Alcohol-based cologne / rubbing alcohol in car?

[quincy]

Lots of people keep stuff like that in their cars for emergency odor improvement. Not just from sweat, but from smoking cigs or doing other smelly stuff. Check the alcohol content of stuff like that. I suspect you will find that most colognes or sprays do not have enough alcohol content to even trigger anything.

LdiJ, please do not make things up or guess. That helps no one.

Alcoholics often will consume anything containing alcohol. I know one individual who drank a bottle of chicken wine sauce.

If you have reason to carry rubbing alcohol or cologne in your car, my advice to you is to not get pulled over for drunk driving.

 

[mjpayne]

Here from an alcohol treatment center is information on rubbing alcohol:
https://sdtreatmentcenter.com/alcoholism/rubbing-alcohol

I realize you can get drunk on it. That's part of the reason I asked this question.

 

[quincy]

I realize you can get drunk on it. That's part of the reason I asked this question.

And it was a good question.

 

[justalayman]

If you are pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, and you have an open container of rubbing alcohol in your vehicle, it is possible for you to be charged.

Rubbing alcohol can be consumed and you can get drunk from drinking it - and it generally won't kill you. In fact, a few years ago in New Jersey, some bars and restaurants got into trouble for diluting their expensive alcohol with rubbing alcohol.

I think you should check your sources Quincy.

https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+116



ACCORDING TO CLINICAL EXPERIENCE ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL IS MORE TOXIC THAN ETHYL ALCOHOL AND LESS TOXIC THAN METHYL ALCOHOL. ... ITS ACUTE POTENCY AS CENTRAL NERVOUS DEPRESSANT IS ABOUT TWICE THAT OF ETHANOL. PROBABLE LETHAL ORAL DOSE FOR ADULT IS 8 OZ (240 ML), BUT AS LITTLE AS 20 ML IN WATER CAN PRODUCE SYMPTOMS.
[Gosselin, R.E., R.P. Smith, H.C. Hodge. Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products. 5th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1984., p. III-271] **PEER REVIEWED**

A single lethal dose for a human is about 250 mL, although as little as 100 mL can be fatal.
[Lewis, R.J. Sr. (ed) Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials. 11th Edition. Wiley-Interscience, Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. 2004., p. 2149] **PEER REVIEWED


Neither of those provide the concentration level of the alcohol. It is generally available in concentrations between 40% up to 91%.

 

[mjpayne]

I think you should check your sources Quincy.

https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+116



ACCORDING TO CLINICAL EXPERIENCE ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL IS MORE TOXIC THAN ETHYL ALCOHOL AND LESS TOXIC THAN METHYL ALCOHOL. ... ITS ACUTE POTENCY AS CENTRAL NERVOUS DEPRESSANT IS ABOUT TWICE THAT OF ETHANOL. PROBABLE LETHAL ORAL DOSE FOR ADULT IS 8 OZ (240 ML), BUT AS LITTLE AS 20 ML IN WATER CAN PRODUCE SYMPTOMS.
[Gosselin, R.E., R.P. Smith, H.C. Hodge. Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products. 5th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1984., p. III-271] **PEER REVIEWED**

A single lethal dose for a human is about 250 mL, although as little as 100 mL can be fatal.
[Lewis, R.J. Sr. (ed) Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials. 11th Edition. Wiley-Interscience, Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. 2004., p. 2149] **PEER REVIEWED


Neither of those provide the concentration level of the alcohol. It is generally available in concentrations between 40% up to 91%.

You can get drunk on it and survive, but if you do it often you're risking death or serious injury. These alcohols are intentionally made poisonous by law.

 

[quincy]

It generally won't kill someone because it generally will not be consumed in a great enough quantity to kill.

Like eating Tide Pods and inhaling glue, drinking rubbing alcohol will generally make you very very sick before you can consume enough to kill you.

That said, the risk of death is certainly there.

 

[justalayman]

It generally won't kill someone because it generally will not be consumed in a great enough quantity to kill.

Like eating Tide Pods and inhaling glue, drinking rubbing alcohol will generally make you very very sick before you can consume enough to kill you.

That said, the risk of death is certainly there.

Several sources I’ve read stated as little as 6 ounces can be lethal.

 

[LdiJ]

They have plenty of alcohol:

Colognes have about 3–5% perfume oil mixed with 80–90% alcohol with about 5 to 15 percent water in the mix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eau_de_toilette

80-90% alcohol is almost pure alcohol, far more than in beer or even vodka.

Ok, I just went into my daughter's bathroom and looked at her many bottles of smelly stuff and I couldn't find an ingredient on any of the bottles that I recognized as alcohol. However, every one of them had many, many ingredients with long chemical names that someone with a chemistry background might recognize as alcohol.

Bottom line, after looking at those I cannot imagine most police officers recognizing any of those ingredients as alcohol either.

 

[LdiJ]

LdiJ, please do not make things up or guess. That helps no one.

Alcoholics often will consume anything containing alcohol. I know one individual who drank a bottle of wine sauce.

If you have reason to carry rubbing alcohol or cologne in your car, my advice to you is to not get pulled over for drunk driving.

I can certainly agree with the bolded, however wine sauce is made for consumption therefore I am not at all surprised that an alcoholic would drink it.

 

[justalayman]

Ok, I just went into my daughter's bathroom and looked at her many bottles of smelly stuff and I couldn't find an ingredient on any of the bottles that I recognized as alcohol. However, every one of them had many, many ingredients with long chemical names that someone with a chemistry background might recognize as alcohol.

Bottom line, after looking at those I cannot imagine most police officers recognizing any of those ingredients as alcohol either.

Did you see anything like


SDA 40B?


The truth is I would think most cops would think there is alcohol in perfume regardless what the contents state.

 

[mjpayne]

Ok, I just went into my daughter's bathroom and looked at her many bottles of smelly stuff and I couldn't find an ingredient on any of the bottles that I recognized as alcohol. However, every one of them had many, many ingredients with long chemical names that someone with a chemistry background might recognize as alcohol.

Bottom line, after looking at those I cannot imagine most police officers recognizing any of those ingredients as alcohol either.

They probably don't put the ingredients on it since it's not meant for consumption, but rest assured that it most definitely does contain alcohol and lots of it (easily enough to get drunk on, though you're risking dying in the process due to the other contents).

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-average-alcohol-percentage-in-perfumes-and-in-colognes

I figured most cops wouldn't bother with it unless they saw something extreme like a person drinking it while driving. Was just wondering if someone had contrary experience since any cop can look it up online or simply figure it out and possibly use it against a driver if he really wanted to do so.

 

[quincy]

Several sources I’ve read stated as little as 6 ounces can be lethal.

Sure. Anything that is not designed for human consumption can be lethal if consumed. Even alcohol that IS designed for human consumption can be lethal.

 

[LdiJ]

Did you see anything like


SDA 40B?


The truth is I would think most cops would think there is alcohol in perfume regardless what the contents state.

I acknowledged that there is likely alcohol in them, just nothing that I would personally recognize as being alcohol.

 

[mjpayne]

I acknowledged that there is likely alcohol in them, just nothing that I would personally recognize as being alcohol.

You're a policeman?

 

[quincy]

You're a policeman?

No. LdiJ is a tax preparer.