# What scents are locked away in your mind from your childhood ?



## MarkinPhx (Nov 20, 2020)

First for me is a freshly printed page from a mimeograph machine. I am sure the teachers got a kick whenever they saw students sniff the freshly printed page. 



Second scent that I remember fondly is that of freshly baked persimmon cookies. My mom did not bake much but she did make persimmon cookies at Christmas time. The third scent that comes to mind is that of orange blossoms. Every spring the air was filled with the scent. Sadly there are not many orange groves in the city I live anymore so it is rare that I get to experience that scent either.


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## Gaer (Nov 20, 2020)

scents?  Cottonwood trees and the scent of the rushing Yellowstone River.  Yes, the water has a scent.  and Lilacs.


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## needshave (Nov 20, 2020)

When I was about 6 or 7, My cousin and I use to walk home from school. On the way home we passed the woodworking shop of my grandfather. We used to stop in to see grandpa and there we would see piles of curly wood shavings laying on the floor from his activities throughout the day and week, it was all hand planed pine and the smell of freshly worked pine is always very fragrant and lasting. Grandpa wouldn't take time to clean out the shop until he couldn't work anymore. To this day I can remember the scent of fresh pine, see the piles of freshly planed pine and my grandfather working away. Today.....I do the same.


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## hollydolly (Nov 20, 2020)

The wonderful smell of a new Store catalogue...


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## Aneeda72 (Nov 20, 2020)

I so wish our neighbors had picked up the dog poop in their yard.  We all know what that scent is.


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## Autumn (Nov 20, 2020)

The scent of my grandmother's lilac bushes when they were fully in bloom, and the scent of the rose cologne she wore.

The scent of the barns on my great uncle's dairy farm...hay, feed, cow poop and who knows what else...but very distinctive.

The scent of my grandfather's pipe tobacco.

...and the heavy, stale smell of cigarette smoke and dirty ashtrays...both of my parents were heavy smokers.


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## Lewkat (Nov 20, 2020)

My mother's homemade bread baking in the oven.  Also, stepping outside and smelling clover.  Love it.


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## win231 (Nov 20, 2020)

When I was 4, I had a piano teacher that smelled like an old ashtray.  I didn't know at the time that smoking could make someone smell that bad. And she often sat on the bench right next to me.....while I tried not to breathe.


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## MarkinPhx (Nov 20, 2020)

win231 said:


> When I was 4, I had a piano teacher that smelled like an old ashtray.  I didn't know at the time that smoking could make someone smell that bad. And she often sat on the bench right next to me.....while I tried not to breathe.


My parents smoked and all of their friends smoked so I guess I was rather immune to the smell back then.


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## dobielvr (Nov 20, 2020)

The aroma of freshly baked bread.  My grandparents owned a bakery, (still in the family), and when I was a kid staying at my grandmother's, they lived right next door to the bakery, and you could smell the bread baking.

When the bread was done, they'd put the racks outside so the bread could cool, so the whole neighborhood could enjoy it.

Such a fond childhood memory.......


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## peramangkelder (Nov 20, 2020)

My Grampa smelled like 'Old Spice' for men and sometimes his nice smelling pipe tobacco that had port wine in it


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## peramangkelder (Nov 20, 2020)

'Pledge' furniture spray
My Grandma accidentally sprayed it on her hair once thinking it was her hairspray


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 20, 2020)

Oh my word, so many! Both good and bad...

*The good*: 

- The aroma of Christmas baking, specifically shortbread cookies. Moms were the best! My job was putting the red and green cherries on top.
- Pickling salt (canning season), how I loved that smell! Used to sniff so hard to suck in ever ounce of it! Pure delight!
- Liver and onions! OMG, so heavenly and so delicious!
- Johnson's Baby Powder... changing my baby siblings.
- Tame (brand) hair conditioner! Moms favourite! It was off bounds to us kids, but I used to sneak a little every now and then!

*The bad*: 

- The ammonia odour of my baby siblings plastic diaper pail. So strong it burned your nose and eyes!
- Hair perms! Oh... my... goodness!!! Those 1970's perms... talk about stink! So disgusting! The residual smell in the air burned your nose and eyes for days after!
- Crib sheets soiled with baby puke. Stripped and changed baby siblings cribs all the time.
- Changing baby siblings wet ammonia-soaked cloth diapers and rubber pants! Pee-ew! Mornings were the worst! Multiple wettings through the night... smelled like boiled and mashed turnips! Used to make me wince and gag!
- The smell of cigarette smoke in the morning! Used to make me want to heave!


