One of the aims of this blog (along with promoting the idea that latex can be worn everyday) is to communicate with people into bag play and other re-breathing and breath control scenes. There is less on this subject on the web than other kinks, possibly due to the legitimate safety concerns, but possibly also because it still taboo. Lack of communication due to taboos can make people feel isolated in their obsessions, so I would like to openly declaring that I am one of the many people who have an obsession with breath play, and occasionally describing what I get up to on my blog ad how I feel about the experiences…
A projects I have been working on is a re-breathing kit that I can use while working (or surfing) on the computer. I wanted something that can control the amount of fresh air entering the otherwise closed system with some accuracy. It would then be possible to set it up for fairly “light” amounts of re-breathing which would be comfortable for prolonged periods (like hours).
Previous crude configurations usually involved all-over face masks or bags. The trouble here was the inevitable fogging up which made reading impossible. But lessons from these systems would prove useful in a designing system where mouth and nose are contained separately from goggled eyes.
I have found that there are two possible routes. The easiest is to design a closed re-breathing setup with a small opening that relies on the pressure/vacuum from the lungs to expel a small amount of the total volume and allow a small amount of clean air to be drawn in. The crudest example of this is a plastic bag to be placed over the head, drawn around the neck with a loop of cord, drawn to the required size with a toggle grip (a bit like a climber’s stuff-sac). The toggle grip can then be adjusted over the first few minutes to adjust the intensity of the effect. A good starting point for which is to have the neck cord set to about the size where it can be pulled to be a lose fit when drawn up to the chin. When the cord is allowed to settle around the neck, it will result in the bag having a fairly generous gap around it’s collar, allowing air to gradually makes it’s way into and out of the bag on each breath. The point here for me is not to set off a frantic session, but to adjust the cord to produce a slight but noticeable shift in breathing patterns. Fine tuning allows for hours of fun…
The other route is to have systems where a set amount of fresh air is pumped mechanically into an otherwise closed system, to which I am attached to. Again, a simple example of which is an electrical air pump or compressor delivering air via a tube which is attached to a plastic bag which is placed over the head and sealed around the neck. In such a setup, consideration has to be made to how a controlled amount of stale air can be allowed to escape from the system to make room for the pumped fresh air (for example a thin exhaust tube) and stop excess pressure developing. One advantage of these pumped systems is they can be more consistent and potentially more controllable. Good design can ensure that the fresh and stale air are sufficiently well mixed, well away from the face, that you get a consistent blend of O2 and C02. It is usually easier to achieve consistently the same result from one session to the next than with non-pumped systems. Down sides are the necessity of carrying breathing equipment around and ensuring its reliability.
For the purposes of this experiment, I have chosen a pumped system. I am still at the prototype stage, but this is what I am using…
Air is supplied by a battery operated air pump. This delivers enough air volume, but is not capable producing dangerous pressures. This is delivered along a medium/large bore pipe to a rubber bladder (the same sort you see on medical anaesthetic apparatus). The pumps pipe attaches to the bladder via a union with wide bore pipe – which is my breathing pipe. A third thin bore pipe is connected to the bladder via a small hole made at the far end of the bladder. The thin rubber pipe prevents excess pressure in the bladder by allowing some of the stale air out. It also allows the inevitable fluid build up from condensation to drain out. All the connections to the bladder are glued and camped securely and airtight.
The breathing tube connects the system to a securely attached mask. It is important for me that the system is deliberately well secured and not too easy or quick to remove. It’s all part of the fetish that I am reliant on the mechanism. It’s not that the system could never be made safe in case of a sudden failure, but that it would not be too quick and easy to whip the system off at whim.
At the moment, the mask is improvised arrangement of a face mask made secure by food grade thick cling film (AKA food wrap?), forming a seal around the nose and mouth. I am looking to improve this part of the arrangement. The film in turn, is held in place by tape. I usually wear a rubber hood over the whole head, which has openings for the eyes and a hole where the mouth should be where the breathing tube exits. I often wear goggle over the top of this so that there is not a single millimetre of me exposed to the outside air.
What’s it feel like to wear? Amazing. You have to start up the pump first, so you hardly notice it whirring away by the time you are “fully dressed” (by this stage I would always be already wearing an all-over latex suit). As soon as you finish sealing up the mask you are aware of that the air is getting staler. You need faith in your system (to provide sufficient air) at this point, as your senses tell you that you need fresh air. Past experience with this kit tells me that if I make it through the initial period when my body is adjusting to the changes, that there will be plenty of air. Keeping calm and being very careful not to exert myself, I proceed with the last stages of sealing myself up. Once done, I find somewhere to chill out while my body makes the necessary adjustments to be able to breathe this mix. This usually only takes a few minutes, but can take much longer depending on what the time of day is, my physical & mental state etc. The usual cycle during this period is an increase in speed of respiration and heart rate Also there is a slight desperateness to the breathing and slight feelings alarm – and these last two symptoms are the ones which I am aiming to illuminate as much as possible during the chill out. With this particular set up, this does not take long and the respiration and heart beat are not too far behind in returning to near normal.
Once I have adjusted, the set up provides lots of breathable air, so the physical effects are mild compared to normal bag play. There is a large psychological effect though, as I am now completely sealed up and totally reliant on the system to supply my air. Although it should be possible to cut my way out fairly quickly in an emergency, this is not something I would like to have to do. With no direct contact with the outside world, I become very aware of the senses I have and the sound of my own slightly stained breathing is dominant - and I find it compellingly exciting…
By now (spurred on by a well documented strong physiological suffocation reflex) I will probably be in possession of a rock hard erection and increased (often desperate) libido. Controlling this (usually welcome) by-product will be the next big challenge.
Improvements? Would like to have better control pump of the pumps output to better fine tune things. Would like to improve the endurance of the system – the battery life is the limiting factor at the moment – the actual time depends on battery make, but normal batteries last less than 2 hours while the best batteries last much longer (seems to be at least twice as long). Would like to improve redundancy - in case one pump/battery fails it would be good to have a hot standby. A even wider bore pipe between the mouth and bladder would be good, so that rapid breathing is effortless.
Sealed
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