The purpose of this post is more of a call out for information rather than a presentation as in other posts. So, keeping that in mind, what I am discussing here is an extremely dangerous activity that requires a good degree of knowledge and understanding, an extremely good attention to details, good supervision and I suspect interest in the following subject, which is:
The Use of Gas Masks and other similar head gear during a bondage session to control a person's access to fresh air.
It is a subject that has grown in interest lately for me, so I figured I would do a post to solicit information as well as provide a basic summary as I understand it.
For starters, Oxygen is required to live. There are a number of ways that a bondage session can result in death due to a lack of oxygen. Choking, or placing anything around the neck tight enough to cut off the flow of blood to the brain will do that as a very real example. (mentioned as an example only and not for discussion here)
Also, cutting off a supply of fresh oxygen from a person's air supply will also result in death, once the oxygen present in the space is used up without being replaced. This would be true for the entire Earth if it were not for plants replenishing the air supply. However, in breath control, the oxygen supply of the breather is replaced by the introduction of more fresh air. For me, the kick is not the lack of oxygen, but the knowledge that I am breathing a controlled atmosphere, with enough oxygen to breathe but at a reduced level. Keep in mind too the following warning I discovered while investigating this subject:
It's not the newbies who die from breath play. It's the experienced people who think that because they've done it for a year or two, that means it's safe for them. (And who keep pushing things just a little bit further each time.) - link
Your body does not store oxygen. Past success with breathe control does not mean that things will go right in a future session. And I truly understand the comment on how experienced people push things a little more each time. It is that very pushing over the years that has now gotten me headed down the path of breath control. (Concerning the quote above, ANYONE CAN DIE FROM BREATH PLAY)
In bondage, placing a gas mask on a person tied up does not remove a person's air supply. All it does is control it in that the person is breathing through the gas mask. The head is now included in the bondage and the person's source of air has been essentially moved further away, to the other side of the gas mask. There is now the threat of it being taken away by the closing off of the air intake. In addition, there is the reduction in senses due to wearing the gas mask. A similar feeling can be found using hoods of various types where breathing is limited to passing air through nose holes or similar small openings. However in these cases, there is a constant access to fresh air.
For me, the next step is simply moving the source of the fresh air even further away, by adding a hose to the intake on the gas mask. This forces you to suck the fresh air through the hose, which provides a small amount of resistance, but not as much as if you were trying to breathe through a gas mask filter in a real life emergency.
The next step is adding resistance to the breathing source. This can be done in a number of ways. One is restricting the opening of the air intake. Perhaps by using a valve to adjust the size of the opening. One way that I like is the addition of a bubbler bottle at the end of the hose.
Using the bubble bottle on the air intake with exhaled air going out via another vent/valve, the person breathing through the bubbler bottle still has access to fresh air. However, the wearer has to inhale with more force to create a vacuum within the bottle so that fresh air enters the bottle through the small tube on the side of the top. The deeper the hose is in the water, the harder one has to inhale. Too small a hose or having the bottom of the hose too deep in water can put the wearer in deep trouble, unable to breathe. And even though a certain amount of water was OK during a previous session, it might not be possible another time. A person might be sick and not able to inhale like normal, or the bondage that they are in might restrict their ability to inhale/exhale. (Mentioned at this point but an issue in all of the scenarios in this post!) So the bubbler bottle can provide a safe supply of air, it can be setup so retrictive that the wearer is not able to obtain any air, defeating the purpose of using it in the first place.
Another interesting thing about bubbler bottlers is that you can put liquids in them other than water. Keep in mind that anything that releases gases, like soda, is going to be inhaled by the wearer who might get injured or die because those gases either displaced the oxygen or were toxic in their own right. One liquid that is mentioned on some sites selling these as an alternative to water is urine. I have not tried that and doubt I ever would. Clearly there is a scent issue there that is suppossed to enhanse the experience. Thicker liquids will increase the resistance level and very well could prevent breathing. However, if the above is done without any errors, the situations with bubbler bottles do continue the flow of fresh air.
From here, I think the next step in severity is introducing a level of rebreathing into the situation. As I understand it (which you will not accept as fact, along with anything else in this post, as I am seeking input from others as I don't know!) the person is rebreathing a portion of ther air that they have exhaled. It is possible that the person rebreathing is rebreathing all of their exhaled air, but continued rebreathing of only exhaled air results in death so not being discussed here. However, it is important to note, that done improperly, a setup that appears to provide access to fresh air, still can be done in such a way that a person is only rebreathing exhaled air. Take the hose above. If you put the hose to your mouth and start breathing in and out of the hose, you need to inhale enough so that in the inhale, you breathe in not only all the air in the hose, BUT ALSO enough fresh air from outside the hose too keep you from passing out, and DYING..
One way of rebreathing is the use of a latex hood as in the video.
The video is also a good example of the dangers present in such equipment as he has to re-adjust the air hole a couple times to ensure that he gets some fresh air. This is something that he would not be able to do if he was bound. Ideally, the hole should not have to line up with your mouth, but that the mask not collapse entirely where you cannot breathe in from the hole through the folds in the hood. For this to work, the amount of air retained inside the hood has to be much less that what is exhaled and then inhaled in. This alse requires the wearer to pay attention and be sure to exhale as much as possible. That could be tricky if a person gets dizy from lack of oxygen, or from some sort of excitement,resulting in incomplete exhaling and inhaling, resulting in DEATH if not corrected by their partner.
Another and I think better way of experiencing rebreathing is through a modified gas mask with rebreather bag as pictured below.
The gas mask is modified in that the wearer inhales and exhales through the inhalation port. Connected to the inhalation port is the rebrether bag. On exhalation, the bag expands until it reaches capacity and then the rest of the air is released through the opening at the other end (The bags normally come with a plug to close that end, but in all my examples that plug is removed. Rebreathing through a rebreather bag that is fully closed will cause the wearer to lose consciousness and DIE, if action is not taken). On inhalation, the wearer first re-inhales the air within the bag. Once all the air in the bag is inhaled, fresh air is sucked through the hole on the other end of the bag. Use a bag with too mcuh capacity and no frech air (and DEATH). These bags can be found on eBay and elsewhere on the internet from anywhere from a half liter to 5+ liters. What is the right size to stay alive? That depends on a number of factors, only a couple of which I can even guess at, but you can bet that your actual lung capacity is a lot smaller than you think it is.
I have a setup as in the photo above. I have been tied to a chair for well over an hour and a half with no problems. I have also been mummified and didn't last 10 minutes past an orgasm where I signalled that I wanted the gas mask off. I just could not control my breathing enough at that point to ensure enough air. I was jsut breathing too hard at that point. However, by that point the mask had served it's purpose. It was one of my favorite bondage sessions.
In the pic above, the total rebreathing capacity is the bag plus the hose attached to it. This is just a reminder that the entire breathing circuit needs to be considered when determining the amount of air being rebreathed.
That ia bout all I have for this subject. The other area of breath control that I am having sun with is smothering, but don't expect a similar post on that subject.
