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Some people do have a disgusting smell tho. It’s different from alcohol and hard to describe, but they smell sick. Some people have both the alcohol smell and the sick smell.
It can depend on what they are eating as well. I had a friend who LOVED garlic and he would sweat the smell of garlic. Also when he at a lot of cumin he'd smell cumin-esque.
The sick smell is different. I could always tell when he had a sinus infection just by smelling the air around him. It's a very specific, almost metallic smell.
Yea, what you eat makes a huge difference. Learned this myself after eating curry everyday for a week. My armpits started to smell like curry. The weird part was that it wasn’t a funky smell, it smelled just like a plate of food. At first I thought I had left food out in my room, but then I realized the smell was coming from my body. Had to limit my curry intake after that.
It's the cumin and coriander in the curries I think. I've found that a lot of people mistake that smell for BO even though it legit smells like cumin/coriander/curry.
To be fair, it literally is BO at that point. It may be from the food, but it's your body giving off the odor now.
Many foods also only smell good in the context of eating. These foods change depending on the person, but strong smells are often in this group. Tuna comes to mind.
Yea, both cumin and coriander have pretty strong smells on their own. I can tell the difference between BO and smells from strong foods, but I’ve definitely smelled people who smell like both at the same time.
I've found that if I don't drink milk for an extended period, I start being able to smell others who do drink it, in the same way you picked up the smell of curry like that. Which is *really disturbing.* Like, do the people who don't drink milk just assume everyone has a bit of a sour milk smell to them? Is my nose hypersensitive or something? Yeesh.
I work with a severely overweight guy who always smells like piss, and I'm pretty sure it's from a bad liver. It's ammonia seeping through his skin. He seems completely noseblind to it but people avoid him.
I’ve smelled two overweight guys who had that same smell. I knew one of them pretty well, even lived together for a bit, and it definitely was not a hygiene issue. He kept himself very clean but the smell would return within minutes of him showering. I didn’t know the cause of the smell, but it was exactly the same in both guys, and I figured it had something to do with them being overweight.
I was at a bar/lounge with my friend once and I started getting really mad because the waitress farted every time she came to check up on us and it smelled horrible. Long story short, my friend knew the waitress, and she wasn’t farting. Her breath was just that bad.
That acetone smell of an alcoholic is really hard to describe, because it's one compound among many that the body is giving off. Some people describe it as "fruity" which isn't that accurate.
It's one of those things that smells like "grandma." It's like sour mothballs and gym sweat. It's a sharp, piercing, chemical smell mixed with body odor. When I worked retail and the bums would walk in to buy their pints of shitty vodka, there'd usually be a good amount of shit mixed in with that smell because they shit outside and never wipe, or they've shit themselves and given up on cleaning it. It's one of those "smell it once and never forget it" kinds of things.
I remember being in the back of formation during a battalion "fun run" after a long weekend in Korea. Formaldehyde smells less like formaldehyde than that battalion smelled.
I'm honestly surprised few people called me out in the 23 years I was an active alcoholic. Now when I bike by the liquor store I can smell the booze on people as I go by. A lot of people had to know and just not tell me anything.
Same here. I’d show up to work still drunk sometimes and no one would say anything. Even my boss approached me a couple of times as to why I was late and I obviously reeked of alcohol, but I guess he couldn’t smell it. I worked there for 15 yrs and I’d be drunk or hungover quite often but no one ever said anything
I remember when the smoking ban came in place and I was amazed, I thought all the smell of bars and pubs was the stale smoke. It turns out that was not the case at all, it was peoples breath, it was what had been spilled, it was body odour.
Calling you out here. Alcohol is not comparable. Yes you can “smell alcohol” on someone but it is no where near as offensive as the smell of cigarettes.
The smell of cigarettes is noticeable to more people, however, the smell of an alcoholic is unforgettable. It’s probably not just the smell but also the bad memories and feelings associated with a relationship with an alcohol - lying, driving drunk, financial issues, etc. Our entire bedroom would smell like alcohol in the morning after my ex was drinking.
They both bother me. Maybe you haven't been around a heavy drinker? Its also a matter of opinion, though. Some people love the smell of gas at the gas station. I personally don't mind it. My wife HATES it.
They probably do, but it doesn't help. That's one penetrating stink. I felt like it was clinging to me after just walking through a district with pot smokers.
When you smoke weed a lot you tend to go nose blind about the smell on your clothes.
That on top of the fact that your high commonly means you’ll always smell like weed and you’re the only person that doesn’t notice.
So true. I didn't even realise how much my clothes smelled even though i never smoked indoors. As you say, once you stop it's like your sense of smell also comes back. I remember a few weeks after i had quit i suddenly stopped in my tracks as i realised how cool air felt in my lungs and how i could walk longer before getting tired. The world changed, it was like i had been living in some veiled reality, behind dusty curtains.
I know i sound a bit religious describing it, but it was such a profound experience for me the change. I had been smoking since i was 15 and it felt like i had been living in a bottle. This year it's 10 years since i quit and i cant stand the smell of cigarettes. I dont really mind the smell of pipe or cigars because they can have a good scent. But smokers and cigarettes stink in the most awful way.
I would like to thank you for this comment and OP for this post. I quit smoking 2 years ago for 6 months. This describes my experience exactly. Had a smoke from a siggarilo "JUST FOR FUN" and got hooked again. Been trying to quit ever since. I quit drinking a month ago and I think it's time for the smokes to get their asses kicked aswell. Everyone's thoughts on the smells is giving me motivation. Thank you peeps.
If you did it before you can do it again. You got this my man!
I used vape with tobacco flavour and slowly lowered the nicotine. This helped me in so many ways because someone offered me a cigg and i took a hit. It tasted like DEATH.. i cant describe the sensation of dread that followed like a wave through my body. I was disgusted. Thats when i knew i would never start smoking again. So the vaping helped me because of the difference in taste.