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## Gary O' (Nov 20, 2020)

What scents are locked away in your mind from your childhood ?​
The smell of Dr Day
He made house calls
Came to our house two or three times
Smelled heavily of disinfectant and tobacco

Comic books
Whatever they made those pages of, they gave off an unmistakable aroma

And, of course, the Christmas tree

However

The best was;

*Gramma*
Cheap perfume, rouge, and a half stick of double mint gum
That may have put me to sleep at nap time
Nestled in her pillowy arms
Listening to her whine out an ol' song

Grammas
Everbody should have at least one
They come with unforgettable smells


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## Murrmurr (Nov 20, 2020)

I agree, Gary O'. My grandma's water gardens had multiple, distinct smells; the water itself, the flowers and water plants growing in and around them, the frogs and bugs. Even the algae had an aroma. Sometimes I can smell it at night, vividly and unmistakably. Someone told me that's because my grandma's spirit was visiting on those nights.


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## Gary O' (Nov 20, 2020)

Murrmurr said:


> My grandma's water gardens had multiple, distinct smells; the water itself, the flowers and water plants growing in and around them, the frogs and bugs. Even the algae had an aroma.


Oh, now *THAT'S *a memory

The creek by our old place, slow moving, muddy, algae, slimy in places, skunk cabbage, frogs, salamanders, bugs galore.
*The aroma*
Distinctive
Ever once in awhile, when fishing a slow stream, I'll breathe in that scent......and it will haunt me
Send me back
Nothing quite like it


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## Repondering (Nov 20, 2020)

The fragrance of orange tree blossoms and foliage from my grandmother's property in Arizona.....long gone now.
Swimming pool chlorine....whenever I smell it I recall the club my family belonged to 50 years ago.
Firecracker smoke.....when I smell it I recall Chinese New Year celebrations from 50 years ago.
The aroma of old books.....our club had a library too....when I wasn't hanging around the pool I was in the library.


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## Gary O' (Nov 20, 2020)

The aroma of newly fired caps from a cap gun

So wish kids of today could experience that


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## peramangkelder (Nov 20, 2020)

I love the smell of a real library especially if it has a Local History Section like ours does
The old books definitely do have an aroma all their own


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## peramangkelder (Nov 20, 2020)

Gary O' said:


> The aroma of newly fired caps from a cap gun
> 
> So wish kids of today could experience that


My son used to love his cap gun but he used it so much he became really ill from the fumes he inhaled
I had to ring our Poisons Information Centre and they explained that he inhaled mostly Sulphur and he was sensitive to it


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## FastTrax (Nov 20, 2020)

I don't know how true it is but some people I used to know would huff this for the sweet smell I guess.



Some other people I used to know would go to the dentist quite often and tell the dentist that they were allergic to Novocaine I guess that too.



Now me I always did and still do like the smell of money. That I willingly admit to.



I also didn't inhale, scouts honor.


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## Gary O' (Nov 20, 2020)

@FastTrax 

A dentist friend of mine had nitrous oxide parties

A say 'had'

Last heard he's now practicing in Mexico


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## fmdog44 (Nov 20, 2020)

The horrific stench of my next-door neighbor's filthy kitchen.


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## FastTrax (Nov 20, 2020)

Gary O' said:


> @FastTrax
> 
> A dentist friend of mine had nitrous oxide parties
> 
> ...



Okay GO' but just for informational purposes could you PM me with his phone number?


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## win231 (Nov 20, 2020)

I just remembered - when I was 9 yrs old, my mom took me to Europe with her to meet her weird family.
While we were in Paris to visit her sister, I walked into a cheese store.  After a few breaths, I had to run out to avoid upchucking.


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## jujube (Nov 21, 2020)

Moth balls. A bad smell to most but they remind me of my grandmas' houses, where fun times were had on all occasions.  

As Gary said, everyone should have grandmas, no matter what their houses smell like.


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## Pappy (Nov 21, 2020)

One scent I remember from childhood was lilac trees. We had several of them on the old homestead. When I came out in the morning, that delicious smell would fill the air.


