Soon after my first successful sabering attempt, I began to saber (perhaps “attempt to saber” is more accurate) bottles of sparkling wine with just about anything. After a bunch of trial and error, I came up with a set of “rules” that really need to be followed if there is any hope of success in a sabering attempt.

First, the bottle, or at least the neck of the bottle needs to be really cold. If not, you will likely shatter the entire bottle which is not fun. Not only do you risk personal injury (flying shards of glass tend to injure), even worse, you will lose just about all of the contents of the bottle.

So what does “really cold” mean?

Well, I would not even thing about attempting a saber unless the neck had been submerged in a bucket of ice for at least 20-30 minutes. Alternately, I also consider having the bottle rest for a half an hour in the freezer (I always set a timer so I don’t forget) to be sufficient.

Second, remove the cage (capsule) and all the foil on the bottle. There are some that carefully replace the cage above the bottom lip of the top of the bottle, but they also likely wear a belt when wearing suspenders, too.

Third, locate the seam of the bottle. For the uninitiated, this might take a bit of time, but there is a slight “line” running the length of the bottle and this is where the glass is the weakest. This is where to slide (with a bit of force) the “saber” striking the bottom of the lower lip.

I am not going to lie, it takes some practice, particularly when using stupid sabers like, I don’t know, a commemorative baby spoon?