👃 Why taste and smell come back when you stop smoking
Quitting isn't only having something taken away. It's also the return of what the smoke was hiding.
A while after quitting, food starts to smell slightly different.
The morning coffee is stronger. The bread at the convenience store has more to it. There's a sweetness in the steam off the miso soup you never noticed. It isn't dramatic. But the outlines of the world come back a little.
The NHS notes that taste and smell can improve around 48 hours after quitting, making food taste better. The American Cancer Society likewise explains that taste and smell improve in the early stages after quitting.
Tobacco doesn't only smell while you're smoking it.