Joe Rogan has cracked open a capsule of ammonia under his nose on camera more times than most people can count, and every time he does, the internet lights up with the same question. Fans watching the JRE podcast or an old UFC broadcast see him wince, shake his head, and suddenly look wide awake — and they want to know exactly what he sniffed. If you have ever typed what smelling salts does Joe Rogan use into a search bar, you are in good company. That single question drives thousands of searches every month from lifters, fighters, gamers, and curious podcast listeners.
The problem is that most answers online are vague, outdated, or just plain wrong. Some blogs guess. Others push whatever brand pays them the most. In this guide, you will get the actual brands Rogan has been connected with, how ammonia inhalants really work inside your body, why fighters and powerlifters swear by them, the risks nobody mentions, how the popular brands stack up against each other, and what to do if you want to try them yourself. By the end, you will understand smelling salts better than 99% of the people using them.
The Short Answer: Rogan’s Go-To Ammonia Inhalants
Joe Rogan has been publicly linked to Dynamik Muscle’s “Ammonia Inhalants” and has repeatedly used classic single-use ammonia ampules (the crushable Nurse Assist / Rescue-style capsules found in first aid kits), while also sampling stronger jar-style products like Nose Tork on the podcast. He has never signed a formal endorsement deal with a smelling salt company, which is important to understand. Unlike his partnerships with Onnit, Black Rifle Coffee, or Athletic Greens, his smelling salt use has always been casual — grab whatever a guest brings in, crack it, and react.
That casual approach is exactly why the question gets confusing. Over the years, viewers have spotted different products on the desk during episodes. Guests like bodybuilders, strongmen, and MMA fighters often bring their own preferred brand as a gag or a challenge. Rogan cracks it, makes a face, and the clip goes viral. So the honest answer is not “one brand forever” — it is “several, depending on who is sitting across from him.”
Still, a few products show up more than others. Here is what fans have identified across podcast clips, UFC broadcasts, and social media posts over the years:
- Dynamik Muscle Ammonia Inhalants — the brand founded by bodybuilder Kai Greene, frequently referenced in fitness circles connected to Rogan’s orbit.
- Nose Tork — a jar-style ammonia inhalant famous among powerlifters for being brutally strong. Rogan has reacted to jar-style salts on camera.
- Standard crushable ammonia ampules — the small, cotton-wrapped glass capsules used by athletic trainers and EMTs for decades.
- Guest-supplied products — whatever a strongman, fighter, or comedian happens to bring in that week.
So if you came here hoping for a single product link, the reality is more interesting: Rogan uses the same basic chemistry that every athlete uses, just in different packages.
What Smelling Salts Actually Are (And What Is Inside Them)
Before you buy anything, you should know what you are putting under your nose. Smelling salts are not really “salts” in the table-salt sense. The active ingredient is ammonium carbonate, a compound that slowly releases ammonia gas at room temperature. When that gas hits the moist lining of your nose and lungs, it irritates the mucous membranes — and your body responds fast.
Most commercial products combine ammonium carbonate with a small amount of alcohol and sometimes a fragrance oil like eucalyptus, lavender, or peppermint. The fragrance does not do much for performance; it mostly softens the harshness slightly and gives brands a way to differentiate flavors. The real kick always comes from the ammonia.
The Three Main Formats
Smelling salts come in three basic delivery systems, and each one behaves differently:
- Crushable ampules: A tiny glass vial wrapped in cotton or gauze. You snap it between your fingers and wave it under your nose. Single use, portable, and the format most first aid kits carry.
- Jars or tubs: A screw-top container packed with ammonia-soaked crystals or cotton. You unscrew the lid, inhale over the opening, and reseal. These are usually the strongest option and last for months.
- Squeeze bottles and inhaler sticks: A newer format that lets you control the dose. You squeeze a puff toward your nose or hold a stick near a nostril. Milder and easier for beginners.
Rogan’s on-camera moments have covered all three. The screw-top jars produce the most dramatic reactions because the vapor concentration inside a sealed container builds up far beyond what a single ampule releases.
How Ammonia Inhalants Work Inside Your Body
Here is where things get genuinely fascinating. Smelling salts do not give you energy the way caffeine does. They do not add fuel to your system at all. Instead, they trigger a reflex — and that reflex changes how you feel almost instantly.
When ammonia gas irritates the membranes in your nose and throat, it stimulates the trigeminal nerve. Your body reads that irritation as a mild threat and fires off an inhalation reflex. Your breathing rate jumps, your heart rate spikes, and your sympathetic nervous system floods you with adrenaline. Blood pressure rises. Pupils dilate. Alertness sharpens. All of this happens in roughly two to five seconds.
