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How Is Snake Oil Produced?

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trhee said:
The origins of snake oil come from Chinese herbal medicine and it indeed contains oils extracted from the Chinese water snake. Still used by herbal doctors in China as a general pain killer and topical ointment for those with rheumatism and arthritis.
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Makes perfect sense! After all, when have you seen a snake with arthritis or rhumetism? So snake oil cures this, and the snakes are trying to keep it a secret.

Now can you explain Tiger Balm?

Regards
Mister Pig
 
1tumbleweed said:
Although it's very likely that most "snake oil" sold in the 1800s contained nothing related to snakes, the name originally comes from oil from snakes brought over from China by the Chinese laborers who built much of the railroads.

So, originally it had some actual benefit but was later reduced to fraudulent claims and did nothing. Kind of like cable elevators and the Tice Clock.:D

Happy trails,
Larry B.
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I don't know about oil, but my dad told of the Chinese guys here when he was a kid. They drank some sort of alcohol that had preserved snakes in the jar, like something out of a bad junior high biology class.
 
jsisk said:
Snake Oil:

k-y-intrigue-premium-personal-lubricant.jpg
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That's what I'm talkin bout.
 
mhardy6647 said:
I don't know but please don't ask about baby oil, OK? :-O

In seriousness, snake oil was one of those many "patent medicines" that were widely sold - and used - prior to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Harrison Drug Act of 1914. Even large pharmaceutical companies (and I won't mention names, because one of them is an erstwhile employer of mine!) were in that business prior to the 20th Century. There were all sorts of odd things sold as medicinals -- some were benign, some were laced with narcotics (i.e., opiates, in that day and age), and some were downright dangerous.

413px-Snake_oil.jpg


Had I to guess -- yes, the oil was expressed from snakes under pressure -- I don't think snake oil was typically venomous.
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Clarke Stanley? Wasn't he a bass player in Weather Report? :D
 
Any of you DIY snake oil producers not perfectly satisfied with your product? I can hook you up with a markedly improved process for a nominal fee ... no refunds please!
 
Wait, is snake oil made from snakes or for snakes? A distinction with a differemce.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
Doug G. said:
No, snake oil is produced when an unscrupulous retailer sees an audiophile coming. Vast amounts of it.

Doug
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You mean all those folks at yard sales, Goodwill stores or folks with Kijiji ads? :scratch2:


As far as the OP's original question, I think snake oil is much like the Loch Ness monster; I have often heard claims of it's existence, but those are usually made by somewhat questionable characters.
 
RamblinE said:
Snake oil is produced primarily in the human brain when one jumps to an immediate conclusion that because they cannot afford something it is not worth the asking price.
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I couldn't disagree more.

"Worth it" is not directly related to affordability.

I can think of at least a couple things off the top of my head, inexpensive and expensive, I can afford but think aren't worth the asking price.

Maybe I'm missing your point?
 
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whoaru99 said:
I couldn't disagree more.

"Worth it" is not directly related to affordability.

I can think of at least a couple things off the top of my head, inexpensive and expensive, I can afford but think aren't worth the asking price.

Maybe I'm missing your point?
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Right, I can afford Magic Pebbles or cable risers.Do I think they'll do anything?
NOPE :no:
 
People are going to believe what they want to believe. Snake Oil is alive, well and perfectly legal (if done right). It's also not exclusive to the audio industry and has nothing to do with price although Snake Oil is usually very profitable for the manufacturer.

The term could be used to describe the rubber waist bands that are supposed to melt the pounds away while you watch TV or the pre-Rogaine "Hair Growth" serum we sold (for a pretty penny) at the pharmacy I worked at when I was a kid. I wish I could remember the name of that stuff.

The bald guys kept coming in and forking over the cash. Heck even my boss, the pharmacy owner fell for it. My father, who was a barber, never bothered to tell them that they were still as bald as ever. The last thing a fool wants to do is admit that he's a fool. Besides, regardless of the evidence they saw in the mirror each day they would swear that they could see new follicles sprouting.

The term will always be part of the vernacular as long as there are shysters and gullible people.

What classifies as Snake Oil? Well, that's in the eye of the beholder.

As for the ingredients of Snake Oil, it's just plain old mineral oil even though the buyers don't believe their lying eyes.


(Below are some samples of real life Snake Oil being sold today.)






 
Snake Oil is produced when technology lags behind market demand, creating a void to be exploited. Boner pills, hair tonic, and carburetor magnets were snake oil until we got Viagra, Rogaine, and electronic fuel injection. Maybe someday we will have better audio technology and the abundant snake oil will be displaced from the void, leaving cables cables without directional arrows and break in protocols.
 
KRab said:
Well....
Now that the world has already extracted the oil from all of the easily acquired snakes, we now have to resort to "snake fracking' to get the oil out of those snakes remaining....

KJR
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Snake fracking sounds like a good idea. One thing about snake oil is that you can ship it via pipeline quite easily. Either in the oil form or the snake form, as both are well suited to traveling down a pipe. You can actually increase the transfer rate if you keep it in snake form, and at the end of the pipe you place a snake charmer, playing a flute...and the snakes will just naturally flow that way.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
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