Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with smell

Smelly tree, smelly tree, it's not your fault...

summit — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:54:12 -0800

What tree smells like semen or vagina? This tree seems to be really popular around greater Boston. It has 5 white petals on each flower and the leaves look similar to this alternate drawing. The worst part is that while it's flowering, the tree smells like semen or vagina, depending on who you ask. What kind of tree is it? It's definitely not the Chinese chestnut.

Alternative Air Freshener for My Car?

mrgoldenbrown — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:40:45 -0800

I am soliciting crazy ideas for alternative car fresheners that smell good but not of chemicals. I have a hatchback, so there is no separation between people in the car and the trunk, where I often put smelly hiking boots and/or climbing shoes and/or sometimes sleep. I have been told by a friend that my car smells and that I should fix this problem before offering to drive a potential girlfriend anywhere.

The standard pine tree type thing hanging from the rearview mirror smells too chemically for me. Short of planting a pine tree in my back seat, is there any way i can get a natural, nice smell into my car? I would love my car to smell like a pine forest, fresh baked cookies, an italian restaurant, or a campfire. googling for "car sized fireplace" has not gotten me far.

So I'm contemplating (and soliciting) crazy ideas. Is it practical to grow basil or mint in my car? Should I just try burning incense in there once in a while? if so, has anyone found a brand of pine incense that actually smells like pine? would putting a box of baking soda in there absorb odors?

PS: I am also investigating ways to keep my shoes/boots from getting so smelly in the first place. But in general, I shower at least once a day and am not rank myself, when not on the way home from some sweaty activity.

I drink; therefore, I reek?

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:51:12 -0800

How much beer do I have to drink to "smell like a brewery" the next day? Occasionally I enjoy drinking beer. I also occasionally encounter people who have consumed so much alcohol that they reek the next day. I wish to avoid this.

How many drinks (esp. beer) would a 5'9, 220lb (but otherwise healthy) man in his mid-thirties have to drink to stink the next day (after noon). Assume drinking would take place between 5:00-10:00pm.

Help me stop the house from reeking like a restaurant after closing.

winna — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:43:24 -0800

My living room smells like a restaurant. It does not smell like food, but like the old, greasy, disgusting smell left on your clothes when you leave the restaurant if you work there. This is making my living room unbearable. What is this smell? My apartment is in a four-apartment block in a complex owned by a management company in the western Piedmont of North Carolina. A couple of months ago my downstairs and next door neighbors moved out and the company renovated the apartments immediately below and beside me.

I noticed at that point a smell which I described as 'sausages' to the rental lady, but what familiarity over time has led me to describe as 'restaurant'. It was not initially a constant smell. It consistently can be smelled at 13:00 and 23:00. It has been getting worse. It does not appear to be related to whether or not the heat or a/c is on.

I have taken Great Stuff and plugged up the holes where my pipes route through the wall. The smell is not coming from my kitchen. It comes from the living room near the front door. It happened when I did not have anyone living next door or below me, so I'm at a loss to know where the smell is coming from.

I am at my wit's end. The apartment complex management has not listened to me, probably because this sounds like such a crazy problem. Can anyone give me anything that it might be, based on the description of the smell? I can't be any more precise than to say that it's almost exactly like the smell in the back of a restaurant after closing - a vague, bad, greasy 'food' smell with no actual food qualities about it.

My Roommate's Junk Smells

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:27:55 -0800

My roommate smells, and it's not just typical BO. Help! I live in a typical (read: small) college dorm room with one other person.

In the past few weeks, I've noticed that my roommate has developed an odor. It's not bad breath, or typical BO. It smells distinctly... cheesy. In a really nasty "this isn't a good smell" kind of way. Specifically, I've noticed the smell when he removes his jeans as he is going to bed. My desk is very close to his bed, and after repeated instances of this, I can say with some assuredness that the smell is eminating from his pelvic area. It's very noticeable, and it can be pretty hard at times not to comment on the sudden foul odor that has started assaulting my nostrils immediately following the removal of his jeans.

