Slam Cans!

Does everyone else have these monstrosities these days? The soda cans with the gigantic mouths, so that you can't open it without making a noise that sounds like you just snapped a glass rod and then splashes beverage all over you?

I remember a few years back when they were testing these things on Mountain Dew and I hoped that it was not going to take over the world. But it did, at least around here.

Who decided that we needed cans that were harder and messier to open?

Who decided that we needed cans that were harder and messier to open?

That would be the same geniuses who decided that it would make you drink faster, and then buy more.

--dan.

http://www.theonion.com/onion3011/cola.html

Who decided that we needed cans that were harder and messier to open?

My gut says discouraging me from opening a can is a good thing.

Of course, putting corn syrup in it already did that.

Never seen the cans myself but all of the Pepsi bottles here all seem to have the massive cap and mouth and I was wondering what the Slam bit was about.

- Trevor

Oh. Here's a picture.

I assume that you have similar cans in the UK except the opening is narrower, like a half to two-thirds as wide as that one, like we used to have here.

The problem with these new ones is that the force applied to the split line is so oblique now that it's hard to open cleanly. Sometimes if you're not careful, the tab can slip past the top altogether and only push it in a little so that you have to push it the rest of the way in with your thumb. In all cases, it requires a lot more effort than the old tabs, either to make sure you're doing it right or to make sure that it doesn't splash everywhere, as if it does push the opening in properly, once it gets around the big curve, it's got a lot of velocity downward and smacks into the liquid, often spraying it everywhere (where everywhere is all over my hand).

Okay, so I'm obsessing about it a little, but the old ones worked so well.

Yeah. The ones we've got are the original ones you had. I'm wondering who can chug soda that fast as to need a bigger opening...

- Trevor

Yeah. The ones we've got are the original ones you had. I'm wondering who can chug soda that fast as to need a bigger opening...

Well, these cans *were* originally invented for beer...

I did not know that, seeing as how I'd never touch beer in a can. And I see now who it's marketed to; the guys who actually want to drink beer from a can, AKA frat boys, essentially.

I'm waiting for someone to slice their thumb off and sue the manufacturer. They definitely have a larger failure rate than the old design.

Funny thing, when they first came out on Mountain Dew, I hated them. But apparently they slipped it past me because I never noticed Dr Pepper came in the wide mouth, but sure enough, as I look in front of me, wide mouth it is. I seem to have become fairly adept at opening them now though.

You might be onto something... I was a frat boy in college, and I actually prefer my beer from cans. Albeit rather large ones.

There's a simple solution: 2 liter bottles and a glass

I haven't had a can of soda in I don't know how long. Probably not in a few years. At least, I never drink it directly from the can. I always pour it out. In that case, these wider tops are nice.

Regardless, my friends make fun of me because I have about 8 2-liter bottles sitting on my counter. It's mostly because I hate buying a couple every 2 weeks or so, so I buy them at once. Still, they suggested I get an oversized wine rack for them, because at one point I had about 15 of them and stacked them on their side inbetween the fridge and the wall.

I loves me some Coca-cola!

There's a simple solution: 2 liter bottles and a glass

Still has the corn syrup problem. I should install my soda fountain.

There's a simple solution: 2 liter bottles and a glass

Yeah, as long as I want flat Coke all the time.

No way, man. I imagine that the average can has been shaken up way more than the bottles. Trust me, I keep 10 around at a time, and when I get to that last one, it's still as carbonated as the first.

Plus, there's nothing better than a tall glass of Coke with some grenadine poured into it. Mmmmmmm

Yeah, but the liquid in cans is under pressure all the time. Unless you think that the carbon dioxide is leaking through the aluminum somehow.

Oh, wait. You mean that the unopened bottles hold carbonation well. Well, they do, but I can't get through half a two-liter bottle before it goes flat. And I've purchased those repressurizer deals before, too. It's just way too much effort.

That's true. They do go flat once you get to the bottom of the bottle. In that case, I'd suggest 20oz bottles. I still prefer them to the cans.

Although I suppose that would mean you're drinking more, and they win again

I also prefer the way the aluminum keeps the drink cold.

Personally, I liked it better when you could get bottles that were reused. With all the talk of recycling, you'd think people would be all over that, but I've not heard a single word about it.

I like soda in cans. 20 oz. is too much for one sitting, 1, 2 liter bottles go flat (although curiously this is not true for ginger ale which seems to hold fizz forever).

I agree about the wide opening, if only for the reason that they always splash soda up onto my fingers when opened. I have gotten used to them.

On the plus side the wide openings make for better ash trays.

