Thermoses

Where can my husband find a thermos that rivals or exceeds the old Thermos brand thermoses prior to 1989 when the company that makes Nissan brand bought them out? He is sick of having to settle for cheap metal and plastic garbage that is out there. Many of them leave a nasty smell and some even taste like they have lead in them.

Does anyone know where to buy a coffee thermos that rivals or exceeds pre–1989 Thermos brand mugs? He is willing to pay $100 or more just to have a good thermos he can take to work every night as a truck driver. He ends up spending more than that anyway having to buy coffee at truck stops and drink out of a plastic cup rather than brew his coffee at home and put it in one of those race to the bottom inspired Chinese made thermoses.

I tried asking this on a coffee snob site and didn't get any real answers. You guys seem to be a lot more knowledgeable about products in general. I am willing to bet that you guys will come up with a better answer than they do.

StarHalo is the resident coffee expert. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he has an excellent recommendation.

:welcome: Polargirl

~ Chance

As i live in a very famous area known for its walking/climbing activities my first port of call would be to a good outdoor shop.Personally i have never had any luck with the metal flasks regardless of how much i have paid for some reason the contents just never stay hot enough.

As regards the smell,try washing in detergent and hot water finish off by several rinse cycles of clean water and wash again in bi carbonate of soda which is ideal for fridge interiors as well.

I bought a 1L Stanley brand vacuum bottle off the shelves of Wal-Mart a few years back and it's worked well - kept coffee piping hot for 12+ hours quite easily. Perhaps not up to the standard of my father's 50+ year old model, but still a decent buy as far as I'm concerned. Helped me get through 6 months of graveyard shift when I was typically working alone in a dark office building.

A few years ago, I researched stainless steel hot insulated bottles and found that nearly all of them are made in China and none are made in the USA.

My favorite is the Zojirushi Tuff Sports insulated bottle which will keep coffee hot at 174 degrees for six hours and 129 degrees for 24 hours (longer if you preheat bottle). They are high quality, made in Thailand, have a five year warranty and are available in several sizes. Zojirushi is a highly regarded Japanese company that has been making insulated bottles for over ninety years.

I just looked into the classic Stanley thermos as I grew up with them (remote Alaskan bush village) and they were always top quality and never failed us.

I gather that in 2002 Aladdin sold out Stanley and production (& quality control) went to you-know-where.
Apparently quality is now very hit & miss, with some being OK and some being, well, not OK.

I just bought a virtually new Kentucky-mfg (Aladdin) Stanley on eBay and am looking forward to receiving it - a classic design and nearly-indestructable.

One tip, the old ones are 1 Qt and the new ones are 1.1 Qt (metric) - which makes sense given where they're made.

Hope this helps,

sassaquin said:

A few years ago, I researched stainless steel hot insulated bottles and found that nearly all of them are made in China and none are made in the USA.

My favorite is the Zojirushi Tuff Sports insulated bottle which will keep coffee hot at 174 degrees for six hours and 129 degrees for 24 hours (longer if you preheat bottle). They are high quality, made in Thailand, have a five year warranty and are available in several sizes. Zojirushi is a highly regarded Japanese company that has been making insulated bottles for over ninety years.

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My husband bought a Tuff Sports SJ-SHE10 thanks to your lead. Much appreciated.

A "real" thermos bottle is double walled glass, vacuum with silvery finish inside that space (aka vacuum flask). Which makes for near-perfect insulation where only the fill opening is a weak spot (and thus, larger thermos bottles are relatively more efficient in keeping their contents hot/cool). Foam etc around that just serves to protect the glass from impact and resulting breakage.

The glass is taste-neutral, the lid is small in comparison and shouldn't affect taste much if at all.

Given that, it's mostly a matter of size / cost / design one prefers. Other types of thermos bottle can be useful, but is 'sub-standard' imho. Note: all this regardless of brand!