What finally drove me to make the AskMe question I've been putting off about this is that I came back to the room after going to lunch, opened the door, and hit a wall of the odor. I discovered my roommate taking a nap in his bed, the air absolutely saturated with the repugnant smell in question. I opened my window and door to get air moving, went out into the hall, and found the smell was strong enough to seep into the hall and smell just as bad. I borrowed air freshener from the people in the next room, and even THEY noticed the smell coming from the hallway! That just isn't right!

He used to be pretty sexually active, with many a partner, due mostly to the lowered inhibitions/standards caused by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol (I'm not juding, really, he's admitted this to be the case multiple times). But I've noticed he has been completely abstinent lately (to my knowledge), and it coincides rather neatly with the debut of his new fragrance.

I have two main questions. First, what is up with my roommate's junk? Why does it smell the way it does? Answers from personal experience, educated guesses/conjecture from "I am not a doctor," "I'm a doctor but not YOUR (ROOMMATE'S) doctor," and the like are all welcome.

Second, what can I do about this situation? Should I put up with it since the end of the year is quickly approaching? Maybe a buy a ton of febreeze? Should I bring it up? If so, how?

I can be reached at anonymousmefi@gmail.com if you have any questions. If I have followups or new information I'll try and get in touch with one of the mods to have them post it in the thread.

Thanks for any and all help you can offer.

Oooh that smell.

cowboy_sally — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:55:27 -0800

What is the strange smell emanating from certain areas of our apartment? It's very strong and sour, like boiled cabbage...and it's confined to the front hallway and the bathroom. Initially I thought it might be cooking smells from other people's apartments--there's a lot of that in the stairwells--but no one's cooking smells like this. And if that were the case, why would it smell that way in the bathroom? The smell is strongest when the heat has been on or it's hot outside, and it seems to be concentrated by the bathroom sink and (oddly) inside the hall closet.

We've lived in the same apartment for 4 years now, and the smell's aways been here. Pre-war multifamily (30+ apartments) rental building that's not well maintained. Yeah.

After reading through the other stinky-apartment askme posts, I suspect the source is something not so benign. So what nasty substance is the culprit? Is it mildew? A cockroach colony? Cracked pipes? (I doubt it's a dead animal, unless there's a special rat burial ground in our walls.) Even if it's something we can't fix on our own, I'd still like to have an idea of what it could be before I approach the landlord about it. Thanks folks.

Lost

hadjiboy — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:32:52 -0800

What tree is this? These are the flowers which grow on it (they usually fall off every night and are strewn across the ground). Here's a close up of one of them. They have a nice and pleasant smell... something like Jasmine perhaps? Not sure, but if anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks a lot.

Most economical way to make your house smell good?

tanminivan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:44:50 -0800

What's the most economical way to make your house/apartment smell good? My apartment doesn't smell bad, but it doesn't really smell good, either. I've tried a few candles, potpourri, aerosol sprays, and plug-in air fresheners that all work at varying degrees of effectiveness, but they usually don't last long and they're expensive.

I already keep my place fairly clean by vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, disinfecting countertops, sweeping and mopping often. I try to open the windows as much as possible, as weather permits.

I've searched Ask Me, but most questions seem to be on removing odors, not solely providing pleasant ones. I did find this thread at Yahoo Answers where a few people said simmering some water with cinnamon and/or your favorite scent was a pretty good way to make your house smell good. I haven't tried this, but I'd imagine the smell would fade after several hours (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm looking for something more long-term.

So, has anyone found any other low cost ways of improving odors for a long period of time?

(Also, if it helps, I'd have to say my favorite scent is vanilla.)

fried electronic smell

sisquoc15 — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:41:41 -0800

What is that fried electronic smell? I cooked my computer's power supply over the weekend and now the house has that fried electronic smell. Molecularly speaking, what is that? Should I evacuate?

