Remembered Smells

Bill Mattocks

Sr. Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
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A newly-opened can of Kiwi shoe polish.

Zippo lighter fluid.

Hoppes No. 9 bore cleaner.

What about you?
 
wd-40, solder, burning plastic, latex, dr. pepper, hospital, old people
 
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? :D) as a kid)
 
Burning brakes & rubber
Cordite & powder smoke
Brasso
Oak & pine smoke
Soap & antiseptics
 
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???"
 
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.
 
Those triangle shaped pencil grippers
The middle school cafeteria
Fly repellent for horses
Jovan Musk for Women
 
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!
 
A Coleman gas lantern.

A coal fire, such as from a stove, furnace, or boiler on a ship.
 
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.
 
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.
 
oatmeal with maple syrup
old rolling rock bottles
metal dust by the grinding wheel
 
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.
 
Just before a thunderstorm hits, the smell of ozone in the air...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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