sipping cider through a straw

[piptik]

Is there any scientific basis to the teenage theory that drinking booze through a straw gets you drunk quicker? I have one party saying it's psychosomatic and I reckon it's true - but how, and why?

[libertie]

Probably an old wives tale piptik, but I was told that it was something to do with not getting a mouthful of air while you were drinking - therefore the alcohol would be less diluted or something along these lines!!

[camille79]

I thought this was partially true on the basis that you were inhaling part of the alcohol rather than ingesting it, thus the alcohol will hit your bloodstream quicker.  And so you could get drunk quicker but the eventual alcohol consumed will be the same.

I'm not a scientist though so will be gladly corrected!

[frizzytwig]

I think it stems from holidaying abroad.  Years ago you would have never been given a straw in your drink in the UK, but abroad you always did, and invariably you always got drunk quickly.  This is probably more to do with the amount of alcohol in the drink than the fact that you are drinking from a straw.  I've used straws here and abroad and only seem to get pie eyed when on my hols.

[JOEYSHABADO]

If you drink something alcoholic, the degree to which you get drunk is partly mediated by the degree to which you think you are getting drunk. This is called the 'think drink' effect and is extremely robust. If you think that using a straw will make you drunker faster, it will.

[amarillis]

Persons who drink beer with a straw are possibly already drunk, obiter dictum. It is indeed correct that when you drink beer with a straw you get drunk faster compared to when you drink beer in a regular way. When creating a vacuum while sucking on the straw, the boiling point of alcohol drops (in normal circumstances 79 degrees Centigrade) and alcohol vapours are created in the straw. These vapours are inhaled in the lungs, and via that way the alcohol gets into the blood much faster than the alcohol that ends up in the stomach by drinking it the normal way.
Moreover, beer gets into the mouth by means of a straw in very narrow jets, as a result of which it has a larger surface in the oral cavity. As a result of this more alcohol can evaporate before it is swallowed. The palate (with a loot of blood circulation inside) already absorbs part of the alcohol vapours. Also this is a shorter way for the alcohol to get into the blood and to make you drunk faster.
When drinking the same amount of beer the effects on one�s health remain the same whether you drink the beer in a normal way or with a straw, provided that one gets drunk faster when drinking with a straw. The total amount of alcohol does not change.

(from beer and health website: http://www.bierengezondheid.be/index_eng.jsp?Page=Doc231&Doc=forum )

[JOEYSHABADO]

Yeah but u look like a girly boy when u do it though.