What's That Smell?

[Burnszilla]

While riding a motorcycle you smell much more things compared to riding in a car. On Hwy 17 I mainly smell trees and brake pad dust. Over the past few months though, I have encountered some smells that I thought were psycological flashbacks from my college days. This morning as I hopped onto Hwy 85 north I could smell the sweet smell of pipe tobacco. Memories of my grandfather came about. Why am I smelling this smell? I cruise over to the left lane and look into a Chrysler LeBaron on my right and the gentleman driving is smoking a pipe. I was amazed that I picked up that odor at 70 miles per hour! Now this answers my question about the other flashback smells. Driving home on 85 and 17 a couple of times a week I pick up the odor of marijuana. Many people on this commute are on their way home to the hippy liberal city of Santa Cruz. (I'm not saying that everyone in Santa Cruz smokes weed or am I against its medicinal powers.) So, I've concluded that some people in their cars are lightin' up a jay or diggin' into their dugout while on their way home.

Do you think there's a difference between drinking & driving and smokin' up & driving?

[SNC1923]

Do you think there's a difference between drinking & driving and smokin' up & driving?

Yikes, this is a can of worms. I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to answer anyway.

A: Yes.
B: One should never drive under the influence of anything, especially on a motorcycle.
C: I wish I lived in Santa Cruz

:twirl

[Cliffy777]

Watch out for the second-hand-smoke-second-hand-high.
My experience with grass-pot-reefer-weed is somewhat limited to a few years when I was younger (it was way too adaggio for me - i liked things that cranked me up a little more....ooops). I drove much worse on weed than on a couple of drinks.
Did not and will not and do not ride my scooter past or present under the influence of anything. To answer your question - buzzed is buzzed and it ain't a good idea to operate any vehicle with a buzz on.

ps - it is a cool aspect of riding to experience all the smells. I live and work in a mostly rural environment so there is a lot of farm animal stuff, but I can smell clothes dryers venting with the fabric softener sheets - the venting of cooking smells or meat on the grill in someone's back yard. Popcorn. This time of year I smell a lot of woodstoves or fireplaces going.
It amazes me how cigarette smoke can be smelled in passing cars.

[SNC1923]

Another intersting aspect is that the olfactory is our strongest sense impression. Smells usually bring back really strong and vivid memories. Dryers? That's a trip.

[James.A]

Songwriter Robert Earl Keane once told an interviewer; " the only thing I like about cocaine is the smell." Operating a motor vehicle under the influence of anything is very risky, in a number of different ways.

[jmerlino]

ps - it is a cool aspect of riding to experience all the smells.

Yes and no. Sucks getting stuck behind a bus. Or an asphalt truck.

[BradfordBenn]

I don't really think that there is a difference between drinking and getting stoned before riding, both are things I would not do before riding. Either one can be bad mojo... Gravity sucks, gravity at speed can kill.

[donkey doctor]

Hello; I don't remember who teh comedian was that said that he could always tell the pot using driver; he was the one with his seat belt on driving slower then anyone else.

I have noticed the smoke smell too. I noticed it when was a runner, it used to piss me off to have to breathe that stuff while I was running.

As a mechanic I can smell a sticky choke or a too rich carb, or that burnt oil smell, or that anti-freeze smell. I can tell the difference between a canadian and an american cigarette. I can smell a bear long before I see it. I can tell the species of tree on teh logging trucks by the smell.

[Burnszilla]

As a mechanic I can smell a sticky choke or a too rich carb, or that burnt oil smell, or that anti-freeze smell. I can tell the difference between a canadian and an american cigarette. I can smell a bear long before I see it. I can tell the species of tree on the logging trucks by the smell.

... I could tell you what a deer had for breakfast by the smell of his fart. :D

keep 'em coming..

[Sheepshagger]

If ewe want to smell something realy bad check out rob nye about eight days into the iron butt.And for the record, The BBB ride stoned at all times.

[snoone]

If anyone is interested Dr. Richard Axel, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (his lab is at Columbia U in NYC) won the Nobel Prize in medicine this year on exactly this subject. His research has to do with the sense of smell and what triggers you remember certain smells you have experienced. A Link to his lab follows: http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/neurobeh/axel/overview.html