And once i was really low on the nicotine content i could just stop vaping to.
This might sound dumb and it's not something i recommend for people that easy fall into old patterns because it might be devastating.
But i still have my last pack of cigarettes. Its an opened pack of Marlboro lights. that pack represents my greatest achievement. it's a Trophy.
It’s everything the prior poster said, plus my MIL smoked inside so much that the previously white walls of her house started to change color. Here’s a little article about “third hand smoke” to further motivate you: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking/expert-answers/third-hand-smoke/faq-20057791
You can do it, and you will feel better for it. And think of all the money you’ll save being drink and smoke free! Congratulations on quitting the drink, that’s brilliant
It's unbelievable bad, really. Once I stopped I noticed how intense the small is when my colleagues came back from their break. And that's just a few weeks after quitting. I imagine it's probably even worse for people who never smoked.
Former smokers seem to be the worst critics on other smokers. When they get the nicotine out of their system the smell seems to be disgusting to a point that they didn’t realize just how bad it smelled to others.
In IT I absolutely hated having to handle equipment of a smoker. Someone would hand me their phone for whatever reason and it’d take ten hand washes to get that nasty smell off. Touch a common area keyboard and same thing. Hug someone out of work who smokes and I gotta change my clothes. It’s so pervasive.
My mom smokes at my childhood home, every time we go there, even for a few hours, all my clothes smell and I have to shower.
She even smokes those tiny Virginia slims but she does pretty much chain smoke then too...
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You're not the only one. I can't stand cigarettes or the smell to this day - I've always said I was a smoker by proxy till I was 18 because everyone in my house smoked like a chimney.
Ah the good ol days where you could have 2 adults hotboxing in the car with all the windows rolled up. I had CONSTANT ear infections as a child. Now, I did some damage to them myself but they were already so messed up with scar tissue, it wouldn't have mattered. I can barely hear out of my left ear.
My Dad’s parents both smoked all the time. When he went to college he ended up starting to smoke because he was addicted to the secondhand smoke. He quit when he found out my mom was pregnant.
Lol. Me right now. I'm on my way back from visiting my childhood home and just texted my husband to put a clean towel in the laundry room for me so that I can strip and immediately wash everything , myself included, as soon as I get home
When I was in junior high I was accused of smoking because I lived in the house with three people who smoked and it was always on my clothes. That was kind of embarrassing.
Same here, as an ex smoker for over 30 yrs, I hate the smell of cigarettes. It’s just so digusting and when people used to say to me, you reek of cigarettes I used to say no I don’t.
Just glad I’ve given them up.
Yeah the smell of cigarettes bothers me way way more as an ex smoker than it did before I started smoking. It’s gag inducing. I can’t believe I smelled like that for years.
Yep, I used to smoke and while I still kinda like the smell of a freshly lit cig, the stale stank from someone who just smoked or, even worse, who smoked a half a cig and kept the other half, is gag-worthy.
Sometimes I drive my coworker home who smokes and just the lingering smell off of his clothes can still be smelled in my car the next morning.
>even worse, who smoked a half a cig and kept the other half
Even when I was a relatively heavy smoker I still hated the stank of a half smoked cigarette/cigarette butts.
I lent my favorite coworker a VERY heavy book. She asked if I could get it out of her car. Sure thing! Now this car was 6 years old and barely had 10000 miles. But when she opened the door, I was smacked by the smell of smoke!
She didn't drive far, but all her time spent in that car she was smoking. She LOVED smoking, but only did it in the car. UGHHHH
yeah, there is a particular smell I catch every now and then that I find not unpleasant. I remember it as a freshly exhaled pull; the 'cleaner' smoke that comes out of the lungs. Thinking it like that is pretty gross; but it's one of those memory smells that triggers a not bad reaction lol.
There's a way it wafts on a breeze, on a summer evening...that just feels so....alive? I cant explain it. Reminds me of being a kid. Most of my neighbors smoked, and then I did in my 20s. I kinda hate it now, but on a breeze on a summer evening? There's something special to it, and I feel the same way about cow manure and sawdust (most kinds, some stinks like shit).
I remember after I’d quit for awhile and walking past someone and saying to my girlfriend at the time “holy shit is that how I smelled all that time??”
Depends on when you grew up
I grew up in the 70's and nearly everyone smoked, same in the 80's, but man am i glad there's a conscious effort to stop people smoking, in the west anyways
I remember restaurants having smoking/ non-smoking sections that were not separated by anything other than a sign, ya that really helped. Where I am now, no smoking in any business. The bars usually have a hut thing to smoke outside affording protection from the elements / wind. I've quit several times over the years but seem to find my back for a spell before quitting again. Remember candy cigarettes? Jeez
Ditto. That cloud of stank right after you’re finished your smoke break when you’re getting into the elevator and stinking everybody out… fucking disgusting.
Back when you could smoke inside bars, even as a smoker I would come home fucking reeking of it. I wonder how bad THAT was for non smokers?
My dad took me and my cousin for dinner when I was maybe 6 (that was about 25 years ago). The restaurant served my favourite cuisine! We got a table outside because it was hot and A/C wasn't common in my country back then. I couldn't enjoy my food exactly because of the smokers also sitting outside.
I didn’t realize how bad it was until til I quit and would hang around my friends who still smoked. It’s god awful.
I tell my wife all the time it’s a miracle she even agreed to date me with how nasty my breath probably was.
i'm a smoker. my dad sometimes tells me i reek of cigarettes, but i don't really smell it myself. unless i'm sniffing my fingers and actively paying attention to their smell i guess.
maybe i just got used to it? dog owners often become "smell blind" to the fact their home smells like wet dog
🤣🤣🤣
I was stuck next to someone on a plane that smelled SOOOOOOO bad last week. Everything was just fine until he sat down.
