The ethanol in alcohol causes the blood vessels in your skin to widen, which makes you feel warm and triggers sweating, says Dr. Friedman. And sweating could bring out the alcohol smell, he says. When you flood your system with booze, your body struggles to break down all of it.
The smell of alcohol has been known to linger. For several hours after drinking, or in the morning after a night out, your breath and skin can still give off an alcohol scent. Fortunately, by consuming the right foods and drinks, and by following some grooming guidelines, you can successfully mask that alcohol smell.
How Long Does Alcohol Stay on My Breath? Alcohol can be detected on the breath for 12 to 24 hours after the last drink.
Another method of giving off alcohol breath is through your sweat from your pores. Technically alcohol breath can come from your skin as well as from your mouth. As far as the smell that remains the morning after you have been drinking is quite simple to explain. The morning after smell is simply 'bad breath'.
Alcohol is absorbed into your lungs which is why you produce an odor from your breath. Your pores also produce an alcoholic scent that can make your body stink. If your body reeks of alcohol, taking a nice bath or shower will help clean your pores of alcohol and the sweat you build up while drinking.
The breath and skin pores have scents of alcoholic beverages for a long time until the toxins are completely expelled from the human body. Diseases like diabetes ketoacidosis make the patient smell like fruity alcohol without drinking. This health condition is rare but life-threatening.
Drinking alcohol can leave a noticeable smell on the breath. Those who have been drinking heavily can also have a strong odor that is produced by their skin pores. Most people feel uncomfortable if they are carrying around the smell of alcohol on their body.
A strong odour is common in people who drink. The alcohol itself has an odour most people can discern, but byproducts of alcohol metabolism can be noticed in the breath, all over the skin through sweat glands and in the urine.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), vodka is an odorless, colorless, tasteless spirit, and among cocktail enthusiasts it has earned a reputation as the de facto drink of choice for those who don't like the taste of alcohol.
Masking the smell of alcohol
A person who regularly hides the amount they drink may always keep mints or chewing gum on their person or in the car. They may also insist on buying mouthwash which, despite being designed to mask bad breath, also contains alcohol.
The smell of alcohol doesn't just emerge from your throat, but also through the pores in your skin. Take a quick shower, then apply any combination of lotion, baby powder and deodorant necessary to avoid sweating. A spritz of cologne or perfume could help as well.
Go Brush Your Teeth!
Brushing your teeth, using mouthwash, drinking water, eating something, chewing gum, and waiting it out are all effective ways to reduce the odor of alcohol on your breath.
Mixing alcohol with grape soda to disguise all alcohol odor. Grape soda, when mixed with alcohol, disguises any alcohol odor.
The Bottom Line. Alcohol vapors can be produced by heating up alcohol or pouring it over dry ice. Alcohol can be absorbed into your bloodstream by inhaling alcohol vapors. People who inhale alcohol vapors get drunk very quickly, because the alcohol goes straight to the brain.
Most of the alcohol is broken down in the liver but some of it leaves the body as sweat so after time a heavy drinker's skin often smells of stale booze.
If you have diabetes, a change in body odor could be a sign of diabetes-related ketoacidosis. High ketone levels cause your blood to become acidic and your body odor to be fruity. In the case of liver or kidney disease, your odor may give off a bleach-like smell due to toxin buildup in your body.
If you're worried you're one of these people, one trick is to lick your wrist, wait ten seconds, then sniff the patch you licked: If it smells, chances are, so does your breath. An even more reliable method, of course, is simply to ask someone.
The smell of vodka stays on your breath for at least an hour if you only consumed a shot. However, if you had more than an ounce, the body would process alcohol much longer. It can be identified within 12-24 hours with an alcohol detection test.
If your breath smells like acetone -- the same fruity scent as nail polish remover -- it may be a sign of high levels of ketones (acids your liver makes) in your blood. It's a problem mainly of type 1 diabetes but also can happen with type 2 if you get a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
Beer and wine, for example, are the least intoxicating drinks but will cause the strongest odor. A much stronger drink, such as scotch, will have a weaker odor. And vodka leaves virtually no odor at all. Consider a simple experiment.
The alcoholic ketoacidosis smell is like acetone or nail polish remover, noticeable when someone exhales ketone molecules. The diabetic form of ketoacidosis may have a sweet and fruity smell rather than one like acetone.
Alcohol doesn't have any smell. It's the hops, barley and other "stuff" that you can smell on your breath. The answer is to drink a clear spirit (or white spirit! - perhaps not) such as vodka.
Covering Up The Smell
If you do not have access to toothpaste or chewing gum, you may try to cover up the smell of alcohol in other ways. Strong smells like deodorant, menthol cough drops, and body lotion can cover up the smell of alcohol.