Does anybody miss the old pop-tops (the type Jimmy Buffett stepped on)?

-Zeke

Personally, I liked it better when you could get bottles that were reused.

same here. both aluminum and plastic alter the flavor of the contents. nothing compares to glass for being flavor-neutral.

i do buy milk and beer in glass bottles for the same reason.

--dan.

I was a kid when the pop-tops went away, and I was still drinking Cokes out of bottles. But I do remember the pop-tops littered everywhere. You couldn't see anything without those damn things all over the place.

And it tastes much better from a bottle. I only drink Irn Bru from glass bottles. A bottle (750ml or 1l, can't remember) definitely does not get flat by the time you get to the bottom.

In fact I find cans get flat much faster than bottles.

Can you please tell me how those work? I've been meaning to get one but I'm not going to if they're crap. You mentioned that they are too much effort, but you didn't say it doesn't work. Please elaborate.

Maybe you can import some from England or Europe.
AFAIK they do not use HFCS in anything there.

I've had several. They work in general, but both the ones I had broke within months. In addition, it takes at least a minute of pumping in order to get any sufficient amount of pressure. When I was looking for that link, I noticed some other types that might work better. I'd say if you have a choice to not got for that specific model I linked to.

Maybe you can import some from England or Europe.
AFAIK they do not use HFCS in anything there.

Or Mexico. I found it pretty surreal when I was told by colleagues, one lunchtime at a Mexican restaurant in California, that the way to get decent-tasting Coke was to order a bottle (so I got the imported Mexican stuff) not a glass (US stuff from concentrate).

Peter

Sorry Peter, but ALL coke is from concentrate.
Yes, I have been to the CocaCola museum in Atlanta too!
Its just that in the factory bottled stuff it get more than a few seconds to mix properly

that's the power of huge agricultural conglomerates in the US at work. they find very creative uses for corn and soy products, both of which are grown in excessive quantities here. in some cases, they manage to pass legislation mandating their use (such as ethanol additives in gasoline, here in the midwest).

--dan.

that's the power of huge agricultural conglomerates in the US at work. they find very creative uses for corn and soy products, both of which are grown in excessive quantities here. in some cases, they manage to pass legislation mandating their use (such as ethanol additives in gasoline, here in the midwest).

I'd heard it was more due to sugar lobbyists than corn lobbyists: that the price of sugar is kept so (artificially) high in the US that it's cheaper to use the corn stuff. In England and Mexico, by contrast, the most economic thing to do if you want sugar is to use sugar.

Another one (which I can't dig up a link for at the moment) is the power of rice lobbyists: rice is apparently viewed as a "strategic" crop in the US, so its production is governmentally propped-up, even to the extent that knee-deep paddy-fields in desert states are eyed enviously by citizens of towns with water shortages.

Peter

Edit: Not, of course, that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy is any saner.

This reminded me of a possible legend... that Mexican Coca Cola is bottled using brown sugar and therefore has a distictive taste... True?

Other people have gone on to say it, but the answer is that pretty much every other country doesn't suck. I could go to Canada and get some bottled there and be fine.

I don't know about Mexican coca-cola, but I do know that in Dublin, TX, they bottle Dr. Pepper with pure cane sugar and it's fabulous. I had some at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco and I thought it was WAY better than the normal stuffed made with corn syrup. You can order it here - for all the Dr. Pepper nuts out there.

btw - Anything bottled in Mexico would make me nervous. The brown sugar might be nice - but not sure if it would be enough to make it worth the Montezuma's revenge!

- trs

If you have ever traveled in Kentucky, especially around Lexington, you should try Ale-8-One (pronounced A Late One). They re-use their bottles, and they get sent back to the factory for cleaning and re-packaging. They charge deposit, so you can trade in crates of bottles for cash.

It tastes like a ginger ale, but it's only found locally. Kind of like Moxie in the northeastern US. Every time I go climbing at the Red River Gorge, I always stop buy Miguel's and have a pizza and an Ale-8.

Hehe, we had an entire thread on the best places to get Dr. Pepper

*edit*
Oops. Sorry, I can't seem to find that thread now. There were great web sites from all over the country. I really want to try ordering some. Do you think they would last the journey to the east coast?

Do you think they would last the journey to the east coast?

Not sure... But their policies do say that you can return the items upon delivery as long as you inspect the cans before the UPS guy takes off. Not sure if "inspect" means "pop open a can and see how it tastes." But I imagine you could get away with returning 23 full cans and one empty.

- trs

I had a case shipped to me, no problems. Ended up about a dollar a can. But oh so good! Pure cane sugar all the way!

This one?