Yeah, burning plastic is an odor that stays with you.
Once I was driving around in NJ, and lit a cigar. pretty soon, I thought "there's something seriously WRONG with this cigar!"
Within seconds, I knew the cigar couldn't be THAT bad.
My next thought was: "Darn NJ! Is that chemical waste or burning garbage?"
My next thought was "Why does my elbow feel so warm? So hot!?!"
Looking down, my lighter must not have gone out, and ignited some napkins, and then the fire spread to the plastic divider-cup-holder widget between the front seats. A bright, merry little blaze with STINKY smoke! SO stinky that I could smell it even over my cigar AND northern NJ.
I got pretty frantic when I remembered that I had a small propane cylinder with me ...
But nothing happened beyond a melted, black-rimmed hole in my cup-holder / change-holder widget.
And a life-long determination to watch every flame expire BEFORE I let a lighter out of my hand.
