Kava taking on other smells and flavours

[zbigniew]

Has this ever happened to you?

 

[The Kap'n]

I totally believe kava would be able to pull in smells of offensive odors if it's dry enough. My advice would be buy more and keep it where you know no offending odors or chemicals can come into contact or share the same air.

 

[zbigniew]

Thanks for your reply, Kapmcrunk. I know I will need to be more careful in the future (unless the kava was already smelling bad when I bought it from my Fijian supplier). I also had a thought that perhaps this "chemical" smell is just natural to this particular type of kava - has anyone ever experienced it?

 

[kavadude]

Interesting. I don't think I've ever had a chemical smelling kava. I've had stuff that smells like pine needles (koniak), stuff that smells like concentrated rotten farts (stone), some that smells kinda mild and actually nice (nambawan) but never anything like that.

 

[zbigniew]

Actually, I am not sure if "chemical" would be the right word for describing this bizarre smell. It's just very unusual and intensive. Smells either like some really strong spices or.. odd chemicals. Perhaps this is just an usual kava odour?

 

[Steve]

My only thought off hand is excess biphenyls used as a mold retardant (which the smell is actually a pleasant one) . Not sure how it was processed originally but I have heard of some kava shipments imported into the states being stopped by FDA (and confiscated) due to high levels.