Nothing to Sniff At

While this small blue-and-white package of “Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia” was produced in Toronto by Canadian medical manufacturer Ingram & Bell sometime in the 1950s, smelling salts have a much longer history — and remain in use today.

First mentioned in Roman times, smelling salts became commonly associated with swooning ladies of Victorian literature. They owe their startling power to ammonia gas, which irritates membranes in the nose and lungs, triggering the user’s nervous system to breathe deeply and supply the brain with oxygen. This reaction can help restore alertness to an unconscious person or prevent fainting.

A widespread medical remedy, smelling salts were brought to Canada with European settlers as early as the 1630s. However, medical advances of the 20th-century eventually rendered them all but obsolete — until discovered by professional athletes as a means to revive players after head injuries. Soon, smelling salts became a popular performance booster. Iconic hockey players from Wayne Gretzky to Alex Ovechkin made it part of their gametime rituals, and coaches or trainers often purchased them in bulk to distribute amongst their teams.

Nowadays, the effectiveness of smelling salts is highly debated while risks associated with head injuries and misuse are becoming a larger focus of research. Though they have been banned by the NFL and Hockey Quebec, for better or for worse, smelling salts remain deeply connected to Canadian hockey culture.