My husband has this smokey smell too. He says it smells more like exhust from his truck and gets a burning sensation in his nose. I have a feeling it has to do with his sinuses, but I'm nervous it's something more. He used to get an odor that smelled like belly button lint and he could make it smell by rubbing his nose. It got so bad I could smell it. It turned out then he had a fungal infection due to moisture getting trapped in his nose from his allergies he doesn't admit to having. His allergy symptoms are so mild he doesn't think he has any. He could pinpoint the spot in his nose that was different kinda like a sore and applied neosporin to it with a Q-tip every day and took allergy med with decongestant for a while until it cleared up. He had it a couple years before it was fixed. This time the smell is different and he doesn't have a spot in his nose. I'm pregnant with extra sensitive smell right now and can't smell what he's talking about. He's trying a decongestant hoping it will work, next allergy pills, then a doc for him. No insurance right now so we're waiting a little. Anyone had the burning sensation in the nose? One like you got too big a whif of cleaner?

I'm so thankful to know that others are dealing with utterly strange ailment!! I seriously thought I had a brain tumor. My husband simply couldn't understand it. It's like being trapped inside a Vegas casino with all the stale cigarette smoke 24/7. It's so bad on some days, it takes my breath away. I got flu B in February of this year than turned into viral pneumonia, and about 4 weeks after that, I began to smell smoke. It's been with me ever since. I've never been that sick in all my life. I've been to my doc and he scheduled an MRI that came back normal. So the smoke thing is just now a part of my life. Very strange. Glad to know that I don't have a brain tumor. I do suffer from resistant and complex migraines, too. Resistant to medication, and complex in the fact that they take on the symptoms of other disorders such as stroke or tumor...for instance the whole smelling smoke thing. Glad to know I'm not alone. -Houston

I had all symptoms of a sinus. My doctor gave me the strongest antibiotics but after taking them I got even worse and had to go to emergency thinking that my sinus was getting worse. While there a doctor told me that antibiotics only help from bacteria and I have a virus so antibiotics won't help me. I went back to my family doctor and was told that there is no medicine for viruses so go home and let your immune system fight it. Since then I started smelling a smell but it's not a cigarette smell, I remember that smell when you turn an iron on and it gets hot and then start ironing clothing and it you let it stay too long at one spot your clothing may start getting brown from heat - then you smell a smell and that's the smell I have.

I started smelling a smokey smell on my breath too.Then one morning it was really strong after I ate some apples so I descovered after experimenting that anything with ciric acid in it gives my breath a strong smokey smell and my urine too.Then after some research I descovered I dont have enouph acid in my stomach so I can only assume it is a digestive problem.If anyone has more answers let me know.

I too, like everyone else, have been smelling cigarette smoke. This, however, is my second time researching this thread. Last year, approximately the same time, I started smelling the cigarette smoke, over fall into winter it went away. Then again in late spring and throughout this summer I have smelled the phantom second hand smoke smell. I have found that over the last week it has worsened and this is conjunction with record heat here in Seattle. I usually have a very dry throat, and itchy stinging eyes, that accompany the smell. I get nausea, sick to the stomach, from the smell. It is very real, and not in my "head" as some have stated. My doctor blew me off last year like it was nothing.

I came to the forum today because it's so bad I can TASTE the cigarettes in my mouth.

Having read through the posts here, I see a commonality amongst all our posts:

~ Severe allergies
~ Anxiety/Depression & Medications that Follow (Paxil/Zoloft etc)
~ Migraines/Headaches
~ Use of Air Conditioner/Heaters etc.


Here's my story:

I am not as healthy as most of you report that you are. I am extremely overweight, mainly due to a metabolic disorder that lead to a hysterectomy at 32 years old. I have had allergies and sinus issues my whole life, and grew up with a mother who smoked severely. I have suffered from migraines since puberty; thus leading into the metabolic disorder. I do not smoke, do drugs, and very rarely drink. My husband is not as sensitive as I am, and does not really hold a lot of belief behind major allergies to molds because of it. I do have a super sense of smell, however, and he calls me "Super Schnauzz" because of it. I can sniff out something going bad in the fridge a week before my husband can.

Our neighbors do not smoke either.

I am on Armor Thyroid (which was mentioned in one post), Zoloft (small dosage for anxiety), Metformin, Inderal (Migraine Preventative), Maxalt for migraine episodes.

I take Vitamin C, Zinc, and Echinacea for my immunity, as it sucks majorly.

I work around a lot of computers. We own to pugs, no other pets.

Finally, someone wrote about the mildew smell in towel. YES! All our towels always smell mildewy to me; no matter how much I bleach and wash them. It drives me crazy.

