When Did We Start Using Straws?

You sip it, bite it, bend it, and spit wads of paper out it, but you’ve most likely never thought about when a straw was first used. The simple little drinking tube had a humble beginning, and even today, it has managed to morph into an endless array of different shapes and sizes. Here’s how the modern drinking straw got its start.

The Straight Straw

The drinking straw, as we know it today, is an older invention than one might think. Its birth took place on January 3, 1888, and was invented by a man named Marvin Stone who owned a paper cigarette holder company.

Straws during this time were rather organic and were made from a tube of natural ryegrass. Stone didn’t appreciate having his mint julep taste like grass as it degraded away, so he came up with a better alternative. He took a piece of paper and wrapped it around a pencil, and then he glued the ends of the paper together to form a tube.

But Stone didn’t stop there and refined his straw further. By using manila paper and coating the paper in paraffin wax, he came up with a better and stronger straw that could withstand all that sipping. He patented this particular model in 1888, and in two years, he was selling more straws than his original business, cigarette holders. The straws as we know them today, minus the paper tube portion, had begun.