Butane torch

A small butane torch made for kitchen use

A butane torch is a tool which creates an intensely hot flame using butane, a flammable gas.

Consumer air butane torches are often claimed to develop flame temperatures up to approximately 1,700 K (1,430 °C; 2,600 °F). This temperature is high enough to melt many common metals, such as aluminum and copper, and hot enough to vaporize many organic compounds as well.

Applications

Culinary

Using a torch to caramelize a crème brûlée

Butane torches are frequently employed as kitchen gadgets to caramelize sugar in cooking, such as when making crème brûlée.[1] They may be marketed as kitchen torches, cooking torches, or culinary torches. Use of the butane torch in the kitchen is not limited to caramelizing sugar; it can be used to melt or brown toppings on casseroles or soups, to melt cheese, and to roast or char vegetables such as peppers.[2]

Cigars

Pocket butane torches are commonly used as lighters for cigars, capitalizing on the intensity of the flame to light quickly and evenly the large, relatively damp, burning surface of a cigar.

Drug use

Butane torches are sometimes used in vaporizing cocaine free base (crack), methamphetamine[3] or hash oil[4] for inhalation.

Other

Other applications include metal and glass working, for which specialized nozzles may be used. Butane torches have also been recently implemented in the horticultural art of Bonsai where they are used on deadwood features to rapidly oxidize the wood giving an aged appearance.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lauterbach, Barbara (2005). The Splendid Spoonful: From Custard to Crème Brûleé. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 50. ISBN 0811845028.
  2. ↑ Blowtorches. CooksInfo.com. Published 02/22/2007. Updated 12/02/2007. Web. Retrieved 11/25/2012 from http://www.cooksinfo.com/blowtorches
  3. ↑ Lee, Gregory D. (2005). Global Drug Enforcement: Practical Investigative Techniques. Taylor & Francis. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-20348-898-0.
  4. ↑ Breathes, William (June 10, 2013). "Crazy High Times: The Rise of Hash Oil". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
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