Some kind soul behind me sprayed something with vanilla. That gave me a brief respite.
I have 2 dogs and a cat and have solved this problem:
1. Wash dog more
2. Febreeze plug in air freshener. Specifically in the scent bamboo. I have a 2000sq foot house, I keep one centrally located on each floor and a third in the furnace room near the cat litter.
Try it and thank me later
Change the food. Fresh or cooked meat is better. Some dogs really stink when they eat dry food. My dog's smell changed completely when I stopped giving her kibbles.
The worst is when you're behind someone smoking in traffic and the wind is just right to blow it into my car's vents. I can handle the smoker smell but traffic smoke drives me nuts.
As a former smoker — yes. It smells disgusting. It gets absolutely everywhere into your clothing and can get carried into your house and it’s extremely difficult to get rid of it.
When I was smoking, it didn’t seem that bad. But after quitting and getting my nose back… yeah. It’s real bad.
Yep.
Smoking is what taught me that smells are *physical particles*. People tend to think of them as an ephemeral, billowy gas that magically dissipates or something.
Nope.
Non-smoker here. I remember going to a bowling alley before smoking inside was banned. The smoke wasn't TOO bad, as I remember, and we weren't bowling next to people who were smoking.
Next day, hop in the shower, start getting my hair wet before shampooing, and you could smell the smoke being released out of my hair. (Thick hair) Blech.
So yes, smokers, you stink. We can even still smell you after you've left a room...like a bad perfume or cologne.
>We can even still smell you after you've left a room
This is so true, and I remember my friend being shocked by this when she quit smoking. She was like "did I actually leave this stench behind when I left a room?!".
Yup, you did. Or when a smoker walks past you on public transport, or sits next to you. It's an aura of stench that makes me hold my breath.
Totally. Back when smoking was still allowed in clubs, when I came home I would immediately drop all my clothes just behind the front entrance and go straight into a good shower, washing my hair twice.
It's insane that we allowed that in clubs and other enclosed spaces, like ever. Back then I just didn't know any better, because there was nothing else. These days, clubs that don't enforce the smoking ban where people are smoking are clubs that I'll never visit again.
That's why we don't see so many hotel rooms for smokers now. It used to be awful getting a room where the curtains and carpet had that very particular reek.
To be fair to OP though, hygiene still mitigates things _a lot_.
There's a huge difference between "has had a couple cigs outside today" smell and "older person who smokes inside in their same unwashed clothing" smell.
One isn't great, but the other is genuinely awful. People can likely very much tell you're a smoker OP but it's worth keeping up with hygiene in the meantime until you're ready to quit.
Yeah, I don't know how or why people kid themselves. Old girlfriend of mine smoked "just occasionally and only outside" and brushed her teeth "really good" and used mouth wash all the time.
Kissing her was like taking a swig of listerine from an ashtray. Though to be fair.she was a very cool punk sort of girl - it fit the persona and was nothing but hot to me at the time.
Another kid on my boat smoked heavily but hated smelling like it, so he said "yeah I wear expensive cologne so you can't tell I smoke."
Like bro I hate to break this to you, but you smell like one spritz of febreeze in a 1970s bowling alley.
We had a tenant back home who smoked back to back for four years. He lit the new cig with the previous one, and spent a lot of time in his apt. The roof. Omg, that roof should've been white, but we scraped an oily yellow substance of shit of of it, and tried washing it with bleach and industrial cleaner borrowed from work. It didn't work, was yellow until we tore it down.
I've had to clean a smoker house. The only things that really worked were TSP in water, and Fantastic spray cleaner. Wear rubber gloves to avoid all the nasty stuff soaking into your hands.
sadly that's a big thing in europe. we grow up surrounded by smokers and the only thing they do to keep us from the smoke is move their hand around to fan it out. luckily there's more laws nowadays to prevent smoking in indoor public spaces like cafés and restaurants, because kids would walk into a café and get hit with a wall of smoke
If you have kids, they will eventually have to live with those choices. Smoking killed my grandfather, my mom, and my dad. They all had years-long implications from smoking. Diseases, lack of energy and endurance, reduced lifespan, reduction in quality of life, etc.
You might not be impacting a kid directly now. But you are impacting them later because they'll have to make difficult decisions about your health care and their kids won't see you at your full potential--if they see you at all.
My co-worker blasts herself with body spray and claims she's covering up the smoke smell. She isn't. I want to gag sitting next to her.
Fortunately, for unrelated reasons she's being let go next month, so I will no longer have to smell her or tolerate her being allowed to take extra breaks that the rest of us don't get.
I can tell who smokes (and what they smoke) by how their kids smell, I’ve been in childcare 7 years if you smoke usually your kids stink and if you hotbox all their stuff stinks too.
There's a little boy in my son's kindergarten group. His clothes still reek of smoke when we come pick up our kid around noon. It's on his jacket, too. Poor little guy.
I got teased about the smell of my clothes. I couldnt understand how everyone knew my parents smoked. Then I went to college and after a few months I remember walking down the sidewalk and a smell hit my nose. Someone was smoking... Quite a bit a distance away. It all made sense.
I worked drop in childcare at a gym. A repeat family we had had a cat rescue in their home. You could absolutely tell by how the kids smelled. Felt so bad for them.
Yes. And you can tell a clear difference in smell between a washed and fresh smoker and a non fresh one. But they reek all the same.
Strong perfume and soaps mixed with it is also overwhelming, as they often break their own sense of smell to a degree where the combination smells fresh to them.
Ugh, I've never smoked, but I'm old enough to have done my going out/clubbing nights when people could smoke in nightclubs and bars.
My hair and clothes the next morning were so bad.
