Recently I was having an argument regarding aluminum and whether it's safe to use for smoking out of. People kept sending links to threads on this forum with people arguing different non-sense like "you can't burn aluminum" or "the melting point is such and such and lighter won't get nearly that hot" as well as other bullcrap about Alzheimer's. this is the line that I see most often used so I will be talking about this mostly: "it's impossible to get aluminum in your toke because the melting point is too high" no, and yes, while true your lighter won't get hot enough to melt or burn the aluminum, there is something else that happens when you burn things. This is called Oxidization, and oxidization only requires heat and oxygen which hey we are providing. In fact, aluminum oxide is already present and the entire thing is slowly decaying into this compound just from sitting in the atmosphere. (this means the reaction is only made faster by our lighters), the Aluminum oxide can become airborne (don't make me link studies please but I will if you wanna be a butt head) and it can build up in your blood stream/liver. TLDR; yes you are inhaling aluminum, and yes it can build up and cause toxicity, you should generally try to avoid this. TLDR2; there are people that actually die from this although it's mostly just heroin users that smoke out of tin foil. and arguably it could be something in the heroin reacting with the metal but is it worth taking a chance? TLDR3; Probably fine if you smoke a few times out of tin foil, im sure most people have, what im saying is its definitely not safe long term and should be avoided
If what you say is true that would coincide with how I viewed the issue. I smoke on occasion and almost exclusively use my brass pipe. For some reason I feel there is no potential hazard with brass but I have no good reason to be confident in that. I suppose baking with ceramic or glass is probably one of the safest methods of consumption. I wonder if lighters (the gas or metal components) are potentially hazardous?
@NorseMythology, good question. I know I've heard concern about inhaling butane, which some people avoid by using a hemp wick or similar item.
My god. As a teenager I smoked a crap ton of weed out of disposable homemade pipes of toilet paper rolls and tin foil. I'm fifty now, I don't do that anymore now of course, but it hasn't killed me obviously. I think people have gotten way too hysterical about the whole tin foil thing. The cannabis smoke and tar are probably doing a heck of a lot more damage.
If you guys went to chemistry class you'd know every combustion reaction of a carbon based fuel ends in CO2 and h20. Which are relatively safe to inhale. However that's assuming our fuel is pure. So always buy the highest refined butane available to you.
I assume the "inhaling butane" concerned people are worried about fuel that's not combusted leaving the lighter (e.g. before it sparks). But who knows, I've never sided with those folks anyhow.
I do worry more about the soot from candle flame lighters. The black deposits when a lighter is held under something go somewhere. I inhale my share, I am sure from a Vapor Genie as the flame is drawn directly through the heat dispersing stone.
Yes that soot is called "incomplete combustion" and it often leaves carbon and other metal oxides behind. Depending on the materials you are smoking out of it can be potentially dangerous. IE aluminum foil Inhaling small amounts of butane is relatively safe. People often abuse it as an inhalant. Sooooo the small ammount of butane that dosnt combust shouldnt affect your health whatsoever.