Hodges has an uncanny sense of smell. He was once able to detect a "woodsy" scent in a bleach; later it emerged that the bleach was mixed with cedar chips. (Compulsion) Grissom told Hodges that smelling the bleach was the first thing Hodges had ever done that impressed him.
Hodges's sense of smell sometimes worked against him; he had to put a clothespin on his nose when he analyzed trace from a competitive eater who had died after eating hot dogs. (Dog Eat Dog)