Are smokers hypo sensitive to smell

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1. Are smokers hypo sensitive to smell? I have often wondered how people can engage in this activity per question 1.

2. I?m also curious how being around those who smoke is experienced by people who aren?t hypo or hyper sensitive aka the median norm. Does it cause headaches, nausea, etc? Or would you be unaffected by such a person thus explaining why one could be friends with them?

I am a smoker and am pretty hypersensitive to smell. I prefer smoking outside for sensory reasons, although the actual smell doesn't bother me as much as some others.

I smoke, and interestingly enough if I am smoking a cigarette I don't really care about the smell but if I am in a car with like closed windows and 1 or more people are smoking a cigarette the smell is too much and can even make me nauseous....some places its ok to smoke inside I don't mind, but only if its ventilated like a door or a window open so a cloud of cigarette smoke won't build up. I also partake in marijuana which I love the smell of and certainly don't mind say being in a car with the windows rolled up for smoking that, the bigger the cloud the better in that case.

But yeah I have ran into some people who really do hate the smell and can't stand it or will get a headache or this or that, and usually if someone like that is around when I am with a group of people, then people do their best to accomodate that person by smoking outside or if everyones hanging out outside me and others would step away from that person to smoke so we aren't blowing it in their face by accident and such....and there are some people who simply don't smoke but aren't really bothered by the smell, or some that don't smoke and even like the smell due to sentimental reasons like their dead grandfather used to smoke camels so the like the smell of camel cigarettes because it reminds them of that person.

i'm a smoker but i'm not hypersensitive to the smoke of smoking. i am hypersensitive to alot of other smells though. if there's a hundred people smoking in a large room and one person smoking a joint not a cigarette i will pick up on that. if there's one guy smoking one of those funky wine cigars or a real cigar i'll notice that too.
one reason why i smoke is because i love the smell. i don't like stale tobacco or cigarette butts but i love the smell of fresh tobacco and fresh cigarette smoke. it's deep, rich, earthy and makes me feel comfortable, relaxing. if i could smoke in my room (but can't due to safety reasons any my parents will freak) i would, and i will fill it with the smell of tobacco smoke. actually my room smells of tobacco anyway because i use old cigars as 'air freshener'.

I'm a nonsmoker. I like the smell of pipe tobacco, although I don't really care for the smell of cigarettes.

And say with music or the volume on a TV, isn't is kind of a spectrum issue that the sensory issues we create and control are a lot more acceptable and tolerable than those out in the world?

In general, smokers are hyposensitive to smell because inhaling hot vapors from a cigarette will very slightly injure the olfactory fibers, which makes it harder to smell things over time.

But--that's on average. If a person's autistic, even with that slight damage they might still be hypersensitive. Autistic hypersensitivity is in the brain, not in the peripheral nerves; what information you do pick up would still be unfiltered and difficult to process.

I have never smoked my whole life, unless you count all the times it was second-hand from other people when I was a kid. I heard smoking actually weakens your sense of taste and smell, and that's one of the reasons people gain weight after quitting, because food actually now tastes good. Well, that's what I heard, I don't know from experience, like I've said. Smoking has never appealed to me at all.

When I was little I could not tolerate being around cigarette smoke. Now I can tolerate it much better even thought I still hate it. I like the smell of cigars and some pipes though. I know someone who smokes like a chimney and I don't think his sense or taste are as developed as they should or could be otherwise. I know two guys who quit smoking one smoked very little and the other smoked a lot and they both said that when they quit they were amazed at how their senses of smell and taste really sharpened pretty much immediately.

I have hated the smell of cigarette since I was a little kid. Actually, it happened that when I was around 7 my parents sent me to do a little shopping with a shopping list with cigarette on it and I just refused to buy that item.

Besides utterly hating the smell of cigarette I hated the attitude of people towards smoking: It kind of marks you as an adult, if you smoke. I couldn't figure out why they thought so, what made a bad unhealthy habit acceptable and even desirable by unwritten socials norms? (Well, at least in East-Center Europe in the '80s).

I find it odd that people usually don't notice (or aren't bothered by) that smoking can easily intrude another person's private sphere. I find it offensive. On the street I try to avoid inhaling cigarette smoke other (ignorant) people are puffing and streaking by holding back my breath (I'm actually very good at that).

It's interesting though that I like the fresh smell of unlighted tobacco (especially when I was a little kid, I often opened the wooden box containing some branded cigarettes just for picking up some good olfactory stimuli). Much more subtle delicate aromatic matter, at a much smaller dose, without the intrusive, harsh component, and last but not least, at will.

There are studies that show that by smoking, you reduce your sense of taste and smell. So, the answer to your first question is yes.

I used to smoke, but I quit a few years ago. In the last couple of years, my asthma has also gotten worse, so being around smokers, for me, is disgusting, and sometimes causes me to have trouble breathing. The smell of cigarette smoke on their clothes is disgusting (especially if they smoke in their car), and sometimes makes me have an asthma attack. At the station where I get on the subway to go to school, there are always smokers hanging around next to the entrance, and I have to walk through their smoke to get in, which always causes me to have a bit of trouble breathing.

I feel like everyone has a hyposensitive sense of smell compared to me, because I am constantly smelling things that others don't notice and smells are very strong to me. It makes me wonder what in the world is wrong with people that they seem to have no sense of smell.

I used to smoke infrequently and back then I didn't really mind the scent, but I would never smoke inside the house because I didn't want all my things to smell like smoke. I never smoked often enough to really saturate my clothes with it either. But now I can't stand the smell anymore and find it totally repellant.

I am disappointed right now because I bought a very pretty vintage chenille bedspread off of ebay, from a seller with 100% positive feedback and a very detailed description of the item that did not mention any scent issues. But the damn thing came reeking of cigarette smoke! Seller is apologetic, but says she is not a smoker, doesn't know the history of the bedspread and didn't notice the scent. Really, how could a person not notice that?! I just don't understand.

Thank you everyone for info and or stories.

How can a smoker not notice their own smell of second hand smoke? They get used to it. It's like how people may not smell their own body odor. We tend to be more immune to our smell so we may not realize how bad our breath smells or our bodies. People tend to smell it more than us. It might be different for people on the spectrum though and it does appear that way after reading this thread.

I could never stand the smell, it doesn't make me sick or nauseous, I just can't stand the smell. Even as a kid when my parents would come home from a bar, I couldn't even stand to be near them or even want to touch them because of the smell. I also tend to hold my breath if I have to walk by a smoker.

When I was a child I remember hearing about a sultan of Turkey who decreed that all men who smoke cigars in his realm had to have thier noses chopped off because "they obviously have no sense of smell so they wouldnt miss thier noses."

I guess he was a nonsmoker with anger management issues.

Probably apocraphal,

But also when I was child I kinda liked the faint smell of dad's tabocco smoke around the house. Though I didnt like it when cigarette smoke blew directly into may face from a grown up at the dinner table with a lit cigarette. I guess the intensity changes it from kinda pleasant to sickening. This was in the pre antismoking Sixties. Dad finnally quit, and the household joined the nation in antismokerism.