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Flair Lesson #32: Figure 8 Pour

I like this move because you’re not actually throwing anything so there’s less concern about dropping. It’s really more of a hand maneuver. It’s also functional – you’re pouring the drink while flairing. There’s also some really nice finishes that we can add to the Figure 8 Pour that we’ll go into later.

1) Start with the bottle in your right hand, gripping it as though you’ve just pulled it out of the rail. Hold the tin in your left hand at the top of the tin with your middle finger and thumb opposite each other. The tin should be loose and able to hinge or swing back and forth.

2) Focusing on just the bottle, give it a slight toss – just enough to change your grip up to the neck of the bottle, palm down.

3) In your left hand, give a little momentum to swing the tin over with your palm face up. The mouth of the tin should be face up.

4) Practice steps #2 and #3 independently. Once you feel comfortable, try doing them at the same time. You should finish with your arms slightly extended out to either side.

5) The following part should happen at the same time but if it’s giving you problems, practice each hand separately. With your left (tin) hand, make a big half-circle motion across your body, letting the tin’s mouth lead the way. With your right (bottle) hand, focus on making the bottom half of a circle, letting the bottom of the bottle lead the way. The 2 moves should make a large yin and yang in front of you, with the bottle and tin at opposing sides of the circle throughout the motion. When you finish, your arms will be crossed with the pour spout in the tin. The bottle should be straight up and down and the tin should be straight up and down, mouth up. Your left (tin) wrist may feel a little awkward in this position, palm up with your elbow turned over.

6) Lifting your left arm slightly, bring down the bottom of the bottle underneath your left elbow. At the same time, open up your left wrist and focus on bringing up the bottom of the tin.  The bottle should always be pointing directly into the tin, like two opposite magnets always directly opposite each other.

7) Once the bottom of the bottle is close to your chest, lift the bottom up so that the bottle is straight up and down again. Your left hand should be holding the tin straight up and down again, your wrist face up.

8 ) Once you get to this point, you may feel like you’re done, but there is still one more maneuver. Turn your left wrist up and back to bring the bottom of the tin back towards you – turning your right hand at the same time to keep the bottle pointing in-line with the tin. Once the bottom of the tin is pointing at your chest, keep the motion of turning your wrist and bring the bottom of the tin down so that, once again, the bottle and tin are pointing straight up and down.

9) That’s the Figure 8 Pour. Once you get comfortable with the maneuver, remember to keep your pour count in mind so that you’re not pouring too much. As for how to finish or get out of this move, you can simply bring the bottle down to the side to stop pouring, then simplify your grip on the tin. Or for some more fun finishes, you can try the Bounce Cut that we’ve already learned with the Tin Double Same Hand Grab. So long as you have less than 2 ounces of liquid in the tin, you should be able to do this entire sequence without spilling.

 

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