# Poisoned Dart Blow-Gun: Effective (Real?) Weapon or Hollywood Invention? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426 "2008-10-17T19:07:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shadow.625](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/41 "2012-06-18T22:35:27Z")
No updates in almost two years? Its interesting to note that the size of the game usually taken w/ a blowgun is also more often than not the most healthful percentage of protein usually needed by humans for proper daily functioning and repair of normal tissue damage. A few rabbits or squirrels will provide plenty of animal protein need by a human (80% herbivore) while a grizzly bear or bengal tiger (carnivore) would most likely need a deer or similair sized animal. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/42 "2012-06-18T22:45:08Z")
You never got back to me on the issue of the 0.5mg of readily available poisons. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/43 "2012-06-18T22:51:17Z")
I should mention that you can go to clubs in Thailand where the girls can shoot balloons with surprising accuracy with a tube inserted in an orifice other than their mouths. I was not brave enough to hold the balloons myself as it seems dangerous to be impaled with a rusty dirty dart in one of those places. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/44 "2012-06-18T23:19:25Z")
Jesus Christ **shadow** , you need to learn how to come back to threads in shorter than two years, for fuck’s sake. Also, are double zombies easier or harder to kill? They’ve died twice, so does this mean that third time’s the charm or are they building up a resistance to death? ---
**Author:** ![Shadow.625](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/45 "2012-06-19T00:25:43Z")
Out. - the internet is filled w/ interesting info if you look in the right places. Darryl - No matter where you go in the world there’s always some weird stuff like what you speak of and even weirder people willing to pay to see it. Bees - your right. I only thought blowguns were my “latest obsession”. Hmmm two years later & I’m just as fascinated. So much for what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/46 "2012-06-19T00:36:59Z")
> [@Shadow.625](#): > > Out. - the internet is filled w/ interesting info if you look in the right places. Means nothing, I’m skeptical and don’t know where to look ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/47 "2012-06-19T00:54:28Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I should mention that you can go to clubs in Thailand where the girls can shoot balloons with surprising accuracy with a tube inserted in an orifice other than their mouths. I was not brave enough to hold the balloons myself as it seems dangerous to be impaled with a rusty dirty dart in one of those places. And that’s about the single coolest thing I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/48 "2012-06-19T01:32:24Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I should mention that you can go to clubs in Thailand where the girls can shoot balloons with surprising accuracy with a tube inserted in an orifice other than their mouths. I was not brave enough to hold the balloons myself as it seems dangerous to be impaled with a rusty dirty dart in one of those places. At the Petersburg, VA. fair in 1963, I saw something similar with ping pong balls. No doubt they could have hit a remote target. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/49 "2012-06-19T01:36:45Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > At the Petersburg, VA. fair in 1963, I saw something similar with ping pong balls. No doubt they could have hit a remote target. Wait a second. This happened at a fair in Virginia? Are we talking about the same orifice? They also did a ping pong ball thing but I would describe it more like laying turtle eggs in a beer glass rather than shooting them. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/50 "2012-06-19T02:43:37Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Wait a second. This happened at a fair in Virginia? Are we talking about the same orifice? They also did a ping pong ball thing but I would describe it more like laying turtle eggs in a beer glass rather than shooting them. Nope. Saw a guy in the audience(we were up pretty close) get hit from about five feet. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/51 "2012-06-19T05:01:26Z")
So, I’m not the only one who’s misspent youth was influenced by Charles Bronson in [_Love and Bullets_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYPwNwR49Eg#t=1h7m30s)? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/52 "2012-06-19T13:59:12Z")
That movie was where I got the idea as well, was pretty good with paper cone/nail darts from a length of smooth pipe. If you saw the Mythbusters episode where they did jailhouse paper crossbow, I wondered if they had not heard of that. You can make a quick blowgun in way less time than they used making crappy paper crossbows and underwear elastic weapons. Roll a full sheet of newprint into a tube, use another piece of paper for cone darts, 5 minute job tops. The penetrator bit is the hard to get part. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/53 "2012-06-19T14:20:12Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Yah, they were fun. > > It all started because we bought blowguns (with the wire darts) from a sketchy “martial arts supply” shop. Blowguns are illegal in CA, but this place sold them to 12-year-olds 🙂 > > (as an aside, it was a great shop. It was just like the shop in the old Simpsons Halloween special where Homer buys the monkey paw and the “frogurt” - even had the old chinese shopkeeper with the long hair and mustache. He sold us butterfly knives too.) > > Those were cool, but we quickly tired of them and started messing around to see how we could increase the range and power. > > Probably would have been arrested if we were kids doing that today. My dad had a “fun things for kids to do” book from when he was young, and one of the suggestions was making a blowgun with darts made out of nails! Then again, it had instructions for making a puppet called the “Dancing Darkie”, so times have obviously changed… ---
**Author:** ![Shadow.625](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/54 "2012-06-19T21:02:30Z")
I never fail to get 1/2in. penetration into solid hard oak from as far as 15 yrds which would mean instant death to a homicidal squirrel or rabbit IMO. As I unfortuneatly my 5ft .635cal will w/ a stun dart break the window out of house from as far as 60 ft…if someone has noisy neighbors or similair problem. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/55 "2012-06-20T02:20:05Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I should mention that you can go to clubs in Thailand where the girls can shoot balloons with surprising accuracy with a tube inserted in an orifice other than their mouths. I was not brave enough to hold the balloons myself as it seems dangerous to be impaled with a rusty dirty dart in one of those places. > [@ChickenLegs](#): > > And that’s about the single coolest thing I’ve ever read. I have had the balloon shot out of my hand while holding it over my head on quite a few occasions. But the most talented lass I’ve ever seen was able to hit a moving target. I attended the grand opening of Midnite Bar in Soi Cowboy, where the girl on stage would fire the vaginally propelled dart at a balloon that we would pat to send sailing. She nailed it every time. The hat was passed, and we tipped her generously. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/56 "2012-06-20T02:54:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sorry – no blowguns or poison darts in Arthur Conan Doyle’s book. I’ve read it many times. FWIW, Conan Doyle makes use of them in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of Four. ---
**Author:** ![Shadow.625](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/57 "2012-06-21T00:50:55Z")
Ken doesn’t lie. The Sign of Four contains a pygmy named Tongo who uses a blowgun which shoots darts whose tips are smeared w/ an “alkaloid” poison. I never would guessed Doyle would have used a blowgun/poison dart shooting pygmy as the bad guy. I might buy a copy just based on this revelation. Thanks Ken! ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/58 "2012-06-21T02:03:50Z")
You’re welcome. No need to buy it, though. It’s available at [**Project Gutenberg.**](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2097) ---
**Author:** ![Shadow.625](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@Shadow.625](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow.625)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/59 "2012-06-21T06:16:52Z")
Thanks again Ken. Just dl’ed it. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426/60 "2012-06-21T08:37:13Z")
It’s a good story. Shame it was a spoiler that made you want to read it though. Is anyone else thinking about where they can find a spare pipe now? I never made a blowgun as a kid but there’s always time to catch up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisoned-dart-blow-gun-effective-real-weapon-or-hollywood-invention/468426.md?page=4)