[Ah ... clean fresh air. Unfortunately, folk's are discovering the inherent fact of being human. People stink.]


Smoking covered up funny bar smell

"CHICAGO, July 26 (UPI) -- A scent scientist says as communities require smoke-free public places, that funny smell that lingers after the smoke clears, or "bar funk," is smelly people.

Through a series of scientific tests at a popular Chicago bar/restaurant, Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, discovered that while the odor of cigarette smoke is gone, equally offensive odors that were previously hidden have surfaced.

The tests showed that bar patrons were a major cause of the stink. Sweat was one of the top odor contributors to the "bar funk" and in addition to armpit odor, smells from patrons' backs, heads and abdomens were also potent.

While these tests were conducted in only one bar, the results could shed light on why other smoke-free establishments are also experiencing "bar funk," Hirsch said.

Using scientific odor-gauging instruments, Hirsch performed an "ambient odor concentration" test to quantify how bad the smoke-free bar smelled.

Based on ambient odor intensity levels -- 60 being most smelly and zero being least smelly -- a smoke-free bar was found to have a 50, compared to a swine production site at 60, an animal rescue facility at 30, a men's room at 15, or industrial site at seven."

UPI.com

I listened to this on the morning radio show with ken dave and Molly they were discussing the smell metor.. and in their opinion smoking should have never been banned

Would love to see the headline:

Smoking ban in effect,anti-smokers flock to bars and bars now smell almost as bad as hog farms!

Gary K.

I wish they had conducted this test before and after the ban. Was it better or worse before the ban? I can't believe it was worse than 50 if 60 is a hog farm.

Even sillier, on another forum I received this reply:
"I think I saw this study "analyzed" in RedEye. Of course, the end of the article had a quote, "Anything is better than cigarette smoke."

That city anti has never lived downwind from a hog farm!!

I may live in the city now;but, as a kid I lived on a farm and there are a lot of smells on a farm that are worse than cigarette smoke.

I will make an effort to consume no fewer than 4 Taco Bell bean burritos before I patronize a bar or restaurant in a place with a ban. Better yet, we should all do this and storm into Stan Glantz' office, then lock the door.

well now I can see were these anti's will follow suit and ban stinky gassers.. or foods that cause people to pass on the odorous gasses

How nice they did this in a bar-they should have done it in a plane right after they banned smokers and stopped the air exchanges.
Last year I flew for the first time since smokers were banned-it smelled to high heaven, like a locker room with no open windows/ventilation.
And they should do the 'smelly' test in the new 'sealed' buildings office workers are in now.
The women's rest room has nil for ventilation-want to talk hog farm???? and I was a hog farmer for 10 yrs...this rest room equals the worst I ever had to deal with.

A few years back, I worked at a place where deer hides were purchased from hunters and then sent to China to be made into gloves. On occasion, my boss would send me somewhere in his pickup truck, which reeked of dead deer. It's hard to describe the odor, but it was horrific; especially in the hot summertime. They had a sort of smell like old grease combined with rotting meat. But God forbid if I were to ever SMOKE in his truck!