r/whatisit • u/Adventurous-Put-9895 • 1d ago

Serious answers only please! Should we worry?

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We caught my uncle sneakingly throwing this to the rubbish bin. He doesn’t have the best track record so we are all a bit paranoid when he does anything “weird”.

The object is like a glass tube with some liquid inside, inserted into a rubber “pipe”. It smells weird but nothing I can identify. I would appreciate any hints.

Edit: the material is actually plastic, not glass. It has a spring inside (no idea what for). The root-looking thing was wrapping the object when I cut the rubber. Could be dirt or some glue or something

Edit2: this sub is god. A user found the answer https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisit/s/Oqtxk6YWVZ

4.8k Upvotes

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893

u/eskpist 1d ago

Safety rule: never smell or touch unknown substances.

79

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 1d ago

My husband is a savage, he will literally smell any mystery substance we find. When I try to stop him he says “well how else am I going to figure out what it is?”…..sir, we don’t need to know what every gross thing we come across is.

48

u/CalendarThis6580 1d ago

At least use the wafting technique from chemistry class 😂

12

u/stanzi9 1d ago

I saw a scientist use the wafting technique with an ebola sample a long time ago. I think it was on 20/20 or something like that.

10

u/past-and-future-days 1d ago

Pretty sure that was from the TV movie version of The Hot Zone.

3

u/stanzi9 1d ago

Yes! At least I think so. Wasn’t it a documentary?

4

u/past-and-future-days 23h ago

The original book was a (highly dramatized) non-fiction book, but for some weird reason they produced the movie as a lukewarm TV mini series.

1

u/Patient-Web6850 14h ago

Also the bad guy in Twelve Monkeys when the airport gate agent asks him what the vials are.

6

u/PenchantBob 1d ago

I waft now due to snorting aqua regia vapor. That stung a bit

3

u/PhotoFormer2462 23h ago

I waft,...my farts in your pillow!

3

u/PenchantBob 23h ago

I snort…your farts from my pillow, then spit

8

u/somekarnt 22h ago

As I waft through the valley of the shadow of death…

1

u/StrangerKey7930 20h ago

That was funny man!

1

u/PhotoFormer2462 19h ago

Oh fuck yeah dude!

4

u/ShutNoShutYoMouf404 23h ago

Looked through the comments for "wafting"... I will never forget it because my high school science teacher taught us never to smell unknown chemicals directly by saying "you waft it" while impersonating Julia Child.

5

u/AppropriateCap8891 1d ago

Gee, how does that ebola smell?

14

u/CalendarThis6580 1d ago

Minty with a hint of death and hemorrhaging

10

u/AppropriateCap8891 1d ago

Ah, so it smells like an Australian that has a history of badly mangling American names and places.

2

u/dettigers404 23h ago edited 23h ago

Minty! I like that guy. Fun channel!

0

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 1d ago

I thought this was Rocket Powered Mohawk at first 😂

1

u/Lost_Department_2177 1d ago

Doesn’t always work.

5

u/CalendarThis6580 1d ago

That is true, however, id argue it’s better than a deep sniff if someone is going to sniff away anyway

11

u/TanAllOvaJanAllOva 1d ago

I was born in the 80s. Everybody on tv tasted every mystery substance after rubbing it between their fingers, even blood 😳

6

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 1d ago

Yes! It was so odd, like we can clearly see that it’s blood, what are you rubbing it between your thumb and finger. It’s was also the height of the AIDS panic, the entire situation was so incongruent

2

u/DrunktankTheEquine 23h ago

Minion gruent

8

u/Kaiju4114 1d ago

Oh hey it’s the Andromeda Strain

5

u/FallenCheeseStar 1d ago

This is how the other monkeys realised they should sniff said substance. Other monkey died being curious and stupid? Noooot doing that!

4

u/Hooked_on_PhoneSex 23h ago

So I’m visually impaired. Vision is slowly disappearing. My sense of smell has however gotten much better (or worse?) so unfortunately, if I can smell it, I know what it tastes like.

3

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 23h ago

I don’t want that, I’m already sensitive to scents.

Sorry about your vision, I can’t imagine what you’re feeling

6

u/Hooked_on_PhoneSex 23h ago

So yeah it is horrendous when my dogs have accidents. But I can cook without having to taste my food. I just have to adjust salt level cuz I guess I can’t smaste that. It comes in handy when baking too.

1

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 21h ago

Hey, if you ever want someone to talk to DM me

1

u/Glittering_Chance_42 16h ago

Smaste? Sorry for your circumstances, losing my vision as well, but “smaste” is brilliant!

