Week 1. “How Cigarette Smoke Affects Your Smell”

As bars shift from smoke-filled to smoke-free, patrons’ “olfactory experiences” (what they smell) tend to shift as well. But what causes this shift?

When smoking is allowed inside bars, cigarette smoke acts as a mask to the underlying bad smells that reside. But smoke doesn’t just hide these smells, it actually kills and temporarily paralyzes your “olfactory apparatus” (ability to smell). As a result, you cannot detect your own odors, the odors of others in the bar, odors outside the bar or odors on your way home that evening.

After being surrounded by smoke in a bar all night, any girl who leaves with a guy would not detect his underlying body odor later that night – or, potentially, the next morning. Thus, guys – unfortunately – could get away with smelling bad, and girls are unable to recognize it.

Furthermore, regular smoking impairs your ability to smell. A girl who smokes heavily could be much less likely to even recognize that a guy smelled badly.

Why should all this matter to you? Because the elimination of smoke allowed guys’ underlying body odor to come out – both at the bar and after they leave. And to a prospective “hook-up” – no matter how you look, how much money you make or how interesting you are – if you smell bad, the girl’s attraction to you will plummet. That fact is not rocket (or scent) science!

Check back next week for some insights into what differentiates guys from girls when it comes to scents and smells.

Got any thoughts on Dr. Hirsch’s post? Have you noticed an increase in other smells once cigarette smoke leaves bars? Ladies – have you turned down a guy at a bar because he smelled? Talk it out in the “Stench Support Group” here.