Tuesday, October 18, 2022

How To Do It: The Molotov Cocktail

Heard the Nazis at Twitter de-platformed someone for tweeting an improved Molotov recipe for Iranians. Is Twitter in favor of the theocrats? Fuck that noise! This should tell you everything you need to know to foment some violent revolution. Took two clicks to find, Twits.

How to Make the Perfect Molotov Cocktail

In 1939, as the Soviets rolled tanks into Finland, their propaganda minister loudly declared via radio broadcasts that nothing was wrong. “Those planes flying overhead,” he stated, “are not bombing missions; they are dropping humanitarian food deliveries.”

In honor of that foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, the Finns firebombed the tanks, calling their improvised weapons “Molotov cocktails,” to go with the food parcels being dropped.

I am not, of course, advocating that anyone should use a Molotov cocktail for anything. They are, after all, illegal to possess or manufacture in the United States, and many other nations have laws against them.

If there’s no uprising going on, stick to a less dangerous drink, like a bee’s knees.

But if a friend (someone who isn’t me, SWIM) starts ranting about rising up and overthrowing the bloated billionaires who are fueling massive disparities in wealth inequality … you could at least make sure they won’t do anything wrong when preparing this drink.

The ingredients in this cocktail

A Molotov cocktail has three main components:

  1. A casing. This is usually made of glass, in order to hold and store the fuel, but shatter upon impact in order to release it. Alcohol bottles are commonly seen in media, but Spaniards in their civil war were known for using jam jars.

All three of these components can be fairly easily obtained by civilians, hence the popularity of the Molotov. In fact, during the early 1940s, as Britain faced the threat of a potential Axis invasion, commanders rushed to distribute instructions for creating Molotovs out to the British public.

The goal was to use these, as the Finns did, for anti-tank purposes. The strategy is fairly straightforward:

  1. Isolate a tank from the rest of its unit.

Thankfully, there was no ground invasion of Britain, so those reported thousands of homemade Molotovs were never used.

Common mistakes when mixing a Molotov

One of the big challenges with homemade Molotov cocktails is that they cannot be instantly used, or stored long-term; you need to light the fuse right before you’re going to use it. It’s like a grenade, but instead of just pulling a pin, you have to carry a lighter.

In the design most commonly seen in the media, the fuse is a piece of cloth, stuffed into the neck of a bottle. This rag soaks up the flammable liquid.

Note that Molotovs don’t explode on their own! That soaked rag doesn’t carry the fire down into the bottle, but rather ignites the liquid once it splashes, when the bottle breaks.

Because of this, it is important to ensure that the rag is stuffed tightly into the neck of the bottle, so that extra liquid won’t dribble out! Otherwise, when the rag is lit, there’s a risk of spilling flammable liquid on the user.

The wick also should not be very long! Again, remember that the wick is just a way to transfer fire to the target, along with the liquid. You only need a wick that’s an inch or two long.

(Scroll up to the top image. It’s a stock photo, but it’s also incorrect. You can see that the wick isn’t tightly blocking the neck of the bottle, and is also far too long!)

Another challenge is selecting the right fuel. There are upsides and downsides to each:

  • Alcohol will burn well, but must be at a high proof or concentration; you can’t use regular 80 proof vodka. You’ll need to use at least 100 proof, ideally something even stronger, like Everclear.

Finally, it’s important to select the right casing. You’re throwing a glass bottle, which needs to be tough enough to stay intact while you’re handling it, but also fragile enough to break when it hits the target.

Unlike a grenade, nothing in the Molotov actually makes it “explode”, aside from the kinetic energy when it hits the target. Some tips:

  • Don’t use a Molotov against a soft target. If you throw a Molotov at a bush, it won’t break, and you’ll just look silly.

The shortcoming and downfalls of the Molotov

Molotovs aren’t used much in war any longer. They have dismal range, take time to prepare, and, to be honest, won’t work against most tanks or military vehicles these days.

Even towards the end of the war, a single Molotov wasn’t enough to bring down a tank or armored vehicle. Many truck drivers learned to just “rock” their vehicles forward and backward, to extinguish fires on the tires before the rubber melted. Molotovs only worked as part of a larger, coordinated strategy.

If you’re in some form of a civilian protest, keep in mind that pulling out a Molotov is an escalation of force. If you’re fighting a guy outside a bar with your fists and he pulls out a knife, that’s an escalation of force. You’ll likely escalate with a knife or other weapon of your own.

If you’re protesting against something, and someone whips out a Molotov, be prepared for the police or forces on the other side to respond in kind. A Molotov is deadly, and it will elicit deadly force to be used by the other side.

Finally, every bit of using a Molotov is dangerous. You’re holding a flame, right next to a bottle of very flammable liquid. Drop it by accident? Fumble the throw? Have someone shoot or smack it out of your hands? There’s a very good chance you’ll set yourself on fire.

In summary: the perfect cocktail for a violent riot

A Molotov cocktail is a historically derived name for something that’s been around for thousands of years — a firebomb, a bottle of flammable liquid that is thrown along with a lit flame. It’s a nasty little improvised incendiary weapon that has remained popular due to its ease of construction.

Remember, a Molotov does not explode like a bomb; a good cocktail has a tight seal between the internal mixture and the outside flame! A good Molotov has a tightly sealed bottle, but one that is fragile enough to break when it impacts a target.

Despite what we see on television, most alcohols won’t be concentrated or high-proof enough to burn. Actual Molotovs are usually made with gasoline or kerosene.

And finally, one last warning: Molotovs are illegal, even if you just have the materials to make one and don’t even assemble it. Until riots get a lot more deadly, leave the bottles at the club.

This reporter advocates using Molotov Cocktails for anything the hell you want, it's a free country; & the laws are a joke. (Said laws being a joke, you'll probably need Molotovs for self-defense.) And I'll add that while the author is correct that a firebomb may not be of much use against contemporary military vehicles, they'll work just fine against the SUVs of which Iran's Morality Police & our own American slave patrols are so fond.

4 comments:

Ten Bears said...

That last paragraph is loaded: everyone has a mason jar around the house, a box of rags and a bottle of rubbing alcohol ...

Aardvark Cheeselog said...

I have to take issue with

A Molotov cocktail is a historically derived name for something that’s been around for thousands of years — a firebomb, a bottle of flammable liquid that is thrown along with a lit flame.


Flammable fluids suitable for making firebombs were occasionally a thing once upon a time (Greek Fire anyone?) but the reason the Molotov Cocktail is the symbol is because it really is the type specimen. The ingredients were not common nor cheap enough to make them a thing, much earlier than they were. Not for centuries, let alone millennia. They are an industrial-age thing.

M. Bouffant said...

Fiery Editor:
You're right. Using a kerosene lantern to start a fire in a barn, Western-movie style, is about the only pre-20th-century use of incendiaries I can think of, except Greek Fire. Otherwise it's just firebrands.

M. Bouffant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.