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Mothballs, burning piles of leaves in autumn, typewriter ribbons, early formulas of sunscreen

Posted by Robin on 4 December 2020 3 Comments

We may not even be able to recapture the smells of our childhoods, based in particular locations and characterized by long-gone things. Many scents that are already vanishing include mothballs, burning piles of leaves in autumn, typewriter ribbons, early formulas of sunscreen and the lingering smell of cigarettes. And unlike, for instance, color or music, smell isn’t broken as easily into universally accepted components.

— Read more in What Does History Smell Like? at The New York Times.

Filed Under: perfume in the news

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3 Comments

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  1. Tea Thyme says:
    4 December 2020 at 10:15 am

    Those vanishing scents mentioned above maybe should be lost to time. I grew up with all those scents and I can’t say I’m sentimental about any. The harsh chemical smell of mothballs, choking smoke from burning leaves, the metallic inky tinge of typewriter ribbon, and stench of old cigarette smoke that lingers on everything. The article was interesting. The candles in the article were really creepy.

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    • Robin says:
      4 December 2020 at 12:20 pm

      Oh, I will keep burning leaves, and mimeographed copies!

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  2. Eschmeling says:
    5 December 2020 at 11:02 am

    Interesting read, thanks for posting! I really hope to visit a smelly exhibit some day – there was one in Switzerland in 2019 with perfumes that sounded neat, but the Rijksmuseum (spelling?) one sounds much more intriguing.
    I was never a smoker, and in fact hated bars or restaurants that were super smoky, but when I’m in a “going out” situation now, the whiff of cigarettes make me quite nostalgic!

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