How can I get rid of this smell?!

Orrorin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:14:14 -0800

A rat died in my wall (or ceiling), and it smells terrible. I'm leaving town for a week, what can I do to make sure the smell is gone (or greatly diminished) by the time I come back? My house had a rat problem, and my landlord opted to put bait in the attic. When asked about what would happen if one died in the walls, he insisted that the bait would make them thirsty and leave the house. No problem for a few months, but now there's definitely something dead.

I noticed that my bathroom was smelling sour a couple days ago, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. Now it's beyond belief nasty. The window is all the way open, I've taken everything out, and I've sealed off the bottom of the door to halt the stench.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, so Ive planned to leave the window open while I'm gone and put down some fly traps. What else can I do to help this awful process along, and will the smell die down over the week? If I were going to be around, I'd try and have my landlord do something about this, but I would prefer not to have him in my house if I'm not here.

I don't want to wash my dishes after I wash my dishes, either...

odi.et.amo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:05:45 -0800

How can I get rid of my dishwasher's funk? There is some form of foul smelling beast living in the drain of my dishwasher and it has started to impart its scent on my dishes. Tap and filtered water both smell almost fishy if I don't first fill the glass with water and pour it out to get rid of the odor. Likewise for other food and baked goods that are on or were made in things washed in my dishwasher.

How can I get rid of the funk? So far, I've tried bleach and copious amounts of baking soda + vinegar. It helped reduce the general funk, but it always reappears when I run the dishwasher and stays on the dishes.

I like breathing formaldehyde as much as the next person, but...

misanthropicsarah — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:41:16 -0800

How do I get rid of that horrible new carpet smell? My office had new carpet put down in the hallways last Thursday through Tuesday. It's industrial carpet glued to concrete floor. The glue smell gives me horrible headaches. Plus, I'm sure it's toxic.

My coworkers (there's only 2 of them) don't grok that this smell is causing a serious problem for me; somehow they can't smell it or it doesn't bother them. I had the hall windows open yesterday, but it's all of 20° today and they'll whine about it being cold if I open the windows again.

So, how can I get this horrible smell to go away? I'd prefer to eliminate or neutralize it instead of covering it up with something (Febreze also not an option because that gives me headaches too).

Thrift store smell

bokinney — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:48:41 -0800

What is that thrift store smell? What makes thrift stores smell, and why do they all smell the same? Is it just a mix of general funk and b.o., or is there some chemical they are spraying on everything?

Brewing up a stink?

Goofyy — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:29:01 -0800

AromaFilter: Nice apartmemt, next to a brewery. Will there be unpleasant exhaust from the brewing? It's quite a nice place, on top of a building (5th floor). But the brewery is nearly next door. Does brewing beer make for stink or excessive noise? Not big enough for a traffic issue, it's a smallish local brew (at least one of their brews is quite pleasant). Probably too big to call it a microbrewery, the appearance is more factory.

sulfur smell from somewhere. is it dangerous? how to find it.

Infernarl — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:31:15 -0800

sulfur smell from somewhere. is it dangerous? how to find it. Background info: I live on the top floor of a 4 story building. My water heater has no tank. My neighbor has a cat (pee?). Sometimes a sulfury smell comes from the sink but it is distinctly different. The smell mostly comes at night. The floor is tatami. The apartment has been renovated (possible drain somewhere in the floor?). The sink in the kitchen has no trap, just a straight pipe. This is Japan. The smell is sulfury with a little rancid oil note, quite dull but lingering. It only smells in the bedroom. It definitely comes from the right, the direction of my neighbor's apartment.

I googled but all the pages seemed to deal with a smell in drinking water. It seems to come from the floor but maybe the wall. I don't think it's based on water directly, it seems to come in puffs.

Any ideas on how to pinpoint the source? Is it possibly dangerous?

Whyfore the pleasant odor of refrigerators?

