Hey Stacy I think you may have just hit on something with that coffee can smell like smoke...I know some days I just can't hardly stand the smell of coffee or the taste and with my acid reflux I've been on nexium or protonix or something for years I should just throw my coffee pot away...I think I'll quit coffee for awhile and see if that helps...It's only been driving me really nuts for about 5 days now...Jennifer

I suffered from the phantom cigarette smell (feeling choked and nauseous) for a year on and off before I finally was able to associate it with being exposed to incense at a Buddhist monastery I was attending regularly. However, just last week, I was exposed to smoke from an outdoor pizza oven and have been smelling smoke for a week now. So, what at first I thought was a reaction to incense, seems to be instead a response (allergy?) to particulates in the air from burning wood or wood products. I'm fine as long as I avoid incense or wood smoke.
Hope this is helpful to some of you.

I have a similar problem, out of no where i can smell a weird musty like smell, the kind smell when you leave your clothes in the washer for too long or the smell of moldy bread. I don't know what it is from?? it drives me crazy, I tell my husband and he doesn't beleive me, could it be fungus growing in my body?? or something worse, I want a answer for this stupid smell!! Thanks for reading.

musty moldy smell I found that water was leaking from the tub faucet and I had kitchen cupboards on the other side of the wall and everytime I opened them I got that musty smell it is nerve racking but I was lucky I found the source and have not been bothered with it since I took care of it...but now this cigarette smell and taste and my eyes burn is really making me crazy I feel sick all the time and I just hate the smell of cigarettes and it follows me everywhere I can't sleep the smell is everywhere I am thinking of asking if I can go to the clean room that we have at the labs I work in the physics department as an admin assistant...I am getting desparate to find 5 minutes of relief...if I go into the clean room and still smell it then I know it's got to be my dead wicked evil mother haunting me from the grave...she smoked all the time and that's what killed her...

I am so glad to find this website, but can anyone find a diagnosis to the problem? I've had this problem on and off for the past year, and when it's bad, it's really BAD!! It was fine for a long time, but recently (since last week), I've been smelling cigarette smoke again, and it always happens at work! I noticed that when the A/C was on super high, as in blowing like crazy, it would not happen, so I'm tempted to freeze to death at work just to avoid this! It's so frustrating because I feel like I've been sitting in a smoked filled bar everyday when I come home from work.

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and am freakin' out about any effects this may be having on my unborn child. I just don't know what to do! I feel sick to my stomach from the smell and my head feels like it's about to burst from it all! I noticed that I am fine if I keep my hands cupped over my nose and mouth...I cannot smell it anymore, so it really makes me wonder if it's something in the air at work. If anyone can find something solid for this, that would be great! Please find a doctor willing to look into this for us!!
---- Extremely frustrated

I have been to the doctor several times now, had a chest x-ray and figured out the problem. This may not be the problem for everyone here because there are different reasons you could have this smoke smelling issue.

For me it was because I was exposed to black mold. You NEED to look around your house for this stuff. It is dangerous! I had it under a window sill growing like crazy and in the bathroom under the sink. Look everywhere any moisture could possibly build up. Underneath your toilet, sinks, windows, showers etc. If you find any mold you need to be very careful in how you remove it. Look up the proper procedure for getting rid of it. Black mold is incredibly dangerous and releases mycotoxins into the air. You breathe these and it will mess your lungs up badly. It can potentially kill you. The reason I bring up the mold issue is because I WAS around second hand cigarette smoke. Anytime in the past that I was around it the smell was gone as soon as I removed myself from wherever it was. This time however the smell would NOT go away and I found I was literally exhaling cigarette smoke all the time which is why I was smelling it. My lungs were trapping the second hand smoke I was breathing because of the mold exposure. Needless to say mold spores and cigarette smoke combined will cause bad lung damage. When I took Claratin and moved away from the smokers I felt better. They think my lung should heal but it's imperative I stay away from cigarette smoke and mold from now on. Right now I have not had the smoke smell in my nose for several days! I thought it was never going to go away. I'm serious about looking for mold. And even though you think you're not around smokers you'd be surprised how many times every day you catch a whiff of someone's smoke when you're out and about. Combined with the mold exposure that smell will not go away. I'm away from mold and taking Claratin to control my allergic reaction to any more mold and that combined with staying away from all second hand smoke is working. So far so good. I feel much better now even though I still have chest pains a little. I do NOT smell any more smoke and it's a major relief to finally be free of that.

