Most Read Post: 10 Best Smells

I wondered which of the thousands of posts I’ve written and pubished continue to be read.

I did a quick scroll through the years and saw several with over 2,000 views.

The post that seems to be most popular, with 3,116 views to date, was published in August 2005.

I thought I’d republish it here today—not because I’m lazy, but because I’m a little short of time to write something new.

(Okay, maybe I am a bit lazy after the Labor Day Holiday.)

Here it is in its entirety. (You can see it’s a bit dated with my reference to micro cassette recording.)

10 Best Smells in the World

Recently, I visited my local, friendly Office Depot for toner. Why friendly? Because so many fresh-faced, young people ask me if I need help finding anything that I’m tempted to make a micro cassette recording of, “no, thank you” and punch play when they start stalking me with their good intentions.

Down the center of the store were the back to school specials, and the smell of Crayons washed over me, whisking me back to all the years I’d participated in the annual rite known as shopping for school supplies.

Of the five senses, smell is particularly interesting. My romance novel Scents and Sensuality has a heroine who is a perfumer by trade. I found the research fascinating.

I’m sure all of you have smelled something and immediately remembered something linked to that smell.

I can catch a whiff of Estee Lauder Youth Dew and I immediately think of my mom. That was her signature perfume when I was a kid.

Of all our senses, smell is the most primitive and is hard-wired into our brain which accounts for the smell-memory connection. Pheromones, those “invisible” smells account for probably 99% of love at first sight.

So here’s my list of the 10 best smells in the world not in any particular order.

1. A freshly bathed baby
2. Crayola crayons
3. Johnson baby powder
4. New mown grass
5. Old-fashioned roses in the garden
6. My mom’s homemade mayhaw jelly cooking on the stove
7. Chanel No. 5 (Love that old movie Seven Year Itch where Marilyn Monroe says: “That’s their highest number.”)
8. Clean clothes drying on a clothesline in the sun
9. Really old, single malt Scotch
10. Baking bread

You may be wondering why I’ve used a couple of coffee graphics to illustrate this post, but I didn’t list freshly-brewed coffee as one of the 10 best smells.

Since I truly love the aroma of brewing coffee, I’ll make it a #11 on my list. But only if it’s Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee, my all-time favorite morning beverage.

By the way, did you know that the health benefits of coffee come from drinking it within 20 minutes of its brewing?

Takeaway Truth

What’s on your list?