Comments on: What's that spicy smell in Park Slope?

Question: What's that spicy smell in Park Slope?

moonmilk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:40:58 -0800

There's something in the air around here lately - Park Slope, Brooklyn - that smells a lot like cloves or clove oil, and a bit like pipe tobacco. It came on strong yesterday afternoon and is still drifting around today.

At first I thought it was a neighbor smoking something really strong, but it's too big for that. Then I thought of the spice processing plant on the other side of Prospect Park, but I used this as an excuse to visit the Botanic Garden today and it was definitely a cinnamon-coriander day at the plant.

By: kidbritish

kidbritish — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:56:27 -0800

Possibly clove cigarettes?

By: patnok

patnok — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:07:04 -0800

wind blowing from spice plant

By: lia

lia — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:34:19 -0800

time to bathe your dogs!

By: boots

boots — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:09:39 -0800

No ideas here, but I definitely smelled a strong clove cigarette smell yesterday in Park Slope, so yer not crazy

By: moonmilk

moonmilk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:08:54 -0800

Not quite clove cigs - I know that smell well from going to school at Berkeley! And this smell filled the whole neighborhood.

I checked out the spice plant and it was exuding cinnamon, not cloves.

And the dogs smell like nachos.

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:45:19 -0800

New York just has mystery smells sometimes. Often they're never explained.

Just pray it isn't a new strain of Northrax.

By: moonmilk

moonmilk — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:09:09 -0800

Here's an answer from the Brooklynometry blog! It's a weed-killer used on the cobblestones around Prospect Park. It's supposedly harmless, which is a nice change from the scary yellow-dyed stuff they sprayed in previous years, accompanied by hundreds of big warning signs.