Why can I smell ashtrays?

[Helenahandkart]

My living room smells like ashtrays/cigarettes. Specifically my end of the sofa. None of my family smoke. We live in a semi detached house and the wall with the sofa on it adjoins next door, but they don’t smoke either. We haven’t had any visitors for several weeks, and anyway they haven’t smoked in the house.

When I say the sofa smells, it isn’t the sofa itself. The cushions don’t smell but when I sit there I can smell ashtrays. I’ve taken the sofa apart, cleaned under it, gone round the room madly sniffing everything. WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?!

I was starting to think I was having a stroke or something, but I can only smell it in that one area. No one else can smell it. If I go outside it doesn’t smell so it’s not coming into the house from outside.

It’s not my clothes, or hair, or the cats, or air fresheners, or candles . Please help. It’s driving me mad.

You haven't had covid, or a really bad flu recently, have you?

Seems obvious but are you sitting near a fireplace? I used to be a smoker and I always thought ashtrays - besides smoke - always smelled a bit damp. Did you ever wash cushion/seat covers and they didn't fully dry? Or get any decor/plaster work done in that area?

Or something under floorboards ... Old carpet stain...

Smoking Ghost?

What else is that part of the sofa near? Curtains, rug, a plant, etc. Could you maybe narrow it down to another source?

Weirdly enough, I’ve had the same today - can smell a cigarette smoke/ ashtray smell in one room of the house but no-one smokes here and only I can smell it!

Olfactory hallucination?

Is that someone's specific 'seat' that lives in your house? Is there a chance they're smoking secretly?

I have, is it a symptom?

Is there anything electrical nearby? Faulty electrics can smell.

Are you pregnant? I had this last time I was. I was constantly shouting 'is anything burning?!!!'

It is Covid. Give it a Google. I had it for around two weeks. It made me feel so sick!

Did you know people could sometimes smell smoke prior to 2020?

Silly question... could you be pregnant? 😬

Black bags. I worked at a posh B&B. We had a complaint about smokers in the room. It was the bin sacks.

Bit supercilious, but I'll bite. This is commonly a symptom of covid, but can also be a symptom of other respiratory illnesses, such as flu. I've had it three times, twice after a bad flu and once after covid. Interestingly with covid it was one of the only symptoms - I wasn't ill - whereas the other times it only happened after a really bad, debilitating bout of flu. With the flu, it only lasted for a couple of weeks, whereas after covid it lingered for a couple of months.

I had it with covid.

Have you got a sinus infection?

Covid. I had it for months.

@Greensleeves you didn't need to bite since you weren't the person insisting it was covid

If you read the thread you'll see the OP has COVID. It is a common symptom of COVID.

I actually suggested covid first, before the poster who copped for your snippy response

Treacherous cat spending time in a smoker's house then coming home and leaving the scent on that corner of the sofa?

@Greensleeves yes but you suggested it could be covid - you didn't insist it was. It's daft when people insist that a certain 'symptom' is absolutely, definitely something because they've experienced it before.

Particularly with covid.

Headache? Covid. Cough? Covid. It's daft.

@Bodybarnet when the OP tests positive, I'll concede she has covid. But it's also a 'symptom' of someone smoking nearby, or having smoked then touched your soft furnishings, or pregnancy, or 100 other things.

sometimes the used coffee grounds from my coffee machine have a slight ashtray aroma. Has anyone spilt coffee or sprinkled some coffee grounds around?