Smelling Salts: The Complete Guide
What this guide is
Most writing about smelling salts is written to sell them, and it shows: the same four promises, no sources, and nothing about the federal regulator that has taken a public position on the category.
We sell them, and this guide takes the opposite approach. It tells you what is in the bottle, the chemistry of how the format works, what governing bodies and the FDA have said, who should not use one at all, and how to use one correctly if you choose to. Where a regulator has said something against this category, we quote it and link it rather than working around it.
What you will not find here is any claim about what a smelling salt does for you. That is deliberate, and the reason is in the safety section.
Nothing here is medical or legal advice.
What smelling salts are
A smelling salt is an ammonia inhalant: a small sealed container holding an ammonia preparation that releases ammonia gas into the air above the liquid. Open it near your face and that gas reaches the lining of your nose and throat.
There is no nutritional content, no dietary supplement, nothing swallowed, and no dose in the pharmaceutical sense. It is a volatile chemical in a sealed container.
Formulations vary. A Spinto bottle lists ammonia, lavender oil, lemon oil, nutmeg oil and purified water USP, with 0.35 g of ammonia per bottle. If you are allergic to nutmeg, lavender or lemon oil, that ingredient list is a direct exclusion rather than a general caution.
→ Full detail: What Are Smelling Salts and How Do They Work?
The chemistry
Ammonia is volatile. In a sealed bottle, some sits dissolved in the liquid and some sits as gas in the headspace above it. Breaking the seal releases that headspace gas into the surrounding air.
Two practical consequences follow:
The gas reaches you, not the liquid. This is why correct technique is about distance, and why the liquid must never contact skin, eyes or mouth.
An open container loses ammonia continuously. Ammonia preparations are air-sensitive. Left uncapped, ammonia escapes and the remaining material changes composition. This is the physical reason a bottle is recapped immediately and stored capped.
Ammonia gas acts as an irritant on the mucous membranes of the nose, throat and airway. That irritant action is the entire mechanism of the format — there is nothing else happening chemically, and any description that makes it sound like a fuel or a nutrient is describing something else.
→ What Are Smelling Salts and How Do They Work? · Ammonia Inhalants vs Pre-Workout
A short history
The classical smelling salt was solid ammonium carbonate, known as sal volatile or spirit of hartshorn — the second name recording that it was once distilled from deer antler. Its long-standing historical use was as a revival aid: bringing round someone who had fainted.
From there it moved into the fight trades as standard corner equipment, then across contact and team sport, then into strength sport and general gym culture.
The most important continuity is an uncomfortable one. The category's original purpose — reviving someone who has collapsed — is precisely the use that current safety guidance rules out, and the reasoning behind the NFL's 2025 decision. The oldest use is the one to avoid.
→ The History of Smelling Salts
Formats
| Format | What it is | Practical notes |
|---|---|---|
| Solution bottle | Liquid preparation in a screw-cap bottle, gas in the headspace | Reusable across many openings; depends on the cap being reseated each time |
| Crush ampule | Sealed glass ampule in a fabric sleeve, crushed to activate | Single use; common in first-aid kits |
| Powder / solid | Ammonium carbonate in solid form | The traditional format; less common in current retail |
A Spinto bottle is a solution bottle: black plastic, roughly 6 cm tall and 4 cm across, ribbed screw cap, with a tamper-evident shrink band and an inner pressure-sensitive liner printed "SEALED for YOUR PROTECTION". Both seal layers are single-use — after that, the cap alone retains the headspace.
Who should not use one
Before technique, exclusions. This is a shorter and harder list than a supplement label's.
Do not use an ammonia inhalant if you:
- are pregnant
- have a respiratory condition, including asthma
- are allergic to any listed ingredient
- are treating or assessing a head injury, a suspected concussion, fainting or any other medical event
The last carries the most weight. Ammonia inhalants must not be used on someone who has collapsed or taken a blow to the head — that is a situation for medical attention, and an inhalant risks obscuring the assessment at the moment it matters.
If you have any medical concern, speak to a physician before use.
How to use one correctly
1. Check the seal. Intact tamper band, unbroken inner liner. If either is broken on a bottle you have not opened, do not use it.
2. Six inches from the nose. The distance printed on the Spinto label, and the whole of the safety margin. Never against or under the nostrils.
3. One brief inhale. Not deep, not sustained, not repeated in quick succession.
4. Recap immediately. Ammonia preparations are air-sensitive; an open bottle loses ammonia continuously.
Never swallow it (harmful if swallowed, GHS H302). Never let it contact eyes (causes serious eye irritation, H319). Never use it on someone else. Never decant, dilute, mix or refill. Keep it away from fire and flame, and out of reach of children.
