Adobe generally refers to all buildings made of unfired earth and consists of the following ingredients: Sand, Dirt, Straw, Dung and Water. Sand and dirt are dug from the ground and then mixed with water and chopped straw. The dirt gives the mixture cohesion, and the sand acts as an inert filler. The straw (or rice chaff/ other vegetal matter) is mixed in so that after the mixture is dry, moisture has a way of being conducted from the center of the blocks or walls out to its exposed surfaces, resulting in unified drying and reduced cracking. Dung is used because, once mixed in with other ingredients it acts as an insect repellant. While many of us would think this would act as a “human repellant” too, the fact is that humans cannot smell it at all once it has been mixed in and dried.