I'm going with the panties theory. The reason why is simple: I am a professional dumpster diver, and so is my brother (he is full Dominican. I'm only half Dominican. We have the same father). He and i have spent our entire lives dumpster diving. He collects anything metal or malleable and makes "mobil" art sculptures out of them; he won a junior Alexander Calder award and several other awards. I mostly pick through the garbage looking for anything i can resell on Ebay. But occasionally, every now and then, whenever we come across a woman's panties, we will take turns smelling them. I know, i know, it sounds gross, but listen, its just harmless fun. It's also a male instinct.
Panty sniffing, or panty fetishes, have been going on for centuries, and it'll be going on for centuries more--until the end of time. It's a male instinct...no different then a dog sniffing the rear end of a female who walks past. Occasionally, whenever a beautiful girl would come to listen to my brother and i play music (in the 70's in Dayton, Ohio), we would take turns sniffing the seat that she sat on after she left. We like to store different smells in our brain. It's a hobby. Maybe weird, but only because of societies negativity towards it. I think panty sniffing is probably some primitive instinct that we're all born with but then we're taught to suppress it because it disagrees with societies definition of acceptable behavior. But for my brother and i (his nick-name is Rocketman...long story) sniffing panties is as a sort of identity marker---a way of finding out if a woman is ovulating or menstruating. I know that today, it is unacceptable. But it hasn't always been.
My brother and i can smell when a woman is ovulating downwind from about 10 to 15 meters away, but sometimes further if its across the bar and an over-head fan is turned on high. I know that bears and dogs can smell a female menstruating from about 2 miles downwind. But it took my brother and I a long time to perfect it. We can also smell a glass of wine and tell you what grape it is and the region its from. My brother and i can both smell and identify between a Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz, Malbec, Pino Noir, Zinfandel, Cotes Du Rhone, Sauvignon Blanc, Chablis, Syrah, Petit Syrah, Chianti, Beaujolais, Rioja, Haut Medoc, Pinot Blanc, Montrachet, Meursault, Pomerol, Chenion Blanc, Bordeaux, Chardonnay, and my personal favorite (a white Bordeaux grape): Chateau Margaux (1982 is the best).
My and my brother's sense of smell are really ultra sensitive, but so was our father's, Federico. Being Dominican, he could smell things beyond the range of a normal Homo Sapien smell...hence, he was a chef.
Frank
