It’s right up there with the chemical warfare that is burned jalapeno peppers. What is it about microwave popcorn? When you burn a bag, it literally closes your throat, makes your eyes water, and leaves behind a smell that simply cannot be removed.
I have never burned traditionally popped corn, does it do the same thing?
Traditionally popped corn stinks pretty bad if you burn it. I had a roommate who decided to have a midnight snack and cook some popcorn on the stove. He didn’t use oil, he used butter. I woke up in the middle of the night to a smoke filled house just saturated with that awful stench. It was just as bad as burnt microwave popcorn with the added smell of scorched butter. The apartment stank for days.
I once burned a bag of microwave pork rinds at work.
It was bad.
I have never heard of these. Do they pop like popcorn?
Yeah, burned popcorn is always noxious no matter the heating method. I think its just that the traditional stove top method requires constant attention and is therefore far less likely to be burned. With a microwave, we like to just pop it in, turn it on and walk away - at which point we go into the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mode. Unfortunately resulting in the actor just not being there when the first hint of burning starts to pollute the air…
Clearly you are too young to have experienced the “joy” of Jiffy Pop. I don’t think I ever made it without burning it.
Aw…‘too young’…that’s so sweet! It’s been a long time since anyone has said that about me!
I remember Jiffy Pop quite well. I suspect that if you burnt it, it was because you were ‘too young’ and your attention wandered! 
I have a co-worker who LIKES his popcorn burned. We all get to enjoy the lovely smell wafting through the office on a regular basis.
LOL! OK. I won’t take it back, since my mistake is a pleasing one. . .
…yeah… I’ve never done it on purpose… but unless it’s black as charcoal… I can get behind burnt popcorn.
It’s noxious because corn was never meant to be popped. Popping corn is an unholy act, just as is creating a human-like being from pieces you found in the cemetery, and making it come “alive” with electricity. When it goes bad, it goes really bad.
It smells like failure.
Heh. Actually, there are strains of corn grown specifically as popping corn. I’ve relatives in Nebraska who grow popping corn, among other types. But most other corn strains will pop, too. We used to see stray popped kernels in fields after they’d been burnt off.
Also, if you happen to be cooking corn in water, and the pot boils dry, and ittakes you a while to notice… smells like burnt popcorn. Although none of the kernels popped; they just charred. Nasty.