RetroTechie said:

A "real" thermos bottle is double walled glass, vacuum with silvery finish inside that space (aka vacuum flask). Which makes for near-perfect insulation where only the fill opening is a weak spot (and thus, larger thermos bottles are relatively more efficient in keeping their contents hot/cool). Foam etc around that just serves to protect the glass from impact and resulting breakage.

The glass is taste-neutral, the lid is small in comparison and shouldn't affect taste much if at all.

Given that, it's mostly a matter of size / cost / design one prefers. Other types of thermos bottle can be useful, but is 'sub-standard' imho. Note: all this regardless of brand!

Click to expand...

Do you have any suggestions on what new thermoses meets all that criteria?

I find that buying an old model Thermos - say from the 60's or 70's...you find them at market stalls, on ebay...much better than the metal ones. Really much better.
Downside is you have to keep looking until you get lucky and find a nearly unused one.

+1 on the Stanley - it's awesome!

FredEx said:

+1 on the Stanley - it's awesome!

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+2.

I have this one, wide mouth for stew and soup http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019D7AGO/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Love it.

Does anyone make a thermos with a lock on it?

PhotonWrangler said:

Does anyone make a thermos with a lock on it?

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Well, that does bring to mind several colourful inquiries.

thermoses?? There was a famous thermos in a movie once...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKXcs7Vh1TM

sorry, but I just love that movie.

(and I can't get that tune out of my head)

Back in the day, Thermoses were made with a double walled vacuum sealed glass liner as described above. The problem with them, although very efficient, was that if you dropped it, the glass sometimes broke. I have one, that is quite a bit newer (than one from back in the day, Thermos model 60-100. I don't know WHY I have it, nor exactly when I got it, just saying, that they are probably still available. Honestly I wouldn't buy one, because it is breakable.

When I was a kid, my dad got one of the first Aladdin Stanley Stainless Steel thermoses. It had a big fat cork for a stopper, and a stainless steel clad brass cup. This was before plastic was used for much of anything. I recall the story that one time he threw it at a dock worker, half in jest, half maybe not, but knowing that it was stainless lined and not glass, he was confident that it wouldn't break. LOL... he did dent the cup though.

The trick is to preheat the bottle with hot water, AND if you really need it to stay hot, to preheat the milk too.

On the bottom of mine (which is an 80's era) stamped into the bottom it says "After using fill with boiling water Let stand for five minutes. Empty bottle and store with cup and stopper removed."

Somewhere I read to drain it, and lie it on its side with the cup and stopper removed overnight for it to dry. At least that's what I usually do.


I also have a Nissan Stainless Made in Japan probably also 80's era and it works well, but not as well as the Stanley. Most likely though because it is only one pint, and long and thin, giving up much more surface area to volume, to lose heat. However because the volume is so small in comparison, it is usually empty before it is no longer hot.

I'd follow Mr McNair55's recommendations and give that Stanley another try.

There are still Thermos-brand flasks made with double-walled-glass vacuum insulation, though the surface that comes in contact with the food is often plastic because it won't shatter from thermal shock. The vacuum insulator is removable through the bottom of the flask so the flask can be washed in the dishwasher or repaired.

Personally, I've had good luck with the double-walled-metal vacuum insulated flasks, a step down from the double-walled-glass vacuum insulated flasks and a step up from the double-walled-plastic air insulated flasks. Back when I drank coffee (doc says I can't have caffeine anymore), my Thermos Nissan metal flask could keep my coffee too hot to drink all day if I ignored it, and it still works well when camping -- the outside can be warm to the touch while the inside has ice cubes in it.

I often used an old model Thermos with glass flask for liquid nitrogen in the lab.
After awhile the plastic lip at the throat cracked and I did not notice it.
While I was pouring with one hand holding the body of the Thermos (no handle) I heard a sizzling noise and then a loud boom. I found myself holding the intact glass flask after the top bottom and side had gone off rapidly in opposite directions.
Some LN had gotten into the space between the flask and the cover and evaporated very quickly.
Fortunately I did not drop the glass flask.

Also fortunately nobody was standing at either end!