You can eat a small amount of arsenic without dying, so that’s been tested. (Plus, death from arsenic poisoning isn’t instant, so you could ask someone.) IIRC, the claims about the smell of hydrogen cyanide come from one person that survived inhaling a very small amount accidentally.
Doesn’t arsenic supposedly taste like almond?
I think it’s cyanide but honestly I’ve never checked.
Actually I have both, let me go check it real quick.
Dude, it’s been an hour already, are you going to let us know or … Oh.
No, it’s cyanide. Bitter almond, specifically. Arsenic has no flavor to humans.
How do you know?
You can eat a small amount of arsenic without dying, so that’s been tested. (Plus, death from arsenic poisoning isn’t instant, so you could ask someone.) IIRC, the claims about the smell of hydrogen cyanide come from one person that survived inhaling a very small amount accidentally.
Specifically HCN. I don’t think the salts smell, but I’m not positive on that. But they are also toxic.