# Cartoon bombs, alcohol and flour **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164 "2007-02-22T00:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/1 "2007-02-22T00:05:06Z")
A two part question: 1. Were there ever _real_ bombs shaped like a ball or orb with a long wick coming out of the side? 2. Was alcohol ever available and/or distributed in jugs marked “XXX”? 3. Was flour ever distributed in giant sacks marked “XXX”? “Google is your friend!” Yeah, you go do a Google image search for “bombs wicks” or “XXX jugs” from work. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/2 "2007-02-22T00:08:46Z")
The round bomb thing is based on cannon balls, many of which were hollow and could be filled with explosives. No idea on the other questions. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/3 "2007-02-22T00:14:14Z")
The globe bomb was a hand grenade-type device used by [anarchists in the late 1800’s](http://www.spymuseum.org/see/exhibit_enemy.asp): > [@](#): > > During the nation-wide strike for the 8-hour workday a mass meeting was held in the Chicago Haymarket. A bomb was thrown by an unknown person. Police opened fire; in the end, police and protestors were among the casualties. This bomb, consisting of a hollow lead ball filled with an explosive charge that was ignited by a burning fuse, was designed to be thrown like a grenade. This is a replica of the bomb presented as evidence in the trial of the men tried in connection with the Chicago Haymarket riot. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/4 "2007-02-22T00:20:25Z")
Three parts, really. I added the flour. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/5 "2007-02-22T00:23:13Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] “Google is your friend!” Yeah, you go do a Google image search for “bombs wicks” or “XXX jugs” from work. [/QUOTE] Hell I MADE one of those at work! Yea it was made out of a hamster ball and we put a tiny fogger in it to make it smoke, but it was still cool. You try finding a supplier for liquid latex at work. That was an interesting day. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/6 "2007-02-22T00:24:11Z")
For what it is worth, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine) says moonshiners supposedly put an “X” on the jug each time the contents went through the still. (I say “supposedly” because Wikipedia doesn’t put forth the idea as an absolute fact.) ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/7 "2007-02-22T00:27:53Z")
The SDSAB doesn’t have much to offer on the XXX/alcohol connection, either. [LINK](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mxxx.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/8 "2007-02-22T01:05:07Z")
Grenadiers used the bomb thingies-there was a guy in the POTC movies who used them. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/9 "2007-02-22T02:19:25Z")
And when we die, do our tongues hang out, and do our eyes become Xs? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TristanVT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TristanVT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TristanVT)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/10 "2007-02-22T02:33:53Z")
I saw a show on Discovery about alcohol and the X’s indicated the proof. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/11 "2007-02-22T03:39:47Z")
[QUOTE=TristanVT] I saw a show on Discovery about alcohol and the X’s indicated the proof. [/QUOTE] But why always three? Why not two or four? And … was the X system really ever used? What about flour? BTW, thanks for the answer about the bomb! Were those types of bombs really common? ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Montgomery0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery0)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/12 "2007-02-22T05:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] But why always three? Why not two or four? And … was the X system really ever used? What about flour? BTW, thanks for the answer about the bomb! Were those types of bombs really common? [/QUOTE] Actually, they were putting their mark on it, but since they were using X, they signed it a couple of times just to make sure you knew who was signing it. Thank you, I’ll be here all night. On a more serious note: > [@](#): > > If you recall cartoons where they showed a moonshiner drinking out of a pottery jug with four X’s (XXXX ) on it, that refers to the number of times the stuff has been run back through the same still, to remove more water (increase the proof). http://running\_on\_alcohol.tripod.com/id6.html Don’t know how reliable that site is, but it seemed to discuss what you were asking about. > [@](#): > > In the fall of the first year, Charles and Mary helped to cut broom corn for a farmer named John Beal, and for their three days labor, they received a 50 lb. sack of XXXX flour, worth probably 75$ on the market. The flour then > > Page 4 > > was branded XX, XXX, or XXXX, according to grade, and not with a fancy name like it is branded now. Which of these was the best grade, I do not know. > **[TeenYearsInUS](http://www.pivonka.net/jnpteeninUS.html)** Also don’t know about that site, but seems pretty reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/13 "2007-02-22T19:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] “Google is your friend!” Yeah, you go do a Google image search for “bombs wicks” or “XXX jugs” from work. [/QUOTE] XXX Brand flour and alcohol used by cartoon cathouses everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/14 "2007-02-22T21:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] 2) Was alcohol ever available and/or distributed in jugs marked “XXX”? [/QUOTE] You are missing an X - [Castlemaine XXXX](http://www.xxxx.com.au/) - certainly alcoholic. Of course, it sets up the line beloved of Kiwis everywhere. Why do Aussie breweries sell _XXXX_? cause diggers can’t spell **beer** 😛 Si ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/15 "2007-02-22T21:48:06Z")
For beer, there’s also Dos Equis (“Two X’s”), though, if Wikipedia can be trusted, it was originally named XX Century Beer (in Spanish), so the XX is of recent origin and unrelated to XXX on moonshine or flour or other comestibles. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/16 "2007-02-23T02:21:34Z")
We’ve established that globe bombs existed, even though they probably weren’t that common. Same thing with flour bags marked “XXXX”. What about jugs of liquor, though? The X’s supposedly identify the number of times the alcohol was distilled, but were they ever really used, unironically, to mark jugs of booze? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/17 "2007-02-23T03:33:26Z")
Not an authoritative cite, but when I saw _Master and Commander_, they had a stack of bombs in one scene that looked _exactly_ like the cartoon bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/18 "2007-02-23T05:02:31Z")
Hmmm . . . since we’re doing old cartoon conventions, I hope no one minds if I tack on a question: 1. What exactly was alum, and why was it depicted as shrinking peoples’ heads when ingested? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/19 "2007-02-23T05:24:06Z")
And has anyone ever worn a lampshade on their head at a party (without irony)? And has any housewife ever attacked her husband with a rolling pin? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164/20 "2007-02-23T07:28:32Z")
[QUOTE=Hoops] Hmmm . . . since we’re doing old cartoon conventions, I hope no one minds if I tack on a question: 1. What exactly was alum, and why was it depicted as shrinking peoples’ heads when ingested? [/QUOTE] Probably _potassium aluminium sulfate_ (alum is a generic term for these sorts of aluminium sulphate salts). It is an astringent, and causes blood vessels to shrink. Styptic pencils containing alum are used to stop shaving cuts bleeding - but sting like buggery. I’ll stick to little bits of toilet paper 😉 . It is also used in pickling - maybe leading to the shrunken (pickled) head analogy. Si [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-bombs-alcohol-and-flour/393164.md?page=2)