Favorite explosives odor?

[Joeychemist]

There are many different types of explosive substances, each one special and different from the others. They have unique molecular structures and different densities and different VoD's, but another property of explosive substances is that they all tend to smell different.

Some explosives give off odors that are unpleasant to breath and cause headaches (like nitroglycerin), and some explosives produce a sweet wonderful scent that is very pleasing to smell (like AP crystals or RDX after it's been detonated).

So to get to the reason behind this post I would like to know what explosive scent appeals to the members of the Forum and What’s you're favorite explosive smell like???

[tdog49]

Always has been
Always will be


plain old smokeless powder


and for nostalgia's sake
those old paper caps......

[festergrump]

It's funny how smells have a tendacy to bring back certain fond memories even better than a picture, sometimes...

I'd have to second Tdog's notion. The aroma of spent gunpowder (especially BP) is as welcome to me as a freshly brewed pot of coffee in the morning.

[knowledgehungry]

AP for me I love that smell.

[Myrol]

I dont like: MEKP, EGDN, AP, DPPP and Butyric Acid. All these odors are very unpleasant or just terrible. Especially MEKP is one of the most cruel shit I ever know!

I like: The odor from the finished mix for preparing HMTD. Its kinda strange but definately with a sweet tone. My favourite: Dinitrotoluene.....smells very very cool. Sweeeeeet like the best almonds you've ever smelled. Perhaps you could confuse it with a Cake or some Cookies if you're Blind and dont touch the "Cookie"..... :D DNT rulez!

P.s. Even the most neutral DPPP smells so sharp that it brings tears in your Eyes :( nasty and useless for me!

[FireFly]

Good old black powder for me as well. Nothing else compares.

[kddflx]

Isn't it odd that AP smells so nice?
Probably not a good sign though :o

[MightyQuinn®]

Smell IS the strongest sense tied to memory.

I personally think AP smells very good however, discretion being the better part of valor, I tend not to get the shnozz too close to the storage container. :D


More Olfactory Information (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web3/reineke3.html)

[tdog49]

oh yeah, I forgot

the grey stuff in bottle rockets.
Definite fond memories of many pissed off neighbors...

[Anthony]

AP stinks like shit! Can't remember which, but it's either when detonated or deflagerated only that the smell is so pungent.

I once made myself feel rather sick after over-exposure to NO2. Since then I often notice the smell of it in car exhaust emissions. Never noticed it before then.

[Mr. Pseudo]

AP smells vaguely like black pepper to me. Nasty.

I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.
Smells like...victory! :D

[ProdigyChild]

Smelling NO2 in exhausts? I've had this impression, too, but I've always concluded my nose is fooling me!

I like the smell of NO2, so I like bad explosives in general :)

To me, AP stinks both before AND after detonating in different odor. The latter beeing worse.
Only when burnt, it is fine smell similar to other burnt fuels.

[Child-of-Bodom]

I once made myself feel rather sick after over-exposure to NO2. Since then I often notice the smell of it in car exhaust emissions. Never noticed it before then.

Exactly!! I'va had some small sniffs of NOx during a Picric Acid synthsis... I had a sore throat, and felt uncomfertable during the night. Since then I indeed notice the smell of NOx in the exaust fumes of (diesel) cars.

I like the smell when I've detonated a small amount of MHN/PETN (less than 0.5 gram) at home with my EBW. I don't know or this is caused by the sheets I wrap my ebw + HE in, but I like it. It only happends with PETN, if I only detonate MHN there is no smell.

[Joeychemist]

It's weird how some prefer the smell of AP and others simply despise it huh? I personally like the smell of dry AP crystals as opposed to spent AP but that’s just me.

It's also weird that no one has mentioned any nitromethane explosives as their favorite, doesn’t any one like the smell of the crater after you just spent a few hundred grams of ANNM or a stick of NGNM dynamite?

As for those old paper caps well, I'd have to say that those and matches were the two things that made me the pyro I am today. Dose anyone know the composition of those old paper caps? I did a quick search and recovered nothing.

[ProdigyChild]

Hey, if we all have so different taste, we'll never come up with a 'eau de pyro' ;)

[FUTI]

I just discovered the thread...
As far as nitroglycerin is in question it can be trouble as it is used for blood pressure regulation (thats the reason for headache). It acts through NO release in blood (and afterword they wonder why those old guys taking viagra often get heartattack:)). I believe NOx can do so to, but I didn't know that poisoning makes you hypersensitive?
Nitrobenzene was used as parfume in old days in soap industry (banned as toxic), so dinitrotoluene I can imagine can be similar.
I remembered also that old gunpowder makers had the final test for nitrate purity...they licked it...apparently it seems to taste sweet.
You all have different opinion about AP. I wonder is it only purity of AP or it's reaction products. Since combustion is radical-based reaction and those ketones can produce rather stabile one by their quenching you can get pleasant and unpleasant odors. For acetone...pleasant acetaldehyde...sour apple, or unpleasant ones that smell more like butyric acid or something rancid. Peroxides do often smell ugly to me!!!