My questions are:

Who else has the mildew towel smells?
Who else grew up with parents who smoked?
Who else has a super sense of smell otherwise?

I used a store bought saline solution, tip my head back and filled the entire sinuses with the solution and let it set for 2 minutes. The smoke smell has almost completely disappeared. It hurt like hell but is getting rid of the infection.
I am going to do this for 5 days in a row twice daily.

Good luck everyone

I would suggest that anyone with respiratory complaints or symptoms as described here gets a Lung Function Test (especially if you are a smoker or ex-smoker and/or have had problems with bronchitis/asthma). Early onset Emphysema and COPD are on the increase (probably due to increasing pollution levels in general) and people working in these fields all agree that if budget and time permitted, everyone should be having these tests. If you are unlucky enough to develop emphysema or COPD especially when young, the best defence against this is diagnosis. The sooner this is diagnosed, the better your chances and prognosis. Ask your doctor for a Lung Function Test. If this turns out to be normal, it is still very useful because if your symptoms every worsen or return, you can have another test and this can be COMPARED to the first test. The tests are comparative and any decline will be able to be ascertained straight away.

I have learned that the smelling of smoke is an sinus infection. It took 3 days but my sinuses feel better and no smoke smell. My ENT told me to use the saline solution by squeezing in one nostril and letting it flow out the other. You need to lean forward slightly to allow this to happen. If you have a deviated septum you will need to lean your head slightly.

Look at the nutrient depletion due to the Rx use...steroids (predn) depletes a numerous amt of nutrients necessary for the homoeostasis of the human biochemistry

I smell cig. smoke every day. Just recently in the past 2 months maybe. No meds, but I have been training for a triathlon and swimming a lot. Wondering if anyone else swims in public pools, while swimming it sometimes enters the nose etc... I have noticed the smell since the training?

this just started for me about 3 days ago. I am a young mother...also with allergy issues. HAhaI did also start to think I was perhaps being followed by a ghost of a relative...who aLL are heavy smokers!

I keep coming back to this blog hoping a cure is written. The cigarette smell has been on and off for years. I have been laughed off by ENT's and my regular physician. I grew up with sinus problems and am very sensitive to mold - unfortunately I can only take a Z pack for infections as I have allergies to penicillin.
This is driving me crazy!! No one smokes where I live or in my office.

wondering if birthcontrol pills would do this? Just started to take them 1 week ago, and noticed the smell few days later...although like many others i think this may have been going on long before and i just really thought i was near a smoker. it seems to happen in my car alot, and i think maybe the person in car next to me is smoking...but ive got my windows up so how could i smell it? Plus i swear everything i REALLy notice it, our AC has kicked on. i wonder it its come allergen that is doing this to me. will probably call PCP this week to make appointment just to rule out worst case senarios. i swear all the weird stuff has to happen to me!

Wow, I just did this search because I have been smelling a Cedar Chest or Cig Smoke smell for months - I am an ex-smoker a 3-5 smokes a day and 6 yrs ago I quit and thought it might just be leaving my system. I have never had allergies, sinus infections and thought breathe strips would make everything smell better. (nope) I have had a lung function and passed - so, I guess I will try the Saline. (Maybe I am working up to (Internal Combustion)

Old wet firewood is what I smell. No one else smells it but me. This has been happening since I had walking pneumonia about 3 years ago. I have developed asthma since and was told by my Dr. it all comes from living in Metro Atlanta, where the air quality is so poor that they actually issue warnings on the news for the folks that have respiratory issues.
Anyone else live in thise area of the USA?

also smelling burning is a sign of a brain tumer that is the worst possible outcome

Would you Please share your source of this information?

Wow..! I thought I might be the only one with this problem. I'm 14 and I started smelling this weird cigarette burning..smell. At first I thought it was my neighbor down the street, knowing he smokes.. But I smell it all the time.. and it's usually only in my room. No one smokes here :[ It's really nasty.

A week ago I started smelling like I was walking into a bar filled with smoke. I am not a smoker but I was many years ago. I smell it at work, at home, in the car. I smell it at night and it keeps me awake. Has anybody had any diagnosis or treatment. I thought I was going crazy because no one else smells it but me. Any suggestions.

I feel like crying out of relief. Not because I found a solution, but because I found this group. I felt so silly just typing "i smell cigarette smoke all the time" in a Google search. I, unlike most of you, have been smelling this all of my life (I'm 3 My mother (mommie dearest) was a heavy smoker Pall Mall no filter when I was a child. I can still remember gagging everytime I went into our family room, can still smell that copper ashe tray she used to use. (I haven't spoken to her in 2 decades) I'm encouraged, but discouraged as well as it doesn't look like there's a clear cure for this affliction.