Keeping it Together: What are poppers?

You'll recognize it if you smell it. "Nail polish remover with a hint of permanent marker." "Photo chemicals." "It's hard to describe the smell, but I know I hate it."

These Reddit users – of the subreddit "Ask Gay Men" – are talking about poppers, alkyl nitrite inhalants that many gay men sniff from little bottles in order to feel euphoric on the dance floor and/or loosen up before anal sex. They may "hate" the smell, but that isn't stopping them, either.

Hi, I'm David Oliver, one of Paste BN's wellness reporters. And this Pride Month, we're talking all things LGBTQ+.

Poppers as a gay sex drug dates back to the 1960s in the U.S. People joke that you can smell the poppers "through the screen" when perusing social media footage of gay men jiving, gyrating. Troye Sivan's song "Rush," for example, shares a name with a poppers brand.

But that euphoric, sexual feeling – which comes from sniffing chemical compounds called nitrites – isn't always so euphoric or sexual. It can be unsafe in excess (though many users don't realize it or care – or both).

Researchers say there's a clear through line of why gay men still sniff poppers today – just as much as there's reason for anyone to heed warnings about possible dangers.

Click here for more on poppers, and check out more reads from our team below. Happy Pride!