Smells of the unconventional

(image source: www.cbsnews.com)

There was a discussion recently on my school social messaging group on the unconventional smells that people like. This inspired me to write this post.

Smell, as per the various definitions on the internet, is the act of: (i) perceiving the odour or scent of (something or someone) through the nose by means of the olfactory nerves; (ii) inhaling the odour of (something or someone).

Smell is the one of the five senses which the human being can perceive, the others being vision, hearing, taste, and touch. Every sense is important and the importance of smell arises from the fact that it helps sense the chemicals in the air. Smell is also important as it aids in detecting taste. The olfactory system in our body helps us sense smell. The nose is the organ responsible for detecting smell. However, we are never as good as animals when it comes to detecting smell.

Smell is such an important part that the perfume and fragrance industry is entirely dependent on this sense. We do like the fragrance of flowers, of a perfume, of food etc. However, there are everyday smells which we like, don't we? By these I do not mean the smell of the scented candles, perfumes, agarbattis, food etc. I mean the unconventional. Shall we see some of these?

How many of you like the smell of gasoline (petrol, diesel)? These fuels smell different when they come out as smoke from different vehicles - two wheelers, cars, trucks etc. Have you noticed that? I like the smell of smoke emitted by trucks. In fact some people burn petrol and inhale the smell to get a 'kick'! Burning tar is also a smell that is liked by some people. Some people like burning rubber, but it puts me off!

What about books? Old and new books give out different kinds of smells don't they? I sometimes dig my nose into new books and bask in the smell of the fresh paper! I love the smell of freshly printed newspaper at times. The chemicals and the smell of newsprint is so fresh with the morning coffee! Staying with paper and newsprint, what about ink? When I was using fountain pens, I would always use "blue-black' ink. This ink is in short supply and is not manufactured much these days. I always had this feeling that the blue black ink smelt differently from blue or black ink!

Cigarette smells are also different and liked by people.

The insides of a brand new car! I love the smell. It makes me feel fresh! What about a house that has got a new paint job?

Have you ever inhaled cement? Ha! However, not all unconventional smells are liked by many people. In fact even conventional smells put some people off.

One smell which is unconventional but would be liked by everyone is the smell of fresh currency notes. Now we would certainly like that smell all the time, won't we?