# Oddball sensory pleasures **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463 "2011-05-27T18:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lorski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Lorski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorski)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/61 "2011-05-31T18:00:40Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > That first blast of aroma you get when you first open a new can of coffee. It never quite smells the same after it’s been exposed to air. I instinctively stick my face into the can and inhale deeply. Sometimes people look at me strangely…"_You snort coffee grounds??"_ I do that too. Unfortunately one morning I was still asleep and wound up with a noseful of coffee grounds. (Got too close). Kinda took the fun out of it… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/62 "2011-05-31T18:21:34Z")
The smell of dittos. Remember those? I still enjoy the scent of freshly xerographed copies (it’s kind of…ozoney?) but nothing beat huffing dittos. The feel of my SO’s cold butt pressed up against my butt as our warm backs touch when we turn over in bed. The contrast in temperatures, the just-the-right-amount of squishiness, the very literal feeling of “he’s got my back”…aaaahhhh… > [@elfkin477](#): > > - You know how we sometime talk about the thin line between pain and pleasure? Usually that’s within the context of sex, but…sometimes chest congestion straddles that line too. I would never go out of my way to get a cold, but when it’s not bad enough to make you cough repeatedly it sort of kind of feels, well, nice. Okay, this is way gross, but I’m betting you’ll understand. The satisfying hork of a head cold. You know, that way you can move the back of your throat to get a big ol’ gob of mucus into the back of your mouth? And then you have to decide whether to spit or swallow? That’s a cool feeling. I can’t hork and spit unless I’m sick. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/63 "2011-05-31T18:26:58Z")
My first hot and heavy date with a girl…it was a high school Homecoming dance, and she wore a sweater that had obviously been in stored in some rarely opened chest or closet with mothballs. So yeah, mothballs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![purple\_cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@purple\_cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_cow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/64 "2011-05-31T18:28:57Z")
An odd but incredible feeling is a remedy for the itch of poison ivy. You take very hot water, soak it into a washcloth, then press it to the rash. It is an amazing mixture of the burning of the water with the most satisfying scratch of a terrible itch you can imagine. Even better, it actually works; the itch goes away completely for 6-8 hours. Nothing else provided even the slightest relief when i had three giant patches of rash on my legs. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/65 "2011-05-31T19:20:19Z")
Sometimes when I do deep breathing (the kind where you push your diaphragm downward when you inhale) I get an incredibly euphoric sensation right in my solar plexus. It’s like an intense feeling of well-being. One thing a lot of people seem to be mentioning is smells that might not normally be thought of as particularly pleasant but are pleasant to that individual because of associations. For me, the smell of low tide is always nice because it reminds me of beach days in my childhood in Rhode Island. (For those who have never smelled low tide, it’s sulfuric, a bit like rotten eggs or, well, rather nasty farts.) ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/66 "2011-06-01T01:17:01Z")
The smell of diesel exhaust from heavy machinery or a bus, particularly if it’s humid out, has always been weirdly satisfying to me. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/67 "2011-06-01T01:20:20Z")
I love the taste of chocolate with pizza, especially in the form of chocolate chip cookies. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/68 "2011-06-01T02:37:39Z")
That was always my favorite part of class field trip lunches to Pizza Inn…getting a slice of chocolate chip ‘pizza’ with my meal. (I think it was called ‘pizzert’, but that looks really bad typed out.) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/69 "2011-06-01T02:55:22Z")
Those few minutes after relieving an urgent need to use the toilet - #2 especially. Really going to town on a massive itch. I call that an itch-gasm. A massage on a really sore muscle / tendon (I have several that are literally always sore). The pressure, if done just right, “hurts so good”. There’s a spot inside each foot - an area about an inch back from the juncture of the 3rd and 4th toes - that is the “center” for the sensations that my RLS manifests as. Pressure on the foot right above and below that spot is near-perfect. Perfect would be when I finally give in to the impulse, and take a power drill and go through the foot RIGHT into the middle of the spot. Or so I imagine. Somehow, I suspect this would not work out the way I fantasize. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/70 "2011-06-01T02:57:29Z")
> [@purple\_cow](#): > > An odd but incredible feeling is a remedy for the itch of poison ivy. You take very hot water, soak it into a washcloth, then press it to the rash. It is an amazing mixture of the burning of the water with the most satisfying scratch of a terrible itch you can imagine. > Even better, it actually works; the itch goes away completely for 6-8 hours. Nothing else provided even the slightest relief when i had three giant patches of rash on my legs. Ooooh yeah - not so much with poison ivy (the last time I had that, I suspect I’d have been dissuaded from pouring near-boiling water on my entire face)… but sometimes I get this intractable ITCH on one foot and/or ankle, and the only way to relieve it is to stand with the foot under water running as hot as I can stand it. The relief is nearly indescribable. Learned the hard way that when the itch is caused by bile buildup due to gallbladder / liver issues, the hot water just makes it worse :(. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/71 "2011-06-01T03:42:22Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > The smell of wet dirt after it rains after a long dry spell. I went to college in Eastern Washington, and that smell always reminds me of the beauty of the Palouse country.. Ooh, _good_ one. It smells so good here (I’m in Idaho, not Washington, but I suspect the lack of humidity is similar) when it rains! I also like the smell of snow, but rain smells a lot stronger. You just don’t get that if you live in a place where it rains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/72 "2011-06-01T04:15:28Z")