Quidam — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:20:16 -0800

I really like the smell of the inside of refrigerators and freezers. Why on earth is this? This is a weird question, but isn't that (at least partly) what AskMeFi is for?

Ever since I was little I can remember liking the way that the inside of freezers (and to a lesser degree, refrigerators) smell. It's most obvious in industrial-sized, walk-in coolers and freezers (I guess because there's more, um, freezer-air in there), but sometimes I can pick it up in any old household fridge/freezer too. I cannot describe the smell as anything other than... the inside of a freezer. It's not the same as, say, outdoors on a snowy day. It's distinctive to appliances. It has nothing to do with what's actually inside the freezer, and it's not a chemical smell, and if there's a fan in the freezer (like at the top in a walk-in one, or at the bottom in an upright one) it's usually strongest in that area.

I know I'm not totally insane because in high school, when I worked in an ice cream store where we had a large walk-in cooler, I remember one other kid saying once something like "I love the way it smells in here", but other than that I've never heard of anyone else acknowledging this.

So, I mean, I recognize that this is rather vague and totally off-the-wall, but does anyone know what the heck I'm talking about? And if you do, what is it that gives it that smell? Am I crazy?

Sandalwood cheese? Bleargh.

aubilenon — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:37:05 -0800

How do I remove the smell of aromatic oils from my fridge? Baking soda & activated carbon don't cut it. Three years ago, my roommate stowed some aromatherapy oils in a compartment in the door of the fridge. The compartment has a rubber gasket and is sort-of airtight. Evidently a couple of them (tea tree and sandalwood) leaked. About a year later I noticed my cheese & butter had started getting gross. We cleaned the fridge a few times, but mostly I just started sealing stuff very carefully AND still having to throw out the first few slices of cheese.

Finally a month ago, we figured it out was the oils. We took them out and sealed them in a proper container, and washed out the whole fridge.

But the compartment they used to be stored in still is super smelly. The smell is slowly taking hold in the rest of the fridge again. I think the oils may have soaked into the plastic or rubber some.

I can remove the shelf/compartment bit and clean it in any way possible: What should I do to get the smell out?

I have a Tub o' Carbon in there which doesn't seem to be sufficient.

I'm just too scentsitive.

susiepie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:16:18 -0800

Who has a sense of smell as strong as mine? No one nose! Please help me. Simply put, my extreme sensitivity to odors of any kind is seriously affecting my quality of life. It's like having a superpower, but trust me, it isn't super at all.

Many scents that are just normal to other people (such as light perfume/cologne) are much stronger to me. Scents that are strong (such as cigarette smoke) are totally overpowering and almost unbearable to me. The smells don't make me nauseous or anything, they just really, really, really bother me. This has been going on for pretty much my whole life. I can remember complaining about the smell of my parents' coffee in the mornings because it just seemed so strong to me.

I want to know if there is anything I can do to lessen my sense of smell. Is there any medicine I can take, or natural remedies? I would even go so far as to consider surgery if I knew it would help. I do know that one underlying cause may be a disorder I have that whacks out my hormones (I've heard that some pregnant women have issues with scent sensitivity and I'm pretty sure my experience is similar). However, I don't have much hope of regulating them to a point where it would make any difference in my sensitivity to smells, if that is even the cause. So I'm basically trying to figure out something - anything - that will help make my life a little bit better by taking away (or diminishing, at least) the thing that aggravates me the most.

Anyway... Any advice, shared experiences, natural methods, surgical solutions, websites, anything you can suggest will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Funky (smelling) fibers.

the luke parker fiasco — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:34:44 -0800

How do I de-stink the armpits of my sweaters? I tend to wear sweaters frequently in between washings. Recently I've been wearing a couple of heavier-weight sweaters pretty often, in and out of significant temperature changes. This, combined with prolonged use, has caused the armpits of a couple of these sweaters to remain stinky, even after washing.

