Smells

[hamsterTK 93]

An idea for a random thread here.

What smells do you like and dislike the most?

Personally, my most hated smells tend to be burnt coffee, followed by how the fridge starts to stink when you have a bunch of food smells clashing in unpleasant ways. I also really can't tolerate the way cats smell, or at least their urine and litter boxes. I can handle dog poo smell and have had various pets like hamsters and rabbits that live in cages(and "go" in them) but cat boxes gross me out(don't like cats in general so yeah...)

There are some strange smells I do enjoy though:

1. Thrift/Hardware store smell. Basically any old shop that hasn't replaced its linoleum or fluorescent lighting since 1967 and has accumulated this wonderful aroma of mothballs, dust, floor wax, and oil, that has soaked into everything

2.Electronics store "shiny stuff" smell. Best Buy has it the strongest but it seems to exist in all electronics stores and inside new computer boxes as well. Must be from all the plastic stuff or maybe whatever cleaner they use. Toy stores also seem to have it. But whatever it is, I love it.

3. Ocean/Storm smell. The smell of rain mixed with salt water, sulfury smell of all the industrial plants, asphault, etc.

What's funny about all these is that they are probably created by weird and harmful chemicals. But they smell good anyways

[marryescher 0]

At work I love the smell of agarose I think it is, when I pore it into plates, and when it is autoclaved. Everyone else always runs away saying how stinky it is. I also love the smell of rain, and sausage cooking, and I love the smell of diesel and gasoline. Wish there was an air freshener with truck stop smell.

Can't stand Febreze smell. Can't figure out why so many people like it.

Also there is some very glossy paper, that has a very strong smell to it. If I am in the same room with it, I go into violent sneezing fits and can't breath. Haven't seen that paper for years though. I think it is used for typewriters.

Almost forgot, molasses smell, I can't stand it. My mother used to make molasses cookies every Christmas, and I would have to go sit on the porch in winter for hours because I would throw up from the smell.

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

I like the new house smell. (Like how my house smells atm lol) And for some reason, I loved how my basement smelled in my old house. You'd think a basement would be dank and smelly but it had this aroma that was really nice.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Originally posted by: marryescher

Also there is some very glossy paper, that has a very strong smell to it. If I am in the same room with it, I go into violent sneezing fits and can't breath. Haven't seen that paper for years though. I think it is used for typewriters.

quote>

Sounds like Non-Carbon Reproduction paper, it's obsolete for most uses now but I have the same reaction to it.

I love new car smell. And roasting meat.

[Deever 23]

Electronics store "shiny stuff" smell.quote>

Yup. Like that smell too.

I can't stand the durian fruit's smell... oh good heavens the smell. Most people can tolerate it but I am not "most people." If you're unlucky enough to get on a bus that has even just one fruit as baggage, you will have no escape even if you seat in front while the fruit is way back. The smell is just that strong.

The smell I find weirdest, to say the least, is the hospital smell. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't.

[Duke87 1,070]

I'm a bit of a weird one (yeah, tell you something you don't already know, right?)

A few smells I can't stand:

- salad

- basically any air freshener in existence

- onions

- tuna fish

- peanuts

- anything fruity

A few smells I actually like:

- mothballs/musty old basements

- farts (particularly my own)

- video games fresh out of shrinkwrap

- baseball cards fresh out of shrinkwrap

- artificial, chemical laden "lemony fresh"

- anything burning (except tobacco or marijuana, those I can't stand)

[Boggy1 45]

I love the smell of my dentist. It's so clean! And pure! And white! It's brilliant.

I also really like wood fire smoke, it brings back warm memories of me sitting in front of our fire on the rug, reading a book.

Love the smell of a new book too. Hardbacks are the best. I just literally bury my head in them for a few moments.

I cannot stand the smell of bacteria. Not rotting food, but actual bacteria. The smell that lingers around unclean Kitchens, and when you sneeze. Gah!

[panthersimcity4 162]

I like the smell of incense. Whether it be the stuff they sway around in those things during Catholic masses or the Buddhist ones that are shaped like really skinny sticks, I loves it.

I also like the smell of my dog's shampoo. Don't ask

[your_adress_here 11]

I love the smell of ground meat that is cooking. The smell of marijuana as well. I really can't stand the smell of eggs (when they are being made into scrambled eggs, which I don't like eating, either).

