The NFL recently announced it would no longer provide potent smelling salts to its players. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do them at my desk.
ByMatthew Roberson
August 14, 2025
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Athletes do smelling salts all the time, and they operate at the highest physical level of anyone in modern society. So, I thought, why can’t I—a really solid youth baseball player, still in his athletic prime, now spending my days at a typing job—dabble in the ammonium game as well?
For context, earlier this month, the NFL announced that it would no longer be supplying its players with smelling salts—chemical compounds made of ammonium carbonate and sodium carbonate, commonly inhaled through the nose by athletes preparing for action—during games. This was a major shakeup. For years they were as prominent as Gatorade. In 2005, Michael Strahan told The Florida Times-Union that smelling salts were growing in popularity among players.
“I've used them for years, but I think their use is beginning to spread across football,” he said. “When I first started, not many other players were using them. Now, I would say 70 or 80 percent of the league does.”
It makes sense why they’ve become so popular. Inhaling ammonia makes the muscles that control your breathing work faster, and in turn, makes you much more alert. Putting some under your nose before stepping out for battle is a practice that goes back to at least World War 2, when the British medics kept smelling salts in their first aid kits.
Fast forward to earlier this month, when the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee recommended that the league cease providing smelling salts to players. Their decision came after a 2024 U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning about the potential side effects of inhaling ammonia, which include “the potential to mask certain neurologic signs and symptoms, including some potential signs of concussion.” It can also burn the mucus membranes in the nose and mouth, and heavy exposure to ammonia in gas form can be toxic or even fatal.
When the initial memo came from the league, many players prematurely mourned their beloved smelling salts, thinking they were completely banned forever.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David said in an interview with Kay Adams. “I’ve been distraught all day,” added San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle on NFL Network.
(Despite these initial concerns, players are still allowed to use smelling salts, they just need to find a different plug. Instead of being readily available with the equipment staff, NFL sidelines are now a bring your own smelling salts party. BYOSS, if you will.)
All of this conversation about smelling salts piqued my curiosity. Based on these heartfelt testimonials, it seemed as though having this little pick-me-up was a critical part of playing in the NFL. I simply had to know how smelling salts could impact my world. Would they give me a rush strong enough to trigger the writing version of a 75-yard touchdown?
So, I did what any good journalist would do: bought a wild-looking bottle of smelling salts from the internet and tried them for myself. Specifically, one from the brand Topffy, which displays a neon-green, glowing, violent-looking snake logo on its container. It looks like something a kid wearing Fox Racing gear (who your parents were always rightfully suspicious of) would pull out of their backpack in 2007. The bottle promises “Instant Effect” and the ability to “Unleash Explosive Energy” with each sniff. In very fine print, there was a section titled “Purpose” which laid out the following, grammatically-fraught explainer:
“The purpose of smelling salts is to boost arousal in your respiratory system which causes the muscles that control breathing to be fast acting and put you into a fight or flight state whether it’s for training, working, or when it matters the most game time.”
For me, game time was writing this very article you are reading. This was my first experience with the stuff, and rather than coming in little individual packets like the ones you may have seen NFL or NHL players indulge in, this was just a jar of loose salt. As instructed by the bottle, I added a drop of water to activate the stimuli, shook it up, and then unscrewed the cap to take a big ol’ whiff.
Kobie Turner, I feel youWally Skalij/Getty Images
Immediately, I got it. I felt the strength of multiple men and even more snakes. The sensation after inhaling this concoction is not unlike getting a bunch of water in your nose, except the water is full of bees. While the people at Topffy were kind enough to put some disclaimers on their product—keep away from fire or flame, hold the bottle six inches from the nose—I got a little closer than that. This needed to be ratcheted up to a degree that made me feel invincible, not merely aroused. I also indulged three times, so there was definitely a tangible jolt in my brain, my fingers, and my spirit as I wrote this. Never before have words poured out of me so easily.
After being transported to smelling-salt world, there was nothing stopping me from pursuing my most jacked-up, testosterone-addled fantasies, other than the fact that I was in a corporate office setting. On the fight or flight spectrum, I definitely landed on the fight side. If need be, I could have absolutely hawk tackled a coworker or five, particularly the fraidy cat ones who didn’t want to try these glorious smelling salts for themselves.
As for my bravest coworkers who actually partook, reviews included a hilarious quip about how it felt like going down a waterslide too fast, how it was “straight people poppers” and a comparison to “the most insane wasabi.” Others couldn’t handle it nearly as well, leading to some teary eyes, reflexive coughs, and anger in my direction. Even scarier was one colleague who had no reaction at all, even the second time when she daringly moved the bottle closer to her face. For any NFL teams looking to bolster their roster in these last few weeks of training camp, I have the perfect candidate.
A few remarked that it made sense smelling salts are sometimes used to revive people who have just fainted, but some went the other way and happily came back for more.
If you read anything on GQ or Pitchfork published on August 13, we are all legally obligated to tell you it may have been enhanced by smelling salts. While I don’t think these olfactory exhilarations are enough to turn me into a Hall of Fame football player, they did briefly make me a Hall of Fame blogger. I will be sure to thank the Topffy corporation in my speech.