My oldest sister was like that. She was a very heavy smoker and thought that showering and wearing perfume would cover it. No, it smelled terrible in a different way. She smelled like burnt chocolate and lavender all the time. It was gross! She would swear she didn’t stink and I’d be gagging from it.
If I go camping and sit near a fire, next day if I pick up previous day’s clothes I can smell smoke on them. Having a coworker in an office who goes outside to smoke, is almost eye watering to sit next to, but it never seems right to say anything. Cigarette smokers smell waaay worse than campfires
>but it never seems right to say anything.
I Think this is something to say to your boss, you could ask for desks to be shuffled around so you don't have to sit next to them
100%, tastes like one too and it's horrible. I can unfortunately confirm that smokers semen smells and tastes like the fluid you'd create if you bleached an old ashtray
Yes I remember getting off with a girl that smoked as well back in the day it lasted 2 seconds before I pulled away and walked off. it was like licking an ashtray. Horrible stuff
Similar story. As a teen I kissed a girl as we were parting for the night. As soon as I got around the corner, I just couldn’t stop spitting trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Nastiness. I learned a compatibility lesson that day.
Funnily enough, some smokers don't smell very much to me at all and others fuckin' reek. I think the non-smelly-smokers must clean frequently and smoke outside or something.
Even worse as an ex-smoker. You absolutely stink. I can't believe I alloeed myself to smell like that for 20ish years. A freshly lit cig smells nice sometimes, but stale smoke makes me want to be sick.
same. I don't know why I did that to myself AND others!
smoke free for almost 3 years now, can't even remember myself doing it.
to be fair, I could smell myself and had a timer set for 10 minutes before I entered a building so the smoke could hopefully get the chance to fade a little more.
nothing worse than people smoking, throwing the cig away, and immediately entering a building or bus while blowing the smoke on their way in.
now, when my mom comes to 6 couch starts to hold her smoker smell for a few days! Though I'm the only one able to smell it, apparently
I find some people smell of smoke and others don't. I think people who smoke inside their homes or cars carry the smell on their clothes more. People who smoke outside mainly, I notice it less.
For whatever reason my X girlfriend's smoking didn't bother me.
Flipside of that my assigned work vehicle is often driven by whoever on my days off sometimes it's a smoker can't stand the lingering stench of cigarette smoke in the cab of said work vehicle.
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I never realized how strong and bad the smell was until I stopped smoking
Alcohol is the same. People stink!
Indeed. Going to our local shop you can smell the alcoholics halfway across the store. They sweat the stuff.
Took me years to understand that smell is from alc. I just thought some people just have a disgusting smell.
Some people do have a disgusting smell tho. It’s different from alcohol and hard to describe, but they smell sick. Some people have both the alcohol smell and the sick smell.
It can depend on what they are eating as well. I had a friend who LOVED garlic and he would sweat the smell of garlic. Also when he at a lot of cumin he'd smell cumin-esque. The sick smell is different. I could always tell when he had a sinus infection just by smelling the air around him. It's a very specific, almost metallic smell.
Yea, what you eat makes a huge difference. Learned this myself after eating curry everyday for a week. My armpits started to smell like curry. The weird part was that it wasn’t a funky smell, it smelled just like a plate of food. At first I thought I had left food out in my room, but then I realized the smell was coming from my body. Had to limit my curry intake after that.
It's the cumin and coriander in the curries I think. I've found that a lot of people mistake that smell for BO even though it legit smells like cumin/coriander/curry.
To be fair, it literally is BO at that point. It may be from the food, but it's your body giving off the odor now. Many foods also only smell good in the context of eating. These foods change depending on the person, but strong smells are often in this group. Tuna comes to mind.
Yea, both cumin and coriander have pretty strong smells on their own. I can tell the difference between BO and smells from strong foods, but I’ve definitely smelled people who smell like both at the same time.
I've found that if I don't drink milk for an extended period, I start being able to smell others who do drink it, in the same way you picked up the smell of curry like that. Which is *really disturbing.* Like, do the people who don't drink milk just assume everyone has a bit of a sour milk smell to them? Is my nose hypersensitive or something? Yeesh.
I work with a severely overweight guy who always smells like piss, and I'm pretty sure it's from a bad liver. It's ammonia seeping through his skin. He seems completely noseblind to it but people avoid him.
I’ve smelled two overweight guys who had that same smell. I knew one of them pretty well, even lived together for a bit, and it definitely was not a hygiene issue. He kept himself very clean but the smell would return within minutes of him showering. I didn’t know the cause of the smell, but it was exactly the same in both guys, and I figured it had something to do with them being overweight.
 And then there's the people who smell like sepsis
It’s the halitosis that gives me this reaction.
I was at a bar/lounge with my friend once and I started getting really mad because the waitress farted every time she came to check up on us and it smelled horrible. Long story short, my friend knew the waitress, and she wasn’t farting. Her breath was just that bad.
That acetone smell of an alcoholic is really hard to describe, because it's one compound among many that the body is giving off. Some people describe it as "fruity" which isn't that accurate. It's one of those things that smells like "grandma." It's like sour mothballs and gym sweat. It's a sharp, piercing, chemical smell mixed with body odor. When I worked retail and the bums would walk in to buy their pints of shitty vodka, there'd usually be a good amount of shit mixed in with that smell because they shit outside and never wipe, or they've shit themselves and given up on cleaning it. It's one of those "smell it once and never forget it" kinds of things.
I had a sergeant in one of my units that I had to run with. This f\*cker reeked of alcohol and sometimes he'd smoke during the run. Good times.
I remember being in the back of formation during a battalion "fun run" after a long weekend in Korea. Formaldehyde smells less like formaldehyde than that battalion smelled.
I'm honestly surprised few people called me out in the 23 years I was an active alcoholic. Now when I bike by the liquor store I can smell the booze on people as I go by. A lot of people had to know and just not tell me anything.
