# What are your favorite smells? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450 "2006-09-20T18:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/41 "2006-09-21T13:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=nonacetone] Showing my age here… In grade school, the smell of the freshly copied papers that the teacher would hand out. They smelled best while they were still warm. [/QUOTE] Mimeograph. Those are the purple ones, right? (I always get the two old-time reproduction types mixed up.) I could die in a sea of those without regret. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/42 "2006-09-21T14:03:13Z")
While not in the league of the scent of a woman, I also like: Cedar logs burning in a fireplace. Those little pine-needle pillows that, when squeezed, smell like pine trees. Incense. (everyone else in the house hates it. I feel like a drug-addict every time I selfishly burn a cone) The smell by a stream in the next town over when the flowers bloom. The smell of an old-time hardware store with stained wood-plank floors and a paint-can shaker making a racket in the back. (and yes, the gunpowder smell. Maybe its a guy thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/43 "2006-09-21T14:03:34Z")
Fresh popcorn and coffee. Nbody’s mentioned the smell of an actual laundromat. It’s so clean. And anything lavendar. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/44 "2006-09-21T20:11:31Z")
Frying onions. Anything else is a distant runner-up, at best. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/45 "2006-09-21T20:38:43Z")
I don’t know why, but I love the smell of a candle whose flame has just been blown out. If they could package this smell, I’d buy it. Scented candles are fine, but the just-blown-out smell is even better. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/46 "2006-09-21T20:59:25Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] I don’t know why, but I love the smell of a candle whose flame has just been blown out. [/QUOTE] Ooh..good one. I may have to buy a few hundered candles to burn and blow out. I have to second wood smoke and the earth after rain…and… Vinegar. I love the smell of vinegar. Mmmm. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/47 "2006-09-22T04:09:58Z")
Cinnamon. Freshly-baked bread. Roasting chicken. Gardenias. Horses. Most people don’t appreciate this smell, but since I associate it with the horses, it makes me happy (I just have to shower before being around non-horse people). Cookies in the oven. Hot chocolate. Fresh coffee beans. Honeysuckle. Guy smell. I can’t describe this one, but you know what I’m talking about. New books. A really sensitive sense of smell seems to run in the women of my family. Although it’s somewhat mitigated by allergies at the moment, I’ve had some awful problems with it in the past (try living with a smelly roommate!) I’m sure I’ll be back with more. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/48 "2006-09-22T13:00:45Z")
Horses- that wonderful clean barn smell of hay, leather, sweat and wood shavings. I could get high on it. Honeysuckle. Lilacs. Wood smoke. Rain. Laundry fresh off the line. Puppy breath. Thanksgiving dinner cooking. Leather. Polo aftershave. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/49 "2006-09-22T15:17:29Z")
Here’s [an old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=277116) on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Schlep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Schlep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schlep)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/50 "2006-09-22T16:58:14Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Am I nuts, or is this much more noticeable among women over 40? [/QUOTE] That scent is called “ripened on the vine”. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/51 "2006-09-22T17:00:04Z")
[QUOTE=Schlep] That scent is called “ripened on the vine”. [/QUOTE] Sounds more like a case of sour grapes. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/52 "2006-09-23T02:53:26Z")
My handcream-it’s cocoa butter and shea. It’s heavenly. Vanilla. Roses. Brand new books. Crayons. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/53 "2006-09-23T11:37:45Z")
Was it in “Christine” that the guy said “Only one thing better than the smell of a new car, and that’s pussy” ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/54 "2006-10-16T02:05:43Z")
Originally Posted by Count Blucher: As a young lad, I found that there was a scent that some women would wear at parties that would occasionally drive me to madness. […] “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied cooley. “I’m not wearing any perfume.” Beware of Doug: (yeah, That scent… ) Am I nuts, or is this much more noticeable among women over 40? Um… Maybe I’m having a dumb day, and I’m sure it’s pretty obvious, but what smell is this? Is it of a woman’s genitals, or her arousal, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/55 "2006-10-16T05:32:41Z")
My mom had a thick mohair winter coat. I will never forget the way it smelled when she came home on a snowy winter evening. It meant, “Mom’s home, everything’s all right for another day.” I don’t even know what mohair comes from, but Og bless the mo. They smell just right. ---
**Author:** ![What\_s\_That\_Smell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3bc359/32.png) [@What\_s\_That\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_s_That_Smell)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/56 "2006-10-16T05:43:33Z")
Mangoes, a woman’s freshly-washed hair, fresh coffee, rain, crisp new cash, leather, freshly-baked bread, daffodils, her pillow after a woman gets out of bed in the morning, my favourite comfy red t-shirt straight out of the tumble dryer. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/57 "2006-10-16T22:25:56Z")
A peat fire. Timely thread bump, as a box of peat bricks got delivered this afternoon. (Note to Irish dopers: Yes, Irish-Americans are a little crazy sometimes.) ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/58 "2006-10-16T22:56:06Z")
Vanilla. Baking cookies. Actually, _any_ kind of bread or pastry baking. (Walking into an italian bakery early in the morning is the _best_) Wood fires and burning leaves. New electronics just extracted from the box. (Geeky, I know. I hate “new car smell” though.) A freshly opened jar of peanut butter. Fresh cut grass in the summer. A new leather jacket. I just treated mine with Urad though, so it no longer smells like new leather. ☹ Bewing coffee. Pipe smoke. (My late grandfather on my mother’s side smoked a pipe, and I always loved the smell) Axe Snake Peel shower scrub. (Smells awesome. Great exfoliant, too.) Chai. Hay. (Hey!) Barns in general. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/59 "2006-10-17T01:05:21Z")
- hot train brakes - steam locomotives - subway stations - the road after rain - diesel fuel - diesel fuel mixed with brine (the smell of the waterfront - a childhood thing) - eucalypt forests - baking / roasting food of most any description (scones are good) - tomato and basil simmering in a saucepan - book smells (plural, because there are different types, and I love them all) - gunpowder - tobacco (unlit) - _old_ car smell ( the smell of 1970s [and earlier] cars with lots of rubber and vinyl in them) - the smell of _clean_ (household cleaning products, usually - disinfectant, bleach, etc) - cats (I dunno why, but cats have a strangely pleasant, subtle smell) ---
**Author:** ![goldenmean1975](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@goldenmean1975](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldenmean1975)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450/60 "2006-10-17T02:42:46Z")
This is a great thread missed it the first time around, glad it got bumped: limes, fresh ones only, especially the rind part, horses, I will put my face in their mane and just inhale( sounds gross to some folks I’m sure) dogs feet another gross one, I just like that smell. Its comforting or something if its a clean dog. Gasoline, rubbing alcohol, vanilla,coffee, freshly bailed hay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-smells/373450.md?page=4)