What does 'cloying smoke' mean?

Question

I understand "cloying" to mean something good that becomes distasteful in excess.

Here is a sentence I read today from this article:

But the aerial assault on the stubborn blaze, which blanketed much of the New Orleans area with cloying smoke for a third straight day, is unlikely to extinguish the fire or end the smoke quickly, Landrieu said.

So when I read "cloying smoke" I assume the author intends to portray smoke as pleasurable in limited quantities? Is this just an idiom? Help me make sense of it. From a google search it appears the phrase is not uncommon.

Answer 1

The word "cloying" doesn't necessarily imply that the thing referred to is pleasant in small quantities. "Cloying" also means:

Cloying: 1.Unpleasantly excessive

This dictionary defines that "cloying" can be used to mean "unpleasant due to excess", without implying that the thing is pleasant in small quantities.

Answer 2

The applicable definition that the OALD gives is:

so sweet that it is unpleasant

Merriam Webster states similarly that:

disgusting or distasteful by reason of excess

I think that Merriam Webster's dictionary definition is applicable here. Smoke, in large quantities, is disgusting while a small amount may be tolerable. The definition does not imply that the thing described is pleasant in small quantities, only that it isn't intolerable.