I've spent a lot of time in third-world countries where most people have no access to regular medical care and certainly not dentistry... and there's no stench of rotting teeth.
There aren't smells of spoiled vegetables or rancid cheese or sour milk -- things are left fresh or composted out back or milk turns to yogurt but it doesn't smell.
People may smell if you're within a few inches of them... but you're usually not. And likewise horses can be smelly when you're right next to them.
But if Paris were really that stench-filled, surely there would be third-world places today that are the same? But I've never encountered anywhere anything like that.
Feels like urban legend to me. Just like the myth about how spices were used to mask the smell of rotten meat. [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#...
You seem to be implying that modern third world is so far behind so as to resemble 18th century Paris. While I agree with you that the quote in parent seems exaggerated I don't think even a modern very poor country will stink like 18th century London and Paris. 18th century was a time of horse driven transport and little to no sewer system. The main stench would be from those two things which in modern times is mostly absent even in poor third world countries.
People carry their own water, chop their own firewood, cook over a hearth fire in small hand-made thatched mud huts, make their own furniture, grow their own food (possibly using animals to plough), prepare their own food by hand from scratch, make their own clothing, do their laundry in a stream, poop in the woods or in an outhouse, clean themselves in a sweat bath or with a damp cloth, carry goods from place to place on their backs or in simple unpowered carts, etc.
Though there are fewer and fewer such places as time goes on. For instance rural Mexico has changed dramatically in the past 2 generations.
They aren’t precisely “less developed” than 18th century Europe, but they are more crowded and often have comparable hygiene, medical care, etc. Again they often lack basic amenities like running water, sewers, and grid electricity. The biggest difference is probably that many of these have much worse air pollution than anywhere in the 18th century.
Yes, there are many places which smell potent if you are used to living in a wealthy suburb, but the smells are not really like the description above, especially after a week or two of acclimation, except maybe for extraordinarily dainty hypersensitive people. Patrick Süskind is exaggerating for effect.
I'm not sure what air pollution you're referring to though?
It's a great read.
One smell your used to is a lot better than all that.
Before anyone says it, yes it's still bad for me, no I don't care.
Hilariously enough, this research was conducted by the American Lung Association. I became aware of it when a data scientist friend of mine who smokes cigars quite often was telling me about it. He tore the study apart, up and down, back and forth. It was solid science, or at least, solid data science. And I trust his opinion implicitly.
Now for me, that'll never be a concern... I probably smoke 50-100 cigars a year, so I fall so far below the statistically significant risk of cancer that I don't even concern myself with it now.
Damn it, this was a can of worms response...
Anyways, got a recommendation for someone that enjoys Alec Bradley Black Markets? Im looking to try something new out of left field soon.
I got a box of 13 for $156 at my local retailer. They're not inexpensive, but as I said, I don't smoke often anyway, so cost is less of a factor in my decisions.
I figure I'll take up smoking when I'm 80. :-)
Also, shouldn't you be more concerned about oral cancers and cardiovascular disease? I understand most people don't inhale cigar smoke into their lungs like they do cigarette smoke, so you would certainly expect the lung cancer risk increases to be relatively lower.
On the other hand, cigarette smoke always smelled good to me. Good enough that I didn't try smoking as I knew I'd never be able to quit.
Honestly, here's a pretty good video to teach you why people like cigars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79GnBpNuVBo
I watched it shortly after I got into cigar smoking and learned a lot from it.
I'll also say this, I have severe doubt that nicotine itself is highly addictive. In the last 3 years, I have a few 3-5 month time spans of not smoking cigars. No reason either. Just, I didn't feel like it. I've never had the feeling to, "I have to smoke today". I only do so as a relaxing time on the weekend, some parties, and celebrations.
Then you have the cigarette and ecig community that are constantly sucking on those things every hour. Mostly children because pipes and cigars are more of a 30+ year old product. Maybe there's something to the age demographic.
Anyways, one is just pure tobacco with nicotine, the others are chemical cocktails. All nicotine studies I've seen come from cigarettes. Haven't looked at the ecig ones mostly because I never cared for that crap for the exact same reason as cigarettes, they're chemical cocktails.
Look, I'm just tired of people telling me that "You're addicted and just don't know it". Until this discussion, the last cigar I had was... August? Or it was late July. I don't remember. I know I had a few during July. Maybe one or two in August. I just haven't thought about it and I never had an urge. After 3 years of smoking, I might be on maybe cigar number 40 or 50. While there are some who just chain smoke everyday, a vast majority don't. My observations and experiences on cigar smoking don't add up (by a lot, not a little bit) to what you're saying and it's not like you hang out at cigar bars either, so you can only trust some other prude random schmuck or this crass internet random schmuck.
