Some jars are impossible

It isn't you. It's the squeeze.

A brand-new jar doesn't need strength to turn. It needs strength to hold — and those are not the same thing.

Here's what's actually happening. A sealed jar is held shut by a vacuum. Before the lid will move at all, you have to grip it hard enough that it can't slip under your fingers. That clamping force is the obstacle, not the rotation.

Which is why the usual tricks are so hit and miss. Hot water helps a little. A dish towel helps a little. Neither gives you more grip strength, and grip strength is what the jar is asking for.

And it's why someone can open a door, carry a bag of shopping and chop an onion, and still not open a jar of pasta sauce. Different muscles, different job.

---

So it does the holding, and you do the turning

Set it over the lid and press the button. Three claws close around the rim and hold it, so the lid can't slip.

Then you turn the handle. It's long on purpose: the further your hand sits from the centre of the lid, the less force the turn takes. That's leverage doing the work rather than your hands.

One hand on the jar to steady it, one hand on the handle. The lid comes off whole, so it screws straight back on.

It works best on metal screw-top lids — pasta sauce, pickles, salsa, jam. Smooth plastic caps can slip. If it doesn't open the jars in your kitchen, that's what the 30-day guarantee is for.

---

It doesn't look like the other ones

Most things sold for this come in clinical white with a name that tells anyone who sees it exactly why you own it.

This is matte black with one lit button. It lives on the counter next to the kettle. Nobody who visits will think anything of it, which is rather the point.

---

Read next

You notice it before they say anything →

A gift that doesn't say “you're getting old” →