Description

Made by the German Henkel company, Moment glue was a staple of post-Soviet hobbyists. It also became one of the prefered drugs among the post-Soviet youth. The brand name became synonymous with huffing itself.

Era

Post-Soviet

Date

1970-1997

Annotation

Moment glue first appeared in the Soviet Union in 1979, promising to be the most effective glue for all sorts of hobby and homemaking needs. It was made at the Tosno plant outside Leningrad on technology purchased from the West German chemical concern Henkel. But in the 1990s it became a cult object for another reason. Moment glue contained a toxicological agent called toluene, which along with methanol-chloride, provided hallucinatory effects when huffed. Moment glue became a major player (or at least a major symbol) in the rising tide of drug use in post-Soviet Russia, especially among minors, who could easily and relatively cheaply buy the glue, which was originally made for model constructions, among other uses. As the tabloid Argumenty i fakty reported in 1997, “in Moscow almost half of boys and a quarter of girls surveyed admitted to trying narcotics at least once,” and since a gram of heroin cost around $100, “schoolchildren seek out cheaper modes of psycho stimulation and huff Moment glue.”
Henkel, which had acquired a controlling stake when the Tosno plant was privatized in 1993, realized they had a public relations problem on their hands, and worked to reformulate the glue with new, non-hallucinogenic ingredients. But by the time the new recipe went into production, it was too late. Moment glue had entered the culture as a byword for drug use. It was featured in a song by the popular band Spleen—still many Russians’ first association with the brand—and its narcotic uses all but eclipsed its stickier properties, as witnessed by one of many anecdotes featuring the glue from the time:

Boy: Miss, a tube of Moment glue, please.
Saleswoman: You an addict?
Boy: No, my shoe is falling apart.
Saleswoman: So you think if you huff Moment, your shoe will miraculously repair itself?

Geography: Place Of Origin

Tosno

Geography: Place Of Focus

Russia

Bibliographic Reference

http://lurkmore.to/%D0%9A%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9_%C2%AB%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%C2%BB; http://publichealth.org.ua/new/257-golovokrujitelnoe_detstvo_ili_toksikologiya_dlya_chaynikov