# Remembered Smells



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 29, 2010)

A newly-opened can of Kiwi shoe polish.

Zippo lighter fluid.

Hoppes No. 9 bore cleaner.

What about you?


----------



## OnlyAnEgg (Mar 29, 2010)

mink oil on an old ball glove
diesel exhaust in the night
old books


----------



## wushuguy (Mar 29, 2010)

wd-40, solder, burning plastic, latex, dr. pepper, hospital, old people


----------



## Ken Morgan (Mar 29, 2010)

Bread baking in the oven.
Wet dog.
Baby powder.


----------



## Sukerkin (Mar 29, 2010)

Like Bill, Kiwi shoe polish (from when my grandad was teaching me how to re-cobble and re-finish shoes).

3-in-One Oil on iron from when my father taught me how to sharpen and use a scythe.

The marvellous smell of damp turned earth and potatoes from helping harvest.

Combined with that, the heavenly odour of a woodland in the rain - it might sound daft but if someone asked me what tranquility smelt like that would be it.

Paraffin from the old naked-flame heaters used in church (I used to be allowed to fill the reservoirs, trim the wicks and light them (under supervision of course)).

Candles burning and extinguishing (from the power-cuts in the early 70's).

Freshly (manually) cut wood (from learning how to carpenter (carpent? ) as a kid)


----------



## jks9199 (Mar 29, 2010)

Burning brakes & rubber
Cordite & powder smoke
Brasso
Oak & pine smoke
Soap & antiseptics


----------



## CoryKS (Mar 29, 2010)

Some plant that smelled like licorice in the hills over MCT at Camp Pendleton.  

The smell of my son's head when he was a baby.  (Johnson's Baby Lotion)

Gates' BBQ.  "HI, MAY I HELP YOU???"


----------



## punisher73 (Mar 29, 2010)

Growing up in the cereal capital of the world, smelling "Fruity Pebbles" each spring in the air.

Also, there is an old bookstore that I used to love to go to as a child that I liked.

Some smells can't be described, but the smell of my grandparents house.  Sometimes, something will trigger that and it will make me think of them.


----------



## crushing (Mar 29, 2010)

Those triangle shaped pencil grippers
The middle school cafeteria
Fly repellent for horses
Jovan Musk for Women


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 29, 2010)

CoryKS said:


> Some plant that smelled like licorice in the hills over MCT at Camp Pendleton.



I remember that smell so well!  I used to ride my motorcycle up and down PCH south of Pendleton, and coming down into the valleys, the air would get cold and you could smell that licorice-like smell so strongly!  Great one!


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 29, 2010)

A Coleman gas lantern.

A coal fire, such as from a stove, furnace, or boiler on a ship.


----------



## Steve (Mar 29, 2010)

The smell of kindergarten:  A combination of institutional cleaner, balogna and dried pee.  

Bonfires in high school on the beach.  The smell of the drift wood burning was unique... maybe because it was wet and mossy.  I don't know.

Weed.  

The smell of a German Gasthaus.  A wierd combo of mild body odor, strong beer, and the german menu.

Old books.


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 29, 2010)

The smell of a barroom in the morning (if you're sober).  Beer, sawdust, cigarettes, and something cold and unidentifiable; like despair lifting or sadness discarded temporarily.


----------



## Gordon Nore (Mar 29, 2010)

new car
new baby
fresh baked bread
canning vegetables


----------



## OnlyAnEgg (Mar 29, 2010)

oatmeal with maple syrup
old rolling rock bottles
metal dust by the grinding wheel


----------



## blink13 (Mar 29, 2010)

Creosote, especially after it rains.

Burning plastic, burning diesel, burning crap, burning flesh.  Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but that's war.

Cooking grease and paint aboard ship.


----------



## Ken Morgan (Mar 29, 2010)

Just before a thunderstorm hits, the smell of ozone in the air...


----------



## seasoned (Mar 29, 2010)

The smell of gun power while target shooting.

Freshly cut pine at Christmas.

The smell of Turkey permeating the whole house. Before cooking bags, that old bird would cook all night.


----------



## Carol (Mar 29, 2010)

Autumn leaves and wood smoke.

Freshly cleaned sheets.

Gasoline, or more specifically, the smell of gasoline as I was filling of my very first car.  Smelled like...freedom.

Roast duck.  I love the way my place smells when that is cooking up.


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 29, 2010)

Canvas GP tents.


----------



## blink13 (Mar 29, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Canvas GP tents.



C-4, the fresher the better (yes, they DID manufacture some after 1968).