[SantasL.Helper]

Aye anthony, i've had exactly the same... had a couple of bad experiences with NO2, been nausious due to it once, since then i smell it in car exhausts aswel. Also noticed that after having inhaled some NO2 the nose gets paralized and won't sense the smell anymore... You won't notice it until you pass a miror and see that your eyes have gone red due to irritation.

[Child-of-Bodom]

Another one: Yesterday I made DNP, I put some 52% HNO3 in a conc. solution of hexamine, filtered, and washed with aceton. The smell was awfull, my stomach almost turned aroud, horrible. I cannot discribe the smell (discribing smell is rather hard), but it was highly unpleasant.

I work a lot with bacteria on my trainee now (biotechnology) so I am rather used to smelly things... :p

[Pietruszkin]

no2 from no-full det of AN :P 8)

[nuclearattack]

Definitively i like Black Powder, expecially after deflagration.
It remainds me when i was a child and went to the rural zone near my city to deflagrate big charges of BP.
Those beautiful times are gone!

[xyz]

Probably my top 3 are these:

1. Burnt armstrong's mix from paper caps or party poppers, lots of childhood memories...

2. AP, I don't care what some of you say, AP smells nice, like solvents but with a very "sweet" aroma to it as well.

3. Napthalene :D

[Boomer]

For those of you who like AP and can't get enough if the scent:

Some days ago I noticed that some one+ year old AP was forming bigger crystals (even under water). Not fond of re-crystallization from acetone (by crushing in water), I used a milk shake blender to reduce crystal size.

You read correct, a blender! Perhaps I should add that it was 50g AP in 1500 ml water ... :D

After 5 minutes at full speed and filtering, I dried about a gram. The particles were sooo extremely fine that the smell of 1g was stronger than from a normal 100g batch. Needless to say the rest went under water again - I guess it would have sublimed completely by now in the open! :p

[Myrol]

Boomer: Nothing changed since your Accident, huh? :D I think you're a real Master of Desaster! Holy shit, you're not crazy, no no I think you trust your AP a LOT!!! I often thought how can I reduce the particle size from my AP to make my APANAl etc. more intimate. I also have a milk shake blender, but I never thought it would be possible to blend AP fine in him. Under Water should be AP nearly impossible to detonate, we all remind, even moist AP just creates huge Fireballs instead of a BOOM when fired with a Fuze etc.

You enlighten me! A Blender seems to be a very useful device to mix ANNM-like insensitive mixes, you can make them VERY intimate. The completness of the Detonation can be good improved, right? Ok, I think I will now polish some .22 Hornet shells to prepare some Tests with ultrafine AP. I try a recrystallization with Acetone. AP in such a Hornet shell is a good Idea for Backyard-mikroblasting without alerting the neighbours :D

[Cyclonite]

Just make sure you use an extension cord....a few sandbags wouldn't hurt. Better safe than sorry

[Pietruszkin]

oh i forgot .
i like also odor of MNT (mono nitro toluene)
smelss beautiful (in with relation to other HE :D )

bye.

[tmp]

Mine is not an explosive but rather a component in explosive mixes -
potassium nitrate. It has a pleasant smell.

[Sparky]

I like HMTD. So fresh and clean smelling. And I don't mean like new car smell either - much better than that.

[tom haggen]

I also never noticed the smell of nitric oxides in automobile exhaust untill after I had first hand experience with nitric oxides. Now I smell them out of car exhaust quite often. I think AP doesn't smell that bad when in its dried crystalline form. When it detonates it doesn't smell bad but its nothing special. The worst smell I have smell from an explosive was from HMTD. I was burning some of it when it was wet. It lets off this nasty smoke like the foulest stench ever. I can't even begin to describe what it smells like but it is definitely horrible. Haven't smelled freshly detonated RDX yet. I guess for now I will say smokeless powder untill I work with something that smells better.

[Joeychemist]

Yeah I have to agree with Tom, HMTD is the worst smelling explosive. It is a close second to MEKP but man do I hate the smell of a fresh batch of HMTD.

I find it interesting to know what fellow forum members like and dislike. I also find it interesting that most of the members either like or dislike the explosive peroxides more so than the other explosives.

