tolerance state and you’re under 21.

Let the testing begin!

Once I got back down to a .00 I let the night begin.  After my FIRST BEER, I blew a .00 again.  Again, I am your average drinker with a high tolerance so don’t assume one beer won’t do any damage every time.  When I reached my THIRD BEER I finally hit .08.  Now the night was getting ready to begin.

Scientifically by this point I had, “General feeling of well being, relaxation, lower inhibitions, sensation of warmth.  Euphoria.  Some minor impairment of reasoning and memory, lowering of caution.  Driving skills may be impaired at this level of intoxication.”  But this early in the night I felt like a champ.  I was celebrating my reaching the legal limit and was ready to take on more and more beer.

Beers FOUR through SIX were relatively the same.  I teetered back and forth between .09 and .10 the entire time.  I was on the brink of “Significant impairment of motor coordination and loss of good judgment.  Speech may be slurred; balance, vision, reaction time and hearing will be impaired.  Euphoria.”

Motor impairment?  I was playing flip cup and doing pretty well at that.  But loss of good judgment I can see.  Seconds after I finished beer SIX, I went to go shotgun beer SEVEN.  Again though, I only blew a .10.  But after the shotgun, my numbers would spike greatly for the rest of the night.

Not so long after I finished BEER EIGHT.  This time I blew a .14.  At this point, I supposedly have “Gross motor impairment and lack of physical control.  Blurred vision and major loss of balance.  Euphoria is reduced and dysphoria is beginning to appear.”

Next came BEER NINE, for which I blew a .16.  This means “Dysphoria (anxiety, restlessness) predominates, nausea may appear.  The drinker has the appearance of a ‘sloppy drunk’.”  What’s great about all this mention of dysphoria and lack of motor skills is the fact that I was playing beer pong and made six of the ten cups, including making four in a row and the last cup on a fade away jumper.  What was true was I was beginning to get loud and sloppy.

Next for BEER TEN I blew a .20 followed lastly by BEER ELEVEN for which I blew a .26.  Here is where the side effects get more serious: “Needs assistance in walking; total mental confusion.  Dysphoria with nausea and some vomiting.”  What is more important than just not being able to walk straight is that I was probably one or two beers from blacking out.

If my BAC went up .04, I reach “Lack of consciousness.”  Needless to say, I have zero recollection of making it upstairs to my room, so I was pretty damn close to black out.

Myth Testing

With the night over and me blowing a .26, I deemed it time to put some common myths to the test.  Now these are by no means hard facts and definitely relative, but the results do indicate that certain actions have an effect on a breathlyzer.

(**NOTE: College Drinker does not encourage you to try the tactics listed below, or to drive while intoxicated.  It’s illegal, don’t do it.)

Test #1: Blowing softly into the breathalyzer. For this I blew a .13.  The theory is, the less air you give, the less alcohol it’ll detect.

Test #2: Inhaling instead of exhaling. I blew an error message.  This technique doesn’t work because it doesn’t trick off the sensors.  Not to mention, whoever is testing you probably isn’t dumb enough to fall for that.

Test #3: Chewing gum while you blow. For this I blew a .12.  The theory is the gum will overpower the alcohol breath you have and lower your test result.

Test #4: Gargling water right before you test. For this I initially blew a .10 then, after a short wait, I blew a .16.  This technique seems to be the best for lower a breathalyzer reading, however, it is short lasting.  Unless you take a quick swig before you test, this won’t do you any good.

Test #5: Mouthwashing before you test. Initially I blew over a .40 and my breathalyzer’s warning message informed me to go to the hospital immediately.  As the mouthwash settled I received a similar result to the water of it lowering then spiking up again quickly.  Regardless, mouthwash has the potential to raise your reading every time so this is the most risky technique to try.

Conclusion

There are some techniques that could potentially lower a breathalyzer reading.  But this will not lower your BAC.  You can chew 50 pieces of gum but if you’re looking sloppy, a breathalyzer won’t save your ass.  Even if you’re dumb enough to drive drunk and you somehow beat a breathalyzer, good luck with your sobriety test.

Also take note that all of the techniques failed to put me under the legal limit.

Why Alcohol Dehydrates

Alcohol inhibits ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) - a hormone that regulates the water level in your blood.

Like many essential nutrients, water is filtered through your kidneys. Usually when your body’s water level is low, ADH is stimulated in the kidneys, allowing more water absorption.

But when ADH is inhibited by alcohol, the water is not reabsorbed into the blood and instead becomes part of your urine - the reason that drinking alcohol makes you have to pee more often.

When you “break the seal” and go to the bathroom, you are losing water that should be in your blood - hence the reason you get dehydrated. The result is that you can expect to experience symptoms like headaches, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, and fatigue - a hangover.

What do you do?