The Step-by-Step Chain Reaction
- Ammonium carbonate releases ammonia gas into the air near your nostrils.
- You inhale, and the gas contacts the wet mucous membranes in your nasal passages.
- The trigeminal nerve detects chemical irritation and sends an urgent signal to your brainstem.
- Your brainstem triggers an involuntary gasp and speeds up your respiratory rate.
- The sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline and noradrenaline.
- Heart rate, blood pressure, and mental alertness all spike within seconds.
- The effect fades within 30 to 90 seconds as your nervous system settles back down.
That last point matters more than anything else. The window is short. Research on ammonia inhalants and athletic performance generally shows heart rate increases in the range of 10 to 25 beats per minute and blood pressure bumps of roughly 5 to 15 mmHg, but those numbers return to baseline in under two minutes. That is why powerlifters crack a capsule about 10 to 20 seconds before they touch the bar, not five minutes before.
Picture a competitive deadlifter at a meet. He is standing behind the bar, waiting for the judge. His coach hands him a jar. He takes one quick sniff, jerks his head back, slaps his own chest, and steps up. Eight seconds later, he is pulling. That timing is not for show — it lines up almost perfectly with the physiological window the ammonia opens.
Why Rogan and Combat Athletes Reach For Them
Rogan’s world sits at the intersection of MMA commentary, jiu-jitsu training, comedy, and long-form podcasting. Smelling salts show up in almost all of those spaces for different reasons.
In combat sports, corners have used ammonia capsules for over a century. Boxing cutmen historically waved them under a dazed fighter’s nose between rounds. Most major athletic commissions, including those governing the UFC, now ban that practice during competition because it can mask concussion symptoms and push a hurt fighter back into danger. But outside the cage — in warm-ups, in training rooms, in the gym — ammonia inhalants remain everywhere.
The Real Benefits People Report
- Instant alertness: A sharp mental reset when you feel foggy, flat, or sluggish before a heavy set or a hard round.
- Psychological trigger: Many athletes describe smelling salts as a ritual. The sting becomes a mental cue that says “it is go time.”
- Aggression spike: The adrenaline surge feels like a switch flipping, which helps in explosive, short-duration efforts.
- Zero calories or stimulants: Unlike pre-workout powders, there is no caffeine crash, no jitters lasting hours, and nothing to digest.
- Fast recovery from grogginess: Useful for people who train early or late when energy naturally dips.
On the podcast side, Rogan has cracked capsules simply because they make incredible television. A guest gets hit with a jar of Nose Tork mid-conversation and the reaction is pure comedy — watery eyes, a sharp recoil, sometimes a swear word. Those clips have introduced ammonia inhalants to millions of people who had never heard of them.
It is worth being honest about the science, though. Controlled studies on smelling salts and actual strength output have been mixed. Some show no meaningful improvement in one-rep max performance. Others show small gains in perceived readiness and reaction time. The consistent finding is that the arousal effect is real but brief, and much of the benefit may be psychological. That does not make it useless — belief and arousal genuinely matter in maximal effort sports — but it does mean you should not expect 20 extra pounds on your bench press.
Comparing the Brands People Associate With Rogan
Once you start shopping, you will notice the market has exploded. What used to be a niche first aid item is now a full product category with flavors, subscriptions, and influencer marketing. Here is how the most talked-about options compare.
| Brand | Format | Strength Level | Best For | Typical Lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamik Muscle Ammonia Inhalants | Squeeze bottle / jar | Moderate to strong | Bodybuilders and gym use | 3-6 months |
| Nose Tork | Screw-top jar | Extremely strong | Powerlifters and strongmen | 6-12 months |
| Standard crushable ampules | Single-use glass vial | Mild to moderate | First aid, travel, beginners | Single use |
| Jaw Smelling Salts | Jar | Strong | Competitive lifting | 6+ months |
| Hartshorne / classic pharmacy salts | Bottle | Variable | Traditional users | Varies |
| Squeeze-style inhaler pens | Pen or stick | Mild | Office, gaming, driving fatigue | 1-3 months |
Why Jar Products Hit Harder
The difference between a crushable ampule and a screw-top jar comes down to vapor buildup. In a sealed jar, ammonia gas accumulates in the headspace above the crystals. When you unscrew the lid, you get a concentrated blast. A crushable ampule releases its gas gradually into open air, so the dose is much gentler. If you are new to this and you start with a jar held directly under your nose, you will regret it.
