Weird question for the brain trust, what does cocaine smell like?

[GH85Carrera]

I have been watching a series on National Geographic called "To catch a Smuggler" and they go to various airports and border crossings and show the smugglers getting caught trying to sneak illegal drugs through.

Some are pretty ingenious, most are just stupid.

In Columbia, surprise surprise, cocaine is the most smuggled product. In Spain, all flights from Columbia get extra scrutiny.

One dummy walked off the airplane with his luggage evidently reeking of cocaine, and the cops just grabbed him on the walkway and checked his bag, and it was full of several kilos of very pure bricks of coke.

In several other airports the officers dig into a suitcase and they get a scent of coke, and rip the bags apart and get brutal with the luggage to get to the coke. They regularly mention the strong smell of coke.

So my question is that a smell that anyone is willing to describe? Is it an earthy plant smell, or some sweet or sharp smell? I honestly have no idea as I have never been close to coke, and I was Just curious. I would expect most "street" coke is cut with all sorts of stuff, and smells like what it was cut with. It must have a strong odor for so many of the officers in the show to comment on it.

I have never used any sort of illegal or recreational drug beside alcohol and I only like beer. Legal to posses and available in many places.

I hate with a passion the skunk stink of marijuana as I have unfortunately had to smell that crap. It is worse than a stinky cigar, pipe or cigarette, and they all stink and are revolting.

The series has been interesting.

And this thread is not a discussion on the war on drugs. That is a separate thread for PARF. I just have an honest question about the smell of cocaine. I never want to try it, but I am just wondering if that smell can be described.

[Bill Douglas]

Smells just like heroin, heroin with just hint of meth'.

[MMiller]

I don't recall it having an odor.... Been a looong time ago however. ahhh the 80's!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Must have a very faint smell as whenever you see people in films smelling it they always seem to really have to a take long hard sniff

[manbridge 74]

No one really knows. It’s all cut with maximum additives by the time it gets out of the factory…

[stevej37]

ask the 'cocaine bear'

[look 171]

What's even more interesting is what does it taste like? I see it on TV with cops taking a taste to determine if it is coke (I am sure they don't do this in real life) or the buyer have a bit of taste and says,this is good stuff. What does it taste like? What's considered good? If there's certain taste, the seller should be able to use additives to achieve that taste?

[SCadaddle]

I'd say a very medicinal clean smell. If put on your gums its very similar to orajel (Benzocaine) or novacaine. Incredible numbing effect.

[stevej37]

My buddy in High School's father was a dentist...had lots for gum numbing.
He always had a supply.

I was never into it....beer was better for me then.

[flatbutt]

Pure cocaine can have a sweet-ish flowery scent but only in totally pure form. It's taste is typically bitter somewhat metallic.

I did chromatographic profiling of it back in the day.

[asphaltgambler]

No smell when almost pure; MO - but if so all the stuff to cut it with. The taste is very sharp in an unpleasant way. Sort of like when you chop up aspirin raw without the coating

[masraum]

I worked in bars, and in one in particular where coke was VERY prevalent. I had managers and other employees offer me some. At night when the lights came on, you'd occasionally find little ziplock bags the size of a thumbnail with coke in them. One regular was told to stay away for a while because the owners had heard that the DEA was watching the place. I heard stories of raids before my time where they brought in drug dogs, and the dogs just went nuts, and couldn't pinpoint anything presumably because they were surrounded by it everywhere.

In the year that I worked there, and the other almost 4 years that I worked in other bars (where it was around) I have never done anything other than see it in the little baggies.

I also always see the bit about tasting, it, and apparently, that's a real thing. I'd potentially do that. I don't have the type of personality to become addicted to things or even enjoy being buzzed. I've never had anything other than alcohol. The only time that I ever remember feeling anything that might have been like being high was when I woke up from general anesthesia after having all 4 wisdom teeth removed. I vaguely remember being pretty happy.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I did chromatographic profiling of it back in the day.

Um hmm.

[HardDrive]

No smell.

[GH85Carrera]

In pure form it must have a strong smell from what the show depicts. The scene that prompted the question showed a man rolling a large suitcase along a corridor at the airport, and he just rolled past a cop and the cop alerted to the "strong odor" of coke. He had 12 bricks of very pure cocaine pressed into hard bricks with a logo (that they blurred for TV) on them to show the buyer they were pure and from a certain source.

All the customs and border agents and the cops all mentioned the strong odor.

I process film for 25 years. We would get 100s of rolls of film in per day, many still in the plastic cans Kodak sold the film in. I spent a lot of time dumping the 35mm film cans out of the plastic cans, and tossing the plastic cans in a special trash can just for the plastic cans. More than once I dumped out some funny green "tea" leaves that were in the can, and I just called some of the the other employees over to please "dispose" of it, and no one ever objected to cleaning it up. One time there was a lot of white powder in one can. Several employees were happy to taste it and rub it on their gums, and dispose of it. I never thought to ask if it had a taste or odor. I could not imagine putting an totally unknown white powder in my mouth. Belch.

[john70t]

The leafs were/are chewed as a stimulant by workers and is sorta like coffee at that level.
Been to a party with a small soup bowl on the table but never felt the appeal. For medicine definitely.
Processed with all kinds of chemicals. Might as well sniff glue.

WW2 pilots used a lot of meth pills to stay awake. Government issued.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by manbridge 74

No one really knows. It’s all cut with maximum additives by the time it gets out of the factory…

There is no incentive to cut the product when leaving the source. The more you smuggle the more profit available to the distribution once at the destination, or primary destination. I'm sure wholesale dealers are willing to pay more for what they can get more out of.

From what I know, it used to be cut with a baby laxative in the 70's. IDK why a baby would need a laxative, never had any (babies).

I don't remember a smell. It would instantly num your gums. I have heard that eye surgeons once used cocaine because it dissolved so quickly and effectively with no adverse aftermath. That could be an old wives tale and I'm not looking it up.

[911 Rod]

Ya, I don't think pure would have much smell. Especially if packaged properly.
But if you saw it on TV, it must be true!

[Jeff Higgins]

Could it be a matter of quantity? I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been around plenty of coke in my time (I've related here many times how far out of control I got when I lost my father at 18). I actually don't regret those years, I kind of value what they taught me. A peek behind the "curtain" that far too many who have never been there like to expound upon. But I digress...

So, back to quantity. I've seen ounces of it at a time laid out on scales. No smell that I could detect. This was absolutely uncut stuff, since at that level of their little supply chain that nonsense was not tolerated. That happens way down at the schitthead street dealer level.

There are chemicals used to process it from leaf to powder, of course. I wonder if when packed into bricks these chemicals have not fully flashed off and evaporated. Maybe that happens pretty quickly after those tightly packed bricks are broken open and broke down into ounces and grams, where it is spread out as a powder. That's about the only thing I can think of.

[MBAtarga]

We actually record that series "To Catch a Smuggler" on NatGeo. It's very entertaining!