That Smell

[NEPAKevin]

Yesterday, my secretary walks back into the main office with this "ewww" look on her face so I ask her what's wrong. She says the customer at the reception window reeked of drugs. So this morning, over twelve hours later, I open the front door and am greeted with the acrid smell of crackhead. Out of idle curiosity, does anyone know WTF causes that smell. I am guessing it is from the brimstone fumes that leak back through the vortex as part of the tweaker's soul gets sucked into hell.

And for any of the younuns who might not get the "that smell" reference:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4j7ggZqbiU

[blues]

Hard to improve on "the smell of death surrounds you".

[JHC]

I'm clueless of any drug smell except pot smoke. Crack is "acrid"? Burning tires acrid? What does it compare with?

[blues]

I'm clueless of any drug smell except pot smoke. Crack is "acrid"? Burning tires acrid? What does it compare with?

The sulfurous smell of hell. (A combination of body odor, whatever poison oozes through their pores and the stench of the fumes.)

[JHC]

The sulfurous smell of hell. (A combination of body odor, whatever poison oozes through their pores and the stench of the fumes.)

DA FOOOK???

Damn.

[JodyH]

Meth heads and meth labs smell like cat piss.

[Hambo]

The sulfurous smell of hell. (A combination of body odor, whatever poison oozes through their pores and the stench of the fumes.)

Yep. Neglect hygiene, don't wash your clothes, hang out in funky, nasty crack houses or shooting galleries, the smell of cigarettes and cheap booze, then add in some bodily fluids and excretions.

[Peally]

You're just smelling an urban feral is all.

[Nephrology]

My favorite is "homeless patient with trench foot"

Trust me, it is rather unforgettable

[Totem Polar]

I was told by an ER doc friend that an especially toxic example of a methhead customer can necessitate replacing furniture. Shit gassing off the human body gets weird quick when the going gets inorganic. How about it, Nephrology, does that sound about right in your experience?

[Nephrology]

I was told by an ER doc friend that an especially toxic example of a methhead customer can necessitate replacing furniture. Shit gassing off the human body gets weird quick when the going gets inorganic. How about it, Nephrology, does that sound about right in your experience?

You mean that they emit actually toxic fumes that isn't just BO? I've seen lots and lots and lots of people who were extremely meth intoxicated, but never heard of that.

[JHC]

Shit gassing off the human body gets weird quick when the going gets inorganic. How about it, Nephrology, does that sound about right in your experience?

Not knowing what that means seems to make that even more terrifying. :D

[TC215]

I'm clueless of any drug smell except pot smoke. Crack is "acrid"? Burning tires acrid? What does it compare with?

Crack has always smelled chemical-ish to me. Hard to describe.


Meth heads and meth labs smell like cat piss.

Depends on the type of lab.

[BobLoblaw]

A coal miner said his dad became addicted to pain pills after a back injury and now he doesn’t shower because he says his high lasts longer if the oils on his skin are excessive. People living for a chemical high are human but just barely.

[RevolverRob]

I was told by an ER doc friend that an especially toxic example of a methhead customer can necessitate replacing furniture. Shit gassing off the human body gets weird quick when the going gets inorganic. How about it, Nephrology, does that sound about right in your experience?


You mean that they emit actually toxic fumes that isn't just BO? I've seen lots and lots and lots of people who were extremely meth intoxicated, but never heard of that.

I'm thinking more like the particular combination of chemical compounds in that BO may get "stuck" on certain surfaces and take a lot to come unglued. Particularly, given the fatty nature of human BO and the terribleness that is whatever is coming out of meth...

I was in a lab once, where a particularly nasty ammonia spill had occurred 5 years earlier and you could still smell it faintly in the floor, walls, and lab tables. The PI complained constantly about it, I suggested a solution...A liberal amount of EtOH + an unobserved Bunsen burner can solve just about anything...

[Arbninftry]

A coal miner said his dad became addicted to pain pills after a back injury and now he doesn’t shower because he says his high lasts longer if the oils on his skin are excessive. People living for a chemical high are human but just barely.

This.
I have been a social worker for about a year now. Most of my clients are druggies, trying to get state assistance. What has been explained to me is the dirtier they are, the longer the high lasts.

Luckily the lady left my some VS body spray in the desk. I tried to give it back, but she said no honey, you will need that. It was a WTF look on my face as she walked away laughing. Now I am retired Army with two tours in Western Iraq, and Mosul. So I have smelled rotten bodies. But the first time I was stuck in a 8x10 closed room with a meth head, the spray was used. I drenched the room after that dude walked out.

[45dotACP]

If we're talking about the smell of substance abuse yeah...Severe alcohol induced liver failure has a smell. Might have something to do with the jaundice sweats.

