Ask Smartee

“Does anybody know if the black carbon stuff left on your cookware after cooking over a campfire is bad for you? What about the Al from your cookware? Man, are we all going to get alzheimer's eventually?”

“If you don't lick it off, it won't make you sick (or your tongue black). However, if you let it build up too much, since it is the same crap that builds up in fireplace/wood stove chimneys, it might ignite someday. Otherwise, barring your using chemically treated lumber for your campfires, the soot (creosote) shouldn't hurt you.

From what I've seen in various discussions of aluminum, the link with Alzheimer's has not been substantiated. However, there have been studies that suggest a link between working as a miner of metallic ores and Alzheimer's. My father-in-law was an iron miner and was felled by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Many theories and correlations under examination, little definitive results. However, one point that has been made is that aluminum is so abundant in the environment, you are exposed to it much more through other avenues than you would through your cookware.”

“Yes.”

“is good for you... if you use the same pots on a stove it heats faster and uses less fuel”

“It's not proven that ingesting the Al is what causes alzheimer's, it's that it seems to have accumulated in the brains of patients; they may be pre-disposed.





That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Otherwise we'll have to give up drinking beer from cans!!!!”

“Creosote causes cancer in lab rats. As long as you aren't a lab rat, you should be fine. Heavy metals in large enough doses cause DNA damage as well as other cellular damage. Aluminum is a heavy metal. Don't chew chunks off your cook pot and you should be fine.”

“Yes, but the inside of your Al beer can is coated with some sort of polymer. No?”

“the inside of my beer can is coated with saliva after I rip open the can and lick out the residue. A beer would be kinda nice right now... ya think?”

“who cares....its beer and its worth the risk”

“Mmmmmmmm, beer..”

“I knew a jazz saxophonist who maintained that disco caused homosexuality in rats. He never produced any references, tho'.”

“If you drink significant amounts of beer from cans, however, you'll ingest small amounts of Al from the top of the can where your teeth touch. Lab rats were severely impaired after they drank an entire 6 pack!”

“Let's hear it for bottled beer!!!”

“if you drink enough beer from cans to be effected by the Al you have other things to worry about, how do you spell cirrosis?”

“Soooooo....it's not the beer causing the short-term memory loss? It's the can? Wow, only bottles for me from now on!!!”

“Uh,..... what was this thread about?”

“Awesome! If you drink from cans you can blame the Al for waking up next to ugly strangers! And... if you get Alzheimers you won't remember them!”

“pass me a bottle! :)”

“Wait, are bottle caps aluminum or tin?”

“what about the glue they use to paste the label on? is that non toxic?”

“99 bottles of beer on the wall...

Uh, where was I?”

“"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."”

“Yeah, that's a classic!”

“They're either tin or steel, skully. I've seen plenty of rusty bottle caps, so I'm guessing steel.

Glue: that's on the outside of the bottle, so unless you're spending a lot of time licking beer off the outside of your bottle, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Back to bottlecaps, an interesting tidbit about the USSR. The caps that they used to use (AFAIK, still do) on domestic vodka bottles were like foil. So when you opened the bottle, the cap was destroyed. A lot of Russians used this as an excuse to go ahead and finish the bottle the first night, since they were afraid the vodka would spill and be wasted if they tried to save it for another night.”

“After I drink a lot of beer from a can, I have trouble finding my way home.

Oh, wait, come to think of it, I have the same problem when I drink bottled or draft beer.”

“after drinking i have no trouble finding my way home...its remembering which way i took and how i got there that i have trouble remembering”

“..early stages of Alzheimer's setting in...

It's all SmarteeBiz's fault!”

“Two beer threads in one day? I may have to pick up a growler at the microbrewery on the way home. They've got a great brown ale.”

“mmmm....microbrewery growlers....mmmmmm”

“64 oz. of bliss!”

“I think a stop at Hop's is in order today, a Nectar is sounding pretty good right now.”

“what do they charge for a growler in your area? $9.75 here.”

“i prefer the aligator ale.”

“wait how did this happen...from black soot on the bottom of a pot to beer at the local micro brewery?”

“<snif>...I can't get one...no microbreweries here...”

“It's almost Miller time, that's how vyx.”

“Same here baume, except it is $6 on Sunday.”

“$6 dollar pitchers on thursdays at the one down the strret from my house”

“wait! what's a growler??

maybe I knew once. who knows? who cares!”

“A big bottle of beer, refillable usually, that one buys at a microbrewery.”

“I haven't bought one here, but if you are ever in Anchorage, the Alaska Railroad Brewery sells them and has great beer.”

“hmm, looks like we should get to the bottom of this.

I volunteer to open this Henry Weinhard's Northwest Trail Blonde Lager and send the cap in for spectral analysis {pshhooooosh}”

“Oh, you guys are at work still?

darn, sucks to be you”

“Did somebody say... Trail Blonde?”

“The only problem with buying a growler is that it is easier for my sons to steal beer. If I buy a six pack they sneak one or two pretty easy. If I buy a couple of pint bottles it is almost impossible for them to get away with it.”

“Hmm. You should master the magic marker/initials/recap techniques my grandmother used on me.

Then again, all you really have to show the vice squad that shows up with your drunk children in tow is due diligence...”

“Yep, the marker and recap work good on the pint bottle over an evening. Might work on the growler too. Individual beers from a six pack are slippery, though.”

“Separate beer fridge with large lock on it.

Should be sufficient.”

“At least you're not drinking vodka which is easily diluted with water and very hard to detect an infringement.

Oh. How do I know that?”

“you can always play my favorite beer deterent game "BEERHUNTER"... this is a little different from the Bob & Doug McKenzie version.

I have a free loading friend that always swipes beer... one day I warmed up some water/vinegar/salt poured it in a beer bottle put the cap back on (twist off) and stuck it in the fridge. The vacuum created will make the bottle make the pfft noise when you take the cap off. The look on his face made me wish I had it on video!”