Philip fisher

Thanks for your reply and sharing your experience! Isn't it odd that a damp bacterial smell can be as enjoyable as the smell of an agent designed to combat that bacteria. I also used to hate the smell of bleach but now I love it. Not straight from the bottle, but diluted with hot water and used to mop the floor. There's also a particular brand of anti bacterial surface cleanser spray that I use to spray my favourite damp smelly cloth which I then bunch up into a tight ball and stash in a plastic bag to mature a day or two lol. Oh yes...wet pavement? absolutely. Certain rainfall smells are wonderful - when the air is thick with it. Btw, and Fyi: there's a lot of talk on forums about the connection between addiction to unusual smells inc chemical and/or damp and moldy...and the connection to chronic low iron in the body. This is the second time I'm going through a phase of daily damp cloth sniffing and the second time I'm going through a phase of extreme fatigue - and last time this happened I was kept in hospital for weeks for my iron deficiency. Just be aware in case this also applies to you. Blood tests.... Hi Joe, making it a mission, a fetch quest to acquire asphalt to then specially prepare for a good old prolonged sniff session? that sounds like a similar intensity of need to mine. I prep various damp tea cloths and bath towels and scrunch them up and stick them in plastic bags. Sometimes add a little more water, or spray with my favourite anti bac spray. Every few hours, these items are ready and smelly enough for me to hold to my face, almost like I'm try to chloroform myself into unconsciousness. If i were you, unless already done, I would go tell a doctor and get your iron levels checked. Every time I go through one of these addictive phases, it coincides with a bodily energy crisis. Extreme low energy, so fatigued I can barely climb a flight of stairs. Last time it happened, a few years ago, I was hospitalised for over a month while they kept me on a drip to replace the iron in my body. If you check out other similar chats, you'll find the same thing mentioned again and again - iron deficiency. And something called "pica" - which is the compulsion to seek out odd smells. Now, if you think about it, if we're going to all this lengths to find the smell we crave - the body feels it needs it, yes? It needs something that can be satisfied, or feels like it can be satisfied, by sniffing hot asphalt or evil stinky tea towels. Your body doesn't need asphalt. Mine doesn't need damp mildew. There's not one doctor or health website that will prescribe you a nice tasty tarmac brew, or an asphalt health supplement. Similarly, I've every reason to believe that if I were to somehow create a few mils of concentrated solution of the damp moldy crap in my tea towels, and bang it up, I'd probably kill myself. So, I reckon it must be that certain odours help the brain or some other organ to release chemicals that make us feel good. Personally, I know through experience that if I've been smoking a little too much of something I maybe shouldn't have, then burying my face in a smelly old mop brings me back down to a calm level (that may have just as much to do with the benefits of regular breathing, but it's funny that I instantly want to dive for the cupboard under the sink rather than sit cross legged and think of my favourite mantra, huh). If you haven't already done so, please go get yourself checked out in case it's an iron deficiency.

I am a 50 year old male. I can't get enough of damp musty smells. Old damp smelling mop heads in particular. I also love the smell of damp forest riverside in winter, compost, and boat engine rooms. Apart from the last, I think I am dealing with a very similar microbe causing the smell. I have gone to the extreme of specially prepping a mop by keeping it moist. Day 1 is a little too wet dog smell but by day 2 it starts to smell good to my degenerate sense of smell. ChemicalsICrave: tell me about it! Musty basement smells, absolutely. And for me too, disinfectant, even bleach. I used to hate bleach.