# Synthetic or "chemical" smells you love **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953 "2014-02-10T06:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/81 "2014-02-14T17:49:35Z")
One of the reasons I love circus peanuts is their powerful chemical smell. Especially the “bannana flavored” ones. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/82 "2014-02-14T18:51:58Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I like the smell of Play-Doh too. Ohhhh, that’s a good one! IIRC someone released a Play-Doh scented perfume a while back. Not chemical-y like the others, but unusual (I think) in that I LOOOOVVVVE the smell of my hands after I’ve chopped onions and/or garlic. I’ll sit there subtly\* huffing my own hands for hours afterwards. - I hope ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/83 "2014-02-14T18:56:18Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > One of the reasons I love circus peanuts is their powerful chemical smell. Especially the “bannana flavored” ones. So you’re the one that [loves them!](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1159/does-anybody-actually-like-circus-peanuts) I forgot they’re supposed to be banana flavored and not dead finger flavored. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/84 "2014-02-14T19:06:49Z")
I used to like the smell of white shoe polish–I don’t remember what it was called, but it came in a bottle with a little applicator and my mom used it on my saddle shoes until I was old enough to tell her that I hated saddle shoes and make it stick. 😃 However, I did love huffing the shoe polish. 🙂 ETA: Ooh, and I forgot about my favorite of all time: Bain de Soleil suntan goop. Not the stuff now, but from back in the '70s. It came in a tube and looked like reddish brown paint, and to this day catching a whiff of anything even close transports me back to my childhood, lying next to our little pool in the summer and reading book after book. If I could find something that had the same smell now, I’d buy some just so I could sniff it on regular occasions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SuperSmartAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@SuperSmartAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperSmartAlex)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/85 "2014-02-14T19:25:04Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Anybody besides me like the smell of pool chlorine? I do! I also love the smell of bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/86 "2014-02-14T19:26:53Z")
Gasoline, permanent markers, glue, I like the smell of pencils (reminds me of when I first started going to school), baby powder, perfumes and colognes and scented oils too… I wonder why gasoline is basically universal… I thought I was the only one and weird, but also awesomely unique… ---
**Author:** ![BraveLittleChicken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@BraveLittleChicken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraveLittleChicken)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/87 "2014-02-15T18:23:22Z")
Vinyl. That’s all I’m going to say. I used to work in a fabric store and every time I had to cut vinyl was magical. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/88 "2014-02-15T18:30:50Z")
Nail polish. I love doing my nails. Brand-new crayons. ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/89 "2014-02-15T23:23:37Z")
I made a list of my favorite smells from this thread: Gasoline Glue Baby powder (My Addition) Bleach Play-Doh Freshly sharpened wooden pencils Permanent markers Freshly printed money New car smell Oil Sulfuric smell of lighting off fireworks. White-out correction fluid LYSOL Diesel exhaust A new book Tar Mowed lawn New tennis balls. Laundry soap. Dryer Sheets (My addition) New carpet Turpentine Stale cigarettes (My addition) Rubber Bands (My addition) Rubber When you get a new toy and the plastic smell is there in the box(My addition) Windex Wood Sunscreen Rubbing alcohol Fireplace Fire (My addition, not sure if this counts as a “chemical” smell) Newspapers (new) I like the smell of before it rains (My addition) Opening a pair of new shoes Pool chlorine Beach balls ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/90 "2014-02-15T23:34:54Z")
> [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > Crayons. A new box of crayons. That’s from stearic acid. When you smell stearic acid you know you’re going to have a good time, ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/91 "2014-02-16T00:08:51Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I like the smell of Play-Doh too. Yup. Surprised it took so long to come; it was the very first thing that came to me, anyway. And Vick’s VapoRub makes me feel taken care of. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/92 "2014-02-16T08:29:58Z")
:smack: How could I have forgotten menthol? Also rubber cement and grade-school paste. Almost good enough to eat! I think it was already mentioned up-thread, but WD-40. Linseed oil. Vinegar in small doses. Reminds me of dying Easter eggs. Spray paint in the most non-huffing way possible. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/93 "2014-02-16T08:47:42Z")
Can’t forget latex-based house paint either! At least while you’re rolling it on. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/94 "2014-02-16T15:02:28Z")
Oh, pencil shavings bring me back to school. And chalk dust. I know this is a hijack but I have previously read somewhere that Baby Boomers overlap a transition period in regards to childhood smells and memory … early Boomers and older associate most childhood emotions with smells like cut grass, foods baking, and of the natural environment; later Boomers and later more the man-made product smells, like Play-Doh and crayons. Any input by age here? (Me, I am a later Boomer and clearly straddle both but more “artificial” smells.) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/95 "2014-02-16T16:20:34Z")
That’s interesting **DSeid.** I’m a Gen-Xer, born 1973. I have fond memory smells (and a love) of sharpened pencils, cut grass, water from a hose, baked cookies, etc. but of course those are all outside the bias of the OP. Not saying there isn’t anything to that though. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/96 "2014-02-16T19:34:34Z")
Many years ago in my college chemistry lab I opened a glass bottle containing a pinkish flaky substance. One whiff sent me to another galaxy, to my fictional planet (I used to live entirely within my head those days). It was just a \*\*\*sci-fi \*\*\*kind of smell. Difficult to describe. No smell affected me as strongly as that. Dont know what it was - but it was _awesome_. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/97 "2014-02-16T19:40:05Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Many years ago in my college chemistry lab I opened a glass bottle containing a pinkish flaky substance. One whiff sent me to another galaxy, to my fictional planet (I used to live entirely within my head those days). It was just a \*\*\*sci-fi \*\*\*kind of smell. Difficult to describe. No smell affected me as strongly as that. Dont know what it was - but it was _awesome_. It, uhh, didn’t smell garlicky… Did it? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953/98 "2014-02-16T20:19:30Z")
I love the smell of new electronic toys, where you open the box and have to turn it upside down to shake it out because the foam packing is so tight. And then pull the foam off of each end and then open up the plastic bag to get the full aroma. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-or-chemical-smells-you-love/680953.md?page=4)