# I only smell with my mouth. Why?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 1, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180 "2015-10-01T22:32:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GingerC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerC)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/1 "2015-10-01T22:32:16Z")
I don’t know why, but this has been on my mind lately.
When I try to smell things with my nose, all I do is inhale. I can catch a tiny hint of things that way, but it’s stronger when I inhale with my mouth. When other people around me smell things, they take a strong breath through their nose.
If you were to take a strongly scented object, like a used litterbox or something, and smell with your nose and then your mouth, which way is stronger?
Why do I smell things with my mouth? Is this unheard of? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/2 "2015-10-01T22:38:35Z")
Are you a smoker?
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### Author:  [@GingerC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerC)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/3 "2015-10-01T23:01:27Z")
I’ve never smoked before.
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### Author:  [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/4 "2015-10-01T23:03:40Z")
Are you a snake?
It’s OK, you can tell us if you are. We’re mostly snake-positive around here.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/5 "2015-10-01T23:20:40Z")
Since without a medical examination we can only guess at the cause, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@GingerC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerC)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/6 "2015-10-01T23:59:12Z")
I’m not a snake. I think. Are you an ocelot?
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/7 "2015-10-02T00:11:27Z")
> [@GingerC](#):
>
> I’m not a snake. I think. Are you an ocelot?
Many of us have been fooled by her name. Sometimes embarrassingly.
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### Author:  [@Onyerbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onyerbike)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/8 "2015-10-02T12:01:30Z")
I am not a doctor or anything but I am aware of a clinical term “anosmia” which means a loss of ones sense of smell, partial or otherwise I think there are supposed to be many causes and grades of it. A simple GP visit might be a direction worth taking if it worries you.
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### Author:  [@MmeRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmeRose)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/9 "2015-10-02T12:04:17Z")
Are you a Ginger cat?
Cats have something called Jacobson’s Organ in their mouths which helps them to smell things, which is why you sometimes see them with their mouths slightly open and a look of concentration on their faces.
Not my cat, who is uncatlike in his stupidity.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/10 "2015-10-02T12:40:19Z")
> [@MmeRose](#):
>
> Are you a Ginger cat?
> Cats have something called Jacobson’s Organ in their mouths which helps them to smell things, which is why you sometimes see them with their mouths slightly open and a look of concentration on their faces.
> Not my cat, who is uncatlike in his stupidity.
Known as _flehming_…
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### Author:  [@MmeRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmeRose)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/11 "2015-10-02T13:00:06Z")
Also note that the example given is a used litterbox!
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### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/12 "2015-10-02T16:08:11Z")
> [@Onyerbike](#):
>
> I am not a doctor or anything but I am aware of a clinical term “anosmia” which means a loss of ones sense of smell, partial or otherwise I think there are supposed to be many causes and grades of it. A simple GP visit might be a direction worth taking if it worries you.
I struggle with anosmia. I couldn’t smell for two years, and finally went to an ENT, who told me I had terrible sinus blockage, nasal polyps and bad allergies. I got sinus surgery and have been getting allergy shots regularly since. Now I can smell almost 50% of the time!
I’ve noticed that sometimes I can smell through my mouth but not my nose. However, that’s rare. More commonly, I notice I can smell when I breathe out but not when I breathe in. Your olfactory senses are located in the back of your nose, so there’s a chance you have polyps covering them from the front, while breathing in through your mouth still lets you smell some things from the other side.
Either way, you need to see an ENT. Don’t go years without a sense of smell like I did, and currently still do half the time. It’s not as bad as being blind or deaf, I’m sure, but it still sucks.
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### Author:  [@GingerC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerC)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/13 "2015-10-02T17:11:21Z")
Snakes have a Jacobson’s organ too. The last time I checked, I was a human, so…
About the Anosmia, I’ve been like this for my entire life. I do have a normal (I think) sense of smell, definitely different from my sense of taste, just through my mouth instead. I don’t think there’s a problem, other than breathing through my mouth now and then to smell things.
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-smell-with-my-mouth-why/733180/14 "2015-10-02T18:38:14Z")
You may be a snake if…you have a forked tongue
You may be part snake if…you’ve ever had a fork on your tongue
You may be a snake if…you have scales
You may be part snake if…you’ve been on scales
You may be a snake if…you eat your meal whole
You may be part snake if…you eat your whole meal