Pipevine only smells bad to me when I pick it or the caterpillars eat it. I think you have to break it in some way to release the chemicals that smell bad. Also, the native ones don't smell nearly as bad as the tropicals which is why I have a theory regarding the toxicity of the plants and why the tropical varieties kill the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars. The native, Wooly Pipevine I've grown for two years now doesn't bother me at all. I got it from Mail Order Natives (love those, folks).
Pam, that's a great picture of a Giant Swallowtail caterpillar flashing its osmeterium (we like to call them stinkhorns) at you. It's a defense mechanism that smells bad (just try washing that smell off your hands) but it also designed to look like a snake's forked tongue. I like the Giants because most Swallowtails have orange or yellow stinkhorns, but the Giants are red. Here's one of my favorite pictures from MOSI.
