Hey everyone.

The AT Forum I mentioned in one of my last posts got me information that put the brakes on. One of the regulars is the founder of Brasslite alcohol stoves. His comment to me was,

"...it would have to be tin plated on the inside or you couldn't ever drink from it. Brass is poisionous and should never be used to store food or consumable liquids."

It's probably safe to assume the toxicity is the reason the cups went out of production. Aaron also went on to describe the manufacturing process, explaining Brass must be cold forged while the materials I am finding the cups in are most likely stamped. I fully expected cost to be the reason brass is out of production, but was surprised to find it's no good for you physically. I did a little Google research and found good enough arguments to discontinue my search.

If anyone happens to run across some of these brass cups let me know. I would still buy them for the novelty/sentament.

Thanks again for all your help everyone. This is a pretty awesome community!!

m

I think your friend is misinformed. Don't look now, but there are probably brass fittings in your plumbing.

Brass is mainly composed of copper and zinc. Some brass alloys contain lead, for example, to make them more machinable, but that's not a good material for a cup.

Brass utensils or food containers that are not enamelled or tinned adequately can lead to copper poisoning and conditions like childhood cirrhosis of the liver. It's the acids in foods that reacts with the brass to leach out copper. A different but related problem with some brass utensils is lead because sometimes a mixture of tin + lead is used to "tin" brass utensils, causing lead toxicity, too. Both situations are quite rare in the US these days, but still cause problems in countries like India where untinned or inadequately tinned brass utensils can still be found.