
What’s the World’s Worst Smell? - sohkamyung
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/science/worst-odor-smell-thioacetone.html
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refurb
As a chemist, I got to smell a lot of compounds including some terrible ones.

Pure compounds might stink, but it’s usually a very specific smell, so I never
found them that bad.

What was the worst was when reactions went bad and created a black tar of
decomposition products. Say all your solvent boiled off and the reaction
mixture got too hot and burned.

I had done some selenium chemistry at one point and had this happen. Selenium
is one row down from sulfur so it had similar odor properties, but more
similar to garlic for me. When one of those reactions went bad, it was worse
than a sewer.

And the best part was if you got a good whiff, you’d smell it for days since
it stuck to your clothes, hair and inside of your nose.

One of the most obnoxious smells was a chemical used to protect nitrogens on a
molecule (Cbz). It doesn’t smell that bad, but it reacts with the nitrogen in
your nose and it takes 2-3 days to go away. You learn to hate the smell pretty
quickly.

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tyingq
Someone eating durian in a Thai place comes to mind. Always smells like a
dumpster in the middle of summer to me, bad enough to start my gag reflex.

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sohkamyung
I knew at least one comment about the smell of durians would pop up. :-)

Note: I'm a durian lover and would inhale the smell.

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dharmab
Liquid Ass should be in the list. Orginally invented as a novelty prank item,
it smells so bad that it is used to train surgeons and combat medics on
abdominal wounds and procedures that risk puncturing the intestine.

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karmakaze
Kombucha, which I know is a flavor rather than a smell, but every time I've
tried it, I have the sensation of smelling a rotting public waste bin on the
side of the road on a hot day--and it's in my mouth.

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ikyriakidis
Swedish Surströmming ->
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming)

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bjoli
Youtubeing "surströmming challenge" usually means 20 minutes of entertainment.

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bfieidhbrjr
Don't know about smell but the worst taste is a Nintendo switch cartridge.
Well done Nintendo!

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saganus
Just speculating here, but it sounds like they could add this on purpose to
avoid kids from putting cartridges in their mouths and reduce the choking
risk.

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sohkamyung
That is apparently true [1]. Article from 2017.

>Nintendo sent us a statement confirming that the taste is by design:

>> To avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion, keep the game card away
from young children. A bittering agent (Denatonium Benzoate) has also been
applied to the game card. This bittering agent is non-toxic.

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/1/14778316/nintendo-
switch-c...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/1/14778316/nintendo-switch-
cartridge-taste-test-dont-lick-it)

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Razengan
Something like that would be very subjective.

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rolph
thiol chemistry is pretty potent stuff

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brian_herman__
codesmell

