# What are those machines at the airport for?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 1, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716 "2020-01-01T14:29:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716/21 "2020-01-02T21:28:36Z")

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> [@VOW](#):
>
> Last time we flew was ten years ago. We went to Wisconsin to visit friends. Of course we brought back souvenirs for everybody.
> 
> Our luggage got scanned at the Milwaukee airport, and it set of the bells and buzzers. The suitcases had to be opened and pawed through.
> 
> The scanner was looking for explosives. Our culprit? Cheese curds.

I’ve heard (but not verified thru personal experience) that summer sausage (like hard salami), common in Wisconsin, sets off the explosive detectors. I often traveled with cheese curds or summer sausage; never had a problem, but that was before 9/11, when cheese was only cheese and not a terrorist weapon.

RE OP…If reality TV can be relied upon, those swabs and swabbing are for drug detection, and the machines they put them in can analyze multiple narcotics (heroin, pot, meth, anything not in the Republican playbook allowances).

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**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716/22 "2020-01-02T22:01:26Z")

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I have an awesome, rugged, RAF rucksack that I bought at a flea market in Iceland. It tends to set off those machines, even after repeated washings. I don’t want to give it up though, so I just deal with the extra scrutiny.

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**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716/23 "2020-01-02T22:04:19Z")

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Years ago my CPAP was pulled for a random swipe test and came up positive. The TSA agent asked me a few questions about where it had been and what it might have been in contact with (I can’t remember specifics after all this time) and then let me repack it and go on my way.

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**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-machines-at-the-airport-for/845716/24 "2020-01-02T22:12:26Z")

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My brother got stopped when his bag set off the scanner. Of course he was returning from a 9 month deployment in Afghanistan and in uniform. After a quick look through his bag they let him through. He did ask them WTF they were expecting to happen when they tested it.

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