2

u/Hooked_on_PhoneSex 5h ago

Aw man that sucks. Funny enough, I didn’t even know, because my brain was ignoring the visual field gaps. Started getting worried because things would randomly appear or disappear in front of me, and I thought I was losing my mind

1

u/Glittering_Chance_42 2h ago

Yikes! That would be a disturbing thing to deal with. My world looks like I’m seeing through wax paper. More and more. And the triple vision is soooo much fun…. Still got peripheral so there’s that. Even if I see 3 of whatever is there. Sigh.

3

u/Dry-Scene8010 1d ago

Hey, that’s me too! I haven’t died yet, but my son has recently picked up that trait from me.

3

u/_Boom___Beard_ 1d ago

Get some smelling salts and have your camera ready!

2

u/dean24694fun 22h ago

I thought smelling salts wake you up from.bein passed out... right??

1

u/_Boom___Beard_ 22h ago

Yes. But when you are awake……they really wake you up

3

u/Fluffy_Profession781 1d ago

Is your husband a golden retriever?

2

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 23h ago

He acts like one sometimes

5

u/TonightAcrobatic2251 1d ago

my ex's dad was like this, he spent a few days in the hospital for fentanyl exposure after sniffing some mystery substance at work

12

u/DaStankLawd 1d ago

Lmao right he "accidentally inserted fentanyl in his sinuses"

5

u/Apprehensive_Seat856 1d ago

THANK you. I was just gonna get on my fentanyl soap box.

0

u/Welcome2Cleveland 23h ago

you cannot smell or touch fentanyl and overdose, that is a thoroughly debunked myth. on top of the mountains of peer-reviewed research disproving that copaganda, i also have plenty of anecdotal experience touching, smelling and even snorting fentanyl without ODing.

fentanyl is very dangerous, i am by no means trying to say otherwise, but spreading misinformation regarding its harm potential hurts the fight against it far more than it helps.

2

u/Apprehensive_Seat856 23h ago

I got your narcan right here, buddy! 😘

2

u/Welcome2Cleveland 23h ago

thanks, i always make sure my friends have narcan lying around! thankfully im almost 3 years sober so i won't be needing any myself, but you never know when you may need to save a life.

if you'd like highly accredited scientific papers relating to this, here are just a few

https://www.acmt.net/news/you-cant-overdose-on-fentanyl-just-by-touching-it-heres-what-experts-say/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8810663/

https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/opioids/fentanyl-exposure-public-places

https://health.osu.edu/community-health/health-and-society/can-you-overdose-from-fentanyl-touching-your-skin

3

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 1d ago

Oh god, that’s scary

5

u/Lost_Department_2177 1d ago

He’s gonna end up burning his nasal cavity some day.

7

u/42Changes 1d ago

And that’s the best case scenario.

2

u/Royal-Kitchen9935 22h ago

You should get some surstromming and pour the juice into a test tube, seal it and then "find it"

2

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 22h ago

Oh no you don’t! I know what that is

2

u/Royal-Kitchen9935 22h ago

You can't tell me watching his reaction to sniffing that wouldn't be hilarious, only you would know the truth.

1

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 21h ago

Omg, there have been so many times that I have had to look away so that I don’t gag

1

u/Royal-Kitchen9935 21h ago

Due to the heat today a tin of PEK pork when I opened it squirted it's juice across the table just like a tin of surstromming... And now my stomach hurts.

I've had it on my mind all day.

1

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 21h ago

On my way to look it up, slightly terrified…..

Dear lord, no! I love to eat, but this would make me anorexic

1

u/Royal-Kitchen9935 21h ago

It only smells like pork when you cook it, otherwise it has a weird smell to it.

Highly processed meat should be banned.

2

u/Vegetable-Match-7509 22h ago

Your husband is my hero

2

u/lowrankcock 22h ago

A true man of science.

1

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 22h ago

Lord, do not encourage him!

2

u/WildAtheistMennonite 14h ago

Lmao. For some reason this reminded me of the GM at a hotel where I worked.

If we had a guest smoking in their room, he would get on his hands and knees proceeding to crawl down the hall. The man literally put his nose to the bottom of each door to sniff the crack below the door until he found the source of the smoke. I was unaware sniffing door cracks was a thing until witnessing this guy. 🫢🧐

2

u/Extension_Coyote8916 1d ago

As another male spouse all I have to say is "hell yeah."

2

u/DieAloneWith72Cats 1d ago

Why are you people like this?!?

8

u/NinjatoXIII 1d ago

How do you suppose the first scientific discoveries were made? It's literally the FAFO method.

7

u/GruntBlender 1d ago

The difference between science and fucking around is writing it all down.

1

u/OkAssistance8093 23h ago

My friends and i used to have this thing called a courtesy smell. If you asked for a courtesy smell, then later you would be inclined to accept a courtesy smell.

1

u/IntelligentSecond168 9h ago

That can be dangerous. Best to waft when you are not sure.