Volume
How much gas leaves in one event. Most of it is odorless nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes methane. Record whether the passage was brief or sustained, judged by sound and by how far the air moved in a still room.
Field guide
Fartsmaxxing
A field guide to flatulence. Record how much gas leaves, how long the odor stays, and what it smells like. Change one input at a time.
What it is
Three measurements, taken together. Volume is the amount of gas. Tenure is how long the odor stays. Bouquet is the smell.
Tenure
How many minutes the odor stays. Write the room size beside it: small, medium, or large. Compare two readings only when the rooms are about the same size.
Bouquet
The smell. Odor comes from trace sulfur compounds, not from the bulk of the gas. Name it sulfurous, fermented, or faint, and use the same three words every time.
The scale
The Fart Scale Level runs from no detectable odor to an odor that is still in the room after you leave. A band describes that event. It does not describe the person.
| FSL | Name | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trace | Gas passed. You cannot detect an odor. |
| 2 | Personal | You can smell it. A person an arm's length away cannot. |
| 3 | Nearby | People within a few feet can smell it. They cannot tell who produced it. |
| 4 | Room | The odor is noticeable throughout a closed room while you are still in it. |
| 5 | Lingering | The odor is still detectable in that room several minutes later. |
| 6 | Residual | The odor is still detectable after you have left the room. |
The stack
The soft stack is food, drink, and posture. The hard stack is the room: moving air, the surfaces that hold odor, and when you leave.
Soft stack
Legumes
BodyBeans, lentils, and chickpeas contain oligosaccharides that gut bacteria ferment into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Eat a small measured portion, keep the rest of the day the same, and record the band that follows.
Carbonated drinks
BodySparkling water and soda increase the gas you swallow. Record the drink and the minutes until the next event. Keep that interval the same when you compare days.
Sulfur-rich foods
BodyEggs, meat, garlic, onion, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower raise the sulfur compounds that produce odor. Write the food next to the bouquet: sulfurous, fermented, or faint.
Seated compression
BodyLeaning forward while seated raises pressure in the abdomen and can bring on a release. Use it when you want the timing to be chosen, then record the band.
Hard stack
Ventilation
RoomA closed room with little airflow holds odor. An open window, an exhaust fan, or a higher air-exchange setting shortens how long it stays. Change the air before you change another food.
Surfaces
RoomCarpet, upholstery, and curtains absorb odor and give it off later. Hard floors and bare walls hold less of it, so the same event can read higher in a furnished room.
Departure
RoomThe minutes between the event and leaving decide how long you remain in the odor and who else meets it. Record that interval next to the linger time.
Glossary
The words this page uses, and what each one means in the log.
- Fartsmaxxing
- A written log of flatulence: the band, the smell, the recent food and drink, and the room.
- FSL
- Fart Scale Level. Six bands, from no detectable odor to an odor that remains after you leave.
- Volume
- The amount of gas in one event. The bulk of it has no smell.
- Tenure
- How long the odor remains, in minutes, written down with the size of the room.
- Bouquet
- The smell, recorded as sulfurous, fermented, or faint so two events can be compared.
- Sulfurous
- A rotten-egg or cooked-cabbage smell, produced by hydrogen sulfide and related sulfur compounds.
- Fermented
- A yeasty or sour smell, closer to dough or vinegar than to sulfur.
- Faint
- Little or no smell. The gas is mostly the odorless fraction.
- Soft stack
- Body-side inputs: legumes, carbonated drinks, sulfur-rich foods, and seated compression.
- Hard stack
- Room-side inputs: ventilation, the surfaces that hold odor, and when you leave.
FAQ
What the guide covers, and what it does not.
Is this medical advice?
No. The page is a way to log ordinary meals, posture, and room air. It does not diagnose or treat a condition. Pain, blood in the stool, or a sudden change in bowel habits should be taken to a clinician.
How do I use the scale?
After an event, pick the lowest band that matches what you and the people nearby could detect, and how long the odor stayed. The next day, change one input only: one food, one drink, the posture, or the room.
What goes in the log?
The time, the band, the bouquet, what you ate and drank over the previous several hours, whether the room had moving air, and the minutes until the odor was gone.