Safe material to use as drinking straw?

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Flyover

Flyover

Trying not to screw things up worse
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This isn't a typical plumbing question but I couldn't find a better place to ask it.

I would like to make a drinking straw for a very large water bottle. I could go on Amazon and search for "extra long drinking straw" but then I'd probably have to order in bulk, and get something of unknown quality, and possibly pay a lot more than I want to. So instead I think I'd at least get more satisfaction, if not more value, out of making my own out drinking straw from material I can find in any hardware store.

Guess I need some kind of tube: about 14" long, maximum outside radius between about 1/2" and 5/8".

Not sure what materials fit those specs to begin with, but I also need it to be safe with hot liquids; dishwasher safe is even better.

If nothing matches I'll look for some off-the-shelf product, but I wanted to check here first.

("Have you tried making one out of paper?" <-- there, I got the trolling out of the way)
 
Really, 1/2 or 5/8" in diameter? Grab a piece of 3/8" copper, and see if you can seal your lips around it, for an enthusiastic pull, duration, several sequences, and if you are satisfied, find some CPVC.
 
I won't put nothing in my mouth unless it is stainless steel. We'll besides the obvious (a toothpick, keep your minds out of the gutter!)
 
You know me they don't call me PEX Bud for nothing. Only question is red, blue or white?
 
RedneckGrump said:
We were at Wendy's on Thursday for lunch, and we were given paper straws... I did not like the feeling in my mouth, nor did I like the way it fell apart...
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Just be glad you did your bit for the planet.



Keep in mind the paper straw cost about 5 times as much and consumed about 5 times the energy to make. We take our plastic ones home and reuse them. I stick them on the posts in our dish washer and they come out clean and don’t take any room. We haven’t bought a straw in years at home. They stay in a big plastic drink cup that was free at Dickie’s BBQ. We save and reuse them too. I haven’t bought a garbage bag in 10 years because we use the plastic ones Walmart gives us for free. Now the stores are making us bring our own and in 10 more years I will be out of the free ones I have been saving.
 
Know a kid ages 2-5? A box of plastic straws will be his/her favorite birthday/Christmas present, all the parents will say "Why didn't I think of that". Same for a box of band-aids.
 
I reuse the red plastic straws from Arby's. I love Arby's Jamocha shakes. For me a straw has to be thin walled so a piece of tubing wouldn't have the right feel. The Arby's straws also fit the barbs on my carbonation caps to send the CO₂ to the bottom of a two liter bottle.
 
Eddie_T said:
I reuse the red plastic straws from Arby's. I love Arby's Jamocha shakes. For me a straw has to be thin walled so a piece of tubing wouldn't have the right feel. The Arby's straws also fit the barbs on my carbonation caps to send the CO₂ to the bottom of a two liter bottle.
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Arby's eh... When I was a younger man, about 23 years old... I was head of Maintenance for 51 stores across Ontario... Was one of the very best jobs I ever had... Now, the reason I am bringing up Arby's... Where you live, do they still have the Philly sandwich... Can't get it up here anymore... Was one of my favourite sandwiches...
 
I think Arby's brings it back as a special on occasion. The Prime Rib Philly Cheesesteak.

I must be getting old I can't find anyone that can recall the original Arby's with a round roast on a spit in view of the register. Plus I think it was a real round roast rather than 'engineered'.
 
Flyover said:
Know a kid ages 2-5? A box of plastic straws will be his/her favorite birthday/Christmas present, all the parents will say "Why didn't I think of that". Same for a box of band-aids.
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When I was a kid a nickel box of matches was fun. The heads were humongous in contrast to today's matches and made nice little bottle rockets using a broom straw and some gum or cigarette pack tin foil.
 
Eddie_T said:
When I was a kid a nickel box of matches was fun. The heads were humongous in contrast to today's matches and made nice little bottle rockets using a broom straw and some gum or cigarette pack tin foil.
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I just watched a Paul Harrell (firearms expert) video on Youtube where he was complaining about "matches these days"!
 
ekrig said:
Another Paul Harrell fan here! He can be a bit long-winded but his videos are great and thorough, and funny!
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He will of course explain exactly why he has to be long winded, etc. 🤣 I'd say he is very "exact" and "thorough".
 
Would brass tubing be ok? For small diameters (e.g., 3/16in, 1/4in), Ace Hardware was to be the best place to get. Last time I bought them, they had them in 2ft lengths. I only see 1ft lengths in their website now but I may be searching it wrong or your local store may have other stock anyway. And there is a good chance that they'll have stainless steel tubing of similar diameters as well. The big box hardware stores may have them but I struck out last time I looked.
 
ekrig said:
Would brass tubing be ok?
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Personally, I would use pretty much any kind of metal tube - but only for drinks with pH of 7+. An acidic drink (carbonated, citrus, etc) would likely leach the metal into whatever you are drinking.
 
you could use plastic speedways that connect faucets, they are cheap and can be reused 1000 times , water safe to drink
 
billshack said:
you could use plastic speedways that connect faucets, they are cheap and can be reused 1000 times , water safe to drink
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That sounds promising. What should I search for? When I look on DDG for "plastic speedway" I see kids toys.
 
Flyover said:
That sounds promising. What should I search for? When I look on DDG for "plastic speedway" I see kids toys.
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i see what you mean, go to a real plumbing store and buy a poly b 3/8 inch 20 inch speedway
 
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