# Soft drink dispensing wands in bars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [June 10, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302 "2019-06-10T15:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/1 "2019-06-10T15:23:37Z")
Not sure what you call them - those hand held thingies with all the buttons. When were they first introduced? I figure they probably started out with only a couple of buttons but they sure have a lot today. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/2 "2019-06-10T15:33:48Z")
The industry term is “[soda gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_gun)” or “bar gun.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/3 "2019-06-10T15:37:53Z")
Do they self clean when you switch from one choice to another, or are you guaranteed to get a bit of Mr. Pibb in your Orange Crush? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/4 "2019-06-10T15:52:44Z")
Weirdly, a few minutes of googling isn’t doing much to give me an answer on “when was the soda gun invented.” There’s tons of info out there on soda fountains, but not much on the guns. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/5 "2019-06-10T15:54:07Z")
I hate that watery orange juice that they dispense from those. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/6 "2019-06-10T15:58:53Z")
What’s worst about them is the generic cola most bars stock, rather than dispensing Coke or Pepsi. If you going to charge me $3 for a Diet Coke, couldn’t you pay a fraction of a cent more to actually give me Diet Coke? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drink-dispensing-wands-in-bars/835302/7 "2019-06-10T16:01:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do they self clean when you switch from one choice to another, or are you guaranteed to get a bit of Mr. Pibb in your Orange Crush? Some have multiple tips, I haven’t seen that often, only in a two drink type that I can recall. I don’t know if any are automatically self-cleaning but the bar tender is supposed to squirt plain soda water (or maybe plain water) after each use to clean the tip. These are sometimes called ‘spray-guns’ or ‘squirt-guns’. ‘Soda-gun’ does sound most familiar in my limited experience.