I too have smelled NO2 in car exhaust fumes but it never clued in until Anthony mentioned it. I have always liked that smell, even since I was a kid. I was sic once from over expose of NO2 gas when I made Nitric acid for one of the first times. I was throwing up all night. It was not fun. But I still like the smell of nitric oxides, just not too much of it. :D

[Cyclonite]

Iv always liked the gun powder from a freshly shot firearm.

[A2675770]

Black Powder does have a very satisfying smell. As does AP,
but nothing compares to the fine odor of NM - PLX.


-A26

[The_Duke]

I love the smell of spent BP and AP crystals, however my least-favourite explosive odor is more so a precurser, chlorine. I hate the smell of HCl and other acids. :mad:

[Bert]

I love the smell of burned BP on a summer evening. It smells quite different in the cold when it's below freezing, have you ever noticed? The smell of red gum containing compositions, the smell of a loaded 1.3 magazine when you open the door... The smell of a batch of fulminate reacting after the alcohol is added is really quite pleasant, too bad it's so toxic.

[malzraa]

I do like AP's smell, and Nitocellulose is a close second. AP has the strangest smell in the world- it smells like nothing else.

[croc]

I’ve always liked the sweet aroma of smokeless powder, I can’t breathe in too much when at the shooting range because it gives me a sore chest :(
I also like the smell of burning sulfur.

[NITROMETHANE]

My favourite odor is the odor of acetone peroxide.

[a_bab]

I was wondering for some time what does AP smells like. Well, the answer will trouble most of you, especially those who like it: it smells pretty close like soap (the house made kind) or like... niggers. The smell of black people, that is. I'm sure there will be some saying just like with the NOx "yeaah, I remember now".

I personally like BP smell; I also like the scent of the nitric acid (not that I'd stick my nose into a bottle; you know, just the scent) and generally I like the "smell of chemicals"; in other words what others would define as the "stench of a chem lab". So many nice memories related to such a smell...

[Farseer Krain]

Good old gun powder for me

[simply RED]

When ammonium nitrate explosive is detonated on the ground - the smell, when you go close to the crater is pretty interesting.

[festergrump]

I was wondering for some time what does AP smells like. Well, the answer will trouble most of you, especially those who like it...

To me AP smells like a freshly painted room before the paint is dry. It seems somewhat pleasant and clean at first, but then seems overbearing and obnoxious, to the point where you simply must not smell it anymore... too much for the olfactory sense to endure long term... (lol... I get it now. "Like a nigger"...).

[fiend7267]

yea...BP is always good, but after a while it gets a little plain. i can't stand the smell of napalm burned or not:mad: blech! but i like the smell of the gas produced when using electrolysis to make rust (hydrogen, i think) and the smell of burning magnesium:cool: but my fav (although not explosive) is brand new tires!!!:D

[wetpowder]

I like the smell of blackpowder. I was the No.2 man on a cannon crew.

The amount of smoke 3oz of blackpowder can make behind a 3 inch ball. Wow!

[30yearstoolate!]

BP is wonderful. Especially if it is high in sulphur. It reminds me of my first pyrotechnic devices. Another smell I can never get enough of is gun cleaning nitro solvent. I am not sure what it is but it is very apealing to my senses.

Another smell I enjoy is burning tires and deisel. Reminds me of when in boyscout camp they torched a car with a korean era flamethrower. Oh, the memories!

[Lewis]

Mine is not an explosive but rather a component in explosive mixes -
potassium nitrate. It has a pleasant smell.

KNO3? Ugh! It smells like unwashed socks, especially when freshly ground.
I find not so much explosive mixes, but fuels/oxidizers in general smell particularily good or bad.

Good:
-Magnesium
-Gasoline
-Diesel
-Sulfur

Bad:
-Propane
-Natural Gas
-Most white, crystalline oxidizers.

One chemical I can never quite place is Mg, right after it is burnt. Generally magnesium is total sensory overload. It has the capacity to be loud, extremley bright, and gives off an odd smell. Sort of like dust.

[Cobalt.45]

I'm forever searching around for old .22 ammo. Just love that scent when freshly fired... very nostalgic. New stuff doesn't compare.

Worst for me has to be nitromethane in exhaust. Literally brings tears to my eyes and is sharp to the nose, like ammonia.

[c.Tech]

Oh the sweet rich smell of gunpowder is a favourite of mine, does it give you a sore chest too?

