# Why does money smell like money?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 13, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294 "2001-10-13T21:07:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hidon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@hidon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hidon)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/1 "2001-10-13T21:07:02Z")

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I’m new, and I was wondering if you could answer this for me…

Why does money smell like… well… money? is it the paper, or the ink?

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/2 "2001-10-13T22:14:45Z")

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I changed the title of this thread from **I’ve got a question** to **Why does money smell like money?**. Please try to choose more descriptive thread titles in the future.

bibliophage  
moderator GQ

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/3 "2001-10-13T22:22:35Z")

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I changed the title of this thread from **I’ve got a question** to **Why does money smell like money?**. Please try to choose more descriptive thread titles in the future.

bibliophage  
moderator GQ

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**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/4 "2001-10-14T02:55:49Z")

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Ooohh, a double post by a mod!

Money smells like it does (new U.S. currency smells a lot like Play-Doh ™) due to the inks, “paper”, and packaging. Like everything, it’s a combination of all of it’s parts.

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**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/5 "2001-10-14T05:35:46Z")

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I think money is the only thing that smells like money. This is why it smells like money, because that’s what it is. Is there anything else that is not money but smells like money? Have I used the word money too many times in a row? 😕

Why do my armpits smell like, well, my armpits?

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/6 "2001-10-14T15:15:23Z")

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That’s what you smell.

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**Author:** ![hidon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@hidon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hidon)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-money-smell-like-money/87294/7 "2001-10-14T15:45:03Z")

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Ok, thanks. Now, do they make it smell that way, to avoid counterfeiters, or is it just naturally that way?