Phantosmia - smoke smell

[HuskyHawk]

Figured I'd throw this up because it's just so weird and is highly annoying and you'll likely make jokes about the name. A week ago, my wife's birthday, I decided to smoke a turkey breast that had accidentally thawed and needed to be cooked. But I had to put it on the smoker during lunch. I hadn't used my drum smoker since the fall, and I think I rushed the charcoal and there may have been some moisture in the drum basket. The smoke that resulted was so intense, neighbors called to see if we were burning brush (fire risk given the dry weather) or had a house fire. I got multiple big full face blasts of dense smoke as I tried to deal with it. Disaster. Turkey ended up edible, but the rest will go in some chili.

Fast forward and every day since I smell smoke, and feel like my nasal passages are burning. Feel it in my throat too. Dr. Google tells me this phantom smoke smell is Phantosmia. It feels like I've gone back in time and live in a smoke filled bar from the 80s 24x7. Only time it subsided noticeably was at the beach. I've tried a saline rinse. Guess I can try again. Anybody else ever suffer from this? Eventually I'll go to Dr. if it persists.

 

[8893]

Is it possible that the smoke so permeated your nostrils and skin that you are actually smelling yourself, and it won't lessen until that skin dies and is replaced with new skin?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

And to think I was about to buy a smoker...

 

[mussels]

Is it possible that the smoke so permeated your nostrils and skin that you are actually smelling yourself, and it won't lessen until that skin dies and is replaced with new skin?

Smoked Hawk.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I am a toxicologist and phantosmia does exist although rare. Possibly the smoke has permeated cloth, wood, and other permeable surfaces in the are of your smoker.

 

[Fishy]

You have a mild sinus infection and it will clear in a few days.

That will be $6,000.

 

[huskymedic]

Carry a little container of Vicks w/ ya and dab under nostrils. Works wonders for lingering noxious smells (used to always be in my backpack for use after burn victims, GI bleeds and summertime “removals” ). Burned skin smell lasted for days sometimes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I am a toxicologist and phantosmia does exist although rare. Possibly the smoke has permeated cloth, wood, and other permeable surfaces in the are of your smoker.

Nobody else smells it and I smell it in other places. Restaurants, other houses etc. It’s the damndest thing. I think I scarred my lungs and nasal passages.

 

[Dove]

Thoughts and prayers.

Drink a nice rauchbier tonight.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thoughts and prayers. Drink a nice rauchbierl tonight.

Good plan. Mezcal, Islay malts…it all works.

 

[HuskyHawk]

And to think I was about to buy a smoker...

Just don’t screw it up. Can’t rush it. That’s the lesson. I got impatient.

 

[uchusky32]

Is it possible that the smoke so permeated your nostrils and skin that you are actually smelling yourself, and it won't lessen until that skin dies and is replaced with new skin?

He needs to eat asparagus, if that's the case, so he will now smell liked smoked asparagus.

 

[Jay-Bone]

About a year ago my wife kept smelling burnt rubber. It lasted a few months. We have no idea what was causing it.

 

[August_West]

It’s a warning sign of a stroke

 

[DCHuskyFan]

Figured I'd throw this up because it's just so weird and is highly annoying and you'll likely make jokes about the name. A week ago, my wife's birthday, I decided to smoke a turkey breast that had accidentally thawed and needed to be cooked. But I had to put it on the smoker during lunch. I hadn't used my drum smoker since the fall, and I think I rushed the charcoal and there may have been some moisture in the drum basket. The smoke that resulted was so intense, neighbors called to see if we were burning brush (fire risk given the dry weather) or had a house fire. I got multiple big full face blasts of dense smoke as I tried to deal with it. Disaster. Turkey ended up edible, but the rest will go in some chili.

Fast forward and every day since I smell smoke, and feel like my nasal passages are burning. Feel it in my throat too. Dr. Google tells me this phantom smoke smell is Phantosmia. It feels like I've gone back in time and live in a smoke filled bar from the 80s 24x7. Only time it subsided noticeably was at the beach. I've tried a saline rinse. Guess I can try again. Anybody else ever suffer from this? Eventually I'll go to Dr. if it persists.

Smokaine, it’s a helluva drug!

 

[Improviser]

Phantosmia can cause real problems as the article below points out.

What Is Phantosmia?

Have you ever noticed smells that no one else around you can? Your nose isn’t playing tricks on you. You may have a smell disorder called phantosmia.

www.webmd.com

 

[storrsroars]

Nobody else smells it and I smell it in other places. Restaurants, other houses etc. It’s the damndest thing. I think I scarred my lungs and nasal passages.

Have ADub send you some patchouli. That'll not only overpower the smoke so you won't be bothered by it, but the smell will also piss off everyone with 10 yards of you so you won't feel you're the only one smelling it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It’s a warning sign of a stroke

If it was random, I’d be concerned. It coinciding exactly with smoke inhalation makes me less so. Figured you‘d criticize my amateur smoker failure instead.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Have ADub send you some patchouli. That'll not only overpower the smoke so you won't be bothered by it, but the smell will also piss off everyone with 10 yards of you so you won't feel you're the only one smelling it.

Then I could go to the local dispensary and perhaps not shower and pretend it‘s Earth Day in Santa Cruz. Never smelled anything quite so intense outside before.

 

[8893]

BTW, every time I see this thread title, I think of the late 70’s movie Phantasm, which I never saw, but for which I remember the trailer (and the movie poster with that weird spiked ball).

 

[Get a Job]

Maybe about a year ago I started smelling tobacco smoke. Not like it was on my clothes, or I was in a room where someone had smoked before, but rather straight-up someone-is-standing-in-front-of-me-and-blowing-smoke-in-my-face tobacco smoke smell. Unlike @HuskyHawk's case, there was no preceding event that seemed to have caused it. No one around me ever smelled anything, and neither I nor anyone I was around was a smoker. It was definitely in my head.

Anyway, since then it has come and gone a few times, never quite as intense as the first time. Haven't had it at all in a while. Very strange indeed. I read that tobacco smoke and rotting garbage are very commonly reported by people claiming to experience phantosmia. Glad I got the smoke version!

 

[Hoophound]

BTW, every time I see this thread title, I think of the late 70’s movie Phantasm, which I never saw, but for which I remember the trailer (and the movie poster with that weird spiked ball).

They made five of those movies, the last in 2016. The old creepy guy scared the hell out me. I think I was like 4 years old when Phantasm came out.

 

[HuskyHawk]

BTW, every time I see this thread title, I think of the late 70’s movie Phantasm, which I never saw, but for which I remember the trailer (and the movie poster with that weird spiked ball).

I did see the first (HBO probably) and yes my own thread title also reminded me of it. But that’s what they call it.

 

[superjohn]

They made five of those movies, the last in 2016. The old creepy guy scared the hell out me. I think I was like 4 years old when Phantasm came out.

The Tall Man

 

[BlueMAB]

Carry a little container of Vicks w/ ya and dab under nostrils. Works wonders for lingering noxious smells (used to always be in my backpack for use after burn victims, GI bleeds and summertime “removals” ). Burned skin smell lasted for days sometimes.

You're a saint. No jokes. No sarcasm. Just, you're a saint.