Aldi shoppers notice bizarre problem with common household item: 'Thought I was going insane'

A hilarious chat thread in a Facebook group has revealed that while Aldi is a great place to buy affordable pantry staples, it may also be responsible for a few of its customers thinking they had lost the plot. Allow me to elaborate.

A fan of the supermarket chain posed a question to her fellow shoppers, asking if anyone had noticed something very strange about a common item. Sharing a photo of the Goliath easy-tie garbage bags, the poster explained her predicament.

"Has anyone else noticed a cigarette smell from these bags?," she asked. "It probably was noticeable 3 months ago, literally just stinks of ciggys. I wonder if the manufacturers just smoke heavily or I don’t know? It’s gross though."

'Thought I was losing my mind'

Other members of the group quickly jumped in to assure her that they too had experienced the odd phenomenon but had simply chalked it up to a trick of the mimd.

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"Do u know what's crazy? I literally thought my husband who doesn't smoke must have started hahahahaha," one Aldi shopper wrote. "Oh well, that explains it then."

"That’s so funny. I thought I was losing my mind," another said.

"Omg YES!!!! I thought I was going insane," echoed a third.

One woman revealed that the mysterious odour had sent her so far into the depths of delusion it was a miracle she made it out the other side.

"OMG!! Last week I put a fresh bag in the bin," she wrote. "Opened it an hour later and thought my mum had emptied her ashtray in our bin."

It didn't stop there though as she continued:

"1. My mum lives in QLD and I’m in Vic. 2. She hasn’t been here since March! 3. She only empties the ashtray into the outside wheely bin. I’m glad I’m not imagining things!!"

Other comments that flooded the post included, "Yes I noticed when I shook the vanilla bags this week and we are non-smokers" and "Omg yes. We are a house of non-smokers and these bags stink like someone has emptied their ashtray in them."

Another person not only agreed that the bags smelled like cigarettes but that it was a tad triggering for them too. "They smell like ashtrays, I won’t use them ..reformed smoker who can’t stand the smell," they said.

The butt of many jokes

There was also a cheeky person who saw the issue with the bags as a golden opportunity for a prank writing, "Need to get these bags to mess with my husband! 😂"

Another shopper who couldn't help but feel like they were getting the short end of the stick said, No smell of ciggies here with the bin liners...I'm kind of feeling ripped off cause I'm sure these are cheaper than a packet of ciggies these days 😂."

'They always smell like lemons'

There were plenty of customers who said that they hadn't noticed anything strange about the bags with several assuring the group that their batch of garbage bags was just fine.

"I buy them all the time when I go to Aldi. All I ever smell is the fragrance stated on the wrapper," said one.

"I haven't noticed. I have been buying the purple ones for about 4 years," another person added to the chat.

"I buy the yellow ones. And they always smell like lemons," said a third.

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There was even one group member who was able to offer some insight as to why some of the bags were apparently smelling like an early 00s nightclub.

"When the bags come off the cutting machine off the roller it burns cos [sic] of hot melt press," they said. "Haven't noticed the smell but worked where they are made in Melbourne many years ago."

A solution to the smelly problem

However, for the shoppers who are adamant their bin bags smell like the office of Friends TV agent Estelle Leonard, I'd like to offer a solution employed by hordes of teenage girls in the 90s (myself included) - Impulse Body Spray.

Yep, just one spritz of Merely Musk (coincidentally, also available at Aldi for just $5) and you'll not only have an ineffective cover for the smell of the cigarettes but a trip back to your high school locker room without even leaving your kitchen. Thank me later.

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