What are smelling salts made of?

Most smelling salts are made of an ammonium compound that releases ammonia gas — classically ammonium carbonate. Some medical ampules use aromatic ammonia spirit. Bardown is ammonium carbonate and sodium carbonate, lab grade, made in the USA. There is no caffeine, no pre-workout blend, and no mystery stimulant in the bottle.

What is in smelling salts is the same question with worse grammar. The answer is the chemistry, not a flavor.

The active ingredient

Ammonium carbonate is the old salt of hartshorn. When it meets moisture it gives off ammonia. That gas is what you smell and what triggers the reflex. Wikipedia, WebMD, and the C&EN explainer all land on the same compound. Perfume and oils, if they are there, are decoration.

Bardown’s blend is ammonium carbonate plus sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate helps the bottle behave when you add water. Lab grade means we are not scooping hardware-store powder into a label. Made in the USA means the lot did not take a boat ride under a different name.

What is in smelling salts — and what is not

In:

• Ammonium carbonate (the ammonia source)
• Sodium carbonate (in ours)
• Water, once, if the bottle is non-activated

Not in a real smelling-salt bottle:

• Caffeine
• Creatine
• Nicotine
• A “proprietary energy matrix”

If a listing reads like a pre-workout label, it is not answering what smelling salts are. It is selling a different product next to the words.

Why water is the switch

Dry carbonate sits still. Add about half a cap of water, close the bottle, shake once, and ammonia can leave when you open it. That is activation. You do it once. After that, air and a loose cap are what kill a bottle, not the calendar. Pre-activated salts were mixed before they shipped. They can still hit. They can also have been dying since July.

Ampules vs a bottle

Medical ammonia often comes in a crushable ampule: cotton, spirit, one use, done. Athletic bottles are meant to live in a bag. Same family of chemical. Different job. How to use a bottle is distance and a cap, not a crush and a toss.

The smell is the ammonia. The work is the reflex. The Bardown bottle is here.