Ship of Fools: Sniff sniff ...

Thread: Sniff sniff ... Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

What is your favourite smell in the whole wide world?

Mine is my mint and tea tree shower gel - I wish they made perfume like it [Smile]

Posted by neandergirl (# 8916) on :

Green - like Christmas tress. When I was little my mother used Yardley's moss soap which was a wonderful scent (too bad it's not made anymore)

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

Orange blossoms. My town was the starting point of the navel orange industry in the U. S. It used to be that in blossom time the whole town smelled like a bouquet. Alas, there are now a lot more subdivisions and strip malls than groves. But when the wind is blowing right you can still get a big whiff of loveliness from the groves in the west. [Smile]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

We still have the lovely scent of citrus blooming every spring -- I have an orange tree in my backyard, and there are lots of citrus around.

Unfortunately, olive trees bloom at around the same time, which are a really bad allergen. People smell the citrus and assume that's what's causing their problems. I've explained to so many people that citrus pollen is heavy and sticky and can only be spread by birds and insects, whereas light, dusty olive pollen is spread by the wind.

Posted by Spike (# 36) on :

Beer

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

Mountain forests

Posted by irish_lord99 (# 16250) on :

The sea, especially far from civilization but near the shoreline.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

incense

Posted by Doone (# 18470) on :

The first grass cut in Spring, freshly baked bread.

Posted by Bene Gesserit (# 14718) on :

Incense - I'm with Leo on this one.

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

Coal smoke + hot oil + creosote = steam locomotives
Seaweed + sheep manure = Hebrides
Seaweed + peat = Lagavulin
Wet pine forests
Freshly baked mince pies.

And a strange one. When I inhale from an old jar of dried parsley flakes, I have a hauntingly clear picture in my mind of the meadow behind the house where we lived until I was six years old, yea these many decades ago. Parsley must have grown wild there.

Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

petrichor : the name of an oil that’s released from the earth into the air before rain begins to fall

[ 11. February 2017, 19:39: Message edited by: Ian Climacus ]

Posted by Daffodil (# 13164) on :

Sawdust, lavender and the sea....

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

Ian that clip was amazing, thank you.

I think that is my second favourite smell, my first being the smell of the New Zealand bush, especially after rain. I decided that I'm not really a bush tramper, more a bush wanderer and would be happy just to sit in a clearing and breathe. [Axe murder]

Huia

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

I love the smell of a stream running through the woods. This is a beloved scent from my childhood.

Horses. Love the smell of horses!

Posted by Tobias (# 18613) on :

Pine trees; newly-cut grass; rain after a long dry spell. Old books; incense; beeswax candles; clothes that have just come off the washing line, dried in the hot sun.

It shouldn't be too hard, when I go to heaven, for all of those things to be put near one another...

Posted by Tobias (# 18613) on :

Oh, and mixed spice - Christmas!

I'll stop now...

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

There are so many but I agree that Fresh Bread has to be way up there. I used to love the original Aramis cologne but sadly these days it makes me sneeze so I have transferred my affections to Cool Water by Davidoff.

The smell of onions frying gently is also pretty evocative.

[ 12. February 2017, 06:47: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

Thanks,Ian. I found that fascinating.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

Freshly baked bread straight from the oven takes some beating, but I'm also with WW on the subject of frying onions, especially if they have the company of a little* garlic.

Favourite commercial scents: Beautiful by Estee Lauder, because I wore it on my wedding day; Wild Musk by Coty, because (a) it's cheap; and (b) it takes me back to my youth.

Others: the smell of the old Orkney Arts Theatre back-stage, which was a heady mix of greasepaint and assorted tobacco smoke. Not particularly pleasant-sounding I know, but see (b) above.

* or quite a lot, as you wish [Big Grin]

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

Camp fire. Which is also why peaty scotch and lapsang souchon (tea). Wilderness association, of calm and away from trouble. Also sandalwood and spieck, because they are the smells of childhood, watching my father shave. Before hell openned itself into my life, and after, now, when heaven has returned. With bounce and rebound.

Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :

Rain, roses, freshly ground coffee, newly baked bread, baby's heads, that white paste we used in school that reminded me of almonds, butternut squash roasting.

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

It has to be caraway seeds. Any time I'm cooking, I can't resist just opening the jar and having a cheeky sniff.

I also confess I like the smell of some vaping products. Having grown up used to the smell of my grandmother's Rothmans cigarettes (a smell I detest) is quite nice to be walking behind someone who appears to be smoking, but then you suddenly get a faceful of something resembling freshly baked cinnamon doughnuts, or something else rather nice.

Posted by rolyn (# 16840) on :

Most of the above, although definitely not caraway seed.

