All this chemistry stuff goes over my head, so while I was waiting to hear back from a chemist friend, I decided to google 'tobacco' along with each of the chemicals detected in the crystal light bottle individually.
And guess what?
Every single one on the list is associated with tobacco.
2-Butanol - Solvent, also converted to Butanone- Found in tobacco
methyl ethyl ketone - Solvent, denaturing agent, cleaning agent-Found in tobacco
Methyl Alcohol – Solvent- Found in tobacco
Disulfide, dimethyl - Insecticide - contributor of urine smell- Found in tobacco
P-cresol - Disinfectants, insecticides-Found in tobacco
Anisole - Aromatic in perfumes and insecticides-Added to tobacco for aroma
Methyl Isocyanide – Pesticides- Found in tobacco
cyclohexane, [(1-methylpropyl)thio]- - Fungicide, insecticide? Adds flavor to tobacco (eeeew!)
Trimethylamine - Manufacturing use. Main source of urine smell- Found in tobacco
Phenol - Antiseptic, herbicide- Found in tobacco
2-Nonanol, 5-ethyl- - Fungicide, insecticide?-Found in tobacco
Benzothiazole - Industrial use - binding agent?- Found in tobacco
1-Methoxycycloheptatriene - Use unknown, seems to be a neurotoxin-Found in tobacco
It's still unknown if all of these are added to Copenhagen specifically, but I don't think we'll ever know for sure since the tobacco industry does not want consumers to know of all the toxins they add.
If nothing else, it's a good reason for smokers and chewers to quit. Here we are discussing this lethal mixture and all of them are used in tobacco and consumed daily.
In my mind, I'm pretty much convinced now that the brown liquid was spit from the copenhagen, but I know others feel differently, and am still open to other ideas.
Am happy to provide links if requested, but right now I'm off to take my lil princess to the park. It's a beautiful day here.
JMO
I think websleuths has just busted another myth thanks to butwhatif. When I read this post I remembered I had a professor that I actually had twice for two different classes. In both classes on certain questions he would ask...
"Now, identify and classify the contents of a spit cup." As a cute comment to get you to thinking.
Considering this was a recurring question from him, I submitted this question to him:
"I'm coming to you, because I remember in both
classes I have taken under you, you stated a funny comment along the lines
of "okay, how would you classify the contents of a spit cup?"
I'm hoping you ask that because you already know the answer! So here's my
question.
You find an empty plastic pop bottle (i.e. empty of original contents)
and there is a brown fluid (let's say about an 1/8 of cup or less) in it
that has a smell of urine. So analytical returns this:
From the Crystal Light bottle:
2-Butanol
methyl ethyl ketone
Methyl Alcohol
Disulfide, dimethyl
P-cresol
Anisole
Methyl Isocyanide
cyclohexane, [(1-methylpropyl)thio]-
Trimethylamine
Phenol
2-Nonanol, 5-ethyl-
Benzothiazole
1-Methoxycycloheptatriene
So, of course, it's not urine...I guess the smell is coming from the
Trimethylamine. When I look at this list I see a lot of solvents, some
which could be used as propellants, but also, it appears a great deal of
these are used in the processing of tobacco.
My question: Is the contents of this bottle spit from a Copenhagen user?"
His response:
"Without researching the exact chemical composition Copenhagen spit versus any one of the other 40+ manufacturers of dip, my initial guess would be yes, this is a spit cup."
He went on to qualify himself as to why he has experience at this...He has provided guidance in cleaning up major league baseball stadiums after games. He says, on average, there's easily 100 to 200 spit cups that have to be properly handled from a waste disposal aspect.
So I think we've nailed another one!!!
I guess I'll get party hats to go with the keg.