Any tips or tricks to dissolve the funk? I've seen this thread, but as all the sweaters in question are black, and a myriad of fibers (one is acrylic/cotton, one acrylic/mohair/nylon, one acrylic/nylon/wool), I want to use something that won't bleach, fade, shrink, or otherwise damage the fibers. I assume vinegar would be safe, but other remedies like peroxide are a bit more questionable.

Also, I don't have access to Febreze, Oxy Clean, or any other spiffy US-oriented cleaning agents, so simpler remedies appreciated.

Why is my dog scared of cooked lamb?

stonefruit — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:01:56 -0800

My golden retriever-lab mix freaks out when we cook lamb -- he whines and puts his tail between his legs. He'll eat the cooked lamb fine, but he finds the smell of it cooking distressing. I've read elsewhere about this phenomenon, but does anyone have this experience with their dog or have an idea what makes lamb so scary? Does he think we're cooking his pals? He has his skittish moments (scared of thunder, natch), but this is the only time I've seen him behave this way. And he's a rescue dog, so it's possible he had some early traumatic experience involving lamb. But since I've read about other dogs behaving this way, I doubt it.

getting tea smell all over the place

kall — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:29:57 -0800

What's the best way to get the smell of tea in the room or all over the House? I think tea is one of the best smelling, worst tasting things ever. And I wanted to get the smell of it all over the house, or atleast in one room. Is there a better way to do this than to make tea and leave it in the room? Because that way it won't last to long.

here stinky stinky

striker — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:49:06 -0800

Why does my dog smell nice for a long time after a PetsMart bath, but stinks the next day after I give her a bath? Any thoughts? Petsmart bath lasts like 3 weeks (possibly some exaggeration here). Note that this isn't just my poor dog-bathing skills, I've talked to other people and this happens with them as well.

How to fix a malodorous laptop?

speek — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:23:36 -0800

How do you remove an odor from a laptop without killing the laptop (or yourself)? I recently bought a new-to-me iBook G3 from somebody in the middle of Massachusetts. I didn't notice it when I got it, but I realized that the computer smelled like barbecue sauce. It isn't that big of a deal, but it's sooooo annoying.

I did read about the burning glue issue on iBook G3s, but I don't think that's the issue as
a) the whole computer smells like bbq sauce and
b) the cords that came with it smell like bbq sauce.

Thanks!

Water in new teakettle smells.

potch — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:10:21 -0800

My sister got my Mom this teakettle for Christmas. Problem is, every few times we make tea, the water tastes terrible and smells funky- almost a wet chlorine smell. Putting water with baking soda in the kettle fixes said problem, but that's a non-solution. Is there some sort of enamel teakettle etiquette that we don't know, or should we return the thing?

Note: our water is ludicrously hard, but our old teakettle never had a problem.

I smell feet

peep — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:34:43 -0800

I smell feet. For the past 2 weeks, I smell a foot odor constantly. It feels a little dry and/or itchy underneath my cheekbones. Could this be the beginning of a sinus infection? But here are some complicating factors:

1. I don't feel sick - not one bit. No headache, and I wouldn't even describe the cheekbone feeling as "pressure." No body aches, fever, etc.
2. I have no mucus, and I'm not congested. I can breathe completely freely.
3. The feeling under my cheekbones is on both sides, so I don't think it's a tooth thing. Also, I just saw the dentist this week, and if I had teeth rotting to the point of giving off an odor, I think he would have noticed.
4. I've had this for 2 weeks, and nothing's changed. At some point, wouldn't I actually start to feel sick, or start expelling some mucus?

My husband tells me he doesn't smell anything and insists the smell is not emanating FROM me in anyway.

I've been irrigating my sinuses with a neti pot each morning. Anything else I can do? I've heard that the current thought on sinus infections is that for mild to moderate ones, antibiotics aren't necessary. This is a first for me. Have you ever smelled a foot smell like this before, and what was it?

I've seen this question , and I wouldn't characterize this smell as bleachy or like propane, and that poster definitely had some mucus going on, which seems to differentiate our problems.