# Eating Vick's VapoRub? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041 "2016-08-26T19:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/21 "2016-08-27T13:22:12Z")
I ate it as a kid because I loved the smell and it tasted similar. I don’t think I’ve eaten it since I was 11-years-old or so. I still love hanging out in the dried eucalyptus flower at Michael’s 🙂 (but I don’t eat anything). ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/22 "2016-08-27T15:26:19Z")
My family were big believers in the efficacy of Vicks, but only topically, not internally. I, too, keep a jar around for when I have a cold. A little dab under my nostrils can help me breathe and I enjoy the eucalyptus/menthol scent. I can remember my grandmother slathering my chest with Vicks, then covering my chest with a warm piece of flannel cloth when I had a cold. Of course, she also dosed me with a hot toddy, which I remember quite fondly! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/23 "2016-08-27T16:44:56Z")
> [@tenacious\_j](#): > > Not a scientist, but I was researching peppermint oil capsules last night and also read that menthol and camphor can be toxic, esp, to kids. I would never have thought to eat it and it sounds disgusting. > It’s called vapo-rub, not vapo-jam, for a reason. “I don’t understand how I can be pregnant. I put the jelly on my toast every morning!” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/24 "2016-08-27T16:46:07Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I still love hanging out in the dried eucalyptus flower at Michael’s 🙂 (but I don’t eat anything). No, that would be wrong. You want to pay for it first. ---
**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/25 "2016-08-27T19:14:22Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Were they illiterate? No, just old fashioned butter-on-burns and raw-meat-on-bruises people. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![finfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@finfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finfin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/26 "2018-03-09T05:18:25Z")
Just swallowed some. Pea sized lump. Better than Tide pods. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/27 "2018-03-09T05:51:25Z")
I have heard about eating the stuff. Not me. I put it on my kids chest sometimes. They hated it. I heard that cops use it at murder scenes. I wonder if that’s so. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/28 "2018-03-09T14:58:11Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I heard that cops use it at murder scenes. For what purpose? ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/29 "2018-03-09T15:01:41Z")
50yr old with older parents here. Whenever I was really sick, which was rare, I was made to eat a spoonful of that stuff, spread it on my chest (with towel over it to protect sheets, and some spread under my nose for good measure. I don’t have to tell you it was horrible, but to be totally honest that stuff is probably no where near as bad as some of the chemicals in some fast food I eat on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/30 "2018-03-09T15:22:03Z")
> [@finfin](#): > > Just swallowed some. Pea sized lump. Better than Tide pods. Join date: Dec 2006. Posts: 1. You’ve been lurking for 12 years and decide the way to finally introduce yourself is to revive this thread with this? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/31 "2018-03-09T15:23:17Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > For what purpose? I’ve seen a few police dramas in which investigators, examining a body in an advanced state of decomposition, had smeared something under their noses that was understood to overwhelm their olfactory senses and allow them to get on with their work without gagging on the odor of rotting flesh. Maybe that something was supposed to be Vick’s? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/32 "2018-03-09T19:27:19Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Join date: Dec 2006. Posts: 1. > > You’ve been lurking for 12 years and decide the way to finally introduce yourself is to revive this thread with this? Took him six years to chew it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/33 "2018-03-09T19:45:38Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’ve seen a few police dramas in which investigators, examining a body in an advanced state of decomposition, had smeared something under their noses that was understood to overwhelm their olfactory senses and allow them to get on with their work without gagging on the odor of rotting flesh. Maybe that something was supposed to be Vick’s? I think I saw that first on HLOTS, and when my wife worked for a small town daily newspaper she saw EMTs and cops do it before recovering days-old dead bodies. Here’s one [occurence](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/peoples-pharmacy-using-vicks-to-block-nauseating-smells/). ---
**Author:** ![PlumBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/34 "2018-03-09T19:58:50Z")
My Mom made my brother and I eat that stuff anytime we got a sore throat. “Don’t swallow it, let it melt on your tongue” We’d watch the commercials for it, a doting mother gently rubbing it on her child’s chest, a look of relief on his face. Nope! We had to eat it! We read the jar, told Mom it said we shouldn’t eat it, she’d say…“My mother made me eat it and I’m fine”. I’m 55 so this was in the late 60’s early 70’s. On a side note, the inside of ping pong balls smell like Vicks. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/35 "2018-03-09T21:34:06Z")
I don’t know if this is related to this thread. But my uncle recalled something interesting once. Back when he was a wee lad they did something weird (FYI I think he was born in 1929). When your kid had a bad cold, your parents would dab the back of your throat or something with Mercurochrome. That stuff is loaded with the deadly element Mercury. My uncle was even musing about that very subject not too long ago. Yet my uncle turned out normal. In fact he is a retired chemical engineer. So I don’t know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![finfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@finfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finfin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/36 "2018-03-10T07:41:16Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Join date: Dec 2006. Posts: 1. > > You’ve been lurking for 12 years and decide the way to finally introduce yourself is to revive this thread with this? I Googled it and wound up here. I joined 12 years ago. I wouldn’t call coming here twice in 12 years, “lurking”. I didn’t “revive” a thread, I posted on it. If it bothers you, leave. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/37 "2018-03-10T07:49:53Z")
Unreal that anyone’s parents made them eat it. How gross. We got the liberal rubbing on the chest, and a stripe across the upper lip right below the nostrils to alleviate congestion when we were sick, that was it. And it DID in fact help. But eating it? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/38 "2018-03-10T08:01:12Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I don’t know if this is related to this thread. But my uncle recalled something interesting once. > > Back when he was a wee lad they did something weird (FYI I think he was born in 1929). When your kid had a bad cold, your parents would dab the back of your throat or something with Mercurochrome. > > That stuff is loaded with the deadly element Mercury. My uncle was even musing about that very subject not too long ago. > > Yet my uncle turned out normal. In fact he is a retired chemical engineer. So I don’t know. > > 🙂 My Daddy used paint our throats with what he called ‘Silver Nitrate’. I am not sure what it was. It was purple and very nasty. I tried very hard not to be sick so I wouldn’t have to go thru that particular hell. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/39 "2018-03-10T08:27:09Z")
My mother used to rub it on our chests when we had a cold. A little dab under the nostrils does indeed seem to relieve congestion, presumably because the fumes cause the blood vessels in the sinuses to constrict, but I fail to see the point of rubbing it on the chest. I had never heard of eating it until recently. During my recent stay at a rehab center I developed a nasty cough. My elderly roommate insisted that I should eat a teaspoon of Vicks. I of course did not follow his advice. When I questioned the advice he said that by eating it it gets to where it needs to be faster than it would if rubbed outside. I really wanted to ask him where “it needs to be”, how exactly it did its thing once it got there, and why it wasn’t sold as a pill or syrup if ingesting it was more effective, but I wisely decided to drop the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/40 "2018-03-10T08:47:17Z")
They make a Vicks cough drop. I wonder if it has any vapor rub in it. I can understand on your chest, because you would breath in the fumes rising off your warm chest. The bottom if the feet throws me, I can see no logical reason for that to do any good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041.md?page=3)