[Duke87 1,070]

I suppose marijuana and tobacco are "acquired tastes". If you smoke, you'll like the smell. If you don't, you'll hack and cough at it and find it revolting.

[Odainsaker 2,133]

I find the smell of crabs boiling alive in a pot nauseating to the point of wanting the lay wet towels to block the gap underneath the bedroom door.  Boiled alive...the poor things.  Insects burning also smell pretty awful...c'mon, we all must have done it with the magnifying glass when we were kids.  Bad karma!

I'll also pass on the tobacco and mairjuana smells...too much like old decaying clothes infused with musty mildew.
I cringe at the thought of bad breath smell or bad, unclean, body odor.

Thunderstorms and rain storms do indeed bring great smells, especially when you get to sit and enjoy them on your lanai in Hawaii with only the cheap bamboo drawscreen to offer any barrier.  Actually, those drawscreens and mats smell good too!  So do the plumeria flowers.  Yeah, yeah, memory is strongly tied to sense of smell.

Onions sautéing....mmmm.
Homemade chicken soup...so soothing.  Hot steaming saimin smells good too.
Fresh hot malassadas just rolled in the granulated sugar...salivating!
My Indian apartment neighbors would occasionally cook with the strong smells of curry and other subcontinent spices, and whole complex would turn out like famished fakirs to inhale the scents.  Best I could ever amateurishly manage is Japanese-style curry rice.

I would be tempted to continue the relation of smell to favored foods, but then, some while coffee flavors can *smell* good, all coffee seem to me to taste like dirty water from a rusty pail.  I like better my red Madagascar vanilla and Bengal spice teas...even the instant sachets can make pleasant air freshners.

Zoos, livestock, slaughterhouses....uggh, they all smell the same to me...meat, urine, feces and rancidity all mixed together.  Gag.  Even fishmarkets are too strong for me.

Arrrg,,,family just now overflowed the downstairs bathroom toilet.  Sigh, let's add PineSol to the list of unhappy scents tied to miserable incidents.

[the_new_simman 5]

I don't know if this is just for me, but some of the bad smells that I have encounters sometimes make me want to keep smelling them. Its like this very weird and disturbing urge. My friend said he goes through the same exact thing though so I'm glad that at least I am not alone. Anyway, smells that I do seem to be found of are: new car smell, electronic store smell, musty and damp, rain and asphalt. Some smells I do NOT enjoy are: driving by the sanitation plant smell, smoke, burning grease, body odor... and the list could go on and on.

[Zelgadis 638]

Isn't this an unusual topic?

Bad:

Baked beans or refried beans. That is the worst of the bad smells. Literally makes me puke.

Cat waste. Agreed with hamsterTK above. Cats can get awfully nasty.

Cologne and perfume. The good stuff is nice. But the bad stuff is like industrial cleaner.

Day-old fish parts. Throw the trash out immediately if it contains these!

Quiet farts. You know the kind...

Almost everyone who sits next to me on the bus. *sob*

Good

Ozone. Nothing like the smell of the air during or right after a thunderstorm.

Hay. Very natural

Sesame. If you're cooking with sesame oil, I'm gonna steal it and eat it!

Cheese. Stinky they say? I love it!

Barbecue. No, not that fake, grilled stuff. I'm talking about the stuff that's been in the smokehouse for a good 6 to 8 hours.

New books. I'm with boggy on this one.

ISF

[Easy Bakes 253]

Good

The smell of the air after a long rain storm.

The smell of brewing coffee. Cooking bacon.

 hate to drink the stuff though.

Cut grass.

My favorite : Fresh baked home made bread  ( but not from a bread machine mix  

Bad

Cat box smell

new car smell

new cloths smell

new paint

[Duke of York 23]

Hmmm.......

Bad smells...

Brussell sprouts cooking.

Cats

Red Meat cooking

Mayo

Peas cooking

RagWeed....

Good smells

Sea food

Ocean Air

Pine sap

Fresh Cigar(None Smoker)Just like the smell

Fresh Pack of Playing cards

Cathedrals(Old Church's)

I would agree I like the fresh smel of electronics.....