For some people, poppers is a familiar term and its use and the details associated with it are self-evident. It has become indispensable in some areas. Others, however, have little or no knowledge of it, but have heard about it and come across this document. The aim of this document is to fill knowledge gaps or provide additional information to educate and inform about poppers history. First of all, poppers are a liquid made from chemicals of the alkyl nitrite family, such as amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, isoamyl nitrite, isopropyl nitrite and isobutyl nitrite.
From its beginnings to today
Poppers are often incorrectly referred to as nitrates, which is a similar but different chemical. The composition varies depending on the brand and production line, and different ingredients, additives and flavours are added. This results in a highly flammable and volatile liquid of clear or yellowish colour that comes in small, dark brown glass bottles with brightly coloured packaging. The bottles have bright colours and labels such as “Jungle Juice”, “Liquid Gold”, “Rush”, “Rave”, “Purple Haze” and “Buzz”. The contents vaporise at room temperature into an inhalable vapour with an intense, distinctive chemical odour.
For decades, amyl nitrite has been well known and still consumed by men who have sex with men. It has become an integral part of the mainly gay scene. The substance is inhaled recreationally directly from the typical vials to enhance the sexual experience or to experience a general feeling of pleasure. Since possession and consumption are not punishable, but trafficking is, poppers are sold on the internet and in sex shops under many synonyms. Room scent, leather polish, aromas and many other terms describe one and the same thing: Poppers.
Poppers has had an interesting journey before becoming one of the most common and ubiquitous accessories for many queer men.
History of Poppers -1900 century
In the past, drugs containing nitrites were used as heart and obstetric aids and to treat chest pain (angina pectoris) and cyanide poisoning, including amyl nitrite.
Amyl nitrite was first synthesised in 1844 by the French chemist Antoine Balard, who noticed dizziness due to the smell of the substance, which is known today as a consequence of falling blood pressure. In the years that followed, other scientists discovered other physical effects such as throbbing arteries, facial flushing and increased heart rate. The British physiologist Benjamin Ward Richardson theorised in 1864 that the substance caused vasodilation and that no other known substance had such a profound effect on the heart. In 1867, the Scottish physician Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton summarised all the previous research results and described the medical applications of amyl nitrite after he was able to achieve relief in a patient with angina pectoris attacks by administering a few drops on a cloth.
Although doctors worldwide learned of Brunton’s discovery, they were reluctant to use amyl nitrite as a standard treatment. Perhaps because of its characteristic intoxication. However, it was increasingly used as the standard treatment for angina pectoris before it was later replaced by more modern vasodilators such as nitroglycerin. In the early 1900s, patients were given tin cans containing glass ampoules of amyl nitrite. Which they could open during an attack and inhale the amyl nitrite. The sound of breaking glass then gave this substance its name “Poppers“
Poppers in the 1960s
After almost 100 years of legal medical use of amyl nitrite, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA decided to approve poppers as an over-the-counter drug. However, this was also the time when the status and use of poppers changed. With the introduction of nitroglycerin tablets as the preferred treatment for angina pectoris, the medical demand for poppers decreased and the market shrank. Manufacturers looked for new ways to sell the product. And some quickly found that it was already being used as a recreational drug.
At the same time, poppers also became one of the many drugs used by GIs during the Vietnam War. Because they were easy to obtain, the bottles were advertised as light and as an “antidote to gun violence”, they quickly became a popular choice. As with many drugs consumed during the war, soldiers brought the use of poppers back to the US.
Queer aspects in history
In the book In Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics, Richard Davenport-Hines suggests that patients who were prescribed amyl nitrite felt a pleasurable effect outside their chest. And that inhaling the substance may have increased sexual arousal. It is unclear whether this pathway led to the emergence of poppers in clubs. Social scientist Toby Lea of the German Institute for Addiction and Prevention Research, who studies the intersection of drug use and queer communities, finds it plausible that people who used poppers in a prescribed manner quickly became aware of other uses. Lea noted that with any prescription drug, people quickly discover the psychoactive effects. And that many drugs originated in the gay scene before spilling over into other cultures.
In the late 1960s, at the time of Stonewall, the first commercial brand of poppers called “Locker Room” was available in Los Angeles. It was a different form of alkyl nitrite (with similar effects) called isobutyl nitrite. Which could be used to circumvent prescription requirements. Soon, virtually everyone in the club scene knew Poppers.
Denton Callander, associate director of New York University’s Spatial Epidemiology Lab, who specialises in sex and queer communities, believes the disco scene was a key element in the spread of poppers. He explains that the disco was the place where people from marginalised groups experienced pleasurable rebellion. And that the dance floors were a nightly breeding ground for interactions between people from all walks of life. The introduction of poppers into this volatile, promiscuous mix led to a veritable explosion. Although it wasn’t just gay men who used poppers during disco, they were particularly popular because of their practicality for gay sex. The amber flannels soon became popular in gay bathhouses, where gay men met to relax and engage in sexual activity.
