The Russian habit of sniffing vodka with bread, cucumber, or even a sleeve is considered a funny tradition and a national feature of drinking strong alcohol. But few people know that the custom has two practical sides at once.
Although this is not exactly established, most researchers of vodka culture and doctors believe that “sniffing” spread simultaneously with strong alcohol in Russia: at first they drank bread wine (polugar) this way, and with the advent of vodka (rectified alcohol diluted with water), the tradition passed and on her.
In those days, the quality of alcohol left much to be desired, and only wealthier people could afford to have a snack after each glass. There was always a shortage of food, so ordinary hard workers needed to replace food with something so that alcohol “entered easier”.
From a medical point of view, the desire to sniff vodka is explained by reflex – alcohol irritates the mucous membrane of the throat, and inhalation reduces the concentration of alcohol vapors in the nasopharynx. As a result, the burning sensation becomes weaker, then completely disappears. At the same time, any other smell (black bread, cucumber or sausage), which enters the nasopharynx along with inhalation, interrupts the sharp vodka aroma, quickly improving well-being. This is noticeably manifested if the drunk pile is “far from the first”, since the third-party smell additionally suppresses the gag reflex.
With a sufficient amount of food (preferably the presence of both cold and hot dishes), you can not sniff vodka, limiting yourself to a snack. The smell itself does not prevent intoxication or a hangover, you just need to eat and drink a lot of unsweetened liquid without gas. Nowadays, “sniffing” is just a tribute to tradition.
P.S. Sometimes in the villages they sniff vodka with fresh rye bread to check their condition. You can drink as long as the aroma of bread is felt. If a person has ceased to catch the smell, then he is considered drunk. It cannot be said that this is an accurate method of verification, but still it has the right to exist.
Dobre