→ Full technique, storage and disposal: How to Use Smelling Salts Safely
Safety and what the FDA has said
This is the section other guides in this category leave out, and it is the reason this one exists.
The FDA issued a consumer alert on 6 August 2024 advising against the purchase or use of unapproved inhalant products marketed for alertness and energy. It stated that manufacturers "have not demonstrated these products to be safe or effective for their intended uses," and listed adverse events reported to it: shortness of breath, seizures, migraines, vomiting, diarrhoea and fainting.
Between April 2023 and April 2024 the FDA issued warning letters to seven companies in this category, in every case for marketing an unapproved drug. Every letter turned on claims and intended use — how the product was sold, not that it was sold.
The legal basis is a proposed rule from 2008 (73 FR 34895, 19 June 2008), determining that ammonia in a product labelled with claims or directions for use as a reflex stimulant is either not generally recognised as safe and effective, or is misbranded. It has never been finalised.
"FDA-listed" is not FDA-approved. Some ammonia inhalants appear in the US drug listing directory. Listing is a registration step, not a clearance, and it does not immunise the marketing. A seller presenting a listing as approval is telling you something technically true and practically misleading.
So: are they safe? We are not going to answer that, because the word does not belong in copy written by the seller. What we can tell you is what is in the bottle, what the regulator has said, who should not use one, and how to use one correctly. What we will not do is reassure you.
The full safety information
- Keep out of reach of children.
- For external inhalation only. Do not ingest. Avoid contact with eyes, skin and mouth.
- Do not use during pregnancy.
- Not for use by anyone with a respiratory condition, including asthma.
- Not for use to treat or assess a head injury, concussion, fainting or any medical event.
- Consult a physician before use if you have any medical concern.
- Correct use: hold away from the face, brief inhale, recap immediately.
- Store capped, upright, dry and away from heat and flame. Dispose of responsibly.
→ Are Smelling Salts Bad for You? What the FDA Actually Says
Legality and sport
Ammonia inhalants are legal to buy and sell in the United States. They are not scheduled by the DEA and no federal ban is in force. No state has been identified that bans or age-gates their retail sale by name — and New York Public Health Law § 3380, routinely cited as covering them, lists alkyl nitrites rather than ammonia.
Sport is where a real restriction is most likely to reach you. In 2025 the NFL instructed its clubs that they may no longer administer ammonia in any form to players; the NFLPA clarified that teams cannot supply them while players may still use their own. Powerlifting and strongman federations vary, and meet rules stack on top of federation rules.
→ Are Smelling Salts Legal? · Smelling Salts in Powerlifting and Strength Sports
Storage and shelf life
Ammonia content declines over a bottle's life because ammonia physically leaves the container. Exposure history matters more than elapsed time — a bottle opened weekly for six months has lost more than an unopened one sitting in a drawer for two years.
Store capped, upright, dry, ventilated, away from heat and flame, out of reach of children. Replace a bottle that arrived with a broken seal, that no longer caps firmly, that has leaked, that has been left open, that has been through a heat cycle, or whose history you cannot account for.
→ Smelling Salts Storage and Shelf Life
How to choose
Judged on what can actually be checked rather than on what a page promises:
- A full ingredient list. Not a proprietary blend, not a mystery formula.
- A stated ammonia content. A number, not an adjective.
- Specific correct-use information — distance, duration, who should not use it — rather than "use as directed".
- Intact tamper evidence on arrival, and a cap that reseats properly.
- No alertness, energy, performance or focus claims. This is the exact language the seven FDA warning letters cite. A seller still using it in 2026 is telling you about their compliance posture.
- A stated position on what the product is not for — head injury, concussion, fainting.
→ How to Choose Smelling Salts · Where to Buy Smelling Salts
Our bottles are here: smelling salts for athletes.
FAQ
What are smelling salts? Ammonia inhalants — sealed containers holding an ammonia preparation that releases ammonia gas. Nothing is swallowed.
What are they made of? Ammonia is the volatile component. The Spinto bottle lists ammonia, lavender oil, lemon oil, nutmeg oil and purified water USP. Traditional preparations were solid ammonium carbonate.
Are smelling salts FDA-approved? No. There is no approved product for the alertness or energy indication, and drug-directory listing is registration rather than approval.
Are they legal in the US? Yes. They are not controlled substances and no federal ban on sale is in force.
How do you use them? Six inches from the nose, one brief inhale, recap immediately. Never in contact with the nose, never swallowed, never on someone who has been hurt.
Who should not use them? Anyone pregnant, anyone with a respiratory condition including asthma, anyone allergic to a listed ingredient, and anyone dealing with a head injury, suspected concussion or fainting.
Do they expire? Not on a fixed date. Ammonia content declines as it escapes the container, so how often a bottle has been opened matters more than its age.