You can’t smell anything at Burning Man. Playa dust is an alkaloid powder. It clogs up everything, especially your nose, throat, and (often) lungs. “Playa lung” is a known issue for some people out there too long. This is part of why you see all the pictures of people in goggles and dust masks. It isn’t for the cool style. It is because the entire environment is composed of a powder, sometimes hardened into dunes.
Once you’ve been breathing it for a day or two, you really can’t smell much of anything anymore (and it tends to neutralize some of the acids we produce on our skins as well, which is why people wash their feet in vinegar solutions at Burning Man).