Exciting effects
Jason Orne, a sociologist at Drexel University, explains that there are deeper reasons for the consumption of poppers. He refers to the concept of minority stress. Where stigmatised groups experience psychological pain due to harassment, discrimination and similar experiences, which puts them at increased risk of physical and mental health problems. In such situations, people often look for ways to feel pleasure and power. And therefore consume more alcohol, take more drugs, and have more sex.
Orne refers to Gayle Rubin, a cultural anthropologist and sexual theorist, who speaks of a charmed circle. This means that society considers certain types of sex as “good” or “moral”, such as heterosexuality, monogamy and nüchtern sex. Queer sex and other forms of sex that are considered “bad” by society are outside this circle. People who are already outside this circle often also start to question the moral concepts of society in general.
Social bonds can also be formed through communal spaces such as dance floors. Orne refers to this phenomenon as “naked intimacy”. Where people feel more connected to each other in sexually charged settings such as discos, especially when they have extracurricular experiences under the influence of drugs. Poppers enable discotheque-goers to share a common experience and bond with other people.
People often share very intimate details about their lives and have very deep conversations with people they barely know because they have done drugs together or had sex in the same room, Orne said. This makes strangers feel connected to each other and creates a sense of community.
Poppers in the 1970s
Two homosexual men with an entrepreneurial spirit spotted a lucrative business opportunity and took advantage of it. The first was Clifford Hassing, a medical student who trademarked his “Locker Room” product in 1974. The biggest player in this market, however, was W. Jay Freezer, who two years later founded the Pacific Western Distributing Company in San Francisco. And began selling poppers under the name Rush. The name was chosen because of the brief intoxicating effects that poppers can produce. Although amyl nitrite had previously been classified as a prescription drug by the FDA, Freezer managed to change the formula to isobutyl nitrite and sell the product as a “liquid room fragrance”. Poppers made a comeback in the mid-1970s and were marketed as room fragrances in places like record stores, boutiques and porno book stores.
Meanwhile, New York nightclubs sprayed amyl nitrite into the air to create a „collective euphoria“. Poppers were also used in gay bathhouses to relax customers. Poppers were part of queer dating culture long before the digital age and were used in personals as a code word „aroma“. Which stood for poppers, for sexual preference. Some LGBTQ weeklies from the 1970s and 1980s ran full-page ads by poppers manufacturers. The ads featured drawings of muscular men on motorbikes or in the boxing ring. And told readers that they could become Adonis by sniffing Rush or Bolt.
Poppers and the 1980s
In 1985, at the height of the AIDS crisis, a study was published linking poppers to HIV infection. Although the theory was soon disproved, the stigma against these sexual inhalants remained. Adam Zmith, author of “Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures”, sees this snobbery as typical. Not only of the AIDS pandemic but of general attitudes towards queer culture.
For example, pub landlords who sold poppers were charged with selling a harmful substance. While the sale of alcohol and cigarettes in the same shop, which were more harmful and more harmful than poppers, was not prosecuted. This shows how homophobia and ignorance can affect substance control and affect a particular group of people. Although one study linked poppers to Kaposi’s sarcoma, this theory was soon dismissed by most AIDS researchers. Nevertheless, some AIDS activists vehemently advocated a ban on alkyl nitrites. And accused the poppers industry of being powerful enough to fuel a deadly epidemic.
1990s and poppers
The gay rave scene brought poppers back into club culture, and their popularity led to heterosexuals consuming them as well.
Poppers in the 2010s
The growing popularity of the internet, particularly pornography and internet pornography, has led to an increased demand for poppers. Which has become a phenomenon in its own right. While American poppers brands repeatedly escaped criminalisation through slight chemical modifications, Canada banned poppers outright. In the United Kingdom, an attempt to ban poppers under the Psychoactive Substances Act was made in 2016. But it failed due to the outcry of the queer community and the intervention of former Tory minister Crispin Blunt. Who “came out” as a popper user in the House of Commons.
Although alkyl nitrites are not the result of a miraculous moment of queer alchemy, queer people have made poppers what they are today. “Straight people doing the same thing just don’t have the same cultural connection,” Orne points out. Poppers helped us explore our sexuality and build communities to aspire to a future where we can amüs ourselves without fear. Queer liberation is always about living radically outside the restrictive norms that have confined us. Bricks, marches and Supreme Court decisions have been invaluable in the struggle. But the power of a small glass bottle cannot be underestimated.
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