[Zajcek]

My favorite are:
Freshly made PETN
Detonated PETN
Di Nitro Toluene
burnt gunpowder
burnt BP
NM
and I somehow like the smell of NOx gasses

I hate:
chlorine gas
phenol
phorone (one of the nastiest smells I have ever smelled)
AP and other organic peroxides.
moist methenamine smells like cat piss to me.

[A.Scriabin]

My favourite smell regards the preparation of mercury fulminate, after adding the alcool to Hg(NO)2. However I hate NO2 near the end of the reaction.

[SafetyLast]

The filtrate after filtering AP:) wonderful aromatic perfume like smell
(at least for me it is when using baquacil and HCl)
propane and natural gas have no odor in their natural form, but the sulfur thiols that they add for safety reasons have a VERY low detection level.
I love the detonated AP smell, my friend thinks i'm nuts whenever i waft a little my way. He says it's putrid and hates the smell.
Caps also smell nice, as do all of the "amorces" (fr.) typicically a phosphorus (Red P or P sequisulfide) and chlorate. pulling fireworks, party poppers, etc..

[nbk2000]

SafetyLast is taking a short vacation while he ponders the errors of his i/I ways.

And paragraph breaks wouldn't hurt either.

[SafetyLast]

Sorry about that, I wasn't paying very close attention to my typing.:o

Yes, the party popper and caps smell is very nice.

[Lt_Flippy]

I love the smell of napalm in the morning...

You may think this is wierd, but I like the smell of sulfur explosives/fireworks the best. The reason is not the actual smell, but the memories of making my first explosives in the sixth grade that I relive (You may be wondering how an eleven year old kid obtained sulfur, but all I really had to do was go to a hollistic medicine shop. Who knew they catered to wiccans and little pyros, hehe.) The way I did things may have been quite stupid, but it was very fun and I would not trade those memories in for anything.

[Acrolein]

There is nothing that can beat the smell of copper (II) azide, after that comes any other sulfur containing compound.

[crowmanyclouds]

... those old paper caps......... those old paper caps ... things that made me the pyro I am today. ...... Burnt armstrong's mix from paper caps ... lots of childhood memories...

It always amuses me how many times things that I thought were unique personal experiences are in fact shared by so many.

For me though it wasn't just the smell. It was the revelation that you didn't need a cap gun to smell it!

Learning that running the point of a safety pin through them made a brilliant flash, and dropping cinder blocks on entire rolls made the joyous sound of a firecracker. A sound that previously was only heard, and only created by my father on the 4th of July.

My cousin and his friend Ralphy had also made the discovery, but they had bigger aspirations.

Allowances were saved, boxes of caps bought, but strangely the sound of cap guns was not heard. Secretly, in their fort in the woods the work began. Painstakingly they separated powder from paper. Slowly filling the small plastic capsule specifically purchased, with it's otherwise useless toy, for the job from a gumball machine.

Attempts were made to create a fuse, but nothing produced the much sought bang. I joined them one afternoon and achieved hero status in their eyes. Placing the precious capsule on the plywood roof of their dug-in fort, I hefted a 2x4 and swung with all I had. I couldn't hear the shouts of joy for the ringing in my ears but the looks on their faces told all.

The experimentation continued, with our parents wondering why we had a renewed interest in sparklers, and why there were never any matches to be found, and how little boys who didn't play pingpong could loose so many balls.
We miss ya Ralphy.

I'll add one of my own, the smell of the drawer in my father's dresser where he "hid" the firecrackers. Strange little packets, wrapped in crinkly red paper, filled with miniature sticks of dynamite.

I had seen these before, and knew what they were, FIRECRACKERS!!!

But what to make of these red balls with green strings that so looked like cherries, red and silver tubes with that same green string, and 'crackers on a stick? I think it took all of half a second to realize this was the good stuff, grab a hopefully unnoticeable sampling, and run off to find some matches.

Mom, of course, was livid, (I'd realize later, after I had found Dad's .38 service revolver and the small collection of Playboys, better hidden, but in the same drawer of treasures, the reasons for her anger) but Dad couldn't hide a smile that hinted of summer nights filled with deafening noises and blinding lights to come.

I miss ya Dad.

I hope reviving this zombie thread is OK, 'specially given my newbie status on the board, but it was on page two.

I rarely find the proper place or time to tell these stories, but I know that here they'll bring a smile and maybe a tear or two.

Many Thanks, Many Clouds

[OXI]

I love the smell of black powder and the stinky smell of TNP.Has anyone smelled black powder made from garden sulfur,it smell likes farts.



Needed to post something.

[Unsunghero]

I'm definitely going to go with AP, nothing like that acetone and asshole combination that feels like it's burning away your nostrils. Seriously, I love how AP smells pre and post det.