SHS stinks?
Well, if you do not like garlic,it will.

I am fond of garlic and have never noticed SHS having such a smell.

Has anyone noticed this smell?

Perhaps,this is why I enjoy the taste of tobacco smoke?
Gary K.

According to a study done for the Mass. Dept of Public Health, the total smoke output(both mainstream and sidestream) for an average cigarette contained 32 nanograms of arsenic. ( The 1999 Mass. Benchmark Study. Final Report 07/24/00)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic

Arsenic (and some arsenic compounds) sublimes upon heating at atmospheric pressure, converting directly to a gaseous form.

When heated in air it oxidizes to arsenic trioxide; the fumes from this reaction have an odor resembling garlic.

I don't think cigarette smoke smells like garlic at all. However, I do think it stinks......though that doesn't stop me from smoking either........LOL

At first I thought it was just the ready made cigarettes that they added something to, to make the "after-smell" that lingers stink. All my life I never noticed cigarette smell. It was only over the past 10 years.

However, I've been rolling my own for over a year now, and even the "clean" chemical free tobacco leaves a nasty odor I've noticed.

Well, maybe not nasty, but it IS definitely a not nice smell.

But, lately I've also noticed that most things are smelling nasty to me. Odors I never noticed before or that didn't bother me are really annoying me these days.

This getting older shit has got to go.....

LyndaF said: This getting older shit has got to go.....
———————————
Not so sure it's old age per se, but perhaps "hormonal changes" which can occur at any time, off and on. I went through a period of smelling "a wet blanket" somewhere, although there was not a wet blanket anywhere. Really bizarre... I also tend to get migraine type headaches during the odd smell times. Your heightened sense of smell is probably temporary.

I was trying to remember, back in the daze when smoking indoors was quite acceptable and prevalent, I don't recall a tobacco odor in our house, in particular. Perhaps because it was a familiar, usual, blended-in-with-everything- else smell, no more distinct than the smell of what was cooking for dinner. Also, I don't recall any sort of "smoky haze" anywhere in the house, nor do I recall that the walls were rather grimy from cigarette smoke. I don't recall any major "wall washing" projects, either. All this would perhaps suggest that my memory must be shot in the ass. We also had a wood burning fireplace, as well as a wood stove in the house, in addition to my parents and their visiting friends smoking cigarettes freely. Living in a rather cold climate, we did not have the doors and windows flung open a lot of the time.
So, perhaps these things are "so noticeable" now only because they have clearly been highlighted and magnified and classified as "something to be aware of".
I dunno. Perhaps that is the difference, and the fact that my memory is shot in the ass. (Due to hormonal changes, certainly not an old age thing... ha!)

Maxine, We bought a new house about 12 years ago. I made the decision not to smoke in the house. My husband was always complaining about my smoking, and he said that it made the house dirtier. I now smoke in the garage or outside.

A few months ago hubby says "you know, this house gets really dusty, and the cabinets in the kitchen always feel greasy". Yeah, I clean, but they still get greasy. Anyway, it would seem that the smoking didn't make the house any dirtier, than not smoking. I kindly reminded him of this fact. LOL

Lynda, I thought smokers had No sense of smell?

There's another anti lie brought to light.

Yeah, so how much of household "dirt" is grease and grime from cooking, the furnace, etc.? I just don't recall any grossly filthy walls or smell of cigarette smoke in our house growing up-- when it was customary to smoke inside, always. Also, it just occurred to me, that when my parents repainted an interior room, they just repainted-- there was no special prep and primer, and all that jazz. Nowadays, they say IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REPAINT A ROOM THAT HAS BEEN SMOKED IN WITHOUT SPECIAL CLEANING TREATMENT, FOLLOWED BY SPECIAL PRIMER, FOLLOWED BY THREE OR FOUR COATS OF THE NEW COLOR-- IT MIGHT BE CHEAPER TO TEAR THE HOUSE DOWN!!! I am just trying to remember why it is such a big deal now, but it was not a big deal then.

quote:

All my life I never noticed cigarette smell. It was only over the past 10 years.

That's anti-smoking for ya.

Anti-smoking (as well as other forms of social engineering) has a very Orwellian nature about it which makes people remember the past in selective ways to conform to current expectations and perceptions regarding social norms. It was only ten years ago or so that I ever heard, in my life, "it stinks like cigarette smoke in here" or something similar as a common complaint.

Also, our sense of smell, in particular, has a unique relationship with our memory and emotions. I don't remember the details of why this is so, but you may have had the experience of remembering something you hadn't thought of in years from tripping upon a particular smell. For example, if you have relatives you haven't visited in many years who still live in the same house, probably the most striking thing you'll notice when you cross the threshold again is the familiar smell of the house, and the sense of reality of memory it triggers.

I don't know what makes this different from seeing a photograph, but it's a unique sensation when you experience it, like a deja vu is. (If you happen to find yourself in candle store, sniff around for awhile. They've created so many varieties of scents at this point that you're likely to sniff your way into a powerful memory.)

