Poppers

Small bottles of alkyl nitrites sniffed for a short head rush that also relaxes the ass, a fixture of gay sex and dance floors since the 1970s.

Poppers are small bottles of alkyl nitrites, amyl, butyl or isopropyl, sniffed for a short head rush. For a minute or two the blood vessels open, the heart races, the head swims and the skin gets more sensitive, and the muscles of the ass relax, which is why poppers have been part of gay sex, and of the dance floor, for decades.

They are not a party drug in the usual sense: the high lasts a few minutes, you don't stay up all night on them, and most men who use them only use them in bed. The bottles come with names like Liquid Gold or TNT and labels that say "room aroma" or "leather cleaner", which fools nobody.

Where it comes from

The name is the sound of the original product. Amyl nitrite was a heart medicine sold in small glass ampoules wrapped in cloth, and you had to crush one to release the vapor: it popped. Green's Dictionary of Slang finds poppers in print in 1968, in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, next to speed and amyl nitrate. From the hippies they passed to the discos and the gay bars of the 1970s, where a bottle under the nose on the dance floor became a cliché.

The health side

Poppers are among the least dangerous drugs gay men use, but they are not harmless:

• Never mix them with Viagra, Cialis or other erection pills, or with blood pressure medicine: both lower blood pressure, and together they can make you faint or worse.
• Never drink them. Swallowing poppers can kill.
• Eyes. Heavy use has been linked to temporary and permanent sight loss; if your vision changes after using them, see a doctor.
• Heart and skin. Risky for anyone with heart problems, anemia or glaucoma; the liquid burns skin, and it is highly flammable.
• Judgment. A relaxed ass and a lowered guard can mean skipping the condom; PrEP covers HIV, not the rest.

The law

The law treats poppers oddly almost everywhere. In the UK it is not illegal to have them, they were left out of the 2016 ban on legal highs, and shops still sell them, though selling them for human consumption can break medicines law. Other countries ban some nitrites and not others, which is why the bottle in your drawer may contain a different chemical every year.

Poppers are part of the wider world of drugs and sex, but they are not what people mean by chemsex or PnP, which involve much stronger drugs. In porn and on the apps they are as routine as lube: a power bottom's best friend, and the punchline of a thousand jokes about bottoms.

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