Decades ago, the draft beer that was poured into glasses and mugs often had much more foam than most beers day. Years ago, draft beer drinkers enjoyed the increased aroma and the   full head of foam on their beer. There may also have been an interest by establishments serving beer for it to have foam, as it reduced the amount of beer they dispensed. To deal with the excess foam that accompanied a serving of beer for some drinkers, there were foam scrapers, sometimes also known as beer combs, foam flippers or head cutters.  As their name indicates, these items were used to scrape, comb, flip or cut the foam - or head - from beer.  These scrappers were discontinued apparently due to sanitary reasons. Often bartenders just reused them by placing them in a glass of water with other scrapers, which became dirty. They were also usually made from celluloid, a plant based material, which made it more difficult to clean them thoroughly. Even though though they were later made from Bakelite, a type of plastic - also used for Beer Ball Knobs - cleanliness was still an issue.  Another explanation why beer scrappers disappeared, often not mentioned, is that as beer had less foam, which could dissipate rather quickly, there was less need need for beer scrappers.  Taps have even been engineered to reduce beer foam, in part to accommodate this preference for less foam, and to poor beer more quickly, such as at places that dispense large quantities of beer and at large events. However, for those beer drinkers that prefer a more frothy head of foam, some brewers today are using nitrogen to exclude most of the carbon dioxide in beers creating more foam, called Nitro beers. However, they can become flat fairly quickly and this can also subdue some of the beer flavor.

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