Anyway, smell in particular has an ability to act as a trigger, even when it isn't in the focus of conscious awareness. Institutionalized anti-smoking often plays upon the sense of smell (i.e. "Your hair stinks", "You'll smell things better", etc.) to get an emotive response from people, though I don't think it has ever concerned itself with the particulars of what I've described above. Simply through trial and error over the years, anti-smoking knows that focusing on smell is effective in its campaigns.

When the animals in Orwell's "Animal Farm" think they remember that their commandments used to be written differently, they simply change their memory of the commandments to conform to what has been written. Similarly, people who were mostly unbothered by others smoking years ago will rewrite their perceptions from that time to match current circumstances which are immediate, rather than attempt to serve the past, which is gone.

(P.S. I think, while writing this, I think I've figured out both the origin of the word "nosey" and an explanation for deja vu. So much for glitches in The Matrix (movie reference).Do I get a prize? Oh well.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WinstonSmith,

I am 61 and do remember annual spring cleaning that meant that all the walls, windows, and ceilings were washed. Draperies were sent out to be cleaned or washed pressed and rehung. I remember the carpets were cleaned about every three years and the little coasters under each piece of sofa, chair, and table when we got home from school.

I remember the articles on cleaning the 16 chapel in Rome, the local central library, and the state capitol building. In these cases it was said they were removing hundreds of years of grime from open flames and air pollution.

I remember in college the discussions about depreciation expenses and the needs of buildings to be remodeled on a regular basis for tax reasons. Also the need for large commercial buildings to change hands when they reached full depreciation.

I remember my first job in a factory building with typical windows open to the street and traffic year round. I remember working at a metal desk, older than I was and how sticky it's surfaces were. I remember the ash trays on every level surface.

I do not remember the smell of tobacco, unless it was a pipe.

Just as people do not want to believe that their body will ever wear out, they do not think styles will effect what was new in their youth, but we break down and so do the facilities around us.

What is missing today are the serfs who use to be employed to clean and polish everything on a regular basis.

Kitchens and Bathrooms are clean when installed, but over time we get use to them and treat them like everything else. Most clothing goes out of style before they are cleaned these days.

I think a reason people may notice a smell nowadays is because the smell is becoming foreign. It sticks out.

I used to spend some time in a friend's garage. In the winter we'd be working on snowmobiles. Between their exhaust, the diesel fuel burned to warm the garage (non-vented), welding smoke and my smoking, everything would be fine until we went into his smoke-free house (except when I was there) and then, Holy Hell, did those smells stand out on us. Like that, but the other way around.

If your tobacco smoke smells, try a different tobacco. For some reason my Turkish blend was stinking up the house this winter so I left out the Turkish and just smoked the other tobacco (gold leaf). My daughter mentioned it smells like the Christmas sugar cookies baking.

I agree with Winston that "Smokers stink" can play an effect on people. I read an article that the reason people think poop smells stems from parents saying that to their babies when changing their diapers. I remember doing that too, making faces, holding my nose, saying stuff, and getting the baby to laugh. As they get older they start mimicking all the things you did.

Of course, somebody in the past must've found the smell repulsive to start with. Either that or it was their way to keep the baby from playing with their poop.

Squeezer— thank you for the baby poop analogy.

So I guess it's nothing more than "conditioning" that has occurred with regard to cigarette odor, dirt, whatever. When I was a kid, the walls were dirty, the house did smell, but it was nevertheless something not to be even noticed. Which may explain why I do not recall any sort of gross odor, dirt, etc.
It had to be there, just something that registered as quite usual and familiar.

Anyway, speaking of ppop, there is an excellent little book called "Please Don't Poop In My Salad" by Joseph Blast, president of The Heartland Institute. You can get it at their bookstore. It's about the war on smoking, and I think the reference to the book title may be that nowadays, people tend to act like you are taking a shit in their salad or something, instead of smoking a cigarette.

SHS will stink if you are convinced it stinks.

Many thanks to Lynda Farley for this.
Gary K.

"Luparello et al.(1971) instructed a group (40) of asthmatics and a similarly sized control group that they were participating in a study of air pollution.

It was explained that the study was to determine what concentrations of various substances would induce wheezing.

The asthmatics were advised that they would be inhaling five different concentrations of an irritant or an allergen that had previously been determined as a contributing cause of their asthma attacks.

Although both asthmatics and controls were given only five NON-ALLERGENIC SALINE(caps MINE!) solutions to inhale, asthmatics were led to believe that each successive sample would have a higher concentration of the allergen; controls were advised that they would be inhaling pollutants which could irritate the bronchial tubes, and make it difficult for them to breathe.

(caps mine again)SIGNIFICANT AIRWAY OBSTRUCTION OCCURRED FOR 14 of the FORTY ASTHMATIC SUBJECTS; 12 OF THESE DEVELOPED FULL BLOWN ATTACKS. (That is,in 35% and 30%)

Respiratory symptoms were NOT observed in ANY of the controls.

