Before the 1990s, it was cigarettes all the way down.
1980s - cigarettes and hair spray.
70s - cigarettes and alternating body odor and heavy cologne/perfume.
60s - cigarettes and canned food.
50s - cigarettes and gasoline.
40s - cigarettes and either gunpowder or a machine shop.
30s - cigarettes and dust.
20s - cigarettes and bootleg whiskey
10s - cigarettes and bloody mud
1900-1909 - cigarettes and horse shit in the street.
The banning of cigarettes in bars and restaurants made a huge difference. It used to be when you’d get into the shower the morning after going out, you’d reek of cigarettes. It was mind-blowing when that went away.
For real, the first time I went to a bar in a county that had banned smoking indoors was amazing. My clothes (and by extension, my dorm room) no longer reeked when I got home. Going out to dinner at any restaurant prior to that point just meant that all my food smelled like cigarettes, regardless of sitting in the non smoking area. I can’t believe it took so goddamn long to ban it indoors.
I hated going to bars. The fucking taste of cigarettes would permeate through the back of my throat. Is wake up the next day with a scratchy throat and dry mouth.
Was a kid in the 80’s. I hated the smell of smoke and it irritated my eyes. That is a large part of why my grandparents quit. I’m probably why my parents didn’t smoke.
I associate the smell of tobacco with my grandparents. Yet for all the fact i hated it at the time because it overpowered everything? I opened up one of those tobacco smelling candles and… It’s stupid i suppose but I was crying for a little bit.
Also in the 1800’s you’d have tobacco smoke, but not the industrial scale of cigarettes.
My family smoked like chimneys, 1/2 died from cancer, 1/2 died from emphysema.
You only need to watch one person die from emphysema to decide to never smoke.
Bonus: One great great grandma died from emphysema and never smoked a day in her life… she was a fry cook for 40 years. :(
I’m totally with you on hating cigarettes but pure tobacco smoke doesn’t smell terrible IMO
Non-burning tobacco smells AMAZING.
Don’t forget lead
Can’t smell something that was so pervasive in the environment that an estimated 660 metric tons are frozen into Antarctic ice. Humans only smell changes in things, our brains are wired to grow to ignore a pervasive smell.
You don’t think the fact that lead just doesn’t smell all that much might be the better explanation?
Aerosolized lead likely would smell like something, which is ultimately what we’re taking about. A machine shop has a distinct smell because there’s aerosolized steel in the air.
I was born in the 80’s and all those gave me nostalgia.
Especially the horse shit. Mm. Rode a lot as a kid, and cleaned stables.
cigarettes and horse shit in the street.
In my memory that’s when I was about 7-9, rode horses. Dad smoked a lot.
cigarettes and bloody mud
That’s when I was in the army. We smoked a lot.
20s - cigarettes and bootleg whiskey
Dad also drank quite a bit.
cigarettes and dust.
15-16, driving mopeds and 125cc’s on dusty roads.
cigarettes and either gunpowder or a machine shop.
That’s the army again
cigarettes and gasoline.
Mopeds again
cigarettes and canned food.
Student times, lots of tuna and spaghetti and indoor smoking.
1980s - cigarettes and hair spray.
70s - cigarettes and alternating body odor and heavy cologne/perfume.
Mom used a ton of hairspray and dad had a really strong cologne.
50s - Cigarettes and bourbon.
Bourbon or beer, depending on which side of the tracks you lived on.
Bourbon back then wasn’t as refined. Basically gasoline. /s
+1 well thought out
2020s smell like nothing because COVID
Everything everywhere before the 2000s smelt like cigarettes and old smoke, it was rancid a fuck.
Good lord yes. It was glorious.
Post 2020: Had covid, can’t smell shit.
Might as well unban smoking in public places again. 🤷♂️
That’s… on the Trump Bingo Card.
The 2000s smelled like axe body spray and watermelon bubblegum
Because you were twelve
93 baby. So yeah pretty much haha.
Fuck, guys dousing themselves in an entire fucking can of axe, all throughout middle and high school. gag
I just wish more people were like my mom. She told us from a young age that women have a far better sense of smell. So when we think we smell good we have gone too far.
My brother and I learned a small amount of body spray or cologne goes a long way. If I can smell someone from 5 feet away I can only imagine how unbearable it must be for women and their heightened sense of smell.
I forgot who exactly it was, but a woman in my life when I was younger, probably a family friend, told me that less is more when it comes to fragrance. A quick spritz across the neck and right wrist was all you needed. I’m not sure why the right wrist though…
I would just put a drop directly into the part of my jacket or shirt closest to my neck and then sorta rub it into my neck.
Then I would usually rub another drop between my inner wrists and again rub them on my neck.
My theory is that you want to mix the pleasant scent of the cologne with your natural scent as well. That way even if someone else is wearing that same cologne you won’t smell exactly the same to women or something.
Idk it made sense to 8th grade me and it has served me well since haha
2010s: Axe body spray
That was more 2000s than 2010s.
LOL 2000s was what I typed first, then I remembered Leslie Knope remarking about Tommy Haverford being surrounded by “a dense cloud of Axe body spray” which was like in 2011 or 12. I figured he would be using whatever was trending.
It was just as pungent around 2006 and probably earlier.
I remember it being a thing when I was in highschool, but that was late 90s.
Late 90s, early 2000s was peak adolescent Axe usage. I entered high school in 2003, right when the fad was peaking. Which is good because it covered up the stench in the PE locker room.
The joke with axe was that it stank worse, not that it made things better.
PE locker rooms and axe are a terrible, terrible combo. Some kid inevitably empties a full can, then no one can breath.
The 80s smelled like hairspray and styling gel.
All I could smell was cocaine
The 2000s smelled like new tech plastic, the static from CRTs, microwave dinners, pump hand soap, and grass.
2010s smelled like hibiscus, then beach sand, then sickly sweet and rubbing alcohol.
ETA: Gas fumes were also part of the ‘00s
deleted by creator
Yes, but what about for those of us outside of the Oval Office?
Or burning.
Every decade before the late 2000’s smelled like indoor cigarette smoke
The 80s smelled like cocaine and wine coolers.
My late 90s smelled like wine coolers and weed.
My guess is if you’re smelling cocaine something going ok.
70s smelled like full bush.
Nah, the 90s smelled like dog turd, but nazis were hiding themself so it was a good decade.
2000s smelled like, burnt bodies, charred buildings and camels.
Too soon?
What if I told you they still have camels today?
