Tear gas?

[drbroccoli]

I had an idea of making a potassium nitrate and sugar smoke bomb. With a twist. Add free base capsaicin to it. The capsaicin will evaporate in the smoke.
Does it sound practical?

[Enkidu]

Hmmm, possibly.

Of course, most of the capsaicin would be destroyed, but the little bit that gets airborn might be enough to cause ... consternation.

There are some threads about this at either RS or SM. I remember some guy talking about an exhaust for his motorcycle being modified to spew capsaicin vapor/smoke on demand...

[drbroccoli]

Wow, that motorcycle idea is bad ass. I imagine it would take care of tailgaters....
Perhaps the capsaicin could be stored in a separate vented container that is heated by the smoke mix?

[7.62mm [FullMetalJacket]]

Capsaicin has a decomp point wayyyy below the burn temp for SM. The freebase is helpful, true enough, but I'd be tempted to moderate the mix with sodium hydrogecarbonate to cool the burn, and then give it a very negative OB to slow it off as well.

[Fortius Penguin]

I think the cooling idea, as well as the -OB idea are excellent. I am, however, a bit skeptic of the ability of the capsaicin to retain structure in the act of evaporation. Some of it will pull through, but I would say 80% or more of it will be wasted. If your cooling works well, then excellent. If not, tell me and I'll think of something.