Even more interestingly, the twelve subjects that had developed full-blown attacks were told that they were being given a bronchodilator to inhale when in fact it was the SAME SALINE SOLUTION.

THE CONDITION OF ALL TWELVE IMPROVED, CONFIRMING THE ROLE OF SUGGESTION IN SOME ASTHMATICS".

From the book, Rampant Anti-smoking Signifies Grave Danger - Materialism Out of Control, by Vincent-Riccardo Di Pierri, PhD., Copyright Vincent-Riccardo Di Pierri, PhD 2003.

This illustrates the NOCEBO effect. It is sort of the converse of the 'placebo' effect, but instead of positive responses based on belief that the 'sugar pill' is a helpful medicine (placebo effect), it is NEGATIVE PHYSICAL effects induced by BELIEF that something is 'harmful'.(or stinks-Gary K.)

More on 'NOCEBO'.

Winston-this article also goes into visual stimuli.
Gary K.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2709-2002Apr29

The Nocebo Effect: Placebo's Evil Twin

By Brian Reid
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 30, 2002; Page HE01


Ten years ago, researchers stumbled onto a striking finding:

Women who believed that they were prone to heart disease were nearly four times as likely to die as women with similar risk factors who didn't hold such fatalistic views.

The higher risk of death, in other words, had nothing to with the usual heart disease culprits -- age, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight. Instead, it tracked closely with belief. Think sick, be sick.
That study is a classic in the annals of research on the "nocebo" phenomenon, the evil twin of the placebo effect. While the placebo effect refers to health benefits produced by a treatment that should have no effect, patients experiencing the nocebo effect experience the opposite.

They presume the worst, health-wise, and that's just what they get.

"They're convinced that something is going to go wrong, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Arthur Barsky, a psychiatrist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital who published an article earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association beseeching his peers to pay closer attention to the nocebo effect.

"From a clinical point of view, this is by no means peripheral or irrelevant."

(con't)

I too remember when smoking was everywhere. I think the reason I notice it now is that most places are smoke-free.

My sense of smell seems to have gotten more sensitive over the past 3 years. It's really weird.

As for different tobaccos, I have tried different ones and have found 2 or 3 I like best. None of them smelled good to me, to be honest, but I do love smoking them just the same. Actually, it's the smell that lingers that I think stinks. And that is not a smell I ever noticed before, except for one guy back in the 60's, who I swear smoked in a sealed closet........hehehehehe

I can even tell you if someone standing within 3 feet of me hasn't washed their hair in 2 days. THAT's how sensitive my sense of smell has gotten. And I can't begin to tell you how disgusting most people smell......if it's not their breath, it's unwashed hair, or clothes that hung in a closet too long. It's really gross some days..........LOL

I believe also that it is the lack of cigarette smoke everywhere that makes it so noticeable even to the smoker.

The new fire-safe cigs that some politician are saying are no different is an outright liar if you ask me. I find they taste different, they don't burn without constant puffing, probably even more harmful to the smoker, plus, I think they taste different and not in a good way.

I must say, I dislike the smell of garlic on someone's breath.

quote:

Originally posted by Lynda F:
My sense of smell seems to have gotten more sensitive over the past 3 years. It's really weird.

You and I are about the same age, so I wonder if it is an age-related thing. Yet I've always heard that people's ability to smell decreases as they grow older. So I don't know what to think.

I've noticed that my sense of smell has increased the past few years, too. I switched to roll-your-own about two years ago. Switched to drinking and cooking with bottled water and more cooking from scratch, trying to eliminate as many chemicals I put in my body as possible. Also, a few years ago, I quit using chemical-laden cleaners and use only baking soda and vinegar to clean in the house. About a year ago, I switched to using Ivory bar soap in the bath (until I can get around to learning how to make my own soap). About six months ago, I stopped using store-bought laundry detergent and instead make mine--a mixture of grated Ivory bar soap, Borax, and washing soda. Works great on lightly soiled clothes! I don't have any heavily soiled work clothes, so not sure how well it would clean them.

The best thing is there is no lingering perfumy smell. One day, I pulled out a shirt that had been washed in Gain (before I switched) and stored away, and the smell nearly made me gag. And I used to love the way my clothes smelled after washing in Gain.

I find that the fewer chemicals I use and am exposed to, the more sensitive to chemical smells I become. I can't stand to walk down the detergent aisle at the store anymore. And can't bear standing next to women who pour on the perfume.

quote:

Originally posted by Lynda F:
As for different tobaccos, I have tried different ones and have found 2 or 3 I like best. None of them smelled good to me, to be honest, but I do love smoking them just the same.

I'm not crazy about the smell of the tobacco I use for rolling my own either. I've tried a couple of kinds and they smell good in the bag. But the smoke doesn't smell nearly as good as some commercial cigs. I still love the smell of Marlboros and haven't smoked them in over 20 years (switched from Marlboro to generics back in the mid-80s). Seems like the smoke is heavier from them, too. The walls and such were already smoke-tinted from years of smoking commercial cigs in this house, so can't tell if the RYO tobacco is any different.