Do Flavors Matter?
Brands now sell mint, cherry, grape, and eucalyptus versions. The fragrance masks a bit of the raw ammonia smell, but it does not reduce the irritation or change the physiological effect. Choose a flavor because you prefer it, not because you expect it to work better or be safer.
Safety, Risks, and What Nobody Tells You
Smelling salts are legal, cheap, and widely available, which makes them feel harmless. They are generally safe when used correctly and occasionally — but there are real risks, and they deserve straight talk.
The most serious concern involves head injuries. If someone gets knocked out or concussed, waving ammonia under their nose can cause a sudden violent head jerk, which risks worsening a neck or spinal injury. It can also make a concussed athlete seem fine when they are not, sending them back into a game or fight while their brain is still compromised. Every major sports medicine organization now advises against using smelling salts to revive an injured athlete. Leave that to trained medical staff.
Common Mistakes People Make
- Holding it too close. Keep the container four to six inches from your nose. Direct contact can burn nasal tissue.
- Inhaling deeply. One short, quick sniff is all you need. A deep pull irritates the lungs and can trigger coughing fits.
- Using them every single set. Repeated exposure dulls the response and irritates your airways over time.
- Sharing an ampule between people. That is a straightforward hygiene issue, especially in gyms.
- Using them with asthma or COPD. Ammonia can trigger bronchospasm in people with reactive airways.
- Reviving unconscious people. This is the biggest one. Call for medical help instead.
Who Should Skip Them Entirely
Avoid ammonia inhalants if you have asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, uncontrolled high blood pressure, a heart condition, or if you are pregnant. The adrenaline spike raises blood pressure and heart rate, which is fine for a healthy 25-year-old athlete and potentially risky for someone with cardiovascular issues. If you take stimulant medication or already load up on high-dose pre-workout, stacking smelling salts on top adds unnecessary strain.
Long-term overuse can cause chronic nasal irritation, nosebleeds, headaches, and reduced sense of smell. Case reports of serious harm are rare, but they exist, and they almost always involve heavy repeated use. Treat smelling salts like a tool you pull out for genuinely heavy or important efforts, not a daily habit.
How To Use Smelling Salts The Right Way
If you have decided to try them after watching Rogan crack one open, here is a practical approach that keeps things safe and effective.
Your First Time
- Start with a crushable ampule or a mild squeeze bottle, not a strength jar.
- Sit or stand somewhere stable. The head jerk is involuntary and can throw off your balance.
- Hold the product roughly six inches from your face.
- Take one short sniff through your nose — half a second, not a full breath.
- Exhale, shake it off, and give yourself 10 seconds to assess how you feel.
- If you barely felt anything, move slightly closer next time rather than inhaling harder.
Timing It With Your Training
Because the effect peaks within seconds and fades within a minute or two, timing beats everything. Use it right before your heaviest set, your competition attempt, or your first round — not during your warm-up. A practical example: a powerlifter attempting a personal record squat chalks up, gets under the bar mentally, takes one sniff about 15 seconds before the lift, and unracks. That is the ideal sequence.
How Often Is Too Often
Most experienced lifters limit themselves to one to three uses per training session, and only on true max-effort days. Some go weeks between uses. Your nasal tissue needs recovery time, and the psychological punch gets weaker if you use it constantly. Save it for the moments that actually count.
Store your jar tightly sealed in a cool, dark place. Ammonia evaporates, so a lid left loose overnight can drain most of the potency. If your salts feel weak, check the seal before blaming the brand.
Alternatives Worth Considering
Smelling salts are not the only way to sharpen up before a hard effort. Depending on what you actually need — alertness, aggression, focus, or sustained energy — other options may serve you better.
| Option | Onset | Duration | Main Effect | Downside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammonia inhalants | 2-5 seconds | 30-90 seconds | Sharp arousal spike | Very short window, nasal irritation |
| Caffeine (200-300mg) | 20-45 minutes | 3-5 hours | Sustained energy and focus | Jitters, sleep disruption, crash |
| Menthol or eucalyptus inhaler | Seconds | 1-3 minutes | Mild alertness, clearer breathing | Much weaker kick |
| Cold water on the face | Seconds | 1-5 minutes | Alertness via dive reflex | Impractical mid-session |
| Loud music and self-talk | Seconds to minutes | Variable | Psychological arousal | Depends on the individual |
| Breathing protocols | 30-60 seconds | Several minutes | Controlled arousal or calm | Requires practice |
Plenty of high-level athletes get the same psychological effect from a specific song, a slap from a training partner, or a breathing pattern like rapid short inhales. Those methods cost nothing and carry zero irritation risk. If you find that smelling salts mostly work as a mental trigger for you, a cheaper ritual might do the same job.
