# The effects of eating cordite



## Colin Parkinson (12 May 2020)

The effects of eating cordite. I wondered if this habit was also done Canadian troops there?

https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/jramc/1/4/277.full.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0pSCVuQmmhvgDsp7hQxvxNTCA8MudZGE6xMU9lKWuA5idfidQNHwrMf5M


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## Kirkhill (12 May 2020)

The Canary Girls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Girls


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## AmmoTech90 (12 May 2020)

Interesting.  I have suffered from a nitroglycerine headache once after grinding up dynamite for testing.  I forgot to open the window above the lab bench for around 15 minutes.  By that afternoon I was experiencing the worst headache I have ever experienced; it mirrored Maj Jennings' experience, lasting almost 36 hours with no sleep.  The only relief was given by smoking and drinking coffee.  Of course this is well known effect of nitroglycerine, I never experienced any of the other effects described such as mania or sleepiness, but then drinking was the last thing on my mind.
There are apocryphal stories about the consumption of C4 during the Vietnam War to get high (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279680/).  That I have never been tempted to eat.


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## Fishbone Jones (12 May 2020)

Old school blasters used to keep a small chunk of dynamite in their pocket to provide a constant flow of nitro into their bodies. As long as nitro was present, they wouldn't get what was called a 'dynamite headache'.


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## Jarnhamar (12 May 2020)

[quote author=AmmoTech90]
There are apocryphal stories about the consumption of C4 during the Vietnam War to get high 
[/quote]
I used to read a lot of non-fiction Vietnam war novels and I remember that getting brought up a few times. Grunts popping open claymore mines and eating the C4 to get high.


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## GAP (12 May 2020)

Never heard of it until now...Why would you when you could get 100 prerolled thick joints for a carton of mentol cigarettes ($1.44 at PX)....


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## Blackadder1916 (12 May 2020)

https://theychewcordite.wordpress.com/

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19031121.2.39


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## Dana381 (12 May 2020)

Makes me wonder if the first guy to try this was trying to kill himself and got high instead. Probably thought he was in the afterlife until he came down and realized the war was still on.


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## tomahawk6 (13 May 2020)

There is a history of ingesting salt peter.  ;D


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## medicineman (13 May 2020)

AmmoTech90 said:
			
		

> Interesting.  I have suffered from a nitroglycerine headache once after grinding up dynamite for testing.  I forgot to open the window above the lab bench for around 15 minutes.  By that afternoon I was experiencing the worst headache I have ever experienced; it mirrored Maj Jennings' experience, lasting almost 36 hours with no sleep.  The only relief was given by smoking and drinking coffee.



I give people wicked headaches all the time with nitro...takes their minds off their chest pain and heart failure though.

And yes, caffeine is still an effective drug for certain types of headache - one of the reasons it's in Excedrin and Anacin.

MM


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## Old Sweat (13 May 2020)

I recall reading about the use of cordite or some other explosive by MIR Commandoes in the bad, old days.


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