# Glue sniff orgy and lingering stink
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 12, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007 "2003-10-12T16:47:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007/1 "2003-10-12T16:47:23Z")
Sorry if this is an IMHO type question I am hoping it has at least some factual answers.
On my route home from work there is one place (with some reasonably dense surrounding plantlife) that absolutely REEKS of glue. Enough to make me choke. The smell is there every day.
Assuming there is a regular meeting of gluesniffing youngsters there hours earlier, could the smell last long enough to still be there when I walk through in the morning?
Or is something growing there that smells of glue?
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007/2 "2003-10-12T18:28:03Z")
IME, the smell of glue is mostly from the toluene used as a solvent. (Do they still use toluene? I haven’t built a model since the '70s.) Perhaps what you’re smelling is a solvent, rather than glue. I’ve never heard of a plant that smells like that.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007/3 "2003-10-13T03:43:35Z")
Ya know, what pops into my head is that some processes use toluene, so maybe somebody’s illegally dumping that day’s used toluene in the bushes?
Found a fascinating list [here](http://www.oilchem.com.au/solvent_uses_according_to_busine.htm) of businesses that use toluene. Any of them ring a bell?
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### Author:  [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007/4 "2003-10-13T12:46:00Z")
I think you found a meth lab, give the police a tip.
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### Author:  [@brainfizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainfizz)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glue-sniff-orgy-and-lingering-stink/207007/5 "2003-10-13T13:36:12Z")
It’s very unlikely you’ve found a meth lab, since meth is not at all popular in the UK and extremely rare.
However, certain blends of pitch have aromatic compounds that smell very much like glue. There’s a place up the road from me that’s redoing their roof and i get pretty high walking past there on the way to work!
Most likely, though, is that it’s just some chemical from a nearby building, bleach/drain cleaner/etc, that’s been flushed down the drain and has collected on the sides of a nearby drain.