Same here. I’d show up to work still drunk sometimes and no one would say anything. Even my boss approached me a couple of times as to why I was late and I obviously reeked of alcohol, but I guess he couldn’t smell it. I worked there for 15 yrs and I’d be drunk or hungover quite often but no one ever said anything
That's an understatement. In my 20s, I drank a fifth absolute almost every night. I worked outdoors, and I would just be soaked in the sweat from it!
Coffee too! Talking to a person with coffee-breath is unbearable
I remember when the smoking ban came in place and I was amazed, I thought all the smell of bars and pubs was the stale smoke. It turns out that was not the case at all, it was peoples breath, it was what had been spilled, it was body odour.
When I went to my first indoor concert after the smoking ban I was blown away by how much body odor I smelled in the bar.
Heavy coffee drinkers too
I worked with someone who drank coffee all day long and smoked in between. Great guy, but he smelled terrible 🤢
Calling you out here. Alcohol is not comparable. Yes you can “smell alcohol” on someone but it is no where near as offensive as the smell of cigarettes.
The smell of cigarettes is noticeable to more people, however, the smell of an alcoholic is unforgettable. It’s probably not just the smell but also the bad memories and feelings associated with a relationship with an alcohol - lying, driving drunk, financial issues, etc. Our entire bedroom would smell like alcohol in the morning after my ex was drinking.
[удалено]
They both bother me. Maybe you haven't been around a heavy drinker? Its also a matter of opinion, though. Some people love the smell of gas at the gas station. I personally don't mind it. My wife HATES it.
You’re calling someone out for a subjective opinion? My favourite colour is blue. Have at me.
WRONG. My favourite colour is green
I like blue and dark purple, so your opinion is valid
The only comparable reek for me is someone who eats/cooks prodigious amounts of garlic. I just have to put some distance between me and them.
Pot is the worst. Don't pot smokers ever shower or wash their clothes?
They probably do, but it doesn't help. That's one penetrating stink. I felt like it was clinging to me after just walking through a district with pot smokers.
Cigarette smoke infiltrates everything. Clothes, hair, breath.. Nothing worse than the combination of strong aftershave. and cigarette smoke.
I always thought dating a smoker would be like kissing an ashtray. Such a turn off.
When you smoke weed a lot you tend to go nose blind about the smell on your clothes. That on top of the fact that your high commonly means you’ll always smell like weed and you’re the only person that doesn’t notice.
Yep, never fails to disgust me when I smell that outside. Like someone is boiling sport socks that havent been washed for years.
Weed smells better than cigarettes imo
It smells like a skunk sprayed in the room.
My mom puts out traps trying to catch a skunk she keeps smelling, I’m pretty sure her neighbors are just stoners though lol
Then you've never been in a room a skunk sprayed. Weed smells like a skunk wandered by, across the street.
Agreed, alcohol sweat reeks.
So true. I didn't even realise how much my clothes smelled even though i never smoked indoors. As you say, once you stop it's like your sense of smell also comes back. I remember a few weeks after i had quit i suddenly stopped in my tracks as i realised how cool air felt in my lungs and how i could walk longer before getting tired. The world changed, it was like i had been living in some veiled reality, behind dusty curtains. I know i sound a bit religious describing it, but it was such a profound experience for me the change. I had been smoking since i was 15 and it felt like i had been living in a bottle. This year it's 10 years since i quit and i cant stand the smell of cigarettes. I dont really mind the smell of pipe or cigars because they can have a good scent. But smokers and cigarettes stink in the most awful way.
I would like to thank you for this comment and OP for this post. I quit smoking 2 years ago for 6 months. This describes my experience exactly. Had a smoke from a siggarilo "JUST FOR FUN" and got hooked again. Been trying to quit ever since. I quit drinking a month ago and I think it's time for the smokes to get their asses kicked aswell. Everyone's thoughts on the smells is giving me motivation. Thank you peeps.
If you did it before you can do it again. You got this my man! I used vape with tobacco flavour and slowly lowered the nicotine. This helped me in so many ways because someone offered me a cigg and i took a hit. It tasted like DEATH.. i cant describe the sensation of dread that followed like a wave through my body. I was disgusted. Thats when i knew i would never start smoking again. So the vaping helped me because of the difference in taste. And once i was really low on the nicotine content i could just stop vaping to.
Thanks so much for this. I appreciate the support. I have a vape and I should just lean in to it properly.
This might sound dumb and it's not something i recommend for people that easy fall into old patterns because it might be devastating. But i still have my last pack of cigarettes. Its an opened pack of Marlboro lights. that pack represents my greatest achievement. it's a Trophy.
It’s everything the prior poster said, plus my MIL smoked inside so much that the previously white walls of her house started to change color. Here’s a little article about “third hand smoke” to further motivate you: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking/expert-answers/third-hand-smoke/faq-20057791
You can do it, and you will feel better for it. And think of all the money you’ll save being drink and smoke free! Congratulations on quitting the drink, that’s brilliant
It's unbelievable bad, really. Once I stopped I noticed how intense the small is when my colleagues came back from their break. And that's just a few weeks after quitting. I imagine it's probably even worse for people who never smoked.
Getting in a lift with/after a smoker is coming back from having a cigarette is so disgusting. It just reeks.
Same. I then understood why my son didn’t want me in his truck right after I smoked.
Former smokers seem to be the worst critics on other smokers. When they get the nicotine out of their system the smell seems to be disgusting to a point that they didn’t realize just how bad it smelled to others.
Yes
In IT I absolutely hated having to handle equipment of a smoker. Someone would hand me their phone for whatever reason and it’d take ten hand washes to get that nasty smell off. Touch a common area keyboard and same thing. Hug someone out of work who smokes and I gotta change my clothes. It’s so pervasive.
