LIke heat-shrink tubing, only reversible; this straw should close itself off if you try to drink something too hot through it, and reopen as it cools.

This should be particularly useful for coffee, especially if it's coming off your manifold, q.v.

They should come in different sensitivities, for the young, the daring, the flannel-tongued.
-- hello_c, Sep 07 2000

KOFY http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/KOFY
coffee pot in the engine [hello_c, Sep 07 2000, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Doughnut-shaped commuter mug http://www.halfbake...commuter_20mug#idea
Mug over the stickshift [hello_c, Sep 07 2000, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Or you could have the opposite, a straw to keep you from getting ice-cream headaches when drinking milkshakes.

I for one always wished that Mate straws had a heat regulator.
-- tenhand, Sep 07 2000


How about a straw with an aluminum heat sink. Former aerospace engineers love designing consumer products like this, golf clubs, etc. Perhaps a manifold of some sort, and some fins - drink boiling hot coffee, straight from engine manifold!
-- Scott_D, Sep 07 2000


I love it! I have a wussy girl tongue that can barely handle temperatures that other people consider "luke warm." I don't know about the "flannel tongued" version of the straw, though, it seems that people like my grandfather (who require actual plutonium to heat their coffee) could just suck it down and not care how hot it is.
-- Caroline Rose, Sep 08 2000


Good idea, but how about people that don't use straws? What if coffee cups were fitted with a "Dial-a-Temp" device that sssssucked out the excess heat to the temperature you dialled? I too hate being served coffee so hot I have a direct line to the hospital burns unit.
-- Alcin, Sep 09 2000



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