Driving around I occasionally get the whiff of a bonfire with fir tree branches burning. Always lifts the spirits for some reason.
Also quite like low-level farmyard smells, dry earth etc. probably because I was reared on a small dairy farm.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

A peculiar mix of diesel, freshwater lakeshore, and faint creosote, that evokes happy days in Sea Scouts.

Posted by Helen-Eva (# 15025) on :

There's a sort of winter flowering evergreen shrub called Christmas box that smells better than anything.

Posted by nickel (# 8363) on :

Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus) - blooms last for a week or so in mid-Spring here. Fresh, sweet, light, spring-like.
"Lady of the Night" orchid (Brassavola nodosa) - the scent starts in the evening, persists until dawn. One small plant perfumes the air so strongly, I can't stand it directly in the bedroom.
The scent of an old-fashioned rose will take me back to a particular day, sometime in summer of 1968 or '69 perhaps, when my family visited an Oklahoma City park with roses in full bloom. I feel warm, loved, and surrounded by beauty.
Oh, and puppy breath [Yipee]

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

Spices in general, but particularly cardamom.

Citrus zest and tomato stalks.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Tree Bee:
Rain, roses, freshly ground coffee, newly baked bread, baby's heads, that white paste we used in school that reminded me of almonds, butternut squash roasting.

I'll second Tree Bee's list, add in Leo's ocean, clean dog fur, and crayons.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

Mom and Dad used to have a cat that smelled like freshly mowed grass. Don't ask me, I have no idea how or why. We would pick him up and smell him often, to his great delight.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

There is some sort of plant or grass that grows on the verges of roads and next to streams in the undergrowth, particularly in California. When cut it smells of green and yellow summer. I have never been able to identify it.

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

I use to say a wood fire but having been through a forrest fire I am sad to say this winter the smell of the wood burning stove made me feel uneasy. Vanilla has long been a favorite, and add to that the smell of the air before a snow fall. I would also add the smell of the ocean. So many heavenly smells out there.edited to add puppies, and babies.

[ 12. February 2017, 23:42: Message edited by: Graven Image ]

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

Mostly flower scents - violets, narcissus, wintersweet. Also some foods - roast dinner, fresh bread, spices.

Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on :

Coconut (except some of the fake soapy ones)

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
So many heavenly smells out there.edited to add puppies, and babies.

Puppies smell heavenly. Babies? Hmmmm, not so much!

[Razz]

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

Am perplexed by those who find the idea of the smell of dogs to be pleasant. Those creatures stink! A weekend of visiting my sister always entails throwing everything in the wash afterwards to get rid of the stench.

If you want a really pleasant smell, find a good bluebell wood in full bloom. Just hope there are no dog walkers about.

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

Hmmmm - Ctrl-F - search term "bacon". No occurrences.

What's wrong with you people?

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

Hyacinths. Hyacinths mean spring and sunshine and happy bits of childhood.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

Fraser firs are the official (IMHO) aroma of Christmas. The Christmas trees being sold this year were not great. They were dry and had small needles. However, I found a lovely, four and a half-foot green, fragrant tree. My house smelled of Christmas until the middle of January! Love it!

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

The origina Roger & Gallet men's eau de Cologne: citrussy and fresh, wonderful; and Chanel No 5 - two wonderful smells that transport me back to childhood.

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Hmmmm - Ctrl-F - search term "bacon". No occurrences.

What's wrong with you people?

Speaking as a failed vegetarian, I think you have a point.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

Old hippies who smell like patchouli.

Posted by ThunderBunk (# 15579) on :

Hell smells of hyacinths.

Heaven, on the other hand, smells of so many things. Hopefully, starting with really hot-grown basil. A grassy, spicy smell unlike any other and utterly intoxicating.

Posted by Egeria (# 4517) on :

A wind blowing off the sea and gusting across a California landscape filled with bay trees and wild fennel. Add lavender and it's heavenly.

Pines in the mountains.

Cardamom. Open the jar at home--lovely smell. The scent of cardamom from the spice market in Cairo--ahhh.

And the indefinable tang of the desert at Luxor (when the local farmers aren't burning sugar cane and the air is fresh).

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

The slightly musty smell of old books and archives.

Freesias.

Apple pie with cinnamon.

Posted by St Everild (# 3626) on :

Mmmm...the smell of good coffee and old books. Or new books. Not fussy, me. Just books.

The smell of whatever our cathedral staff put in the Oil of Chrism....(I would wear it as a perfume if I could...).

The smell of incense.

The old smell of my favourite perfume ("Aromatics Elixir"). But either my sense of smell has altered or they have tweaked the formula because although it still smells nice it doesn't smell the same.

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