Male masturbation toys have improved greatly in the past few years, in some cases providing some incredibly realistic sensations. The one way that they don't feel realistic, however, is temperature. A cold toy just won't feel like a real person, no matter what kind of materials are used in its construction.

The Tenga Hole Warmer is a unique product designed to fix that deficiency. While made by Tenga, and thus designed to be used with Tenga masturbation sleeves, it can be used just as easily with competitors' products. It's easy to use: just activate it and slide it into your toy. Wait a few minutes for your toy to warm up and you're ready to go.


How to use

The Hole Warmer is a plastic tube containing some clear liquid and a metal disc. When you want it to warm up, just bend the metal disc inside the tube. If nothing happens, try bending the disc again. (I find that it doesn't always work on the first try, although it usually does.)

The tube should quickly harden, filling up with translucent white crystals. It will also heat up very quickly in the process. At this point you can insert it into your favorite masturbation sleeve to warm it up.

If you have a Tenga Flip product, it might be easiest to open up the case, lay the Hole Warmer inside, and then close it up. With other toys, such as a Tenga cup or a Fleshlight, you can just slide it into the toy. The edges of the Hole Warmer are slightly sharp, so be gentle when sliding it in. You don't want to tear the inner surface of your favorite toy!

Putting some water-based lube in the toy before inserting the Hole Warmer might make it easier to insert. Also, the liquid will help conduct heat throughout the toy. Adding lube afterwards will cool down the toy, so having the lube in to start with helps keep your toy warm when you use it.

You need to leave the Hole Warmer in your toy for about five or six minutes to really warm things up. It takes at least that long to get your toy up to body temperature.


Resetting it for repeated uses

So, once you're done you will notice that your Hole Warmer is now filled with a solid crystal instead of a clear liquid. But you want to use it again. So what do you do?

Well, it's pretty simple. You heat up the toy in boiling water until the contents of the tube have once again become a liquid. Then you take it out of the water and allow it to cool. And voila it is ready to be used again. Tenga says you should be able to use it about 30 times, but there's no reason it couldn't last longer, as long as you take good care of it.

You can either heat water on the stove, or you can very carefully microwave the tube (just 5 seconds at a time) until the crystal has dissolved. If you do it in the microwave, I'd suggest putting it in a shallow dish of water, to make overheating less likely.


How it works

How does it work? Well, the plastic tube contains a supersaturated solution of sodium acetate(a kind of salt) dissolved in water and a small metal disc. When you bend the metal disc, it creates nucleation sites which allow the dissolved salt to form crystals. Once the crystals have started to form, they rapidly spread throughout the tube, releasing heat in the process. (This happens because the formation of bonds in the crystal is an exothermic process.)

When you heat it up again you dissolve the crystal once more. Allowing it to cool slowly and undisturbed (don't go moving it around while it cools) results in a supersaturated solution, which is how it started out.


Safety

The chemicals involved are very safe. The tube contains water and sodium acetate, which is a food-safe salt. It's commonly used in vinegar-flavored potato chips. It's also what you get if you mix baking soda and vinegar.

The only slightly dangerous bit is reheating the Hole Warmer to return it to its original state. You want to be very careful not to melt the plastic. Be especially careful if you decide to heat it in the microwave.

I find that the Hole Warmer works quite well, exactly as advertised. I've used it in a Tenga Flip Air Light as well as a Fleshlight.

The only downsides are waiting for it to warm up your toy, and the need to reset it by boiling it.

It's a fun product, but honestly you can get similar results by filling your toy with hot water for a few minutes.