Perhaps it's a hint about the 31th of October - Halloween, coming up soon (see the wikipedia article on "bonfire toffee")? Perhaps it was the smell of burnt sugar and not candy... I'm thinking about a sugar beet refinery...
You can read more about bonfire toffee at wikipedia. Perhaps that will give you some hints...
I hope/wonder if this helps... :-)
About the loss of breath I have no idea.
Ivoryraven