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## Liberty (Nov 21, 2020)

One of my very first jobs when I was a teenager was "stripping" at a printing company.  We used exacto knives and rubber cement.  We rolled the used rubber glue into big round balls that you could bounce around.  The odor was unforgettable ...used to love sniffing it.  Guess it would get you high if you inhaled enough...what did we know?!

Also rubber tires.  A good friend of the family had a car repair/tire shop and it always smelled like rubber.   Love that smell, and gunpowder.  We'd go hunting pheasants in the fall and shooting skeet.  The shotgun shell smells were so memorable.


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## Damaged Goods (Nov 21, 2020)

Elderly men had an unusual "aroma" about them.  It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant.  Mentioned this once back-in-the-day to my BFF and he agreed.  I wonder if all young kids experienced this sensation.

If so, I wonder if the kiddos today think that I emanate the same 
__________

And I suspect that every guy recalls the aroma of a perfume from his 1st crush.  Not a crush in my case but rather an experience with a girl who asked me to dance several times, lady's choice, big, shy, stumbling me who never asked anyone to dance and who couldn't even do a decent slow dance.

The guys were taken with this girl, thought she was belle-of-the-ball but in actuality she was merely different or exotic with hair down to the middle of her back when the prevailing style was bangs (early 1960).  Recall from 1950's grade school days, she was rather snotty as a child.

But because of all the hype about her, my heart went slightly aflutter, and the aroma (later learned to be "My Sin" perfume) or thoughts of same caused that flutter for a number of years afterward.

(Silly male.)


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## MarkinPhx (Nov 21, 2020)

Repondering said:


> The fragrance of orange tree blossoms and foliage from my grandmother's property in Arizona.....long gone now.
> Swimming pool chlorine....whenever I smell it I recall the club my family belonged to 50 years ago.
> Firecracker smoke.....when I smell it I recall Chinese New Year celebrations from 50 years ago.
> The aroma of old books.....our club had a library too....when I wasn't hanging around the pool I was in the library.


The smell of chlorine is a good one .


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

jujube said:


> Moth balls. A bad smell to most but they remind me of my grandmas' houses, where fun times were had on all occasions.
> 
> As Gary said, everyone should have grandmas, no matter what their houses smell like.


OMG, yes!

My grandmas house, too! Mothballs everywhere!


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> *Elderly men had an unusual "aroma" about them.  It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant.  Mentioned this once back-in-the-day to my BFF and he agreed.  I wonder if all young kids experienced this sensation.
> 
> If so, I wonder if the kiddos today think that I emanate the same *
> __________
> ...


Bath or shower once daily and change your underpants, socks and shirt daily, you should be able to separate yourself from that distinguished old man smell club.


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## Damaged Goods (Nov 21, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Bath or shower once daily and change your underpants, socks and shirt daily, you should be able to separate yourself from that distinguished old man smell club.



Haven't worn sox since I retired in 1997.


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> Haven't worn sox since I retired in 1997.


Wow! While I love the barefoot feeling, there are times (and occasions), especially over the course of the winter months, where I need to have my feet blanketed in a pair of thick, warm socks.


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## MarkinPhx (Nov 21, 2020)

Model glue is another scent I thought of. I spent many hours making models of WW2 battleships and planes and opening up that tube of model glue always was a pleasant smell to me. MIght explain a lot of things about me these days


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## Damaged Goods (Nov 21, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Wow! While I love the barefoot feeling, there are times (and occasions), especially over the course of the winter months, where I need to have my feet blanketed in a pair of thick, warm socks.



That's because your feet aren't numbed yet.

Give it time.


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> That's because your feet aren't numbed yet.
> 
> Give it time.


ROFLMAO!

Thanks for the laugh, Damaged!


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## Pinky (Nov 21, 2020)

MarkinPhx said:


> Model glue is another scent I thought of. I spent many hours making models of WW2 battleships and planes and opening up that tube of model glue always was a pleasant smell to me. MIght explain a lot of things about me these days


Sooo, _that's _what happened to me and my younger brother


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## john danson (Nov 21, 2020)

Maypo


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## Devi (Nov 21, 2020)

Oh my ... Maypo! It cost more than regular maple syrup but I pestered my mother to get it. Then didn't like the taste! Not a pleased mother (aside from not having to buy it again, no doubt). Not sure if she made us consume it all ... I draw a blank there.