Remember, if you live in an apartment you ARE breathing cigarette smoke even if you don't realize it. Smoke penetrates the whole apartment building infecting the air in everyone's apartment. You may not notice it, but you're breathing it.

I hope this helps some of you.

Hi, I've been suffering from this for about 10 days now, and it's really annoying. Having read the post where the writer's girlfriend could smell it when he exhaled, as I have a bit of a cold I blew my nose today, and - ok, this is not gonna sound nice - my snot smells of smoke!!!!I then remembered that, the week before this annoying phenomenon started I felt my nostrils really dry, and it only started after I'd been out at night, and was exposed to cigarette smoke, which is something that doesn't happen very often, as I hate the smell (ironic, isn't it?). Next step - I'm going to look for treatment, but possibly not my GP. I don't feel like being patronised.

Has anybody ever felt like they were smelling urine. For the past week I keep geeting the feeling that I am smelling old urine...almost like a men's bathroom in an old bar where they don't clean very well. If you have ever had this feeling I would be interested and did you ever find out why?

I just started smelling smoke two or three weeks ago. This is accompanied by a clogged right ear, headaches that feel different than regular headaches, and tinnitus. My ear feels like there is water trapped in the canal. So, in response to the person who has tinnitus, I think this is an ear, nose and throat issue. It could be a sinus infection cause by an onset of infection in the ear? I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to check it out. However, judging from the number of people who have smelled smoke for months, the doctor may not know exactly what is causing these symptoms! It is unlikely we all have brain tumors ... or at least I hope so!!

I too have been smelling cigarette smoke all the time for about a month, and I don't smoke. All the posts I see are from 2007. I would like to see updated posts as to how their issues were resolved (if they were).

I too smell smoke. It started about 2 years ago. I have two theories about what may be causing this:

1)Allergies.

2) About 2 months ago I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, which is an ailment of the lungs. I had no symptoms,other than a tickle in my throat that had been there for about 4 months. My doctor ordered an X-ray of my chest just to be careful. Lo and behold, the X-ray turned up Sarcoidosis. A month later I went for a biopsy to make sure it wasn't lymphoma (it wasn't). Sarcoidosis usually goes into remission on it's own within a few years. There is no known pathogen with Sarcoidosis. The lymph nodes in and around the lungs just get swollen, as if something is attacking them. I'm thinking in my case, it's the Sarcoidosis. Since it can go undetected, those of you smelling smoke might want to get an X-ray or CT scan of the chest done.

would sarcoidosis just come go with a smell i mean i used to smoke for 30 years and quit 2 yrs ago and this smell i have comes and goes for about 1 year i never had it when i smoked this is the first i'm hearing of what you have i had a chest xray when this started and all clear i too think its a very bad allergy. if it were life threating i would think it would be constant i am going to research what you have thanx for this info

I am wondering if anyone has ever used a neti pot? it rinses out your sinuses...from reading many posts here it seems like most people have sinus problems like I do. I started using one and then got a sinus infection and stopped using it, then that is when I started noticing the weird smoke smell. I am glad I am not alone, I thought I was imagining things.

I came home with a migrane yesterday and could smell burnt popcorn. My husband insists I'm crazy. Today I have a headache and still smell the popcorn. Are any of you highly sensative people? I feel I'm an empath, that might explain the headaches, no idea about the smells though?

so what is causing this problem?

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Wow! So many with the phantom cigarette smell issue. It's hard to believe. I've had this unusual problem for about six or seven months. I can smell cigarette smoke at work in my office and when I am on my computer at home. In fact, I smell the cigarette smoke now as I write. I've also smelled it in my car and in the kitchen reading the paper. I've never smoked in my life and my husband has been smoke free about five years. I wouldn't allow him to smoke in the house so he went out to the deck. No one has ever smoked in our home. I use a CPAP machine and was wondering if that might be a problem. Like others I do have sinus problems from time to time and I also have allergies. I would sure like to get to the bottom of this smell. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate knowing your ideas. I have not mentioned this to my doctor. It is quite annoying.

I was laying in bed and HAD to come in and see what I could find...I've been smelling cigar smoke for at least 2 weeks. I'm not around anyone who has smoked a cigar nor does anyone smoke in the house, though my husband is a smoker. I have found that this smell is around me almost wherever I am--whether at work, in the car, in a store. It's completely weird. I have asked friends if they can smell smoke, but they say no. I do know that some people have smell disorders and I've wondered about neurological problems, too. It was refreshing to find that I'm not alone! My grandfather used to smoke bad cigars, which is why I recognize the scent. THANKS!