Drinking straw

Eight drinking straws.
A pink bendy straw in a drink

A drinking straw is a short tube for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker. A thin tube of plastic (such as polypropylene and polystyrene) or other material, straight or with an angle-adjustable bellows segment, it is used by being held with one end in the mouth and another end in the drink. Muscular action reduces air pressure in the mouth and above the liquid in the straw, whereupon atmospheric pressure forces the beverage through the straw.

History

The first known straws were made by the Sumerians, and were used for drinking beer,[1] probably to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation that sink to the bottom. The oldest drinking straw in existence, found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 B.C.E., was a gold tube inlaid with the precious blue stone lapis lazuli.[1] Argentines and their neighbors used a similar metallic device called a bombilla, that acts as both a straw and sieve for drinking mate tea for hundreds of years.[1]

In the 1800s, the rye grass straw came into fashion because it was cheap and soft, but it had an unfortunate tendency to turn to mush in liquid.[1] To address these shortcomings, Marvin C. Stone patented the modern drinking straw, made of paper, in 1888.[2] He came upon the idea while drinking a mint julep on a hot day in Washington, D.C.; the taste of the rye was mixing with the drink and giving it a grassy taste, which he found unsatisfactory.[1] He wound paper around a pencil to make a thin tube, slid out the pencil from one end, and applied glue between the strips.[1] He later refined it by building a machine that would coat the outside of the paper with wax to hold it together, so the glue wouldn't dissolve in bourbon.[1]

Early paper straws had a narrow bore similar to that of the grass stems then in common use. It was common to use two of them, to reduce the effort needed to take each sip. (The cocktail straw, which is sometimes used in pairs, may be derived from such early straws.) Modern plastic straws are made with a larger bore, and only one is needed for ease of drinking.

Health and environment

One particular advantage of using a straw when drinking is the reduction of tooth decay. Many soft drinks have acidic properties, and using a straw reduces the liquid contact with the teeth, particularly the anterior teeth, reducing tooth decay and the risk of cavities.[3][4]

Drinking straws are a form of plastic consumption when made, and become a landfill item when discarded. Made from polypropylene, they are strong and can be reused rather than recycled into other products. Waste straws in Uganda are collected from beer and soft drink depots, cleaned, and woven into mats for picnics and prayers or joined to form bags.[5]

Types

A depiction of the various widths of drinking straws. Size in mm.

Nicholson Baker's novel, The Mezzanine (1988), includes a detailed discussion of various types of drinking straws experienced by the narrator and their relative merits.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Amazing History and the Strange Invention of the Bendy Straw", Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, November 22, 2011.
  2. US 375962, Stone, Marvin, "Artificial straw", issued 1888
  3. Saved By A Straw? Sipping Soft Drinks And Other Beverages Reduces Risk Of Decay
  4. "Sipping Soda Through a Straw May Cut Cavities". Webmd.com. 2005-06-17. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  5. "Strong, durable and re-usable bags made from waste drinking straws in Uganda". Strawbags. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  6. Friedman and the Flexible Straw
  7. Catherine Hollander (October 2014). "A Brief History of the Straw". Bon Appetite Magazine. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  8. Judith Bluestone (2005). The fabric of autism : weaving the threads into a cogent theory. Sapphire Enterprises. p. 182. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  9. Milk plant monthly, Volume 45, p. 68 (1956), quote: "New Flavored Straws For Use in Milk Drinks [...] A new type of straw with built-in flavor for use with milk drinks has been introduced by Flav-R Straws, Inc."
  10. "Drinking Straw Explained"

External links

Look up drinking straw in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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