Again, I'm not advocating that cigar smoking is safe. You probably shouldn't do it. Hell, I'll tell you right now not to, just to make sure I never have to chat with someone like you at a cigar shop. I just don't think it's smart to apply ecig and cigarette studies to cigars when the ingredients don't match just because you have a knee jerk reaction from following what Nancy Reagan said back in the day.
Back when I used to smoke, I tried cigars a few times. They tasted good, but they'd make me sick even before I could finish one. I'd end up nauseous and laying on the floor trying to force myself not to throw up for about an hour. They would seriously fuck me up, and there's a reason I mostly just stuck to kreteks until I quit.
The same basic idea applies to tobacco pipes too.
Places with stale smoke, like bars and smoker's houses still smell bad though. Its the actual smoke from a cigarette that I like the smell of.
But it's also interesting because my parents smoked cigarettes too. Cant stand them. Cigars are my thing, but cigarettes... nope. It's such a weird repulsion too. The whole childhood memory link stuff is so weird and inconsistent or perhaps more complicated than we imagine.
Also I wonder if the countryside wasn't a lot better than big cities like paris ..
Between Town and Country, the aristocracy has historically considered the former to be the lesser choice.
But I got assigned an office with one of the students and decided to hold office hours elsewhere.
I believe hiding smells has been a thing for a long time so I can't imagine it just goes away.
I would link it but it's been ages since I read it.
Going to have to look for that article now
Found it, at least the one I seem to recall reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-sh...
In cold climes, you don’t sweat as much. Which is why it’s important to hydrate a lot. And you pee it out. You can only induce sweating by increasing body heat and spices do a great job. The importance of sweating can’t be underestimated. Sweating is the trigger that encourages us to hydrate.
Anyway, I don't think people are being 'delicate'. Instead, as we clean up our act, smaller offenses become comparatively large, and just as noticable. The reverse of nose-blindness. For example, over the years, the cleaner the air in my house the more readily I can discern wildfire smoke on the air.
Most of the time nature is not particularly rank. The smells of pine or grasses or dirt are quite subtle.
I had the pleasure to experience this in Paris during the first lockdown which was pretty strict. With the lack of cars on the streets the pale brown smog went away and for the first time in probably a century another smell became perceptible: sulfur.
Always nice to know that behind the fumes there's another thing ruining your lungs, this one was attributed to agricultural pollution.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/cheese-101-washed-rind.h...
Most washed rind cheeses share fundamental characteristics that resemble Limburger (to me, old barn), in case you're interested in trying others.
The Limburger without the rind is a light weight.
Even though conditions are often dangerous and unpleasant, they are nonetheless an improvement, and people go back to their villages and encourage their friends to follow along.
Is this the smell of urine, or something they applied to cover up smells of human waste?
https://deathscent.com/2016/01/19/the-chemistry-of-death-and... [..] What does fleshy tuberose, cooked Brussel sprouts, chocolate, the musk of human sex, faeces, and a decomposing body all have in common?
Indole, dirty, sexy, carnal Indole. You have smelled it thousands of times without knowing its name, but if you are smelling something a little bit overripe, heavy, and with a strange sweetness, it is most likely Indole. Even untrained noses can pull out the waft of clammy decay in a magnolia blossom, the crotch-like quality to heady jasmine or the slightest smell of poop in roses. That is Indole.[..]
Also: https://www.mizubrand.com/blogs/news/the-story-of-indole-in-...
[..] What gives florals their seductive power?
Let me introduce you to a little compound called indole. Indole Molecure, White florals and indole in natural perfumery
Indole is, by definition, an aromatic heterocyclic compound which contains a six-membered benzene ring, fused to a five membered nitrogen-containing pyrrole ring.
If that doesn’t mean much to you, here’s the what you need to know; it smells.
Perhaps poop isn’t the best description for indole. In its pure, isolated form, Indole is more like musty, wet, yet also a penetrating sharp-clean smell. A sort of odd combination of wet-dog, stale hot breath and moth balls all rolled into one.
Yes, this compound does contribute to the smell of feces ( mixed together a cornucopia of other things ) but trace amounts are also founds in “White” florals, like Jasmines, Tuberose, Neroli, Orange Blossom Gardenia, etc. What really creates the signature aroma of #2 is really when high concentrations of indole are mixed with humidity and the surrounding decaying molecules found in poop.[..]
Skatole or 3-methylindole is an organic compound belonging to the indole family. It occurs naturally in the feces of mammals and birds and is the primary contributor to fecal odor. In low concentrations, it has a flowery smell and is found in several flowers and essential oils, including those of orange blossoms, jasmine, and Ziziphus mauritiana.
> [...] a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of mouldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlours stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulphur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood.
> People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master's wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the King himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the Queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the 18th century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, and so there was no human activity, either constructive or destructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench. [0]
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Perfume-Story-Murder-Patrick-Suskind/...