Constant ash/cigarette taste in back of throat

[Mostu]

Hello! I'm 25 years old, male. About a month ago I've lost my sense of smell and it came back after 2,5 weeks so I assumed it was due to COVID. However since a week I've been feeling a weird ash/cigarette taste in the back of my throat all the time. Honestly I don't have any other symptoms and all the time I feel like I was just smoking a cigarette and there's an aftertaste in my mouth but I don't smoke. Could it be COVID related? I'm worried about a brain tumor because I know it can cause smell and taste hallucinations :(

[jojo2316]

So sometimes I can smell cigarette smoke on my fingers and yet I don’t - and never have - smoked.... and nor does anyone I spend time with. It’s so weird. Sometimes our minds do strange things

[Nighttime pacer]

Hi Mistu,
Like you I completely lost my sense of taste and smell and had a couple of other minor symptoms. Doctors have told me they think it’s really likely I’ve had Covid.
Since my sense of smell and taste came back, around middle of April as I had it end of March, I’ve had odd tastes. From what I’ve read parts of the nose which COVID attacks are regenerating all the time anyway but you can have an altered sense of smell or taste after COVID. They don’t know yet if it’s permanent but most medical experts believe for the majority of people it won’t be.
For me till very recently, coffee always smelt burnt, toast always tasted a little burnt and for ages though it seems to have gone now, I’d wake up with a strange taste in my mouth.
Also if I cooked anything with pastry it smelled really eggy for a while, that’s also stopped now.
You could always contact your doctor but my guess would be that it’s things coming back to life in your nose (most of taste is actually smell) and hopefully it’ll settle down in time.