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Devi said:


> Oh my ... Maypo! It cost more than regular maple syrup but I pestered my mother to get it. Then didn't like the taste! Not a pleased mother (aside from not having to buy it again, no doubt). Not sure if she made us consume it all ... I draw a blank there.


Thank you for posting your story, Devi, as I had never heard of "Maypo" before.


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## CinnamonSugar (Nov 21, 2020)

The English lavender we grew in our S. California backyard and my mom would make into sachets


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## Rosemarie (Nov 21, 2020)

When I was about 4 years old, we lived in a house which had lemon scented bushes in the garden. I can still recall the smell.


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## RadishRose (Nov 21, 2020)

The smell of old time gasoline (leaded?)
My mother's perfume
Salt air at the beach
Coffee and cigarettes


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Another of mine is the scent of the gas or fuel my baby brother used in his Cox gas-powered airplane.

Way different than ordinary gas. Loved the smell.


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## Chet (Nov 21, 2020)

Seems like we all have a lot of our olfactory memories in common, so all I can add is the smell of incense from church.


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## Pinky (Nov 21, 2020)

Chet said:


> Seems like we all have a lot of our olfactory memories in common, so all I can add is the smell of incense from church.


I, too, recall the incense from when I went to the Japanese Buddhist Church with my mother in Vancouver.


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## Sassycakes (Nov 21, 2020)

*I can still remember the smell on Sunday Mornings of my Mom cooking her Gravy for our Sunday dinner. My Dad's "Old Spice" Cologne.*


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Sassycakes said:


> *I can still remember the smell on Sunday Mornings of my Mom cooking her Gravy for our Sunday dinner.*


When mom and dad had a little extra money leftover from payday, mom would make a special Sunday night supper, and I remember the favourite in our house was roast beef, with gravy, carrots, potatoes, and Yorkshire Puddings, and the aroma in the house was heavenly.


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## win231 (Nov 21, 2020)

peramangkelder said:


> I love the smell of a real library especially if it has a Local History Section like ours does
> The old books definitely do have an aroma all their own


I read that the aroma is from a type of mold/fungus that grows on old paper.


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## win231 (Nov 21, 2020)

When my mom cooked liver, the whole house smelled like something died.
I could eat it only after smothering it in half a bottle of catsup.


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## hollydolly (Nov 21, 2020)

Hot Tar  !

When I was around 5 or 6 it was only 15 years after the war ended, and Scotland had taken a battering , so roads were continually being repaired, so as a small child I was always getting into trouble for sitting down on the pavement while out playing, and getting still warm Tar on my clothes...


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 21, 2020)

Gary O' said:


> The aroma of newly fired caps from a cap gun
> 
> So wish kids of today could experience that


Even I remember the smell of spent cap-gun caps!

Baby brother had one cap-gun that shot the red paper rolls of caps, and then came a more modern version that were red also, but made out of plastic and had little nubs all around them.


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## Pinky (Nov 21, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Hot Tar  !
> 
> When I was around 5 or 6 it was only 15 years after the war ended, and Scotland had taken a battering , so roads were continually being repaired, so as a small child I was always getting into trouble for sitting down on the pavement while out playing, and getting still warm Tar on my clothes...


We used to chew that warm asphalt like it was gum. It's amazing we never got ill from it!


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## hollydolly (Nov 21, 2020)

Another thing I remember oh so clearly is Cobblers Rubber Glue...

My granda had a cobblers shop, and the smell of glue was sooo strong..


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## Pinky (Nov 21, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Another thing I remember oh so clearly is Cobblers Rubber Glue...
> 
> My granda had a cobblers shop, and the smell of glue was sooo strong..


My sister had a friend whose father had a cobblers shop as well, Hols. To this day, I love the smell of glue .. and shoe polish.


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## Gary O' (Nov 21, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Baby brother had one cap-gun that shot the red paper rolls of caps


Yeah, those...and a hammer

*BOOM!*


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## Chet (Nov 21, 2020)

My mother's warm apple pie fresh out of the oven.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 21, 2020)

My 1st grade teacher who I was deathly afraid of wore a perfume that if I smelled it today it would make me shutter.
My Grandma making jam and jelly. The open kettle method which filled the whole kitchen with a wonderful aroma.
My grandpa would gather punks, as he called them, He dried them and when we would sit outside he would light them and the smoke kept the misquotes away.
Privet hedge. People don't usually care for the smell of the blossoms but to me it was heavenly because it bloomed in the spring and I knew I'd be out of school soon.