----------



## Aikikitty (Mar 30, 2010)

Wood smoke (makes me remember camping as a kid and renaissance fairs  )

Old Books/Library

Whatever perfume my 3rd grade teacher wore. I loved her and was instantly flooded with memories of her when I smelled that same perfume on someone nearly 20 years later.

Clean sheets

Bondo--my dad used to do woodcarve a lot when I was a kid.

Grandparents--not sure how to describe it--not like "old people", more like the dry cleaners as both sets of grandparents always smelled the same.

Sweaty gi's and mats


----------



## KELLYG (Mar 30, 2010)

Wet pavement during a sudden summer shower,  Honeysuckle,  newspaper, burning leaves, wd40, fresh cut wood, freshly turned earth, summer night air, new leather, anything baking, coffee brewing, bacon frying, popcorn being popped, and the smell of the ocean.


----------



## CoryKS (Mar 30, 2010)

There's a Folger's plant down the street from where I work.  In the morning the whole area smells like roasting coffee. mmmmm


----------



## KELLYG (Mar 30, 2010)

Coffee brewing to me smells about a 1000 times better than it tastes, same with bacon.


----------



## Drac (Mar 30, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> A newly-opened can of Kiwi shoe polish.
> 
> Zippo lighter fluid.
> 
> ...


 
All the above...


----------



## Live True (Mar 30, 2010)

the old peppermint candy my grandfather use to have..smelled like a strong version of Pepto
Wisteria
fresh cut grass
baking bread
freshly turned soil on a hot summer day
the dusty warm smell of a cat's fur
old books mixed with earl grey tea
sheets fresh from a clothesline


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 30, 2010)

An old tube radio after it gets good and warm.


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Mar 30, 2010)

CoryKS said:


> There's a Folger's plant down the street from where I work.  In the morning the whole area smells like roasting coffee. mmmmm



I grew up in Golden, Colorado.  Drove past the Coors brewery on my way to High School.  I mean literally; I lived in Applewood and had to drive through a tunnel in the brewery on 32nd Avenue into Golden city limits.  Yes, that was some smell.


----------



## LuckyKBoxer (Mar 30, 2010)

I still remember the smell of the Brand new casette tape of Aerosmith Permanent Vacation from the late 80s when I opened it.

I remember the smell of the Firestorm here in San Diego a several years ago when I sat on my patio and could see flames on the hills south , west, and north of my house

I remember the smell of my sons breath when he had a horrible cold two years ago.

I remember the smell of blood from a huge fight I was in almost 20 years ago..

I have alot of smells remembered, most are rather specific and are engrained with sound, and sight and touch as well...


----------



## Msby (Apr 1, 2010)

San Francisco Chinatown= Roast Duck + Incense + Cigarettes + Old Shop Must + Fish + Dirt + More Cigarettes + Stir Fried Garlic + Deep Fried You Tiao

I didn't grow up in San Francisco. I'm actually from Los Angeles, but those collective smells remind me of good times visiting my relatives during summer or spring.  And as soon as I take a whiff of it all, I feel at home


----------



## The Last Legionary (Apr 1, 2010)

There are places I've been that the smell was, unique. A gaming shop in Rochester NY had the most memorable "whiffyness".

Nothing beats memories of camping as a kid, pine logs burning that special scent.  I miss my youth.


----------



## Hudson69 (Apr 1, 2010)

Granpa and Mae's house
Dad's shop with it's myriad (and dangerous) chemicals and metals scattered about.
Burning oil from a truck needing a ring or valve job
That odd coffee brand Mom always got Dad from the Commissary


----------



## Hawke (Apr 4, 2010)

Smell of money (my parents used to stash it when I was a kid).

Cap guns after being fired (played Lone Ranger).

Cheap plastic halloween masks (I dressed up either as Batman or Spiderman).

Fresh cut grass.

Wood smoke (doing partner work with rattan sticks reminds me of this as well).

Escape for women perfume. 

Roses (my mom had a rose garden).

Sweet Olive Tree.

Jasime.

Lavender.

Smell of old paperback books.

Smell of tobacco in a pipe.

The beach and open ocean waters (salty tang, my dad loved to go fishing).

The mountains (mixture of pinewood, fresh cut grass, camp fire).

Clothes fresh off the clothes line.

The smell after a hard rainstorm.


----------



## jim777 (Apr 5, 2010)

crayons
popcorn
snow, when you can smell it coming on the air before it comes - great winter smell 
garages that have motorcycles in them, another blast from the past


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Apr 5, 2010)

Exhaust from a two-stroke motorcycle.

Grandpa's old empty cigar boxes.

The smell of that sawdust-type stuff the janitor put down in the school hallways after some kid horked.


----------

