An idea - Anti-bacterial copper mouthpieces?

Atty

Well-Known Member
Hello guys,

I kind of had an idea recently I thought I'd share just in case anyone thought it was any good.

First off, I'm one of those people who tends to catch every little bug that's doing the rounds, and sharing the mouthpiece on my vaporizer with friends is probably one of the main ways I'm catching these bugs. However, It's a bit of a chore changing the mouthpiece every time someone takes a drag.

I heard about a recent study conducted in a UK hospital where they replaced a variety of commonly used surfaces and objects (door handles, taps, etc) with copper to see if it made any difference to the spread of infections around the hospital, and apparently the results were extremely positive. According to wikipedia, this is due to something called the 'oligodynamic effect', which makes copper lethal to many types of harmful bacteria and viruses. Also, copper seems to be a pretty safe material for people as long as they don't suffer from something like Wilson's Disease (which causes copper to build up in your organs instead of being properly transported away by the body).

I was wondering if this would make copper a good material for making mouthpieces out of? Any thoughts? Would this be a cool idea, or am I just talking rubbish? :)

Thanks,

Atty.
 
Atty,

Purple-Days

Well-Known Member
Copper has much the same metal taste as aluminum. Stick an old penny (made with copper) in your mouth. Bitter.

Silver has much the same effect on bacteria yet has no taste. Hence 'born with a silver spoon in his mouth'. The rich used silver and had less disease (for a variety of reasons). Silver is not expensive and a jeweler might work something up for you.
 
Purple-Days,
  • Like
Reactions: Vlampo

Atty

Well-Known Member
Hi PurpleDays,

Ah, yeah - forgot about the taste of copper! D'oh. No one would want to put something that tastes like blood in their mouths. :)

Silver is a quite cool idea, heck, the price of some vaporizers is so high a bit of silver on the mouthpiece wouldn't be unreasonable!

Thanks,
Atty.
 
Atty,
Top Bottom