Iron-Gall Ink's Taste...

[rockspyder]

Going through my usual routine of filling pens, including filling a trusty steed (a 149) with MB Midnight Blue, I somehow managed to get a small drop on my finger, which I somehow ended up licking, and tasted for the first time that this ink tastes like blood!

 

OK now wait...dont get the wrong ideas here... ....I dont normally taste my inks, nor am I a vampire of sorts, habitually imbibing blood - but most of us have tasted our own blood, from a bitten tongue, or a trip to the dentist, or some other wound or whatever - you get my drift, right? :embarrassed_smile:

 

Anyway, I immediately took out a bottle of Lamy blue-black as well, and tasted a drop - same thing, blood taste! It makes sense, the ferrous content in an iron-gall will explain the taste.

 

I just found this rather interesting, and it is probably an accurate way of determining whether an ink is iron-gall (and therefore permanent) or not.

[RainbowBright]

Going through my usual routine of filling pens, including filling a trusty steed (a 149) with MB Midnight Blue, I somehow managed to get a small drop on my finger, which I somehow ended up licking, and tasted for the first time that this ink tastes like blood!

 

OK now wait...dont get the wrong ideas here... ....I dont normally taste my inks, nor am I a vampire of sorts, habitually imbibing blood - but most of us have tasted our own blood, from a bitten tongue, or a trip to the dentist, or some other wound or whatever - you get my drift, right? :embarrassed_smile:

 

Anyway, I immediately took out a bottle of Lamy blue-black as well, and tasted a drop - same thing, blood taste! It makes sense, the ferrous content in an iron-gall will explain the taste.

 

I just found this rather interesting, and it is probably an accurate way of determining whether an ink is iron-gall (and therefore permanent) or not.

 

I think I'll stick with reading the label to determine whether it's iron gall. Do you know how many calories there are in those inks?

[WestLothian]

The smell test may be safer and less likely to give you a blue/black tongue?

[The Good Captain]

Next time you do it, post a video of it on You Tube. It will make a fascinating alternative to some of Noodler's ones!

[lapis]

... an accurate way of determining whether an ink is iron-gall (and therefore permanent) or not.

Does that mean that once you get it onto your tongue, you'll never get it off?

 

[paolino_paperino]

Don't many IG inks have phenol in them? If I remember correctly phenol is quite toxic. I do not know how much phenol there would be in the typical ink, though.

[RobbW]

I've heard rumors phenol is toxic to factory workers who breathe it day in and day out. I also know phenol is an ingredient in Chloroseptic throat spray. So I don't know if that is a difference in type of phenol, in inhaling vs. drinking, or something else. Overeager government regulation?

[Manny]

Whatever Count Inkula...

 

 

Get it like Count Dracula but with ink...... (sigh)

[rockspyder]

:roflmho: :roflmho: :roflmho:

OK, OK, really, I just licked my finger, I did not gulp down the bottles!

 

The label usually does not say much...

 

Yes, phenol is an ingredient in certain oral antiseptics, but it is not meant to be swallowed, and harmless if used correctly.

Neither of these inks contain any detectable amount of phenol.

 

As for the permanent tongue, it would have to dry out first, hopefully that is never necessary!

 

Well, the sun is down, the moon is unusually full, and count Inkula has work do do....

[Sasha Royale]

At the next pen show, maybe they will hold an ink tasting.

I don't know much about it. Is there a chaser? Are the

tasters expected to spit the ink onto the floor, or swallow?

 

Will someone explain he technique, please.

[rockspyder]

At the next pen show, maybe they will hold an ink tasting.

I don't know much about it. Is there a chaser? Are the

tasters expected to spit the ink onto the floor, or swallow?

 

Will someone explain he technique, please.

:roflmho:

I'm told, in wine tasting, the five steps are: See, Swirl, Sniff, Slurp, Spit....

And not on the floor, in a proper spittoon!

[mik86]

I think blood tastes the way it does because it has iron. Iron is necessary for the hemoglobin to bind oxygen. Iron gall ink... should taste similar, if it actually contains iron.

[impossiblebird]

Don't many IG inks have phenol in them? If I remember correctly phenol is quite toxic. I do not know how much phenol there would be in the typical ink, though.

 

 

I've heard rumors phenol is toxic to factory workers who breathe it day in and day out. I also know phenol is an ingredient in Chloroseptic throat spray. So I don't know if that is a difference in type of phenol, in inhaling vs. drinking, or something else. Overeager government regulation?

 

Pharmacist's iron gall ink, for instance, contains phenol at 1g/litre; it acts as preservative and modifies the ink's viscosity. It also has a characteristic smell. Since the minimum lethal ingested dose of phenol is 14mg per kilo of body weight, someone weighing 71kg would need to drink a litre of that particular ink to stand a reasonable chance of poisoning themselves to death with it. Inhalation of a poison usually speeds up its action, and exposure is more tightly controlled in the work environment, as the opportunities for exposure to larger quantities increase. As an ex laboratory scientist, I'd say that was a very good thing. Without safety legislation, it's a toss-up as to whether I would by now have poisoned or irradiated myself to death, although I suppose it's entirely possible I've not yet dodged all possible work-related bullets.

 

Phenol is apparently still used at the same sort of concentration (1g/litre) in some mouthwashes for its antiseptic properties, but my own bottle of cherry flavour ultrachloraseptic contains the antiseptic cetylpyridinium chloride, the local anaesthetic benzocaine, carriers, buffers and flavouring ... and no phenol. The phenol derivative methyl salicylate is probably more commonly found in mouthwash, and is a great deal less toxic, than phenol (minimum reported lethal dose 100 mg/kg) ... but highest risk surely comes from the presence of alcohol at 7 - 25% (ie 14 - 50 proof in American), though some formulations have contained up to 37% (by volume). So a 500ml bottle of mouthwash at just 7% contains as much alcohol as two glasses of wine. While the jury's still out on any associated increased risk of oral cancer, there have been many reported fatal, and near-fatal, poisonings of children through swallowing mouthwash, the first of these in 1980, according to the BMJ. In some surveys of poisonings involving products containing alcohol, 97% were not beverages but other substances, which included perfumes and mouthwash. And yet how many of these products even come with reliably tamper-proof lids? Fortunately, we can choose alcohol-free formulations.