Game Changer Corkscrew - 5 bucks from Ebay!

I’ve only tried it once - with a 5 year old DIAM sealed still wine - but the result was spectacular!

Stick the needle in. Pump that baby. Pop! Out comes the cork Dom Perignon-style!

champagne.gif

If it does this with regular old corks, broken, falling into the bottle and other cork mishaps are a thing of the past.

And all for a few bucks! [cheers.gif]

To avoid breaking any rules, I won’t provide a link. Just Google “air pump cork screw”

Researched various “ air pump cork screws” on Amazon. Pretty consistent 20% 1 star reviews complaining that device stops working after a few uses. You get what you pay for I guess. [wow.gif]

I have one I received as a Christmas gift 2 years ago. It still works fine. Has its limitations.
Opened over 400 bottles. Use it all the time. BTW it’s been around for at least 8 to 10 years.

I have one, James. But seldom use it. Whn it works, it works fine. But on an older cork that may not have
a tight seal, it can push the cork into the btl. For the hard composite corks, doesn’t always penetrate the
cork easily. And one, on an older wine that was well-stuck in the btl, as I continued to pump away, it squirted
a stream of wine onto my short.
But when it does work, it’s fine.
Tom

Thanks. Very useful. Amazing,
in fact. Why didn’t you tell me before? I almost bought a Durand! [wow.gif]

Seems you get a hell of a lot for your money!!!

Hmm. I guess there’s a bit of trial and error needed. A useful item for some if not all situations, maybe. I’ll keep experimenting.

Just remember there is a lot of crap out there. YMMV!

These pumps have been around for ever, I was given one at least 50 years ago, and soon stopped using it.

Problem is, it works by air pressure, so if the corks is tight and there’s a weakness in the glass of the bottle…

Also, the box warns against opening irregular shaped bottles - at the time Mateus Rose was popular - as the air pressure may concentrate on a shoulder in the bottle.

When it works, it’s fine, but when I was pumping away and the cork was not budging the increasing fear of the bottle shattering led to the pump’s banishment to the drawer of unused wine gadgets

Yup, Peter…there are some btls in which the cork is in there solid and I pump & pump away. I feel like I’m holding a bomb
in my hands. That said…I’ve never heard of a btl exploding w/ this device.
Tom

Just to be on the safe side, I break out the Durand for all
my Mateus bottles.

In my experience (granted a while ago) Really tight corks are a problem, crumbly corks are a problem and loose corks (or certain synthetic corks) would simply get pushed into the wine.

There seem to be a number of similar pumps for sale. I bought one a few months ago and tried it on four different bottles. It didn’t work at all on three (maybe 20 pumps) and on the fourth the cork exploded out of the bottle. Returned it.

I thought it would be useful for my wife since her arthritis sometimes makes a waiter’s friend difficult. If there’s one that works well I’d like to see a specific name or link. Thanks.

Tom accurately describes the device’s shortcomings. Staining your clothes can be avoided if one is naked while pumping away.

I just use a hammer for mine

Friggin’ autocorrect. Should be “shirt”, not “shorts”.
But autocorrect can be right sometimes. I typed in “bigly” the other day and it corrected it to “bigot”. Dead on.
Tom

Old oenophiles’ tale, perhaps, but back in the day, it was felt the device affected the wine in a negative way.

Am I alone in this recollection?

I like the original post better!

Autocorrect has been responsible for more laughs than regrets in my life. Cheers Tom.

I use this for bottles that the corks tend to start crumbling. I have had no problems. CO2 cartridges I find on Amazon as well.
Cork Pops 12237 Original (Black) Wine Opener https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002S6BNU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_o7bfEbWCMZNKZ

I bought an re-chargeable electric corkscrew when I couldn’t use my right arm after shattering my humerus. Worked well.