Does anyone else instantly sniff the newly opened packs of Post-its?
No?
Anyone?
What, no joke posts of loving the smell of farts and hot garbage?
I’m waiting…
Smells are kinda context dependent for me. Volatile chemical smells (electronics, Perkins’ Paste, etc) are fun when at work. But it’s then that I HATE food smells from the inconsiderate swine whipping up garlic curry in the office microwave.
But… when cooking, I adore the smell of cardamom pods and fennel.
And one I don’t think mentioned so far - cigar boxes. The smell of really good tobacco and cedar together is a wicked vice. Even if you don’t smoke it (and I am repulsed by smoking).
Asphalt (when it’s new and hot).
Patchouli- Yea
Popcorn- Yea
Jasmine- Yea
Bacon- Yea
Magnolia- Nay, I have never been a fan, it makes my eyes water
New car- Yea
White Shoulders- Nay, smells like grandma. Not my grandma, who smells of 4711 but generic grandma.
Cinnamon Rolls- Yea
Sandalwood- Yea
New electronics- Nay, can’t say I’ve ever noticed they have a smell.
New jeans- Yea
Coffee- Yea
Just mowed grass- Yea
Christmas tree- Yea
Campfire- Yea
Old Spice- Yea, smells like daddy, even though he usually wears Eau Sauvage, when we were little we’d buy him a bottle for father’s day, so he’s smell of Old Spice for a month or two every year.
Charcoal grilled burgers- Yea
The ocean- Yea
A bakery or a bread plant- Yea
Roses- Yea
My top 20 would probably be:
Cardamon
Chocolate
Jasmine
Bergamot
Leather
Coffee
Cinnamon
Ginger
The Sea
Bacon
Freshly cut grass
Forest after a heavy rain
Christmas tree
Pears Soap
Baby hair
Eau Sauvage (smells like my dad)
4711 (smells like my grandma)
Helmut Lang Cuiron (my husband’s aftershave)
Jean Paul Gaultier (my mum’s perfume)
And finally, one of my favourite smells is the smell of the Guinness Brewery at St James’s Gate wafting over Dublin on a summer afternoon- hops and barley in hot weather smell sleepy and comforting.
My favourite smells are more about evoking a special memory than just about being “nice smells”.
Ain’t it the truth! I find that the quickest and strongest recollection of “lost memories” comes with a smell or a combination of them. Old songs and music can evoke an entire setting or mood with associated things, faces and places. But a smell of just the right thing can bring back even more.
It’s always tantalizing to wonder about the why of such phenomena and I suppose one explanation might be from our primitive instincts when we relied more heavily on our other senses. Being able to have an instant recall of a pleasant (or more likely an unpleasant) experience associated with some smell might be a life saver, or at least serve as a strong warning.
Any other guesses why smells have such memory-evoking power?
I just tried it, does nothing for me. 
But did you fan the stack close to your nose and *truly * inhale? 
These would be my top ten:
Coffee
Bacon cooking
Breakfast sausage cooking
Lilac
Onions and garlic sauteing
Heaven Sent perfume (I think it was Avon)
Love’s Baby Soft perfume
Christmas tree
Flex Balsam and Protein Shampoo
Gojo
Puppy breath! I love that smell-- it’s sort of like a combination of coffee and peanut butter.
Oh yeah . . . there’s nothing like that smell. It’s intoxicating. At work, I find excuses to go over to our research library. Shelves of thousands of old books . . . yummy. (I once had the chance to sniff a copy of the Decameron. The research librarian saw me standing there, holding the book in my gloved hands inhaling the smell like it was a line of coke. She just smiled and nodded.)
I also love the smell of eucalyptus. My mother made me a bouquet of eucalyptus to hang on my wall. My bedroom smelled heavenly for a while. (Wish there was some way to make the scent come back to it now that it’s dry.)
That smell actually sickens me. I hate the smell of any type of pork.
See, puppy breath has always smelled like spoiled milk to me. But I can’t resist a puppy belly: so very warm and SO velvety soft, and the overall smell of a tiny puppy (if you stay away from his mouth!) is like heaven.
Babies usually elicit a “meh” from me, except in rare cases of cuteness or blood relation. But a puppy turns me into a blithering idiot every time.
lavender (surprised this hasn’t been mentioned so far)
Fresh roasted green chiles
Hoppe’s #9 gun cleaning solvent
A pack of fresh cigarettes - which is odd since I don’t smoke, but an unlit cigarette smells good
I’ll second that, though I never thought about it until now.
I did. In fact, it was an accordion-style post-it stack, so I played the accordion with it so as to establish sufficient airflow. The smell was vaguely reminiscent of Wilmington, Delaware. On that basis alone, I must say nay.