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Anyway, I'm hanging out one day and in walks Marc Olson, Bucketeer and pre-med student at that time.

I occasionally chew tobacco, and so does Mark. I chew Redman "leaf", and Marc, being a pussy, chews (or rather sucks on) Skoal Bandits - which are known in the vernacular as "tampons" due to the fact that they're little tea bag shaped puches of snuff, for pretty boys and fags who can't handle the real thing.

So Marc mentions that he's heard that if you soak a bandit in brandy or other strong liquer that it gives you a strong nicotine buzz. The theory is that the alcohol strips the mucus lining in your mouth, and disolves the nicotine faster, and thus pumps it into your bloodstream several times faster than normal.

So, what the hell. We soak a handfull in whiskey and shove about 3 each between our cheek and gum. Guess what? It works!

So, being the creative types we are -- if a little alcohol works, imagine what a LOT of alcohol will do?! It so happens that I always try to keep a few bottles of Everclear on hand. I assume everybody knows that Everclear is 190 proof grain alcohol, the closest thing you can make to pure alcohol. By comparison, normal whiskey is 80 proof, and extra-strong stuff such as Wild Turkey is 101 proof.

So, we soak a new batch in Everclear, and pack those bad boys in.

DAMN! After a few seconds they really started to burn! For those that have never chewed, let me inform you that regular chew has a burn to it. Not horrible, but about the level of tobasco sauce. It's part of what I like about chew. But this was a REAL burn. Dang! So my eyes are watering, and I'm hopping around from one foot to the other, but I'm not going to take it out darn it.

After about 5 minutes the burn had more or less subsided, but the pain had blocked out whatever nicotine effect there may have been. So I open my mouth and pull out the tampon. And along with it comes a perfectly square patch of skin. Ugh. The alcohol and tobaco juice combination was too strong. It killed all the skin it came in contact with, which stuck to the wrapper of the bandit - and left me with these nice little 1/2" X 3/4" rectangular raw patches in my mouth, on both the inside of my cheek and my gums.

It was like having three of the largest canker sores in the history of mankind. They took about a week to heal.

So, kids. Let that be a lesson to you. Don't be a stark raving idiot.

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Peaceof the ^reaction
Have FUN-Bee SAFE

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The liquid obtained by condensation of vapor in a distillation is known as the distillate.
If a mixture of volatile substances is distilled, the vapor will be richer in the more volatile component. For example, the distillate obtained from the the distillation of wine has a higher alcohol content than the wine, because alcohol is more volatile than water. Small percentages of minor components that impart flavor and aroma also are found in the distillate, which is known as brandy. However, a single simple distillation does not effect complete separation of the components of wine. If several components of a mixture have similar volatilities, repeated distillations may be necessary for complete saturation.

A fractionating column effects in a single operation what may require several simple distillations. This procedure is called fractional distillation. The column has a packing such as glass beads that provides cooling space where part of the vapor condenses as it moves upward from the distilling flask. The condensed liquid is richer in the least volatile component. As the condensed liquid trickles down the beads toward the distillation flask, it comes in contact with fresh vapor moving upward from the flask. Because the vapor is hotter than the liquid on the beads, heat interchange occurs. As a result, the more volatile part of the liquid vaporizes and the less volatile part of the vapor condenses. Thus the vapor becomes further enriched in the more volatile component. Because many such heat interchanges occur along the column, only the most volatile component or components of the mixture are finally able to reach the condenser and escape.
Fractional distillation is used to separate crude oil into fractions. Commercially this is done using equipment of very sophisticated design. The fractions referred to as gasoline, kerosene, and lubricating oil differ in volatilities. The more volatile component, gasoline, boils in the the approximate range of 60-150°C, whereas kerosene and lubricating oil boil in the 150-250°C and 250-350°C ranges respectively.

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Ibee realizes that this may be common knowledge for some, but he had a hard time understanding what exactly was taking place until he started reading and learning, and the above helped him to understand more about fractional distillation!
Hope this helps some bees!

Former_MadPsyentist:According to the CRC, no azeotropes are formed by the MIK ..with ethanol in the binary system, but in the ternary system it only lists azeotropes with...ETHANOL...METHYLETHYL KETONE...and WATER...but NOT MIK.
Peaceof the ^reaction
Have FUN-Bee SAFE

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what about drying your 95% EtOH with MgSO4?
is there some reason this will no work?

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Magnesium sulfate is soluble in ethanol, thus it's not a good choice for drying it. Calcium oxide is the traditional method Molecular sieve 3A would work Azeotropic distillation using benzene is the recommended route for drying, if drinking it isn't the goal, a little known method of drying ethanol is to boil out the azeotrope of dichloromethane and water; it's boiling point is 38.1° C, and is composed of 1.8% water. See Jour Soc Chem Ind 61 and Chem Ind 20 120 (1942) for more details Using magnesium as described in Vogel's is another good method