# Can you smell without a nose?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 10, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343 "2018-03-10T16:09:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/1 "2018-03-10T16:09:23Z")
Hello Everyone,
For argument’s sake let’s say you lost your nose in a tragic cheese grater accident. The entire fleshy part that protrudes from your face is now gone. Can you still smell? Are the smell receptors in the skull or were they in the “nose” part that’s now pencil shavings on the floor?
---
### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/2 "2018-03-10T16:19:11Z")
> [@obbn](#):
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> For argument’s sake let’s say you lost your nose in a tragic cheese grater accident. The entire fleshy part that protrudes from your face is now gone. Can you still smell? Are the smell receptors in the skull or were they in the “nose” part that’s now pencil shavings on the floor?
your olfactory receptors are mostly inside your skull at the base of the forebrain.
[cite](https://www.britannica.com/science/olfactory-bulb)
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### Author:  [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/3 "2018-03-10T16:22:34Z")
Okay, but without a proper sniffer can you smell?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/4 "2018-03-10T16:23:57Z")
Anticipating the next question: If your external ears are cut off, do you go deaf?
Next answer: No.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/5 "2018-03-10T16:28:22Z")
> [@obbn](#):
>
> Okay, but without a proper sniffer can you smell?
if you still have holes to inhale air through, then yes.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/6 "2018-03-10T16:35:14Z")
> [@obbn](#):
>
> Okay, but without a proper sniffer can you smell?
If you haven’t bathed in a month, I’d say you prolly smell awful.
You’d be a big hit with Harry Potter fans, Voldemort.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/7 "2018-03-10T16:45:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> If you haven’t bathed in a month, I’d say you prolly smell awful.
You know who [else](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfyHUrL2O6g) made that joke?
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/8 "2018-03-10T17:48:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> If you haven’t bathed in a month, I’d say you prolly smell awful.
70 views and 6 comments. 65 people came here to make that joke.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/9 "2018-03-10T17:53:27Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> 70 views and 6 comments. 65 people came here to make that joke.
Guilty
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/10 "2018-03-10T18:55:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Anticipating the next question: If your external ears are cut off, do you go deaf?
>
> Next answer: No.
you won’t be able to hear as well, though; the pinnae of your ears are actual acoustic horns.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/11 "2018-03-10T19:08:07Z")
I was gonna say, “Horse shit doesn’t have a nose, and it smells awful.”
But I won’t.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/12 "2018-03-10T19:16:57Z")
> [@obbn](#):
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> For argument’s sake let’s say you lost your nose in a tragic cheese grater accident. The entire fleshy part that protrudes from your face is now gone. Can you still smell? Are the smell receptors in the skull or were they in the “nose” part that’s now pencil shavings on the floor?
Dogs and cats lack the protuberant nose of humans, and they have a far better sense of smell than we do, so that should answer that question. The great apes also lack the protuberant nose of humans.
The function of the fleshy part of the nose isn’t really related to smell at all. It’s to warm and humidify air before it reaches the respiratory system. Humans probably developed it when they moved into the dry savannas of East Africa from their former moist forest environment.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/13 "2018-03-10T19:32:29Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Anticipating the next question: If your external ears are cut off, do you go deaf?
>
> Next answer: No.
Barber (to squirming customer in chair): Will you please hold still? What would happen if I cut your ear off?
Customer: I wouldn’t be able to hear.
Barber: And what do you think would happen if I cut off both ears?
Customer: I couldn’t see.
Barber: What do you mean you couldn’t see?
Customer: My hat would fall over my eyes.
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### Author:  [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/14 "2018-03-10T20:17:00Z")
“My dog has no nose.”
“How does it smell?”
“Awful.”
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-smell-without-a-nose/810343/15 "2018-03-10T20:26:48Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> 70 views and 6 comments. 65 people came here to make that joke.
Guilty as charged m’lud!