Ethyl ether. Watching hydrogen peroxide going to work on a cut. The smell of ironing clothes, and how your hair smells like steamy cotton after a long session. ---
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/73 "2011-06-01T05:53:03Z")
I love to run my fingers over the hemmed edge of sheets and pillow cases. Picking a raised scab. During the summer in the southwest when temps reach well over 100, public buildings will have the AC cranked up to high. I just about have a whole body orgasm when I leave the cold inside and step into the searing heat outside. GOD, IT UNBELIEVABLE! The smell of fire works. The feeling of relaxed, sort of scratchy, relief when mind blowing pain starts to abate. I had a toothache that had me pacing, and banging my head against the wall for about 2 days until I could get perscription pain meds. About 20 minutes after taking one, when I could feel the pain start to drain away, I felt like I saw God. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/74 "2011-06-01T05:58:32Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > As soon as they put the lead apron on my at the dentist’s office I could instantly fall and stay quite soundly asleep. They always apologize about it and rush to take it away. I wish they’d forget and leave me there under it for a good long while. Every once in a while I look on ebay for an old very heavy one, but the trend seems to be toawrds more streamlined space aged super light ones. > > It doesn’t have to be that specific thing, either. My grandparents had a quilt that instead of regualr batting or feathers was (I am only guessing) quilted onto layers of felt or maybe a couple of wool blankets. It was super heavy and for me equalled instantaneous and unparalleled naps. My Mom is making me a quilt. She thinks I’m kind of weird because I asked for a jean quilt with a corduroy backing to be filled with five layers of sheets. I don’t want a thick light quilt, I want one that weighs 50 lbs. Oh and clipping my big toenails, they would probably be painfully ingrown if I didn’t clip them. If I time it right a huge hunk of nail can be pulled from under the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/75 "2011-06-01T06:49:36Z")
I love putting my socks on before my undies, and the sensation of pulling the undies on over the socks. Yes, I think I might be completely alone in this. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/76 "2011-06-01T07:15:33Z")
The sound of a distant buzzsaw hitting a branch in a log. Used to live near a paper factory from 2 year old to 20 year old and this eerie metallic wail echoed through the small forest between our house and the factory all the time. Not so noticeable during the day with all the other noise, but later at night when all else was silent I could hear this from time to time. Probably just pesky industrial noise to most people. I also love the sound, thrum and moist heat of the paper machine, though this is best experienced with a pair of good hearing protectors. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/77 "2011-06-01T14:18:13Z")
Instead of clipping my toenails, I like to rip them off. The feeling is most pleasant. Unfortunately, it’s sandal season so I have to forego that pleasure for a couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/78 "2011-06-01T17:17:53Z")
Disturbing the perfectly smooth surface of a brand new jar of peanut butter (I usually draw a smiley face with the knife.) Diesel (it reminds me of Disneyland–the smell of the parking lot and the trams when you first arrive) Sneezing. Sneezes are little orgasms for your nose. 🙂 The “after smell” of a box of Safeguard soap (not the actual soap, which is fine, but taking a good deep whiff of the inside of the box and savoring it for awhile). The taste of old-style gray chalky Kaopectate (my mom used to give it to me when I was a kid, and I loved it. Though I haven’t used the stuff in years, I’m kind of bummed that you can’t seem to get the unflavored variety anymore.) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/79 "2011-06-01T17:41:55Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > The smell of diesel exhaust from heavy machinery or a bus, particularly if it’s humid out, has always been weirdly satisfying to me. OMG YES!! Drum and bugle corps was a very happy time of my life and being in an area where there were often dozens of idling tractor trailers and or buses was a part of daily life… 22 years ago and the smell snaps me right back to age 17. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > but sometimes I get this intractable ITCH on one foot and/or ankle, and the only way to relieve it is to stand with the foot under water running as hot as I can stand it. The relief is nearly indescribable. I have done this with a tenacious case of athletes foot and I agree, it was nearly a sexual experience. One other odd one all my own, that i discovered kinda by accident. While deep in thought I found myself leaning on my hand with my cell phone in it. I inhaled and caught a scent I can only describe as pineapple. I discovered that if I put the edge of the phone in my mouth and inhaled sucking air through the device there was actually a farly strong pineappley smell/flavor to the air. I have discovered that many small electronic devices share this property. My current iphone 3gs definitely has it. (I am now visualizing dozens of dopers looking for their phones and trying this) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463/80 "2011-06-01T17:46:37Z")
I love kicking at mushrooms when they are in the ground. I don’t know why. The smell and look of coffee with cream in it, though I think it tastes like shit. The smell of a laudromat, particularly when the driers are all on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddball-sensory-pleasures/583463.md?page=5)