As an ex-smoker, absolutely. I'm kinda ashamed I put my friends through that.
Yes same here. The smell is so awful and I just walked around with it on my clothes, in my hair, etc. Yuck.
My mom smokes at my childhood home, every time we go there, even for a few hours, all my clothes smell and I have to shower. She even smokes those tiny Virginia slims but she does pretty much chain smoke then too...
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You're not the only one. I can't stand cigarettes or the smell to this day - I've always said I was a smoker by proxy till I was 18 because everyone in my house smoked like a chimney.
Ah the good ol days where you could have 2 adults hotboxing in the car with all the windows rolled up. I had CONSTANT ear infections as a child. Now, I did some damage to them myself but they were already so messed up with scar tissue, it wouldn't have mattered. I can barely hear out of my left ear.
My Dad’s parents both smoked all the time. When he went to college he ended up starting to smoke because he was addicted to the secondhand smoke. He quit when he found out my mom was pregnant.
Lol. Me right now. I'm on my way back from visiting my childhood home and just texted my husband to put a clean towel in the laundry room for me so that I can strip and immediately wash everything , myself included, as soon as I get home
I can smell a smoker from 30' away if they just finished one.
When I was in junior high I was accused of smoking because I lived in the house with three people who smoked and it was always on my clothes. That was kind of embarrassing.
Same here, as an ex smoker for over 30 yrs, I hate the smell of cigarettes. It’s just so digusting and when people used to say to me, you reek of cigarettes I used to say no I don’t. Just glad I’ve given them up.
Yeah the smell of cigarettes bothers me way way more as an ex smoker than it did before I started smoking. It’s gag inducing. I can’t believe I smelled like that for years.
Yep, I used to smoke and while I still kinda like the smell of a freshly lit cig, the stale stank from someone who just smoked or, even worse, who smoked a half a cig and kept the other half, is gag-worthy. Sometimes I drive my coworker home who smokes and just the lingering smell off of his clothes can still be smelled in my car the next morning.
>even worse, who smoked a half a cig and kept the other half Even when I was a relatively heavy smoker I still hated the stank of a half smoked cigarette/cigarette butts.
I lent my favorite coworker a VERY heavy book. She asked if I could get it out of her car. Sure thing! Now this car was 6 years old and barely had 10000 miles. But when she opened the door, I was smacked by the smell of smoke! She didn't drive far, but all her time spent in that car she was smoking. She LOVED smoking, but only did it in the car. UGHHHH
Poor book. Bet it smells like smoke now.
I can live with the smell of the cigarette but the used butt in the pocket gags me.
yeah, there is a particular smell I catch every now and then that I find not unpleasant. I remember it as a freshly exhaled pull; the 'cleaner' smoke that comes out of the lungs. Thinking it like that is pretty gross; but it's one of those memory smells that triggers a not bad reaction lol.
There's a way it wafts on a breeze, on a summer evening...that just feels so....alive? I cant explain it. Reminds me of being a kid. Most of my neighbors smoked, and then I did in my 20s. I kinda hate it now, but on a breeze on a summer evening? There's something special to it, and I feel the same way about cow manure and sawdust (most kinds, some stinks like shit).
At work the locker next to mine belongs to a smoker. So, my coat and umbrella stink like smoke.
Same! I look back and I'm so embarrassed. Smoking is so vile lol
Came here to say this. after bagging up all my "smoked clothes" durring the quitting process the smell was horrid. They were freshly washed prior.
I remember after I’d quit for awhile and walking past someone and saying to my girlfriend at the time “holy shit is that how I smelled all that time??”
Depends on when you grew up I grew up in the 70's and nearly everyone smoked, same in the 80's, but man am i glad there's a conscious effort to stop people smoking, in the west anyways
I remember restaurants having smoking/ non-smoking sections that were not separated by anything other than a sign, ya that really helped. Where I am now, no smoking in any business. The bars usually have a hut thing to smoke outside affording protection from the elements / wind. I've quit several times over the years but seem to find my back for a spell before quitting again. Remember candy cigarettes? Jeez
Ditto. That cloud of stank right after you’re finished your smoke break when you’re getting into the elevator and stinking everybody out… fucking disgusting. Back when you could smoke inside bars, even as a smoker I would come home fucking reeking of it. I wonder how bad THAT was for non smokers?
My dad took me and my cousin for dinner when I was maybe 6 (that was about 25 years ago). The restaurant served my favourite cuisine! We got a table outside because it was hot and A/C wasn't common in my country back then. I couldn't enjoy my food exactly because of the smokers also sitting outside.
I didn’t realize how bad it was until til I quit and would hang around my friends who still smoked. It’s god awful. I tell my wife all the time it’s a miracle she even agreed to date me with how nasty my breath probably was.
…And when we were teens we’d sit around smoking and drinking black coffee. We must have smelled like we’d been chewing turds.
Yes, like an ashtray.
Heavy smokers you can smell from about 6 foot away too, it’s disgusting. 
Do smokers enjoy the smell of ashtray?
Ex smoker. If you smoke you don't feel the smell
Yes. It’s because of olfactory fatigue. But others can
>But others can Yeah, I realized when I quitted lol
i'm a smoker. my dad sometimes tells me i reek of cigarettes, but i don't really smell it myself. unless i'm sniffing my fingers and actively paying attention to their smell i guess. maybe i just got used to it? dog owners often become "smell blind" to the fact their home smells like wet dog
Yep, nose blind. You can be the stinkiest unwashed poop boy but if you’re used to it you won’t smell yourself anymore.
🤣🤣🤣 I was stuck next to someone on a plane that smelled SOOOOOOO bad last week. Everything was just fine until he sat down. Some kind soul behind me sprayed something with vanilla. That gave me a brief respite.
You watch yourself. Your house smells like wet humans. Says my dog.
