# Thunderbird wine turns your mouth/tongue black? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875 "2010-10-03T00:51:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![steveinillinois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@steveinillinois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steveinillinois)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/1 "2010-10-03T00:51:05Z")
A friend and I were recently laughing over [this YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xY7mBQrzXU), a circa-1950s television commercial in which James Mason endorses Thunderbird, the preferred wine of down-and-out bums and panhandlers. My friend mentioned something I’ve heard a few times: that drinking Thunderbird will make your mouth and tongue turn black. Is this true? I don’t understand how any wine, cheap or otherwise, could do that. This strikes me as one of those cautionary urban legends. I should add that I’ve never actually tried Thunderbird; in fact, I can’t even recall seeing a bottle in a store. Lucky me. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/2 "2010-10-03T00:56:44Z")
I also wonder if it leaves grape peels between your teeth like the Talking Thunderbird Blues song said. (No, that post wasn’t loaded with my usual arch-sarcasm. I really wonder if it did/does.) ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/3 "2010-10-03T01:12:05Z")
Sure, but no more than drinking a similar amount of red wine. Similarly, it will turn the product of a stool session black, as does the high class stuff. You must drink quite a bit of the wine to get any of these effects, which is no hardship, since it’s delicious. Good commercial with James Mason…kind of. ETA: there’s no grape peels, or possibly grape, in Thunderbird. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/4 "2010-10-03T05:21:22Z")
What’s the word? Thunderbird. What’s the price? Thirty twice. Jingle from the 1950s; it actually sold for $0.60 when it first hit the shelves (IIRC). When I was a teenager, my buddies and I drank a lot of this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/5 "2010-10-03T11:55:49Z")
I used to buy it for a dollar a bottle, never had a black anything. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thunderbird-wine-turns-your-mouth-tongue-black/555875/6 "2010-10-03T13:22:23Z")
> [@steveinillinois](#): > > …My friend mentioned something I’ve heard a few times: that drinking Thunderbird will make your mouth and tongue turn black. Maybe he was chasing it with [Pepto-Bismal](http://wyattroberts.blogspot.com/2007/11/black-tongue.html).