Alie Ward (host)

Now, part of that might be diet-related.

And as a person who lives within walking distance of three hot dog and four hamburger shops, I can vouch for a cultural predisposition.

It's interesting how smell instantly jumps to association and it can be revealing of what people's association is.

And then once they've experienced it, their last association is like, oh, that was pretty good.

So much of that is just tied to ignorance or lack of exposure or xenophobia.

And going back in the past a little bit, you mentioned commutes, which made me want to ask this.

But Melissa Hall asked, did everyone in the past smell like cigarettes all the time?

I love old Hollywood movies and everyone is always smoking inside in fancy places.

And Melissa says, I'm a smoker and I feel like now cigarette smoke is associated with the lower classes and I'm super careful not to smell like my beloved cancer sticks.

But what about the 50s?

And Abigail Riggle also says, is there a scientific explanation behind why fresh and stale smoke smells so different?

Has there been a change in how cigarette smoke has been portrayed in literature as kind of a tell for someone's class or habits?

Yes, I remember that.

Yeah, it's interesting because I live in California where cannabis has been legal for a while now, essentially.

And it more recently has become legal in New York.

And so when I'm walking around in New York, the first couple of times I went to New York when it was legal, I thought,

it smells like home right now.

Like it smells like California right now.

And then I was like, oh, that's just weed.

And now I've become habituated to it.