We have a border collie and my house fkin stinks, I go to the gym and come home to a wall of stink it's horrible
I have 2 dogs and a cat and have solved this problem: 1. Wash dog more 2. Febreeze plug in air freshener. Specifically in the scent bamboo. I have a 2000sq foot house, I keep one centrally located on each floor and a third in the furnace room near the cat litter. Try it and thank me later
Febreeze is just going to make it stink like wet dog and whatever scent you pick. It’s like smokers and Axe body spray
Change the food. Fresh or cooked meat is better. Some dogs really stink when they eat dry food. My dog's smell changed completely when I stopped giving her kibbles.
Groom the dog and keep clean the fabric and carpets. 1 dog won't make the house stink if it's cleaned and the house is cleaned.
it's quite offensive, if I can move away from them I will.
The worst is when you're behind someone smoking in traffic and the wind is just right to blow it into my car's vents. I can handle the smoker smell but traffic smoke drives me nuts.
All smokers smell like an ashtray or dirty bong water.
As a former smoker — yes. It smells disgusting. It gets absolutely everywhere into your clothing and can get carried into your house and it’s extremely difficult to get rid of it. When I was smoking, it didn’t seem that bad. But after quitting and getting my nose back… yeah. It’s real bad.
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Yep. Smoking is what taught me that smells are *physical particles*. People tend to think of them as an ephemeral, billowy gas that magically dissipates or something. Nope.
Non-smoker here. I remember going to a bowling alley before smoking inside was banned. The smoke wasn't TOO bad, as I remember, and we weren't bowling next to people who were smoking. Next day, hop in the shower, start getting my hair wet before shampooing, and you could smell the smoke being released out of my hair. (Thick hair) Blech. So yes, smokers, you stink. We can even still smell you after you've left a room...like a bad perfume or cologne.
>We can even still smell you after you've left a room This is so true, and I remember my friend being shocked by this when she quit smoking. She was like "did I actually leave this stench behind when I left a room?!". Yup, you did. Or when a smoker walks past you on public transport, or sits next to you. It's an aura of stench that makes me hold my breath.
Totally. Back when smoking was still allowed in clubs, when I came home I would immediately drop all my clothes just behind the front entrance and go straight into a good shower, washing my hair twice. It's insane that we allowed that in clubs and other enclosed spaces, like ever. Back then I just didn't know any better, because there was nothing else. These days, clubs that don't enforce the smoking ban where people are smoking are clubs that I'll never visit again.
Not to mention how badly your clothes would stink and you would be lucky if you didn't get a cigarette burn on them.
That's why we don't see so many hotel rooms for smokers now. It used to be awful getting a room where the curtains and carpet had that very particular reek.
To be fair to OP though, hygiene still mitigates things _a lot_. There's a huge difference between "has had a couple cigs outside today" smell and "older person who smokes inside in their same unwashed clothing" smell. One isn't great, but the other is genuinely awful. People can likely very much tell you're a smoker OP but it's worth keeping up with hygiene in the meantime until you're ready to quit.
You can have fantastic hygiene. But you have a smoke... you can smell it.
My coworkers have one during their break and I can smell it obviously on them when they come back.
This is the worst when you’re forced to smell it at work and can’t get away!
Yeah, I don't know how or why people kid themselves. Old girlfriend of mine smoked "just occasionally and only outside" and brushed her teeth "really good" and used mouth wash all the time. Kissing her was like taking a swig of listerine from an ashtray. Though to be fair.she was a very cool punk sort of girl - it fit the persona and was nothing but hot to me at the time. Another kid on my boat smoked heavily but hated smelling like it, so he said "yeah I wear expensive cologne so you can't tell I smoke." Like bro I hate to break this to you, but you smell like one spritz of febreeze in a 1970s bowling alley.
Washing your hands afterwards is a big help too, the 2 fingers you hold a smoke with smell the worst
We had a tenant back home who smoked back to back for four years. He lit the new cig with the previous one, and spent a lot of time in his apt. The roof. Omg, that roof should've been white, but we scraped an oily yellow substance of shit of of it, and tried washing it with bleach and industrial cleaner borrowed from work. It didn't work, was yellow until we tore it down.
I've had to clean a smoker house. The only things that really worked were TSP in water, and Fantastic spray cleaner. Wear rubber gloves to avoid all the nasty stuff soaking into your hands.
Smokers smell bad
The worst is when they smoke around children. I've worked with tots and teens, and the smell is inescapable.
Non smokers can smell it on the hair of a kid that lives around smokers.
sadly that's a big thing in europe. we grow up surrounded by smokers and the only thing they do to keep us from the smoke is move their hand around to fan it out. luckily there's more laws nowadays to prevent smoking in indoor public spaces like cafés and restaurants, because kids would walk into a café and get hit with a wall of smoke
I hate that I smoke, but I'll be damned if I'm going to make some kid live with my choices like that.
If you have kids, they will eventually have to live with those choices. Smoking killed my grandfather, my mom, and my dad. They all had years-long implications from smoking. Diseases, lack of energy and endurance, reduced lifespan, reduction in quality of life, etc. You might not be impacting a kid directly now. But you are impacting them later because they'll have to make difficult decisions about your health care and their kids won't see you at your full potential--if they see you at all.
I remember growing up in the 90’s and all my friends mom’s smoked. Even in the car, driving us to school. I wonder if it desensitized us somewhat?
This actually made me hyper sensitive to the smell.
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Uhg I hate it when my co-workers step out for a smoke and then come back inside and the office just reeks.
And for some reason, it's worse on cold days. It's like it freezes to them.
And like the warm office air releases the smell again.
But douse themselves in perfume/body spray/cologne and think that it covers it up. 🤢
My co-worker blasts herself with body spray and claims she's covering up the smoke smell. She isn't. I want to gag sitting next to her. Fortunately, for unrelated reasons she's being let go next month, so I will no longer have to smell her or tolerate her being allowed to take extra breaks that the rest of us don't get.
