I haven't had a whiff of Hoppes in over fifteen years and can still remember its aroma distinctly.
You can learn a lot about a man by the solvents he uses.
So are you a break free guy? Rem oil? Windshield washer fluid (don't laugh, it does wonders for neutralizing black powder).
so what it's doing is working a little like wd40 with the high evaporation thinners and leaving the un-distilled oil from the Kerosene on the gun and whatever that citric stuff is to make it smell good.
Well to be fair, the banana oil is more of a myth. Jim is right with the MSDS.
The sweet smell is the Amyl Acetate, or so I understand.
But you're exactly right, the thinners evaporate quickly and leave a nice scent behind. It doesn't do enough in the lubrication department so you need to augment it, but it does well for removing fouling.
I mean it's hard to find a good solvent that also acts as a good lubricant. In that regard even WD40 doesn't completely fit the bill - although the people's choice works well for almost
every thing.
Squeaky mechanical object? WD-40. Need to lubricate something in a hurry? WD-40. Ran out of cutting oil- yep, WD 40. Break up with your girlfriend, you guessed it, WD 40.