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## FastTrax (Nov 21, 2020)

Who hasn't gotten high at rock concerts. Just something I heard.


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## hollydolly (Nov 21, 2020)

Oh another I remember is my aunties, cheap hair ''laquer'' as it was called back in the 60's... oh that stuff stunk, it was very cheaply perfumed and very sticky. .. and I also remember the horrid smell of my mums deep red  lipstick


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## fuzzybuddy (Nov 22, 2020)

My bedroom was over the kitchen. On the weekends, my mom would make breakfast. During the week, we just grab food and run. I remember waking up to the aroma of perking coffee.  Coffee was "perked" in those days rather than the "drip method we use today. I always associated that smell with weekends , and days off.


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 22, 2020)

fuzzybuddy said:


> My bedroom was over the kitchen. On the weekends, my mom would make breakfast. During the week, we just grab food and run. I remember waking up to the aroma of perking coffee.  Coffee was "perked" in those days rather than the "drip method we use today. I always associated that smell with weekends , and days off.


I remember the same... weekends in our house was percolated coffee in the morning, which by the way, I remember preparing and watching while mom and dad laid in bed, and family breakfasts, as simple and plain as they were at times.


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## MarciKS (Nov 22, 2020)

my grandmother's rose milk lotion and the smell of the permanent markers we used to inhale and get a little goofy on in school.


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## MarkinPhx (Nov 22, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> my grandmother's rose milk lotion and the smell of the permanent markers we used to inhale and get a little goofy on in school.


Model glue and markers...amazed our brains are somewhat intact.


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## Ferocious (Nov 22, 2020)

*Hmmmm.....I produce some very intoxicating aromas, strange and exotic ones too.......especially when I've had sprouts with my dinner.  *


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## MarciKS (Nov 22, 2020)

MarkinPhx said:


> Model glue and markers...amazed our brains are somewhat intact.


who said they were? lol!


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## Nathan (Nov 22, 2020)

MarkinPhx said:


> First for me is a freshly printed page from a mimeograph machine.


I loooved that smell, will never forget!    It's probably toxic though...


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## Ronni (Nov 22, 2020)

My Dad’s Old Spice Aftershave.
My Mum’s apple pie. 
The indescribable but pungent scent of my elementary school classrooms... every one of them.
The odor of my Mum when I would hug  her...cigarette smoke combined with gamophen soap and some kind of talcum powder.


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## MarciKS (Nov 22, 2020)

i remember the mothballs in the hall closet at grandma's. the staircase had a door. you went into this brief hall with an open closet like a walk in with no doors. the coats all had them. strangely enough it was a comfort.  one thing i found amusing was the fact that i've never had a mothball in my house and never seen a moth. lol!


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## gamboolman (Nov 22, 2020)

As I kid:
Fresh cut grass
Hay in the Barn 
Corn in the Corncrib
Wet dogs
The smell of the Ocean 
Burning leaves in the Fall
East Texas Kittycats (skunks) stinking up the air as we were trying to sleep at my Grandparents Farm - No Air Conditioning so the windows was open on them warm and humid East Texas nights....
The smell of the Auction  Barn where the cows were sold at.

Now - Diesel smoke will take me right back to Delta Drilling Rig 40 in Deep East Texas - I was 19 or 20 year old and although that's been over 40 year ago - whenever I smell diesel smoke I can picture myself on the Rig Floor as we was tripping pipe.

Its odd that I have worked in the oilfield over 43 years all over the world - but the smell of the diesel smoke only brings to mind that one scene in my mind - clear as if I was watching it on TV....


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## Gardenlover (Dec 1, 2020)

The smell of my dad's pipe. I still smell it at times.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 1, 2020)

Another scent locked away in my mind from childhood... Easter Egg colouring.

I can still smell the strong vinegar smell that would fill the kitchen as we all watched intently over our eggs set into different cups filled with coloured dye.


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## Treacle (Dec 1, 2020)

My grandmother loved lavender whether in soap or a talc. Fresh lavender gives me a headache. A friend once brought me some lavender chocolate.

I love the smell of wood. My grandfather was a furniture maker and a really good carpenter and I still remember the  smell of freshly cut wood -  wonderful.


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