3.5g Mylar Bags Are Smell-Proof, But Are They Drug-Dog-Proof?
Mylar bags and drugs have been linked practically since the DuPont Corporation produced Mylar in the early 1950s. Drug smugglers appear to be primarily concerned with reducing the possibilities of detection, and mylar bags provide the finest oxygen/gas barrier available. There are a lot of goods on the market that claim to be odor-proof and even dog-proof, but you'll find that they're composed of normal plastic film, which, while less expensive than Mylar, lacks the oxygen/gas barrier features that Mylar does. This is why Mylar is the most useful substance for containing many "hard-to-hold" food or non-food products, as well as having a high flavor/odor barrier.
Another reason for the tight association between mylar bags and narcotics could be due to the heat-sealable nature of most mylar bags. This implies that the seals can be as thick as the consumer desires and that a single large bag can be sealed multiple times using just a household iron. Mylar bags appeal to both the common customer and the drug dealer because of their ease of use. Every day, drug detection methods improve and advance, but there is one tool that has been around for a long time and will most likely continue to be employed in drug testing for a long time to come: the dog! This brings us to the next point.
So just how Sensitive is a Dog's nose anyway / How do Dogs Detect Drugs?
Most individuals have encountered a drug dog/sniffer dog at some point in their lives, whether traveling through an airport or entering a public school in the United States, and it's natural to wonder how a drug-detecting canine performs his job. Sniffer dogs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with some being taught to detect unwanted insects and even wildlife and wildlife components such as rhino horns and ivory. They use their noses in all cases of drug detection and sniffer dogs, which are truly extraordinary equipment!
The nose of a dog is 1,000 to 10,000,000 times more sensitive than a human's, depending on breed, and you can bet that the English Springer Spaniel, a popular sniffer dog breed, is at the top of the scale! There is no need to get into the inner workings of a dog's nose at this point, but it should be noted that a dog perceives the environment primarily by smell rather than sight, as we do.
They also have a brain that, while being only one-tenth the size of a human brain, possesses a 40-times greater region dedicated to scent. As a result, sniffing a package to see if it's leaking any smell is a fairly inefficient way of evaluating whether or not it's securely sealed.
When a sniffer dog detects narcotics, it isn't seeking the substances themselves because the dog is obviously uninterested in them. Instead, it's seeking its favorite toy, which is typically a white towel that identifies with the smell of various medications. So when a sniffer dog scratches at your bag, it's almost certain that it's looking for its favorite toy! This brings us to our next topic.
Is it Really Possible to Hide the Smell of Drugs in 3.5g Mylar Bags?
Many drug smugglers will seal and pack their product within, but they will not wash the outside of the package, which has likely been contaminated with minute particles of the drug, according to an anecdote.
This means that no matter how good a Mylar's oxygen/gas barrier characteristics are, the packages aren't "dog-proof" because the odor is on the outside. There have been surprisingly few scientific tests on whether a sniffer dog could detect an odor on the inside of heat-sealed Mylar bags, and there are many myths surrounding smell-proofing or dog-proofing a package, but because there is such a strong link between Mylar bags and drugs, and because it is the highest gas, flavor, and odor barrier available, it will continue to be heavily associated with drug storage.