Nose Flushing Fad Floods Wine Tastings

[Craig Camp]

Enophiles who get clogged noses during allergy season may have problems fully enjoying their wines. Now, two New York doctors are marketing a new drug-free product -- developed to clear the nasal passages of chronic sinusitis sufferers -- as a way to improve wine drinkers' sense of smell and taste.

[Andre]

Fiarly interesting though nobody's inventing the wheel:

"Rinsing the nose out with salt water is a home remedy for sinus problems that dates back to ancient Rome, according to Gold and Pincus, and medical literature supports the practice"

I will suggest this to a client who claimed she could not taste because of a sinus problem. [ She could not taste any cheese ]

The dead sea is quite famous for that and recently, salt pools and rooms, opened up in my area to deal with Sinus problems.

I always thought the smell of salt to be aggressive though. Certainly is disturbing when you smell it.

My problem with salt is that it tends to dry.

Note when you are thirsty, you tend to find saltiness, more dominant. [you can try to taste cheese when your mouth is dry ].

Needs looking into.

Thanks for bringing this up Craig.

[Carema]

A few years back I purchased a little contraption called a Neti Lota pot. It is a ceramic UFO looking things. You mix a saltwater soltuion (clean good sea salt and you are in charge of the salinity) and you tip your head so a gentle stream flows through the nasal passages. I am a sufferer of allergies to the extreme, and am also "reverse wired" (cannot take the drugs). The NL pot helped but it was when I elimated most wheat from my diet that my sinuses really cleared up. At first I was despondent, no hearty chunks of bread, no delicious pasta. But there is a world of grain out there amazing and vast. Plus now I can smell all summer long. This helps when you are a merchant du vin. As for the smell of salt, if you do the flush before bed, unless you are tasting and evaluating all night long, it does not affect your choices.

[tjaehnigen]

Fortunately, I do not have a stuffed up nose problem unless I am sick (which is rare) -- no allergies here.

[Carema]

Strange koinkydink- heavy wine drinkers and meat eaters are rarely ever sick..... when I was a vegetarian (long time ago) I was always ill. Now I never am. And I run the candle lit at both ends always. hmmmmmm