Trust your nose!

Inspired by: http://www.popsci.com/sensitive-noses-flavor-excerpt

As some of you may be aware, your nose is filled with potent chemoreceptors. The nose can pick up on chemicals which only advanced instruments can detect (IE different chiral molecules). And while it isn’t perfect, it’s usually pretty accurate.

So if your cannabis doesn’t smell quite right, or the drink doesn’t, your nose is probably right. If you are familiar with what the “perfect” cannabis from a strain smells like, you should be able to tell if you’re on the right track.


In a similar vein, some of my older chemistry professors in college could actually tell rough proportions of chemicals in solution just by giving them a brief whiff. It was really fascinating. They’d tell us stories about their professors, who could guess percentages very closely.

For me personally, my sense of smell is way better than my fiancee’s. I can smell meat going bad when there’s nothing visually wrong with just because it doesn’t smell quite right, but she can barely smell rot until it’s visible.

How about you? How’s your sniffer?

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This is great! I actually used to work with a girl who could smell cucumbers, yes, cucumbers being cut in the kitchen at work. She would be at least 60 feet away and in a different room but she could smell them every time someone would cut them! She would definitely be the person I select to be in charge of sniffing out impurities and whatnot! :joy:

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Sounds like our bulldog - for some strange reason cucumbers are her favorite food. As soon as I pull one out of the fridge she comes running to get the peels and the ends to eat.

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My mastiff loves grapefruit and oranges. He prefers the whole orange too.

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I need a “Life Coach” in regards to smells and tastes. Apparently the survival skills I learned struggling thru college now allow me to eat or drink anything without complaint while others cringe. Milk has to be yogurt before I realize its not good.

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This reminds me how important terpenes are. :slight_smile:

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Follow up article on Scientific American:

Another follow up:

https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2017/if-it-smells-like-a-petunia-or-shampoo-it-might-be-a-pesticide/

“If It Smells Like a Petunia or Shampoo, It Might Be a Pesticide”

[quote]A scent that petunias and snapdragons release to attract pollinators may be an environmentally friendly control for pests like the spotted wing drosophila fly (SWD) and the brown marmorated stink bug.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Aijun Zhang discovered the fragrant chemical methyl benzoate, which is also a popular ingredient approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in foods, cosmetics and shampoo, can kill these insects and others.

Few choices are available for controlling SWD, which is an invasive species from Asia. It has quickly spread across the United States and can cause significant damage to fruit crops, especially berries.

Zhang, who is with the ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, points out the possibility of a new bio-based pesticide—especially one based on an inexpensive chemical whose residue lasts a relatively short time in the environment—is exciting.[/quote]

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