Cool it on the rocks—literally.
Just as the devil has the best songs, mother nature has the best gadgets. How about a non-toxic, durable and reusable device that retains cold, and can release it to your drink without diluting it or affecting its flavor? Yep, she's got it covered: "Nordic Rock," which does just that.
I can't find reference to "Nordic Rock" anywhere, but this stuff is probably some kind of calcium carbonate (used in aquariums because it won't poison anything). Pour some acid on it to find out! Mocha sells a set of 10 for £16.
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er, isn't this the same stuff you covered in Dec '07?
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/12/18/sippin-on-the-rocks.html
No box, though. Cheap, those Nordics.
This is the As Seen On TV version of that, clearly.
They don't work very well, though. I have some, but never use them, because drinks (whisky, for example) don't get as cool as with regular ice. Besides, there's more to clean afterwards, and you're kind of worrying that your glass may break when you take a sip.
Doh. Those are made of stone. Soapstone I think.
Water to water heat transfers are faster than rock to water. By the time rocks cool your drink, it might not be that cool anymore.
Somewhere on the web, years ago, a guy did a comparison of various materials as ice cube replacements, including BBs. Nothing came close to good old ice.
I'm posting the same I post here I posted to swissmiss
All that is just marketing BS.
"ancient Swedish pollution-free base rock" - Base rock is ancient, in fact it's beyond ancient
"Stone does not melt, which means no unclean water in your glass." - And how are you planning to storage them clean?
"eco-friendly" - as mining and transportation from Sweden always is... (and cleansing by the way)
Nordic rock is granite by the way
The photo makes it look like cubes of pumice to me...
I got some of these as a gift. According to the box thy came in they are soap stone.
The box they came in goes on about how soap stone was used to make all kinds of cookware by the vikings, etc.
I have not actually used them and probably never will, except as a joke. *shrug*
so in my drunken stupor when i try to get that last drop of sweet, sweet scotch, tilting my glass at the right angle, i break my teeth because i thought it was a good idea to fill my glass with rocks...
nah. ice cubes are nice to crunch on anyway. cant do that with rocks.
But will they survive the transition from the liquid nitrogen bath to the whisky?
Almost got these as a stocking-stuffer for my brother when I was at the Iceland Airwaves Festival last October. Over there, the scam was that they were "hand-carved from ancient glacial granite" "from some of the purest sources on Earth." They were also something like $50 for a small set of 9.
Saw then in the airport for $40.
I predict that somewhere in a gift shop in Las Vegas, they're selling these as "Anasazi Cooling Rocks" or something like that.
I'm with Matt_W. That last swish in the glass should not taste like teeth.
That said, soapstone makes excellent cookware.
How about quartz crystal ones? That would be "cool".
Or you could be a man and take it neat.
Ice is best. Kingsley Amis, in his book Everyday Drinking listed a general principle stating that it is more important that cold drinks be cold than strong. And, having had tepid but strong martinis, I have to agree.
The thing about ice is that it floats on top of the water, so that when you tip a glass of ice-water up to take a drink the ice floats away from your teeth.
Every time I look at these I think of my teeth breaking into bits from the impact of a soapstone/granite/calcium carbonate avalance.
Als, the phase change from solid ice to liquid water provides additional cooling over what a permanently solid lump of stone can accomplish via conductive and convective heat transfer.
@16 Except when they all clump together in the bottom of the glass and you're trying to be careful then all of a sudden CRASH and you get a splash of your drink in your face.
Wow, those look like they'd be a total pain to keep clean.
Okay we're agreed then:
We'll put those little digs in the sides and re-market them to RPGers as "Ancient Nordic Six-Sided Dice".