After a night of drinking, try to drink some water before you pass out. This will go a long way towards reducing the effects of dehydration.

You will probably feel much better in the morning.

Flip Cup

Every drinking game is good for different situations, but in my opinion, the game of Flip Cup has some serious advantages over other popular games.

Advantages:

• Girls love it
• Fast paced - Very little downtime
• Involves many people
• Minimal setup required
• No balls, quarters, caps or cards needed
• High drinking/time ratio
• Small learning curve
• When the game’s over, another game starts right way!
• Girls LOVE it

Disadvantages:

• Pretty lame to play unless you’re with girls
• Kind of hard

I may be biased, but some of the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages.

But why is it girls love Flip Cup so much?

Maybe it’s because it’s easy for them. They only have to drink a small amount of beer at a time. And they don’t have to handle any balls (ha).

Flip Cup is a good middle/end party game, because it will quickly take everyone from a little buzzed to fully drunk. If you try to play too early people might not be up for the challenge. Everyone should have their first drink or two leisurely, and then start a game of ‘Cup.

Basic Flip Cup Rules

1) Break into two teams and line up on opposite sides of a table, lengthwise.
2) Everyone gets one cup, filled a little bit with beer.
3) The first player of both teams cheers and chug their cup.
4) Once the cup is empty, place it down on the table, hanging a little bit off the edge, and attempt to flip it upside-down onto the table.
5) Once the teammate before you has flipped successfully, you can then drink and flip.
6) First team fully-flipped wins!

Bonus Rules (The Fun Ones)

1) To start the match, someone asks the first-flippers a question (“coke or pepsi?”, “Anal or Oral?”). The players shout out their answer before they can begin drinking.
2) Survivor Cup: The losing team of each round votes a member off the team, yet a remaining player must still drink and flip that person’s cup.
3) Strip Cup: losing team takes off an article of clothing each round. (Play this one when people get really drunk, and let the girls win first so they’ll see it’s serious.)

Learning the Game

There’s no way to teach the perfect flip, it’s something you just have to learn for yourself. So go out there and start flipping!

World Series Of Flip Cup

The first WSOFC was held on July 2006, with 16 teams coming together to compete at Kisling’s Tavern in Baltimore. The 2008 World Series of Flip Cup was held at the Recher Theatre on May 3, 2008 and 44 teams competed.

To find out more, check out the site of Major League Flip Cup.

The Clear Choice: All About Everclear

Ahh… Freshman year.

We used to pregame everything. We’d pregame the pregame, with no game in sight. Some might call this “problem drinking.” Yes, I think that’s accurate. But as long as we’re still in college, it’s not pathetic, it’s epic.

As you can imagine we were getting to know the liquor store pretty well, and spending a lot of money on alcohol. One day we did a little math and realized: Everclear would get us more drunk per dollar. So, for many amazing months I don’t remember very well, Everclear was our drink of choice.

 

 

What is Everclear?

If you don’t know about what Everclear is: 190 proof (151 in some states) grain alcohol. Compare that to your standard vodka, which is generally 80-100 proof.

Everclear is very strong. So strong, you really can’t even take shots of it. I know that sounds like a challenge, but for real I don’t advise it. If you want to prove your manhood do a 4-beer beer bong, take 5 normal shots in a row, or do a strikeout. But drinking Everclear straight isn’t awesome, it’s just awful.

Being more than double the strength of regular alcohol, Everclear hits your system hard. Because of a compounding effect from the extremely ABV, one shot of Everclear is equivalent to drinking about 2.7 shots. Excellent, we’re getting drunk really quick now, aren’t we?

But seriously, this means that 2 shots of Everclear will put you 5 deep; this is a good thing. But, 4 Shots of Everclear will basically put you 10 deep; this is usually not a good thing if it’s extremely fast. Be very careful.

So How DO I Drink it?

What I found works amazingly well are 20oz bottles of soda. Wild Cherry Pepsi was personal favorite - leading to the most mild aftertaste and least burning - but any soda will work. Drink the soda down to just above the skinny part, and approx. 2 shots everclear will fit on top. Shake well, open slowly, and bam you’ve got a Wild Cherry Pepsi with 5 shots in it.

Magically, even though Everclear is so potent, two shots of Everclear in a 20oz drink doesn’t burn too much worse than using regular vodka. So when you need to take a drink on the road, Everclear is going to do you right.

 

 

 

 

JUNGLE JUICE

One of the uses of Everclear is when it is an ingredient in the beautiful concoction known as Jungle Juice. Many different recipes exist, but in it’s most basic form it’s fruit punch Kool Aid and Everclear. I always put some Sprite in too. Get a big cooler, make the whole thing of Kool Aid, dump in the whole 2L of Sprite, and a healthy amount of everclear. Bam Jungle Juice. Cue the huge party, the drunken debauchery, and all the events you wont remember until your friends tell you them in the morning.

