176
Never buy a bad gram again. (date unknown, suspected 1970s) (lemmy.nz)
submitted 3 weeks ago by EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca to c/vintageads@sh.itjust.works
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Get one of these babies for less than the price of 2 grams!

These were sold in the 70s and 80s, and still show up on auction sites. Here's a photo of a real one.

Hot Box

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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago

$180 in Gerald Ford money is insane...

Like with all the other advancements, it's crazy to think something as basic as this was $180 back then, even after adding the "it's for drugs" premium.

Like, it's just a tiny hotplate with a digital display. Technically it's a "scientific instrument" but so is a spray bottle if it's in a lab

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 27 points 3 weeks ago

Taking 1975 as a base, it'd be over $1100 in 2026 USD.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Damn, so a gram was like $550 back then (in 2026 dollars)?!

No wonder crack was such a big deal, no one would spend enough on coke to try it.

Which really lays a lot more of the blame not just for America's drug epidemic but even just the existence of modern cartels at the feet of the CIA, since they're the ones who started the crack epidemic.

That allowed cartels to scale up and be able to import to the point where a gram was less than $100 even if it melts at 208.

Edit:

Just shocked cocaine is apparently one of the most inflation resistant consumable products...

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[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

They knew their audience. These were exclusively marketed to well-to-do yuppie types. You know, the kind that could afford coke in the first place.

[-] potpotato@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Where’s the digital display? Isn’t it just a mercury thermometer?

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

That's even crazier, I kind of assumed you just couldn't see it without being lit up and that glass stick was some kind of stir stick.

But you're right, it's a mercury thermometer you plug in.

The price is even more wild.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 3 weeks ago

As a swede reading Höt böx 🤣😂🤣😂

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago

It looks pretty weird even for someone who speaks zero languages using that diacritical.

[-] Edges@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

Man I love the 70's wood aesthetic. When is that going to make a comeback?

[-] Phunter@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 weeks ago

When you're done eating your microplastics.

[-] mirshafie@europe.pub 2 points 3 weeks ago

The saddest part is that some much of the know-how for how to make something like that box consistently every time is pretty much gone, at least for a reasonable price. You need a robot to make that box now.

[-] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

That box isn't complicated to make, modern things don't come in nice wooden boxes because of cost, not lack of knowledge.

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[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 weeks ago

I'm dead 😵 I thought it was a therman, but the truth is sooooo much better!

Bonus fact: When I saw the MP test in Blow? I thought it was fake because I didn't know that much about analytical chemistry at the time. It's not.

[-] MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

This clip was the first thing that came to my mind, and looking at their device it looks like the exact same one shown here.

https://youtu.be/2biQuiMgmnk

[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 weeks ago

Oh yeah, totally! Didn't even realize that. Also forgot that was Bobcat :-)

[-] MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

And PeeWee!

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 5 points 3 weeks ago

... who looks, to me, weirdly like a younger Dustin Hoffman.

[-] Bonus@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

Theremin?

[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

LOL... looks like I misspelled it. If you're a fan of Star Trek TOS, or honestly most vintage Scifi it's the warbeling noise you hear in the soundtrack.

A type of synth that you played by moving your hands in relation to a metal antenna.

[-] Davel23@fedia.io 4 points 3 weeks ago

While the Theremin was a mainstay of many sci-fi shows and movies, Star Trek never actually used one.

[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

TIL... At least it was widely if incorrectly reported so I don't feel like a complete moron.

I swear at one point I even heard it was preformed by Roddenbery's wife.

[-] Davel23@fedia.io 3 points 3 weeks ago

I can see how the vocals of the opening theme might be mistaken for a Theremin.

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[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

That's it! Thanks for catching that.

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

"It's a theremin, officer! I swear!"

[-] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

And the thermometer, son?

Oh yeah well it's got an analog oscillator so you need that properly calibrated for it to track a full octave...

And I suppose all this white powder is thermometer polish?

Gulp... mummmhum.

[-] Semester3383@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

I have an actual melting point apparatus, Thermo Scientific, IIRC. You need to use capillary tubes for your samples (very, very small amounts). You also need to check the calibration occasionally against known substances. I do recall something testing very far out of range - like 20C or something - because the sample wasn't properly dehydrated first. I don't recall if I ever got around to doing that and re-testing or not.

Point is, this isn't really a very accurate way of checking your melting point.

And MP alone doesn't give you a ton of information. Lots of things can melt in the same range.

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yes but you can nod your head, smile and say, bueno, bueno, puro.

[-] mirshafie@europe.pub 3 points 3 weeks ago

Then there's the complication that if your sample isn't pure and the impurity has a lower melting point than the substance you're testing for, once the impurity goes into the liquid phase it is likely to dissolve the other substances.

So I'm not sure how they would substantiate the claim that you can use melting point measurements to discern and even quantify impurities.

[-] Semester3383@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

You absolutely can not use it to quantify impurities. All you can really do is say whether it starts and finished melting in a range that's consistent with the claimed substance. It's a starting point, and that's all. But if you're melting fairly far out of range - like 3C or more - and you know that your equipment is correctly calibrated, then you know that there's some kind of significant issue.

For illicit drugs, there are a few services in the EU that I'm aware of that will run a form of quantitative testing, HPLC and mass spectrometry. IIRC - I know nothing about analytical chemistry - they need a pure sample to compare against; they can't just run their tests and then search a giant database and tell you what you have. But if you have a few kilos of MDMA, and you're worried about it being contaminated with fentanil, it's definitely worth the couple hundred dollars it costs.

[-] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

hplc-ms can definitely be used with just a database since the ms fragmentation pattern is characteristic for a given compound. it's more accurate with some internal standard especially for quantification but there's typically a uv-vis absorption spectrometer module too so you can compare against the database ε as long as all the peaks are well separated and you can identify them from the ms. but the margin of error will be a lot higher than getting the offset of your analyte from a set of standards of known concentration.

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[-] Bonus@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

This is insane. Did OP find it in High Times magazine?

[-] TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

... certain crystalline materials

[-] username_1@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago

What is it?

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 15 points 3 weeks ago

According to one of the auction house listings I encountered, it tests the purity of... you know... powdered substances ... by measuring the melting points of various ingredients.

So that you can make sure your all purpose baking flour is pure, I assume.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago

Hoot boox.

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this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2026
176 points (99.4% liked)

Vintage and Retro Ads, Promos, Fliers, Etc.

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