"Being fucked into an orgasm without touching yourself is something that bottom boys like me dream of - it's a fantasy because it's so downright difficult to achieve. It's only happened to me three times, and each time poppers made it possible. Here's why."

I had already been having sex for a decade before I tried poppers for the first time. They always seemed a bit seedy and scary to me - classified under the header "drugs" in my mind and thus were suspicious. But there I was, on all fours, when suddenly my partner put a bottle under my nose and instructed me to breathe in. "What the hell?" I thought. You only live once!

It is difficult to describe the kind of sensation that poppers provide. A bit of chemistry to start. Chemically speaking, most are members of the alkyl nitrate family and they are found in stores in liquid form. They may be labelled as "video head cleaner" or -- the more ridiculous and more common label -- "liquid incense." (Amyl nitrate -- the most famous of the family -- is also a medical treatment for cyanide poisoning!) To call them fragrant would be misleading. While they have a strong aroma, it is not the kind you want your linens smelling like when you wake up in a luxurious hotel. It's more noxious that alluring, a fact that scares many away.

Poppers have the direct effect of relaxing your body's smooth muscles (including the chocolate starfish!), which results in the dilation of your blood vessels and thus an increased heart rate. This is why you should never use them with Viagra or other ED medications - the result could be a dramatic drop in blood pressure and heart attack.

Okay, chemistry and medicine aside. Let's get to the good stuff. The first time anyone attempted to describe what they did for them, it was a friend with a few years of experience under his belt. He looked at me dramatically in the eye, and with a very serious tone told me this: "It's like you're going to die from a disease whose cure is lodged deep inside you. Your partner has to get it out." What a statement, indeed! I was a bit taken aback.

I would describe the sensation in slightly different terms. First, ease of access: When you get fucked, poppers make taking dick a whole lot easier. Some boys don't need help with this issue -- but really, there's something amazing about adjusting to nine inches in nine seconds. My partners are often hung thick (not a coincidence), and I can rest assured that having a bottle of poppers nearby will enable me to take just about anything up my ass. That's why they're critical for many men who enjoy fisting. It relaxes what can otherwise be a rather cantankerous muscle.

"I'm put into something of a ritualistic trance, feeling my moans and his scruffy cheek as if they were brand new to me. You know how annoying it is to remember to pick up the dry cleaning when you're spread eagle in bed? That doesn't happen with poppers."

Second, and more important to me, is the heightened sense of pleasure they provide. I've been fucked hundreds, perhaps thousands of times (one loses count at some point). For some guys it's a special treat, for me it's the very lifeblood of my sexuality. If my asshole sealed up and fell off tomorrow, I'd be one devastated homosexual. But out of all those times spent horizontally (and occasionally vertically or some other angle of operation), I've only had exactly three hands-free orgasms. Being fucked into an orgasm without touching yourself is something that bottom boys like me dream of - it's a fantasy because it's so downright difficult to achieve. It's only happened to me three times, and each time poppers made it possible. Here's why.

I take a hit of poppers, and something truly magical happens. I lose track of myself, my thoughts, of time and space, and I can only think of one thing: Pleasure. I become a little fucking-pleasure machine, greedily lapping up whatever ounce of it I can find around me. My partners lips. My nipples. The feeling of his balls slapping against me. These things occur to me less as thoughts, and more as instinctual operatives. I'm put into something of a ritualistic trance, feeling my moans and his scruffy cheek as if they were brand new to me. You know how annoying it is to remember to pick up the dry cleaning when you're spread eagle in bed? That doesn't happen with poppers. You brain and libido join in harmony, forcing out the banal world outside the bedroom and zeroing you in on your body, your pleasure, and ultimately your fucking mind-blowing orgasm.

I'm not a top, so I can't attest to the kinds of things it might do for you topmen out there. I trust there are benefits for your kind as well. But for the bottoms out there who haven't partaken, I can only ask: Sex without poppers is wonderful, sure -- but why not make it better? ("Better" is a bit of an understatement, actually.) Don't be scared. Just take a deep breathe, relax, and inhale. You're in for a real treat. Trust me.

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