What smell triggers a specific memory for you?

Certain girl’s perfume trigger memories of ex-girlfriends.

I think there is a Liz Clayborne sent that smells like vanilla; it reminds me of my first girlfriend…when I catch a wiff of it by another who is wearing a similar, if not the same sent, it sends chills up my spine.

For some reason, the smell of M&M’s always bring my back to my childhood.

Don’t really know why, so don’t ask.

You know, my creative writing teachers actually does sense memory exercises in our class. He’ll have us close our eyes, then pass around something to touch or smell, or play music for us, to see if it evokes anything. For me, cinnamon will always remind me of holidays in my grandmothers kitchen.

When I walk out and smell the crisp autumn air, I’m automatically transported back to when I was in Washington State.

I have to say, there is a certain smell that I can’t quite put my finger on, but whenever it pops up an idyllic day with an ex girlfriend springs into my mind.

Good times.

Admittedly, I can’t recall any smell that transports me back to anything negative in my life, is this just me?

This certain kind of air freshener (smells like flowers) that I used to use in my old aparatment brings back awful memories. As soon as I smell it, I flash back to my ex boyfriend who abused me and lived with me. Not good. I avoid that scent as much as I can!

The combination of Player’s Light cigarette smoke and weed sends me back to being a little girl on my Daddy’s work bench. Pulling all the tools off the walls and drawing on his weird workshop paper. Man that was awesome :D

The smell of damp mixed with cleaning products, brings back morning sickeness memories!!!

I always say that smells don’t trigger memories for me as much as some other people, and it’s true, but recently I smelled jasmine flowers at Stanford at man, that really reminds me of home. I’ve grown up around jasmines; they’ve always been one of my mom’s favorite plants and they’ve always been in our yard and their smell is quite noticeable. The smell of “wet” that happens after it rains reminds me of my grandmother’s house and her house had a certain smell that I’ve smelled in a couple other places. Not sure what it is, though.

tobacco smoke=grandpa sitting in his chair at the old house
hay/alfalfa= baling with Dad and siblings
pine=pulling wet laundry from the dryer (Mom would sometimes add Pinesol, ick)

The scent of Star Jasmine flowers reminds me of my childhood home.

In Prague I caught the scent of the perfume that had been my grandmother’s which I used after she died about a decade ago. I was so enchanted by
the memories it brought back that I found a bottle online and ordered it. The first week or so, smelling it was like InstaGrandma. It was overwhelming. Pretty soon the smell stopped evoking really vivid memories and started just smelling nice and nostalgic. I should put it away for a couple years to see if I can get the effect back.

@DominicX we’re scent buddies! Or maybe your mom is my mom.

Every Sundays when I was little and living with my grandparents, my grandma would make a roast or chicken and I will occasionally smell that and it takes me back to being 5 and watching football with my grandpa. Also the smell of pine trees will always remind me of Christmas.

vinegar reminds me of decorating easter eggs as a child

I think I’ve said this before…..but the smell of Turkish tobacco reminds me of my dad. Also, sawdust reminds me of him (he was a carpenter).

Whenever I smell someone wearing Youth-Dew by Estée Lauder it makes me think of my maternal grandmother who has been gone for thirty-one years.

The smell of coffee reminds me of the many instances of taking the early-morning ferry from my island home (departed 6:00am) where the most permeating sensations were coffee, diesel fuel and nausea.

Coffee still makes me sick because of this.

spaghetti sauce cooking always reminds me of when my dad and I lived with my grandmother… there were a lot of us, and she would make a huge pot of spaghetti, and there were leftovers for days. I loved spaghetti day, and the next day, and the next day… lol

Vanilla extract will always remind me of my mom baking chocolate chip cookies when I was a kid. Getting those delicious, warm cookies fresh out of the oven was absolute heaven. That vanilla smell in general is so intoxicating to me, and is my favorite smell in the world.

Her cookies are still the best cookies I’ve ever had.

There are lots…but the strongest that scares the shit out of me is the school smell

The smell in hospitals and doctor’s offices bring back strong and sad memories.

AquaVelva reminds me of my high school marine science teacher, who drove a Porsche, had a glamorous blond wife, and taught the class to SCUBA dive.

Cigars remind me of my maternal grandfather shuffling around in his long johns in the late afternoon, making whiskey and water for himself, my grandmother and their cat.

Popcorn still brings back movie theaters, and hospital smell makes me think of all the time I spend visiting my husband in one.

And then there is “late night office building cleaning smell,” which reminds me of my first job after college, running a computer on the night shift converting magnetic tape into microfiche.

Some days when snow is melting in the spring a smell will transport me back to the farm where i grew up. Poplar sap will do it too.

This is a great question; and some wonderful answers.

Cigar Tobacco makes me think of my grandfather.

Whiskey or Stale Beer makes me think of my Uncle David.

Fresh Cut Flowers makes me think of my Uncle Peter (a florist).

Skunk always brings me back to lovely memories of riding in the car down country roads back to our farm after an evening out and feeling so drowzy and secure.

Menthol cigarettes- Grandpa
Moth Balls- Grandma
Cat pee- stepdad

Crayons – childhood
Fresh cut grass – summers in the catskills
Tortillas frying – my mother-in-laws house
Polo cologne – my first boss
Angel fragrance – my days as a fragrance buyer at Bloomingdale’s

There is a certain kind of car air-freshened that people commonly use – it always reminds me of a terrible car accident I was involved in many years ago. As you have probably already figured, it was the same freshened that was in the car the night if the accident.

The smell of the crisp autumn air and burning leaves always reminds me of getting ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. The smell of the air just before a good snowstorm reminds me of always wishing for a white Christmas!

The smell of a poorly run asian food store reminds me of the market place in Okinawa where I spent my childhood.

@JLeslie When I read your comment I immediately thought of my first “big” box of 64 Crayola crayon box…coloring was so much fun with 64 colors! [...off in left field.]

@valdasta Wasn’t that new box of crayons exciting!

lynneblundell has been colouring today…by chance!

@janbb Yes! I thought it was so cool to have a built-in sharpener on the front of the box, too. It made coloring books that much more exciting – more colors to choose from. My favorite book was a Walt Disney “Black Hole” coloring book.

Oops wish I had noticed this question two weeks ago.

I bought Gordon Ramsey’s Wild Mushroom and Marscapone Pasta Sauce for my Tea tonight and as soon as I opened the lid I smelt my ex-boyfriend – Graham. It was so strange…so icky..so awful;...so scary too…it really actually smelt like him…. :-/ won’t be buying that again

Has anybody seen Graham recently? Could he have become…part of the recipe somehow?

lol @Darwin you funny!!!

@lynneblundell so Graham is Italian?

this is steering from the “smell” question…

@valdasta no he’s English… I think it was the strong mushroom smell… I never realised when I was with him but… ooooyuk smelly strong mushrooms.. there’s got to be a medical explanation for this emanation no?

He hunts mushrooms…

I’m thinking it might have been something to do wiht the combination of garlic and strong mushrooms too… hmmm

@lynneblundell – Perhaps he has an unfortunate skin condition or doesn’t change his socks as often as he should. Here are some possibilities.

thank you @Darwin but I’ll think I’m going to move away from this unpleasant topic :-)

Don’t blame you.