As far as other smells go...I could go on for literally hours....but crusting scabies was a new one for me last week...it smelled...odd.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Darth_Uno]

Crack has a smell, but crackheads don’t always smell like it. Unlike potheads who smell like pot (and patchouli) all the time. It’s my belief that smoking crack makes you immediately forget how to take a shower, do laundry, or brush your teeth.

[txdpd]

My favorite is "homeless patient with trench foot"

Trust me, it is rather unforgettable

Only to be topped by homeless crackhead with protestic leg who has let the cup on the leg fill with piss and shit and allowed to brew for a couple weeks.

[Totem Polar]

^^^that is gnarly.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

The living, who are in a state of internal and external decomposition, leach chemicals from their pores known as VFA’s or, “volatile fatty acids.” I deal with these folks on the daily...whether the drug is meth, heroine (other opiates/pills)or crack cocaine, they smell is pungent and pervasive.

I recommend hanging yards of iodoform gauze in the affected areas and increase the ventilation however possible!


civiliandefender.com

[Kukuforguns]

I recommend hanging yards of iodoform gauze in the affected areas and increase the ventilation however possible!

That's scary. I've been living with the smell of iodoform for the last week and it is affecting my tastebuds. If that's the better option . . . [shivers].

[RevolverRob]

So, I just want to point out - there is a smell in natural history museums globally - napthalene (active ingredient in mothballs). It's an extremely common preservative for natural history collections. A lot of people find it intense and off putting.

I am exceedingly happy that "the smell" that I have in my career is one of alot of mothballs and not of...crack/meth head.

[TDA]

Oh wait, I know that smell!

23039

[Peally]

Oh wait, I know that smell!

23039

No shit on the beds and walls, no food piled up in the corners, no emaciated cats running around. What are you, raiding the Vatican?

[Edster]

My experiences were long enough ago that a lot of them blur together.

I do remember an inhalant abuser. His body odor was airplane glue.

[Joe S]

Like the good doctor said, oxidizing fatty acids are some of it, combined with poor hygiene.

People that are suddenly fasting/starving often get a sour/acetone smell in their breath and sweat. Comes from the initial switch over from glucose burning to fat burning. Keto folks sometimes find the same when entering ketosis, especially the first few times.

Too much high grade stimulants will keep you in fight or flight mode long enough that I personally think you can smell the adrenaline and cortisol coming off them. Like if you went into a dog pound: smells like fear and aggression.

The particular cat urine smell you get off methheads on binges is from extra nitrogen their bodies keep excreting. Some of this is probably tons of nitric oxide that their vascular system is excreting due to nervous system stimulation, it can also be their bodies catabolizing protein/muscle tissue due to lack of food/constant frantic action in people with poor baseline​ health. Amino acids breaking down = nitrogen (ammonia is NH3).

[TC215]

The worst drug I've come across as far as emitting an odor from users' bodies was Alpha-PVP (flakka, whatever you want to call it). Terrible.

To me, crack and meh users just smell like they need a bath.

[scjbash]

So, I just want to point out - there is a smell in natural history museums globally - napthalene (active ingredient in mothballs). It's an extremely common preservative for natural history collections. A lot of people find it intense and off putting.

I am exceedingly happy that "the smell" that I have in my career is one of alot of mothballs and not of...crack/meth head.

There's a mothball manufacturer here. The guys who work there reek. Their cars reek. I can think of better things to do for minimum wage than bathe in naphthalene.

[NEPAKevin]

When I hear someone smells like cat piss...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWE8gk6uhE

[Maple Syrup Actual]

At the other end of the spectrum, I once dated a girl who used to joke that she hated the idea of using drugs...she just loved the way cocaine smelled.

[Malamute]

At the other end of the spectrum, I once dated a girl who used to joke that she hated the idea of using drugs...she just loved the way cocaine smelled.

Way long ago I rented a room off a guy that messed with coke some. i could smell it when he had any in the house from a room away. It still amazes me the weird crap people put in their bodies.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Interesting. As someone who has almost no sense of smell, I would never have guessed that in a million years.

I don't think the girl I knew was actually just leaning in and inhaling hard for the aroma, though.

[PD Sgt.]

My wife thought I was crazy the first time we were out at a mall and I told her I smelled a crackhead nearby.

