Not really sure if this qualifies as a guilty pleasure, but I enjoy it.
Let me start by saying that I have very little sense of smell most of the time. As a rule I can tell that there's some scent there, but usually I can't identify it. I really don't know why this is- it's just one of those things that I've had to learn to live with.

However, now and then my sense of smell kicks in and a scent will trigger very strong associations within me, usually resulting in nostalgia and longing.

Some that really do so:

-Scotch tape. It has to be that particular brand. The smell of the adhesive invariably makes me think of wrapping Christmas presents.

-lake water. A fairly clean lake will have a faint smell of fish and soil to it. Having grown up on the shore of a lake, it pulls me back instantly to summers spent swimming, playing around in the boat slip, or just sitting by the water at dawn with a cup of steaming coffee.

-the combination of the smell of spring and cigarette smoke. Years ago I smoked, and at the time did a variety of outdoor jobs. That was the time I loved cigarettes the most- standing in the cool breeze with the smells of things blooming, and a gentle hint of burning tobacco. Just now I stepped out to get my lunch and passed by someone who had just lit a cigarette, and I had the most horribly strong urge to go bum one from him...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 16:38, 5 replies)

Know what you mean about scotch tape
To me, it smells orange. Not LIKE an orange, but it makes me think of the colour orange. I'm not synesthesia-istic (or however you'd put it). It just makes me think of oranges. So there.

Orange.
( Fireflier La la la la, not listening on, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 16:51, closed)

Don't know why
But I don't like the word "Scotch". Seems a bit offensive to a Scots lad like myself :P

On topic though, I too have fuck all sense of smell. May have been from getting a battering in the nose during my rugby days or during various fights. Maybe it was meant to be.

When I CAN smell though I LOVE: Coffee in the morning when you're still groggy.

Freshly cut grass. Reminds me of my youth spent laying in the grass playing football.

And pine trees remind me of Christmas.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 17:02, closed)

Ciggies.
My sister and I, (mostly) non-smokers, like the morning-after smell of cigarettes. This is because we associate with childhood Christmasses when relatives who smoked would come round. In the morning they'd be gone (we'd have gone to bed early, of course) but the smell would linger.

Today, at work, I briefly smelt my primary school.
(singingringingtree Living in the past., Thu 13 Mar 2008, 19:57, closed)

It's definitely the smoke...
I have been a smoker for far too many years, but can still remember with pleasure the exact smell of a cigarette shared with my cousins on a frosty northern english november morning about 30 years ago. No cigarette since has ever tasted as good - but I keep trying.
(onefishtwofish Redfishbluefish, Thu 13 Mar 2008, 20:39, closed)

Evocative smells
I recently bought some Pears soap, you know, the clear glycerine based stuff. Once I used it I was immediately and vividly reminded of my Grandparents' house in a little village in North Wales. It was the only soap my Gran would use. I could even remember the shape and size of the bath and the strange dumpy 1930's taps.
Isn't the association with smells fascinating?




No?

Just me then.
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Fri 14 Mar 2008, 18:08, closed)