We have a linen closet that for a time in my childhood was emptied out and made to serve as the "Nintendo room", containing an NES hooked up to an old Commodore 64 monitor. I still associate that fabric/crafty smell with 8-bit gaming.

I also love the smell of sun soaked dog fur.

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[–] 33 points 3 months ago
[–] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

My favorite smell is also my favorite word; Petrichor. It's the smell of the earth when it rains after an extended dry period.

From Wikipedia "from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra) 'rock'; or πέτρος (pétros) 'stone' and ἰχώρ (ikhṓr) 'ichor', the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods in Greek mythology."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor

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    [–] 13 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Asphalt, kinmokusei (a tree that blooms in autumt in Japan, don't know it in English), the natural body odor of a certain fling I had eight years ago whom I now hate because they didn't want to leave their partner for me and because they made me experience transfuckingcendant sex and now my standards are way too high to enjoy anything else, freshly ground coffee, igusa (the weed of which tatami are made).

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  • [–] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    My SO's skin and hair after a shower.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Same, but before, especially if they're sweaty. Can't get enough of the stink.

    My SO, not yours. though I'm sure they're lovely.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I so don't understand this. I've had so many partners over the years who don't like it when I shower. Like... I'm stinky.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    Mine is a composite smell of my grandfather's shed: soil, and sawdust, and wood glue, and petrol, and pipe smoke, and whisky. He was a keen gardener and would often spend the afternoon pottering around the garden, tending to his veggies or flowerbeds or mowing the lawn, then wind up for an hour or so in the shed, sitting on a deck chair and smoking his pipe (or occasionally a cigar) and drinking single malt whisky. Sometimes he'd be reading the paper, sometimes looking through the notebooks he filled with plans and notes about the garden, sometimes just looking out across the garden and being content. I never got into gardening, but I did love to find him at the end of a day at school and just hang out with him in the shed. Often we wouldn't talk, he'd read the paper and I'd read The Beano. I learned companionable silence from him.

    Sometimes I'll catch one of those smells and it takes me right back, over 50 years ago, to that shed and makes me feel safe and warm and happy.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago

    Smell from rain is very nice. And oranges.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Almond-scented stuff (not almonds themselves - they have no noticeable smell to me).

    Pine forests, the sort with lots of dry pine needles on the ground.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago

    That sort of smell of decay when the fallen leaves from autumn get a little soggy from early winter rains. Gosh I could just shove it all up my nose

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  • [+] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
    [–] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

    I don't know whether anyone else smells this, because I never hear people talk about it.

    Some time in November, no matter the weather, there will be this empty, metallic, crisp, clean burning smell. I usually only catch whiffs of it a few times. It's how I gauge when winter is here.

    Maybe this is just how winter smells and I get noseblind to it quickly?

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    [–] 5 points 3 months ago
    [–] 5 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    Tomato plants. Pet fur. Orange blossom. Generic institution bathroom cleaner. Seaweed. My partner's clean breath

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Smoking meat.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Cat bellies and old books. Oh, and coffee.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Cucumber Cilantro Dark Coffee Tea Tree Spearmint Clove Tomatos Pizza Hut Pan Pizza Clean Cotton (no detergent) Fresh Rain Hot summer night 3am Aqua Velva Dragons Blood Nag Champa

    And this one is very specific. When you snap a banana off the bunch, the tip of the stem had a very clean, fresh banana smell, love it.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Crisp "smell" after first frost.

    Oceanic pine forest on hot days

    Onion and garlic when heated in oil making food.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    Water. Whether it's ocean water, creek water, water on trees in the woods, spring rain, summer rain, fall rain (they all have different scents), or the smell of rain from miles away mixed with ozone from summer storms, even lightly chlorinated pool water can smell good in the right circumstances.

    That and my cats fur. He always either smells like clean laundry, even if he's been nowhere near any laundry, or if it's a windy day and he's been sitting at the window he smells like fresh air.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I went on a road trip through the mountains in central Colorado during the summer ~7ish years ago. I still don't know what the smell actually was but every once in a while we would drive through certain parts of the mountains that had slightly sweet and clean/crisp smelling air. Never forgotten it.

    The closest I can think to describe it would be something floral like freesia+ a woodsy Sequoia/evergreen combination.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    A single scent: it's a tossup between mesquite or coffee.

    A combination of scents hitting your nose like an olfactory blitzkrieg: that first step into an Indian restaurant when you get hit by a combination of different curries, naan bread, and the rest of their menu that they've been serving to customers over the last several hours.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    Mountain air is pretty great.

    Also a big fan of the smell of allspice. I remember as a child climbing on the kitchen counter to reach the spice cabinet so I could crack that jar and get a good whiff.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Garlic, or cedar. I love food though, but cedar just hits differently.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    The small space on the back of my bunny’s head, right in between their ears. My first boy smelled so good and he loved when I did that. It smells even better when they have been sitting next to a window, my current boy is a lionhead mix and that spot always smells so good.

    My tiny girl is very sassy and doesn’t let me smell her much, but once in a while she will. It’s always the best smell.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    My favorite smells are the few that nearly transport me back in time, maybe like some form of déjà vu but I can't quite pinpoint what exactly those scents are. I'd never be able to recreate them intentionally. Two different soap scents bring me to two different familiar childhood places. Sometimes when I come back in through the back door I get a rather neutral smell but also very intense feeling like I'm suddenly at an old friend's rental house from decades ago. There's one smell that instantly brings me back to a childhood scratch n' sniff book. As a side note, I find that nostalgic textures bring back strong memories too.

    When I was a kid, my friends and I thought it was funny when an older woman mentioned to us that she loved the smell of crayons and that they brought her back to her childhood. Now I understand!

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    The scent of nothing. I really dislike artificial scents, like perfume, air "purifiers", and sprays. Natural scents are fine, but I prefer they stay outside the house.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    Greasy pepperoni pizza with a hint of cardboard, live rosemary, the first few times smelling rain and dirt after winter, cold winter air, green tea, so many things

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I can’t really describe it, but sometimes after sneezing I get this very pleasant smell in my nose for like 2 seconds. It’s what I would imagine the world’s most expensive bedsheets to smell like. It doesn’t happen with every sneeze, but the smell is consistent and has been for many years. Unfortunately it only lasts for like 2 good whiffs.

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    [–] 3 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    fuel rich exhaust from an old truck with cigarette smoke.

    if I'm lucky I'll smell it once every few years and it sends me back to the handful of good memories I had with my father.

    otherwise it's fresh cut pine lumber from a construction site with early morning dew and dirt.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    Ah yes, those god awful smells that your brain tells you are nice because of nostalgia. So funny how the brain works. 🥰

    Although I used to like the smell of car exhaust when I was a kid, without nostalgia. That's a bit weird.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    The smell of firing up a brand new toaster. It's a very particular smell and an extremely rare one. I think I've only smelled it 3 times in my entire life. That's less than once a decade.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)
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    [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Cardamom rich coffee

    Night blooming cereus

    The smell of my best friend from back at uni - patchouli, henna and well-cared-for dreds.

    Burning Xanthorrhea trunk - the australian grass tree that acts like a firelighter.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Freesias, no contest. It's the smell of spring

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    Skunk, I don’t know why.

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