[Hemiram]

When I think of "That Smell", I think back to Las Vegas in 1980, when I, who was used to the smell of drunks and bums, got to smell, well, what was, and is, the worst smelling guy I've ever dealt with. Worse than the guy with rotten chicken bones rolled up into his hair? No contest. He didn't look all that bad or dirty, but if you got within 10 feet of him, you could barely keep your eyes open, and some of the people who were near him were gagging. He went into the Keno area at the casino I worked at, and almost immediately, people started leaving. The Keno boss calls me over and says, "Hey, you gotta get him out of here!". By that time he was alone in the middle of Keno, and I went over and, while I was getting woozy, said quietly, "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave!". He started huffing and puffing and asked "Why?". I said, "Because you smell like hell!". I said it in a whisper, I didn't want to embarrass him, I just wanted him out. He got very angry, and accused me of being a "bigoted MF'er". I was so happy when my boss showed up and took him into the office to explain to him that he, as he said, "Smells so bad he makes a s*&twagon smell nice". My boss gave him $20 to go to the flophouse and get a shower and some new clothes. We had this cherry deodorizer in the office that worked 100% before he was in there, but didn't get rid of his reek at all. We finally wiped off everything in the office with rubbing alcohol and it seemed to do the trick. The seat he sat on in Keno had to be tossed, it was like Jerry's car in Seinfeld where the smell wouldn't go away. He was by far, the stinkiest guy I've personally smelled, and I've smelled a couple of methheads, and the chicken bone in the hair guy beat them out for pure reek.

[walker2713]

^^^that is gnarly.

This is a "gnarly" thread!:rolleyes:

[BobM]

. It still amazes me the weird crap people put in their bodies.

That was my thought when I went to my first meth lab training class.

[TDA]

It was a better class of squatter, they had the good manners to crap in a contractor bag. And partial roof collapse really airs out a structure.

[Lester Polfus]

It was a better class of squatter, they had the good manners to crap in a contractor bag. And partial roof collapse really airs out a structure.

That's high functioning behavior right there. We hit a trailer home once where the shitter quit working months before. Everyone's response was to piss in the corner and shit in the bathtub. One of our guys actually put his foot through the rotten floor and got a raging infection from the scratches on his leg.

[txdpd]

That was my thought when I went to my first meth lab training class.

Are you talking about the meth or the fine assortment of XXXXL dildos that decorate the lab.

[BobM]

The ingredients for the meth.

[MistWolf]

This thread is depressing.

[Wendell]

A coal miner said his dad became addicted to pain pills after a back injury and now he doesn’t shower because he says his high lasts longer if the oils on his skin are excessive...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ZfnIwKWwY

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Rush

[critter]

I had a few years with prescription oxycodone dependency (seven knee surgeries/procedures, rehab, ultimately replacement). The amount I was on at the end would have been nearly instant death at the beginning. My wife at the time told me that I had a "smell" from the oxy (yes, I bathed normally.. at least once a month whether needed or not). I couldn't detect an aromatic difference but she was adamant that she could. The upside is that I'm no longer microwaveable.

side note: I definitely have a more realistic understanding of how difficult breaking dependency actually is. Though I'm sure others have had it far worse, getting off the oxy was the most difficult, all around shitty process I've ever endured.

[FNFAN]

When I think of "That Smell", I think back to Las Vegas in 1980, when I, who was used to the smell of drunks and bums, got to smell, well, what was, and is, the worst smelling guy I've ever dealt with. Worse than the guy with rotten chicken bones rolled up into his hair? No contest. He didn't look all that bad or dirty, but if you got within 10 feet of him, you could barely keep your eyes open, and some of the people who were near him were gagging. He went into the Keno area at the casino I worked at, and almost immediately, people started leaving. The Keno boss calls me over and says, "Hey, you gotta get him out of here!". By that time he was alone in the middle of Keno, and I went over and, while I was getting woozy, said quietly, "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave!". He started huffing and puffing and asked "Why?". I said, "Because you smell like hell!". I said it in a whisper, I didn't want to embarrass him, I just wanted him out. He got very angry, and accused me of being a "bigoted MF'er". I was so happy when my boss showed up and took him into the office to explain to him that he, as he said, "Smells so bad he makes a s*&twagon smell nice". My boss gave him $20 to go to the flophouse and get a shower and some new clothes. We had this cherry deodorizer in the office that worked 100% before he was in there, but didn't get rid of his reek at all. We finally wiped off everything in the office with rubbing alcohol and it seemed to do the trick. The seat he sat on in Keno had to be tossed, it was like Jerry's car in Seinfeld where the smell wouldn't go away. He was by far, the stinkiest guy I've personally smelled, and I've smelled a couple of methheads, and the chicken bone in the hair guy beat them out for pure reek.

Try visiting the Clark County Detention Center on a regular basis. Smells like desert foot rot, jail food and ass. :(

[Peally]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj2rxFS0qDQ

[Hemiram]

Try visiting the Clark County Detention Center on a regular basis. Smells like desert foot rot, jail food and ass. :(

I was in the old one, once. It was pretty bad, just the heat alone along with the stink and noise would have cracked me up if I was ever in there. An old guy I arrested died in there due to the heat and his family sued the county. I don't know if there was any payout, but there should have been.