The Five Best Smells
Ben Domenech ·
April 21, 2012 at 11:05pm
I had the odd distinction of creating a hashtag the other day which became the number one trending hashtag in the world - in this case, #5bestsmells - which was chosen by all sorts of folks on Twitter as a spawning point for offering a public version of closely held sentiment. I view it as a sort of Proustian memory indicator of happiness and pleasure - my own #5bestsmells are, as follows: charcoal grill firing up, salt of the ocean, fresh cut grass, Light Blue on a woman, and bacon.
What's your own #5bestsmells, and what scents inspire various memories for you?
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Comments:
Re: The Five Best Smells
5. Cafe' Au Lait and beignets at the Cafe' Du Monde' in New Orleans
4. A glass of pure goodness; Southern Comfort bourbon
3. A pipe full of black cherry tobacco
2. My grandmother's gumbo
1. My great grandmother's wonderfully cooked and perfectly timed breakfast (sometimes interrupted by my great grandfather's habit of pawning off chocolate milk and candy peanuts to me behind great grandmother's back.)
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 3:47amFeb '12
Re: The Five Best Smells
Peter Robinson
This is encouraging, Ben, I'd agree. But so far I don't see that any women have mentioned the sweet, sweet aroma of...whiskey. · 2 hours ago
In a glass, yes...on the breath, not so much.
Jul '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
Several steaks on that grill; the smell of someone's fireplace while walking outside on a cold evening; bacon cooking; babies after a bath; and pipe smoke
Re: The Five Best Smells
Most of mine have been mentioned but:
orange blossoms and dirt in the Central Valley of California
lilies and incense at the Easter vigil
my parents' soapy smell (nothing like the smell of clean)
rain on paved roads
coffee, which I get to smell every day and every day it makes me happy.
Nov '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
The Vermont Country Store used to carry "White Shoulders" and probably still does.
And, I, too, like the smell of pavement after a sudden rain shower on a summer day.
Jun '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
Like others, most of mine have been mentioned:
1. The smell of my 3 month old grandson after a bath (though everytime I tend him for 15 minutes or more, he produces some real bad-smelling stuff).
2. Sage brush after rain (I grew up in sage country).
3. Even though I don't drink it, the smell of coffee is heavenly.
4. Lilacs.
5. Baking bread (which brings back the most wonderful memories of my Mom). Slice it hot, put on plenty of butter and raspberry jam, and its Nirvana-time.
I need a sixth: fresh-cut alfalfa (unless you have hay fever, in which case you'll be plugged up for a week--it must have a lot of pollen in it).
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 5:34amMay '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
Aug '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
The sea.
Coffee brewing.
Night blooming jasmin.
The Arizona desert after the rain.
Pinaud Club Man aftershave, the kind a real barber uses.
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 5:24amJun '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
M1919A4
And, I, too, like the smell of pavement after a sudden rain shower on a summer day. · 2 hours ago
When the steam is still coming off it. Nice smell.
Apr '11
Re: The Five Best Smells
In no particular order..."
- "...grace is the smell of rain..." (h/t Daniel Amos, & Frederick Buechner before that)
- Baby
- Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ in Kansas City
- Folgers Coffee plant roasting their wares in downtown KCMO (sadly, now a thing of the past)
- Pine trees in practically any of our great US national parks, in the morning dew
- books! (real ones, old ones)
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 6:37amRe: The Five Best Smells
1. Gas stations
2. Fresh paint
3. Freshly baked bread
4. Coffee
5. The inside of my guitar
Mar '11
Re: The Five Best Smells
1. Fresh air, with maybe a hint of damp canvas.
2. A campfire.
3. Fresh caught fish frying for breakfast.
4. Coffee brewing.
5. The four above, all at once.
Dec '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
5) Machine Oil
4) Summer Air just before it rains.
3) Slow Roasting Pork Shoulder
2) Methanol Burning Race Engine Exhaust.
1) Chanel No5 on the nape of a woman's neck.
Re: The Five Best Smells
Have you noticed that smells have an immense power to evoke nostalgia? I wonder why that is. It's as if the sense of smell is more directly connected to memory than the other senses.
Mar '11
Re: The Five Best Smells
Claire Berlinski: Have you noticed that smells have an immense power to evoke nostalgia? I wonder why that is. It's as if the sense of smell is more directly connected to memory than the other senses.
The first two are from my childhood, the rest have been acquired through experience.
1. A freshly plowed field in Central Illinois ( never to be smelled again in this day of "no-till")
2. A new-cut field of hay at dawn
3. Coffee just after it's ground
3. Any Parisian patisserie when the first bread comes out of the oven
5. A good cigar
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 3:22pmFeb '12
Re: The Five Best Smells
The New Clear Option: In no particular order..." · 9 hours ago
Edited 9 hours ago
Woot! Another Kansas Citian.
There's still "The Roasterie" that you can smell going south on I-35 between the loop and Southwest Trafficway. Smells great except for the dark roast days.
Aug '11
Re: The Five Best Smells
New Computer Smell
Church Incense
Honeysuckle
Post-rain ozone-laden air
Fresh cut grass
Jul '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
That inspires memories? No matter which building I entered, the smell of the first day of school was all the same.
Favorite? A Rodeo in a crisp fall.
Nov '10
Re: The Five Best Smells
Yes, and it makes me realize that I missed part of Ben's question. So, going back, and I don't remember what order I put them in (nor was the order important):
Feb '11
Re: The Five Best Smells
1. newly born baby head mmmmm -- my children, and my love for my husband incarnated
2. challah bread fresh from the oven on Friday afternoon -- my family
3. the first books I ever bought -- JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy -- had a smell I can recall to this day. Other books may have a similar smell, but none are quite the same.
4. freshly cut balsam tree -- Christmas, Emmanuel/God-with-us, family
5. laundered sheets air-dried in a brisk breeze and bright sunshine -- peace, home, snuggling with my sweetie
Edited on April 22, 2012 at 8:13pm