cooker ad lib

[30_Units]

I searched a bit for this-might not have searched well enough, but oh well.

I got the idea from a post in krink's thread-didn't want to derail with what should be a whole new thread.

Do you have a cooker preference? We don't have needle-exhanges here, so I don't ever see those nifty purpose-built models one might see in the bigger cities. My household spoons are really too thick and don't have enough depth for moving tar around and getting a cotton right on the edge while still being able to draw up solution.

Something I though up the other day was to use the metal holders on the bottom of tea-candles.

http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/images/homefragrance/products/pd_unscented_tea_lights.jpg

I flattened out the patterns on the bottoms, and washed out any possible wax with really hot water. They're really thin and conduct heat really well, they work great for tar if you're adding a little soda and moving the liquid around and away from the precipitate. The only drawback is that they conduct heat so well, and they don't have handles, so burnt fingertips would be common i'd think if you had a really big shot to cook up.

What do you use? Plain 'ol kitchenware? needle-exchange cooker? Bottle cap? Lets hear it-I love junkie ingenuity.

[spider]

i go with the traditional spoon method. However, I have seen people use tea lights before. Use tweezers to hold it to avoid getting burned.

[Larkin]

tea lights were the first thing i used before i had cookers. I was doing oc so i needed something metal because of heat. They work OK, better for oc than dope because oc is too much powder and muck for a spoon. spoon = perfect for dope

[at&t]

Cool.... Thats pretty much the same thing as what they give out here at the exchange.

Except that the 'little metal cup' that they give out is (supposed to be) 100% stainless steel... Whereas the little tea-candle metal-thing is made of... Steel? Aluminum? Some Alloy?

I don't know.... I'm pretty sure that I'm just being paranoid, but I've read articles before (online and otherwise) about (for instance,) someone cooking up (the first story that comes to mind is a guy who was shooting his methadone) with an aluminum vessel of some sort, and eventually ending up with Heavy Metal Poisoning from the aluminum.... (It didn't specify what Sort of aluminum vessel, etc, but....)

Actually, I was unaware that there even Was such a thing as "aluminum poisoning..." Surprising in part just because of its ubiquity in food products/containers etc... Perhaps it has something to do with ROA (?) (IV versus swallowed) or.... Dunno... But if one were to search google, they would probably come up with at least one of the two or three stories/articles about this stuff that I have seen on the internet...

<shrugs>

Anyway, yeah... How are you holding it? At first I had no idea how one was supposed to hold the "little metal cup," and tried everything from burning my fingers trying to hold it by hand (didn't work, of course,) to using Chopsticks (of all things(!)) trying to hold Very Steady without spilling it (Which, as you can imagine, didn't work very well either...)

Eventually they informed me that you are supposed to use one of Other little things they give away-- (I'm not sure what they're called--) "Twisties," (I guess, though the Red-Underline Auto-Spellcheck tells me that its not a real word. You know-- Those little strips of thin wire embedded in a thin strip of paper or plastic that they have at the grocery store to tie shut one's bag of bread, or other food things... You guys know what I mean, I'm sure...) They have Extra Long, Extra Strong "Twisties" there at the exchange, and you just wrap it around the cooker, and don't need to burn your fingers or spill your dose.

EDIT: PS. Come to think of it, I ended up using a pair of pliers to hold it...

Anyway... Cheers folks... good plan, 30u... Over and out, at&t

[30_Units]

I read about that guy too-apparently cooked down his oral solution for years and years, in an uncoated aluminum pot. Definitely worth looking into if one was to be using such things on a somewhat regular basis. Now I feel kinda' dumb for using it-time to search out for a nice spoon like opiyum posted in the other thread.

It makes me feel good knowing I pretty much arrived at the same conclusion as a lot of other junkies and the exchanges as well though-great minds I guess.

My problem with kitchenware is how thick it is-once I get the heat up to what's needed for stirring tar, it tends to hold on to it for much too long-scalding the boot polish or whatever the fuck cut they put in it nowadays to the bottom-not good for discreet heroin use.

That and the shallow depth I noted in the op. Don't like spilling dope-no sir.

[Larkin]

They make tons of pots and pans from aluminum. I am pretty sure stainless steel has some aluminum in it. I could be wrong though.

Hemostats (the things doctors use to pinch blood vessels and stuff) work really well because they lock shut.

http://media.digikey.com/photos/Brand%2077%20Photos/2610.jpg

I have also used tweezer which work great, and even better you can wrap a rubber band around them so they stay shut too. You can just slide the band up and down to open if u need to

I have also used the bottom of a soda can or redbull can too. Both cold and with heat, if you get creative enough you can set up the can to just sit over one of those tea lights and just slide it over the candle to apply heat.

[30_Units]

Nice! Yeah-I think the aluminum thing happens when they don't coat the pot with another metal or some sort of ...i'm high.....cover? And when one cooks acids in it, very minute amounts of aluminum leak out, not a problem short-term, but if you're doing it everyday for years-of course buildup is going to take place.

I used to smoke crack with hemostats. What we'd do is soak cotton balls in isopropyl alcohol, clamp one of them in hemostats, light that and use to to apply flame to the end of the stem. It doesn't produce the black char that burning butane does, and really just tastes better in general.

Lets hear some more techniques!

[The_Highwayman]

I was always partial to the spoon, sometimes I would use a soda can flipped upside down, and in apich the cap of a water or soda bottle, but I liked spoons as when I was using at my old job there was a cafeteria there and metal soup spoons were plentiful that could be easily taken and then discarded

[red26]

W/the tea-light cookers I've always poked a few holes in it w/a safety-pin and used that to hold it. Otherwise I use the botton of a soda can.

[Raisin]

bottom of a soda can. Quick, easy, and the person you're living with doesn't notice when all of them go missing like the spoons. I once walked out of a store in a ritzy neighborhood and popped the top on a soda and started dumping it out when some old lady said "aren't you going to drink any of that?" and gave me a funny smile. I said "No, I just need the can to shoot heroin out of" just to watch her jaw drop.