Final Warning

There is some research that suggests that drinking grain alcohol like Everclear may eat away at your internal organs. Damn.

Know What You Drink: Beginner’s Guide to the Different Types of Beer

Beer. Ale, Lager, Porter, Stout, Malt, Pilsner. Those are words which I think describe types of beer, but who actually knows what they mean?

The Internet knows, that’s who, and now so can you. Because being a college drinker is about more than just drinking, it is our responsibility to know about the beverage we love so much. So we’ve created a very broad overview. There are many intricacies to beer, but we want to hook you up with some basics first.

The next time some snooty partygoer tries to call you out on being a dumb drunk, you can slap some knowledge in their face and let them know you’re a pretty smart drunk.

 

There are two major types of beer: Lagers and Ales. The difference is defined by what type of yeast is used.

Lagers: yeast ferments at the bottom, colder temperatures, slower brewing.
Ales: yeast ferments at the top, warmer temperatures, faster brewing.

Lagers are generally lighter in color
Ales are generally darker. Except for Pale Ales, which are lighter.

Examples of Lagers: Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Corona, Heineken
Examples of Ales: Guinness, Sierra Nevada, Goose Island

Also, there are subcategories of Ales:

Porters and Stouts are the really dark beers like Guinness, and refer essentially to the same thing.

Then there are Pale Ales, like Sierra Nevada and Goose Island.

Pilsner is a type of Lager that’s really light, that’s what Heineken and Stella Artois are.

Malt is not a type of beer. Malting is the process that happens to cereal grains before they get used to make beer. Malt Liquor is of course a staple of the college drinker diet, and refers to beers that have higher alcohol contents.

Alright so there you have it, now you know a little more about the beer you drink. There’s a lot more to say about types of beers, but that will have to wait. Right now I think I’m going to crack open a nice Stout Ale, and maybe later I’ll play some pong games with a few classic American Lagers.

Plastered Pictures: Completely Busted

Picture evidence is the worst kinda of evidence. Just ask a celebrity.

As a proud college drinker, my first Facebook album featured 44/60 pictures with alcohol in them. I felt it was necessary to my social life that everyone knew what sick parties I threw in my dorm room.

I put up pictures of the beer pong table, the beer can pyramid, empty handles of Everclear (don’t drink that stuff, seriously), and all the action shots of me and my friends using these things. The best college memories are of getting wasted with your friends, and it seems logical that the best Facebook pictures be the same.

This was legit back in 2006, but we’re in 2008 now. It’s a common occurrence for students to receive disciplinary sanctions for actions committed in their Facebook pictures. And we’ve all heard the horror stories of employers rejecting us based on our Facebook profiles. I wish it weren’t so, but the truth is that in the modern world, we have to be extremely careful of what we’re seen doing on camera.
Right now in London, a single person is caught on camera an average of 300 times a day. You can be sure that cities around America are planning on implementing similar surveillance plans too. In the world we’re building, people will be under surveillance almost constantly. Ok, so its not like you’re out getting wasted in the middle of the London street, you’re getting wasted in your dorm rooms or at parties, where there are no security cameras (yet).

But for now, almost every person has a camera (girls at least), and chances are you are in plenty of pictures that find their way online, some you don’t even know about. Looking through photos of this girl I hooked up with last year, I found myself in a photo with her months before we met, tagged as “towel boy”. So, I’ve got some advice on how to keep out of trouble while you do your drinking.

Don’t Drink on Camera
Really, the best way to avoid pictures of you drinking on Facebook is to not be in those pictures in the first place. When I’m at a party and someone wants to take a picture, instead of going with my first instinct and toasting the camera, I put my drink down or out of frame. And don’t think that the excuse “no one can see what’s in my red solo cup” is gonna fly anymore: we all know its alcoholic.

So as much as you want to have a picture proving your awesomeness as you do that kegstand or shotgun that beer, try to avoid it. And remember, even if you’re 21, drinking in a lot of situations still violates university policy, and they’ll get you for that. Even worse, it makes you look like a person of low moral character, and employers will judge you, dumb as it is.

Untag Liberally
You’re right, sometimes there’s nothing you can do, you end up in that picture double fisting 40’s and making out with someone you don’t know, but who’s definitely not your girlfriend. Yes it’s an epic picture, and you should probably make a mental note of where it exists so you can find it later, but untag that right now. Setting your profile to “private” so only your friends can see it isn’t enough. The university and employers will find your photos somehow.

If a photo is untagged, unless it’s in your album, it’s much harder to trace to you. Take a couple minutes one day soon and go through your own albums and take down pictures of you drinking or doing anything illegal or against university policy. And then untag other people’s photos of the same nature. It kind of sucks, because these are a lot of the best pictures of you, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

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