Who doesn’t love a new bizarre booze trend? The latest in this long line is helium infused wine, which all began thanks to a viral online video.
In one of the most popular clips, two women drink helium infused wine which changes the pitch of their voices, just like how helium would when sucking it out of a balloon.
The effect seems to be temporary, though seemingly drinking more of the wine can bring it back.
With more and more vids popping up online, people are beginning to wonder whether it can possibly be real and if it has this same effect on your voice as regular helium does.
To help you find out we’ve done all the research to answer this question and any more you could possibly have about this new drinking trend.
What Is Helium Infused Wine?
Let’s start with the basics.
Helium infused wine is regular wine that has helium added to it (shocking right?). This can be done at home by using a helium balloon pump, like the ones you use to inflate party balloons with.
If made in a winery or lab then they would probably use a similar but more high-tech helium pump.
Supposedly, helium infused wine has the same effect on your voice as inhaling the gas does, as shown by the many viral videos found online.
But are these videos real or just pranks? Read on to find out!
Does Helium Infused Wine Really Work?
Sadly the short answer is no, nothing happens to your voice if you drink this wine.
There are many reasons why it’s simply impossible to change your voice with this drink, so let’s take a look.
Helium is not very soluble – This gas does not dissolve in water very well at all, in fact it’s one of the least soluble gasses out there. If you try to add it to wine, or any other drink really, then only a tiny amount would actually dissolve in the liquid.
This little amount would settle on top of the liquid in the form of a bubble, and once that bubble popped it would disperse very quickly in the air.
Helium is too lightweight and wine is not viscous enough to hold the bubbles – even if you did manage to make the helium bubble we just talked about, it would pop and evaporate into the air before you even took your first sip.
Just opening the wine bottle would make this happen.
Helium is the most lightweight gas and gets dispersed so quickly that even if the bubble popped right in front of your nose and you breathed it in, it would still have no effect on your voice.
Also, it’s very difficult for wine to even hold bubbles so it’s highly unlikely that a large helium bubble would be able to form in the first place.
The drink doesn’t even touch your vocal cords – helium works by being inhaled.
When you do this the gas lingers around your vocal cords as it passes through your windpipe, causing the change in your voice.
However, when you swallow food or drink there is a little flap called the epiglottis that sits just below your chin that covers your windpipe. This prevents you from choking on your food and drink.
Because of this the wine will go straight to your stomach and not touch your vocal cords at all, meaning that there is no chance of a change in your voice.
Helium has a very low boiling point – this gas has one of the lowest boiling points of all the elements.
In basic terms, it means that to properly infuse any liquid with helium the liquid would have to be frozen solid to stop the gasses from escaping.
In many videos, people’s voices change for a very long time, which isn’t how helium works – A big sign that the videos are fake, helium at best affects your voice for a few seconds, not minutes.
As you continue to breathe normally the helium around your vocal cords is replaced with air and your voice will go back to normal.
So How Were The Videos Made?
The videos that started this whole trend were definitely edited to create the high pitched voice effect. Those in the know can easily use a pitch shifter on the audio layer of the file to make it seem like their voices are changing.
This kind of software is readily available and very easy to use, which probably explains why so many videos have popped up showing the same effect on people’s voices.
If you wanted to make a similar video to trick your friends it would be very easy to do.
If you would like a genuine laugh (not some prank video with funny voices), check out our article on wine puns, quotes and jokes!
Are There Any Other Helium Infused Drinks?
So you know helium infused wine won’t work, but what about other drinks? As we mentioned above it’s almost impossible to dissolve helium in a liquid, but that hasn’t stopped companies from pranking their customers by supposedly making these products.
This whole trend was probably started by beer company Samuel Adams, who in 2014 pulled an April Fools prank claiming they were replacing the traditional carbon dioxide bubbles with helium ones instead. They called this fake drink HeliYum.
Bottom Line
While it would be great if it was true, it’s impossible for helium infused wine to have any effect on your voice. Not only that but helium infused wine hardly exists on the market and you won’t find it in your local supermarket.
There are some reported sellers on Amazon and Facebook but these aren’t verified sellers and so should be avoided just in case.
If we still haven’t convinced you that helium infused wine won’t work, then you can make it yourself using a helium pump, though this will be very hard considering how easily helium disperses in the air. It will probably evaporate before you even touch the glass.
The only thing helium infused wine can do for you is get you a bit tipsy like normal alcohol would, though that can still be just as fun.
- Shrimp Cocktail (and More) Wine Pairing Guide - 09/06/2022
- What Wine Serving Sizes Look Like: Standard Size and More - 08/06/2022
- How Much Sugar is in Wine: Glass and Bottle Sugar Content - 08/06/2022
