Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures

Adam Zmith

Deep Sniff is about the history of a mysterious and smelly substance, covering how it has brought sexual pleasure to millions and played a role in gay rights and gay culture. The drug is poppers, and it started as a Victorian medical therapy for angina, but ended up in the hands of queer people in the 20th century, who used it for a high when they were dancing, snogging and having sex. The commercialisation of the drug also played into the creation of the idealised image of gay men.

cover art for the book, Deep Sniff

NOTCHES: What drew you to this topic, and what questions do you still have?

Adam Zmith: I was drawn to writing about poppers when I realised that no one else had done it. I liked using poppers, and every time I spoke to a friend or sexual partner about poppers, no one knew much about them. I simply wanted to find out about the history. And when I went down that path, I discovered there was much more to say that was also about queer culture and my own personal experiences with identity too. I still don’t know how poppers moved out of the medical realm and into the pleasure realm, although it’s rumoured to have happened at the hands of medics in the 1930s and 40s.

NOTCHES: This book engages with histories of sex and sexuality, but what other themes does it speak to?

AZ: I was surprised by how much I ended up writing about queer culture, such as the music of SOPHIE and performance art at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. But I shouldn’t have been surprised really, because these are central to how I experience and understand the world, as a writer, artist and queer person. I was surprised when I found reason to write about non-obvious queer culture too, such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! And the themes of advertising and masculinity, and the connection between those two, also became very important.

NOTCHES: How did you research the book?

AZ: I’m an independent writer, so it’s often hard for me to use sources that are only really available to people with access to university libraries and archives (this can’t be right, but there you have it). So I definitely got hold of research papers via non-official channels, let’s say. Research papers from sociology, medicine and history were very useful. I also used open archives such as those held at Wellcome—who have the notes of the first doctor to give amyl nitrite to angina patients. When I read his notes, I was so thrilled!

NOTCHES: Whose stories or what topics were left out of your book and why? What would you include had you been able to?

AZ: I’d love to know how poppers moved from medicine to the dancefloor and the bedroom. Which medics and pharmacists did this? What years? How did they share poppers around between sexual partners and friends?

NOTCHES: Did the book shift significantly from the time you first conceptualized it?

AZ: At first I imagined it as an, ahem, straight history. But the more I learnt and the more I thought about what I wanted to say about poppers, the more I realised that I wanted to write about my own experiences and that this also included the fluidity of identity and sexual pleasure. It’s by no means a book of queer theory, but it is heavily influenced by thinkers such as Judith Butler and José Esteban Muñoz. I think the deeper I got into the writing, the more I realised I had thoughts and feelings to share about queerness, and the project became a platform where I could explore those ideas.

NOTCHES: How did you become interested in the history of sexuality?

AZ: Honestly I think it started properly after I started having sex. I didn’t have sex until I was 29, and it changed my life, because I became a more open person in all senses(!), more curious about history, and especially fascinated by queerness and sexuality. It helped me to feel comfortable with myself as a person and a writer when I really understood that I was joining a lineage of queer people, and people who’ve enjoyed sex. This led me to want to learn more about this lineage, this history, these stories, and my body, their bodies, and our bodies.

NOTCHES: How do you see your book being most effectively used in the classroom? What would you assign it with?

AZ: I’d assign it with issues of old gay magazines, such as Drummer or HIM, which often carried ads for poppers. The poppers manufacturers were said to keep those magazines afloat by how much they spent on advertising in them. And both the mags and the poppers ads co-created the ideas of (gay) masculinity in the 70s and 80s that became dominant, and are still iconic today. I think the relationship between identity building, consumerism, and gay/queer culture is a very interesting one to explore.

NOTCHES: Why does this history matter today?

AZ: Part of the history of poppers is about what happened in the 1980s when hysterical and homophobic fear of HIV/AIDS led people to erroneously link poppers to HIV/AIDS. This dangerous misinformation still circulates today, and has been repeated by senior figures in high office in the USA. Poppers do not cause AIDS or increase the chances of contracting HIV or, as far as we know, any other infection. It’s important to know where this misinformation comes from, and we can only know that by knowing our history. More broadly, I also think it’s important always to know about the history of sexuality — to know that sexual practices have always been varied and contingent on culture and time. This helps us to see how our sexual morality is influenced by our contexts today.

NOTCHES: Your book is published, what next?

AZ: I’ve since published another book, Solemates, which is a history of our fetish for feet. It could have been called Deeper Sniff! And my next queer history book will be out from Faber in early 2026. It’s co-written with Tash Walker and it’s called The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened. I’m super excited to share it with readers!

Adam Zmith Adam Zmith is a writer and podcast producer whose work explores the beats of our bodies, in the past, present and future. He is the author of Solemates: A History of Our Fetish for Feet (404 Ink, 2024) and Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures (Repeater Books, 2021), which won the Polari First Book Prize 2022. As a writer he has also made work for theatre, including the dance show Detention by Gary Clarke Company (on tour 2025). In podcasts, he co-produced The Log Books podcast, wrote and produced the BBC podcast series The Film We Can’t See, hosts the Free Sex podcast, and is co-director of the production company Aunt Nell. He co-wrote and co-produced Press Play, Turn On for Audible, which won Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards 2024.