Comments on: Musty, what does that mean?

Question: Musty, what does that mean?

517 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:06:36 -0800

Can you describe what mold smells like without using the word musty?

I have just moved into a new apartment and it has a smell that I have not been able to get rid of. I've been trying to identify it but I've never been very good at smells.

If I had to describe it, I would call it a sweet smell.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:13:11 -0800

Sort of sweet, with an undertone of smoke and maybe a hint of that burning dust smell when you run the heater for the first time in the winter.

By: jknecht

jknecht — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:13:12 -0800

minty?

By: peacay

peacay — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:14:32 -0800

Earth rot humus.
Organic pungent earth.
Tautology much.

By: melissa may

melissa may — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:20:48 -0800

Dank, corpsey flowers; honeyed foulness; cloying fungal perfume; nauseous sweetness; stagnant rosewater; sweet whiffy reek. Dead bread. Baked death.

(Disclaimer: I live in the Pacific Northwest and have basement issues and work from home and am going out of my goddamned mind.)

By: sweetmarie

sweetmarie — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:21:22 -0800

My mom always called it moufa, although we did accuse her of making up words.

By: afx237vi

afx237vi — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:24:29 -0800

Sorry for stating the obvious, but have you tried a thesaurus? Musty - Moldy

By: twistofrhyme

twistofrhyme — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:25:41 -0800

dusty
stale
ticklish
foggy
damp
mildewy

By: 517

517 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:29:23 -0800

Sorry for stating the obvious...

It was the first place I looked.

It really isn't the words that I am interested in, it is a description of the actual smell of mold that doesn't make reference to the mold itself, ie musty, moldy.

I just don't know what it smells like.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:30:22 -0800

Overpriced whiskey.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:30:40 -0800

Fungal?

By: jamjam

jamjam — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:35:05 -0800

Acrid lavender, or lavender and wet cigarette butts.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:35:09 -0800

A hot summer rain, on day-old, dusty roadkill. Vinegarey bar-sweat and cumin. A Starbucks breve douche.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:37:47 -0800

On preview, I think jamjam has it. Lavender and wet cigarette butts is perfect.

By: AlliKat75

AlliKat75 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:43:23 -0800

It smells like my grandparents' basement...but you've probably never been there. Have you?

By: Ugh

Ugh — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:47:24 -0800

Green.

By: Tryptophan-5ht

Tryptophan-5ht — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:51:18 -0800

earthy

By: cobaltnine

cobaltnine — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:53:27 -0800

Stale, loamy. 'Like old books', or 'like a basement' depending on the dryness of it. Bread mold, versus other kinds, is more of a stale/dusty smell, with less of the loaminess.

By: sergeant sandwich

sergeant sandwich — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:54:01 -0800

i guess it depends on the kind of mold. that moldy basement smell always seemed kinda powdery to me.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:59:49 -0800

On re-reading the question, you were serious.

I find it usually smells wet, even if it's dry... like wet paper. Soak a phone book in your sink and leave it in a bag, someplace warm for a couple of days. It smells like that.

By: peep

peep — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:06:10 -0800

I had a friend who thought cilantro was revolting, because to her, cilantro smelled like her family's dank, moldy basement. I love cilantro, but now whenever I taste or smell it, I can totally see what she means - it does have a musty smell. Does "cilantro" describe your smell?

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:13:24 -0800

Got an old cleaning sponge? Something you use to muck spills around the sink and don't use otherwise? If it's worn to colorlessness and has a vaguely jellylike feel when it's wet, take a deep sniff -- that's mustiness.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:29:29 -0800

Constricting

By: advil

advil — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:37:05 -0800

Is it possible the apartment was inhabited by smokers and the sweet smell is a result of whatever was used to attempt to get the smell of smoke out? I have encountered this in apartments I think, and in other places (e.g. in used cars previously owned by smokers).

I personally wouldn't have described the smell of mold as sweet, but there are a lot of different varieties of mold.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:47:52 -0800

Peep, you might be interested in an item about cilantro from the Oxford Companion to Food:

The very name coriander [another name for cilantro as well as the familiar spice] is said to be derived from the Greek word koris, meaning bed-bug. The foliage of the plant, and its seeds in the unripe stage, have an odour which has been compared with the smell of bug-infested bed clothes.

By: gaiamark

gaiamark — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:30:25 -0800

I would think that it depends upon the type of mold, but the one I personally have the most experience with is something along the lines of rotting dog carcass covered in fermenting seaweed.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:20:05 -0800

Ohh, it depends, there are many molds. But no one's said Walnuts.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:06:46 -0800

wet skin of a first-grader.
dog in lake.
a moth on cheese at a summer wedding.
nana's kleenex; her long-dead purse; the attic.
those missing pitas in the Buick's trunk, pining for the kitchen.

By: rob511

rob511 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:14:47 -0800

... [H]oneyed [F]oulness, ... [S]tagnant [R]osewater, [S]weet [W]hiffy [R]eek ...

I herely nominate melissa may to name all future Bond Girls (good and eee-vil).

By: rob511

rob511 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:15:44 -0800

hereby

By: croutonsupafreak

croutonsupafreak — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:49:34 -0800

Does it make you sneeze? That's always my reaction to moldy abodes.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:54:40 -0800

Grassy