# What unusual smells do you enjoy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067 "2003-05-04T20:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/21 "2003-05-04T23:22:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cornflakes \* > \*\*Diesel (I may be the only person who likes its smell) > \*\* Do you mean liquid or exhaust? Cause I’ll back you up on one of them. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/22 "2003-05-04T23:32:18Z")
The smell of a newly vacuumed room, dust and ozone, I suppose. The smell from the inside of a tent - hot plastic, grass, rainwater and mould. Very evocative. I love the smell of horses - manure, leather, sweat, hay, horse breath, hoof oil, it’s a really warm and happy smell. The smell from an Irish pub - cigarette smoke, wood, Guinness, wet tweed, peat smoke and hot whiskeys. ---
**Author:** ![chattywine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@chattywine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chattywine)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/23 "2003-05-05T00:18:24Z")
The coppery smell the air gets right before a lightning\_storm/rain. The whiff of lighterfluid when someone lights a cigg with a Zippo lighter. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/24 "2003-05-05T00:21:57Z")
The smell of a good fishmonger’s. The smell of dried cuttlefish. Just a tiny baggie is powerful enough to stink up a huge office space. ---
**Author:** ![ManDuh003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@ManDuh003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManDuh003)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/25 "2003-05-05T01:01:47Z")
I also love the smell Diesel. Both the liquid and the exaust, and I love the smell of the river when it floods. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/26 "2003-05-05T01:22:05Z")
skunk bus exhaust turpentine ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/27 "2003-05-05T01:25:05Z")
The scent of driftwood. The scent of a well-oiled, broken-in baseball glove. Recalls boyhood pick-up games in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/28 "2003-05-05T01:28:01Z")
New magazines. Mmmmm. Newspapers are good too. The smell of rain, especially when carried on a warm breeze. _sniff_ Ahh! ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/29 "2003-05-05T01:43:37Z")
Diesel exhaust, but not gas. Nothing like walking downwind of a construction site when they’re firing up that bulldozer. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/30 "2003-05-05T02:07:16Z")
Skunk Gasoline Rubbing alcohol Sulpher Old books ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/31 "2003-05-05T02:13:51Z")
Wet asphalt, again Steel, or almost any metallic smell ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/32 "2003-05-05T02:32:16Z")
Freshly baled hay (reminds me of playing in the barn on Grandpa and Grandma’s farm as a child). fresh-cut wet grass. The smell of the wood in the lumberyard. The sweet smell of a grain elevator. Mom’s lasagna. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/33 "2003-05-05T02:50:40Z")
Wow. I thought I was weird until I read the posts to this thread. I worked in an auto body shop during the '70s and respiratory protection wasn’t widely used then. That’s probably where I came to enjoy the aroma of many nasty things like: lacquer thinner enamel reducer methyl ethyl ketone acetone cutting oil when metal is being machined Beyond that, the more acceptable scents I favor are: kittens my grandmother’s house (a memory scent) lilacs honeysuckle ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/34 "2003-05-05T03:31:02Z")
I love the smell of a basement, but my favorite scent of all time is that of New Book. ---
**Author:** ![hyperjes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@hyperjes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyperjes)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/35 "2003-05-05T04:19:31Z")
Sharpie markers Nail polish Rubbing alcohol The way your hair smells after you come home from a really hot, smoky concert. But the best smell in the whole, wide world (IMHO) is brand new plastic- especially the kind that inflatable toys are made of. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/36 "2003-05-05T04:34:36Z")
Jiffy markers. Not Sharpies, but the original Jiffies. Heaven in a tube. Old Xerox mimeograph copies. Purple heaven. Leaded gas - the gas fumes and the exhaust it made. Unleaded gas smells terrible. Grapefruit - especially at Safeway in the produce section, where it wafts spicy in the air. Tomato plants. Baby aspirins and/or new work gloves that smell like baby aspirins. The ozoney smell of the air coming from the west just before a chinook blows into town in the middle of winter. The smell of rain on the air just before it starts pouring. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/37 "2003-05-05T04:37:29Z")
Oh, I forgot to mention for all you skunk-lovers that Indians believe that skunk smell helps with respiratory problems. So keep inhaling away :D. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/38 "2003-05-05T04:48:05Z")
Bounce dryer sheets New plastic Newly fallen snow (it has a smell, dammit!) Pastrami Ben Gay ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/39 "2003-05-05T04:56:35Z")
I second Youth Dew, my grandma wore it and I still love the smell. I have her jewelry box that _if I open it right_, still sends a little waft out. Machine shops and auto repair shops. Not the new ones, but the older ones, full of grease. Cat fur. Much to my cats dismay, I love burying my nose in their fur. Cedar closets. Old money. Mud. (okay, I also like the texture) Mimeograph ink. (an auditory fav is the CaChunkCaChunk of the machine 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067/40 "2003-05-05T05:13:17Z")
I’ve been discribed as a human bloodhound. I sniff EVERYTHING. - The patch of fur directly behind a cat’s ear…mmmm…heavenly! - My own um… bits after a shower. - Permanent marker pens - My kneecaps after I’ve sat out in the sun for a bit - My pillow - it has a mixture of smells from my hair, to my perfume, to cigarette smoke. It all comes together to make a yummy sniffing experience when I go to bed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-unusual-smells-do-you-enjoy/173067.md?page=3)