On the other hand, nothing matches the raw immediacy of ammonia. If you need to go from flat to fired up in three seconds, no alternative competes. That is exactly why the practice has survived in strength sports for more than a hundred years despite limited scientific backing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rogan and Smelling Salts
These questions come up constantly in comment sections, forums, and gym conversations. Here are direct answers.
Does Joe Rogan sell his own smelling salts?
No. Rogan has never launched a smelling salt product under his own name or through Onnit. Any product marketed as “Joe Rogan’s smelling salts” is using his name without an official partnership. Be skeptical of listings that claim otherwise.
Are smelling salts legal to buy?
Yes. In the United States, ammonia inhalants are sold over the counter and appear in standard first aid kits. They are not banned by WADA, the UFC’s anti-doping program, or major sporting bodies as a performance-enhancing substance. However, many athletic commissions ban corner use during competition for safety reasons, and some individual gyms and leagues have their own rules.
Do they actually make you stronger?
Not directly. Smelling salts do not build muscle, add ATP, or improve your nervous system’s capacity. Research on maximal strength output shows inconsistent results, with several studies finding no significant improvement in one-rep max. What they reliably do is increase arousal and perceived readiness, which can help you commit fully to a heavy attempt.
Why do they make people’s eyes water?
Ammonia irritates the trigeminal nerve, which also supplies sensation to your eyes. Strong exposure triggers reflex tearing, the same way chopping onions does. It is a normal reaction and fades quickly.
Which is stronger, Nose Tork or ampules?
Nose Tork and similar jar products are dramatically stronger than standard crushable ampules. Most first-timers who go straight to a jar describe it as overwhelming. Start mild and work up.
Can you use them for studying, gaming, or driving?
People do, and a quick sniff can cut through drowsiness. But relying on ammonia to stay awake behind the wheel is a bad plan — the effect lasts seconds, not miles. Pull over and rest instead.
Do smelling salts expire?
Yes. Crushable ampules typically carry a shelf life of one to three years. Jars lose potency as ammonia evaporates, especially if the lid is not sealed tightly. If your salts smell weak, they probably are.
Where The Smelling Salt Trend Is Heading
What started as a Victorian-era remedy for fainting has turned into a modern fitness product category, and the market keeps evolving. A decade ago, you bought ammonia ampules at a pharmacy for a few dollars. Today, dedicated brands sell flavored jars, subscription refills, and limited-edition scents through Instagram and TikTok.
Several shifts are worth watching. First, formats keep getting more precise. Squeeze bottles and inhaler sticks give users dose control that jars never offered, which lowers the risk of an overwhelming first experience. Second, brands are adding secondary ingredients like menthol, camphor, and essential oils, marketing them as “performance inhalers” rather than smelling salts. Whether those additions do anything meaningful is still an open question.
Third, regulation and sports policy continue to tighten around concussion protocols. Expect more leagues and commissions to formally ban ringside and sideline use, even as recreational gym use grows. The distinction between “reviving an injured athlete” and “psyching up a healthy one” is becoming clearer, and that is a good thing.
Finally, viral moments keep driving demand. Every time a clip of Rogan or a strongman cracking a jar hits social media, search traffic for smelling salts spikes. That attention has pushed some new users toward products far stronger than they need. If the category matures well, brands will start emphasizing proper use and beginner-friendly strengths instead of competing purely on who can make people gag hardest.
So where does that leave you? The honest answer to the question of what smelling salts Joe Rogan uses is that he has cycled through several — Dynamik Muscle inhalants, standard crushable ammonia ampules, and jar-style products like Nose Tork that guests bring to the studio. There is no secret formula and no official Rogan-branded product. The chemistry is the same ammonium carbonate that trainers have carried for over a century, packaged in different containers with different intensities.
What matters more than the brand is how you use it. Keep the container a few inches away, take one short sniff, save it for the sets that genuinely matter, and never use it on someone who just got knocked out. If you have asthma, heart issues, or high blood pressure, skip it entirely and find your arousal spike somewhere else. Used thoughtfully, smelling salts are a cheap, legal, stimulant-free tool that can flip a mental switch in seconds. Used carelessly, they irritate your airways and mask problems you should be paying attention to. Now you know the difference — go train smart.