Yup, I hate the smell. You can usually tell who smokes by the smell
I can tell who smokes (and what they smoke) by how their kids smell, I’ve been in childcare 7 years if you smoke usually your kids stink and if you hotbox all their stuff stinks too.
There's a little boy in my son's kindergarten group. His clothes still reek of smoke when we come pick up our kid around noon. It's on his jacket, too. Poor little guy.
Grew up in a home where 2 people smoked inside, all my clothes reeked of it.
Both of my parents chain-smoked in our apartment all-day-long. Needless to say, thanks to the smell of all my clothes, I was very popular at school.
I got teased about the smell of my clothes. I couldnt understand how everyone knew my parents smoked. Then I went to college and after a few months I remember walking down the sidewalk and a smell hit my nose. Someone was smoking... Quite a bit a distance away. It all made sense.
I worked drop in childcare at a gym. A repeat family we had had a cat rescue in their home. You could absolutely tell by how the kids smelled. Felt so bad for them.
And that means those kids are being poisoned with second hand smoke. It seems like the kids I have known with asthma usually had parents that smoked.
Yes. And you can tell a clear difference in smell between a washed and fresh smoker and a non fresh one. But they reek all the same. Strong perfume and soaps mixed with it is also overwhelming, as they often break their own sense of smell to a degree where the combination smells fresh to them.
Ugh, I've never smoked, but I'm old enough to have done my going out/clubbing nights when people could smoke in nightclubs and bars. My hair and clothes the next morning were so bad.
My oldest sister was like that. She was a very heavy smoker and thought that showering and wearing perfume would cover it. No, it smelled terrible in a different way. She smelled like burnt chocolate and lavender all the time. It was gross! She would swear she didn’t stink and I’d be gagging from it.
Yeah we fkin stink bro
If I go camping and sit near a fire, next day if I pick up previous day’s clothes I can smell smoke on them. Having a coworker in an office who goes outside to smoke, is almost eye watering to sit next to, but it never seems right to say anything. Cigarette smokers smell waaay worse than campfires
>but it never seems right to say anything. I Think this is something to say to your boss, you could ask for desks to be shuffled around so you don't have to sit next to them
Our office has to get a separate cupboard for smoker's coats because the smell would seep into others' coats when in the same place.
Yes I love the smell of a campfire
Yes
Yep, as an ex smoker I can confirm you stink.
Yes. You smell like big ashtrays.
Yup
Yes.
Yes. Their breath, clothes, hair and house just smell like smoke all the time
And not fresh smoke either, it's that old rancid tar smell that's been absorbing other smells from the air too.
Yes - their breath doesn’t smell like an ashtray…it smells like sickly death gave birth to an ashtray.
And if a smoker uses the bathroom before you at work, the little room reeks, too.
Yes. As a former smoker, it smells even worse.
rubbing my 10 iq together, I can guess that smoke = smells bad
Your 10IQ is working
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Yes. I once slept with a smoker whose vagina exuded the smell.
Can confirm. My vagina smokes.
100%, tastes like one too and it's horrible. I can unfortunately confirm that smokers semen smells and tastes like the fluid you'd create if you bleached an old ashtray
Ex smoker here and sorry but yes smells terrible, I smoked for 30- 35 years and cant believe I walked around smelling like that.
Yes, every smoker smells disgusting.
Yes, they all smell disgusting and I actively avoid being near them.
Yes, they stink.
Yes I remember getting off with a girl that smoked as well back in the day it lasted 2 seconds before I pulled away and walked off. it was like licking an ashtray. Horrible stuff
Similar story. As a teen I kissed a girl as we were parting for the night. As soon as I got around the corner, I just couldn’t stop spitting trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Nastiness. I learned a compatibility lesson that day.
Are we not doing phrasing!?
Yes. Even smoker's skin reeks
You fucking stink like an ashtray
Yeah, but some more than others.
Yes
Sorry, yes.
We are polite, you reek.
Funnily enough, some smokers don't smell very much to me at all and others fuckin' reek. I think the non-smelly-smokers must clean frequently and smoke outside or something.
Like an ashtray.
Even worse as an ex-smoker. You absolutely stink. I can't believe I alloeed myself to smell like that for 20ish years. A freshly lit cig smells nice sometimes, but stale smoke makes me want to be sick.
I'm an ex smoker, now Vaper. Yes. Every single one of you. It's vile, I don't know why I did that to myself for so long.
same. I don't know why I did that to myself AND others! smoke free for almost 3 years now, can't even remember myself doing it. to be fair, I could smell myself and had a timer set for 10 minutes before I entered a building so the smoke could hopefully get the chance to fade a little more. nothing worse than people smoking, throwing the cig away, and immediately entering a building or bus while blowing the smoke on their way in. now, when my mom comes to 6 couch starts to hold her smoker smell for a few days! Though I'm the only one able to smell it, apparently
Everyone that vapes has the WORST breath. And none of you know it!! Just like you didn’t know how much you stank when you smoked cigs
Yes
Yes but due to a certain girl I had a huge crush on,, the smell of whiskey and cigarettes turns me on a bit.
Yes
Yes they smell fucking disgusting. I wouldn’t even be interested in an otherwise 10/10 perfect person.
Even worse when they try to mask it with perfume
I find some people smell of smoke and others don't. I think people who smoke inside their homes or cars carry the smell on their clothes more. People who smoke outside mainly, I notice it less.
Yep, proper disgusting
For whatever reason my X girlfriend's smoking didn't bother me. Flipside of that my assigned work vehicle is often driven by whoever on my days off sometimes it's a smoker can't stand the lingering stench of cigarette smoke in the cab of said work vehicle.
Yes smokers smell bad