20 best smells from childhood

[Tanuki]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/h2/shb/glade/the-best-smells-from-childhood

#3: Freshly mowed grass
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I'm old enough to remember mimeographs. At school, they would occasionally hand out a mimeographed notice to take home to our parents, and everyone would stop and smell them...for some reason they smelled like "after-shave" lotion.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. And many times they would still be half wet.

And we would get purple ink on our hands and your pencil would tear through.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. I remember there had been an overdose in the community and the teacher was still

distraught about it as she passed out the day's handout. One of the students began to take a snort of the sheet and she snatched it from her. I got my first drug lesson that day.

[Myrina]

21. Yes!!

The first smell or two would be sublime but then it would go right to my head & I'd get dizzy as hell!

[Brother Buzz]

2. Mimeographs smelled like ink

Perhaps you're thinking of 'Dittos' (Spirit duplicators). I like the smell of them.

The coffee roasting company produced a smell I just love as a kid.

[rrneck]

3. The smell of a just struck match. nt

[B Calm]

4. I think my #1 smell was my mother's perfume,

before she ran off with another man and leaving three young children for my father to raise on his own!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. I always liked the smell of skunk

When I was a kid, my dad was in the Air Force and would get transferred to bases located in the boondocks. There was a lot of wildlife around and you would often smell the musk of skunk in the distance. I thought the smell was wonderful. I never smelled it up close, though. I also liked the smell of road tar from times that they'd be working on resurfacing roadways. A smell I hated and that made me cringe was the smell of crayons and chalk that permeated the air at grade school.

[B Calm]

7. You ever thought about driving a truck for a living?

[pipi_k]

16. Up close...

skunk is disgusting.

But from far away...yeah...it's got sort of an appealing odor to it.

Road tar, the same thing.

OMG I can't believe how many other people liked the same strange smells I did!

[benld74]

8. Ah the smell of the mosquito fogging truck,,,,,,,

[nolabear]

11. We're probably going to eventually die from that.

Played tag in that sweet fog, like all Gulf Coast kids. My children turned out okay, though.

[Art_from_Ark]

36. The old DDT truck

When it passed by kids' houses in my neighborhood, it was like waving catnip in front of cats.

[tonekat]

54. We rode our bikes in the wake of the truck.

There was also a plane that would spray the neighborhood in the summer. If you went out in that, you'd get rained on with something that smelled like kerosene.

[Bombero1956]

9. the smell of fresh baked bread

or the smell coming from the cafeteria in school.

[B Calm]

10. Good pick! Grandma always made the best

homemade bread for Thanksgiving. She was from Belgium and one hell of a cook!

[Ron Obvious]

13. Leaded Gasoline

It can't be just me who sacrificed thousands of braincells at every gas station, deeply sniffing in the fumes whenever my father filled up at the gas station.

[pipi_k]

15. Strange, but true...

Gasoline smelled awesome when I was a kid.

[Art_from_Ark]

37. I didn't think the gasoline smell itself was so good,

but the inside of mom-and-pop gas stations was awesome

[tonekat]

55. I loved that too!

The sweet smell of lead.

[handmade34]

24. gas had some appeal when I was a kid...

but... during my last pregnancy I had Pica pretty bad and had an overwhelming desire to eat gas... it was very strange indeed... luckily it didn't last too long

[pipi_k]

14. I also

remember the mimeographed papers.



From the list...

Fresh crayons (in fact I have a box in my dresser I have never used. I occasionally open it just to smell them).

Damp soil without the worms

Not the freshly mowed grass as much as freshly cut hay

New books

Bonfires

The "real" Magic Markers.


and some of my own...

Vinyl beach balls/beach toys

Library paste

Manilla drawing paper

New school shoes (back then it was the leather Saddle Shoes)

[pinboy3niner]

17. The smell of your new flannel shirt when you come back from summer break for fall semester

The smell of new notebooks and other school supplies.

The smell of cinnamon rolls baking in the cafeteria.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Baling hay. Better than lawn mowing.

[AnneD]

19. My list...

puppy breath (smelled like bologna), crayons, playdoh, grandma's (or any of my aunties) hugs after she had been baking bread or cookies, fresh mowed grass, rain, mom's Sunday perfume and her every day Jean Nate, bananas, chocolate, bubble gum, orange cinnamon rolls, cornbread dressing, and grandpa (Old Spice, tobacco, and Dyntene gum).

[Art_from_Ark]

38. Old-timey Old Spice was great

Somehow, today's "original scent" just doesn't seem "original".

[AnneD]

42. A person's

skin chemistry can change a fragrance. Old Spice still smells the same to me. In fact it is my fav for guys. I think it was the combination that made it so much my grandpa's.

[awoke_in_2003]

62. go to an Indian store...

The stuff made in India is the original formula

[Myrina]

20. Thanksgiving dinner, fresh cut Christmas tree, linens that have dried on the clothesline ...

n/t

[Shampoobra]

22. The smell of kerosene as we refilled the lamps each afternoon...

...while Father complained endlessly about Teddy Roosevelt's "Square Deal"

[Still Blue in PDX]

23. Waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs.

Evenings were a minefield at my house (my mom and dad were both drinkers), but in the mornings momma would be cooking breakfast and life was safe and good.

The magical meals that my mom would wrap up in aluminum foil at home and put in the cooler to take to the lake and cook over the fire: Potatoes, onions, "hamburger steak," mushrooms.

My mom's Wind Song perfume.

Play Doh.

And yes, mimeographs.

[orleans]

25. my favorite smells

(some still are)

playdoh
the smell of a local bakery baking bread, onion stuffing, anything
paste
mimeographed paper
burning leaves (now illegal--some new people in the neighborhood have been doing it last year & this year)
box of crayons
the first time the heat is turned on for the season
my mom cooking anything: steak, turkey, meatloaf, chicken (i loved her cooking)
the christmas tree
my dad's clean starched shirts from the dry cleaners
gasoline
freshly mowed lawn
my mom's face cream
my grandma's closet with a mixture of all her perfumes on clothes
crazy foam (for bathtime)
juicy fruit gum, doublemint gum, bubble gum

[LiberalEsto]

26. The smell of the woods during a spring rain

and the smell of wet fallen leaves in the fall.

[applegrove]

27. Blueberry muffins cooking in the oven.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. My grandma's perfume

(don't know what it was but it was sort of eucalyptus-ish)
Freshly-pitted pie cherries
Balm-of-Gilead trees
Mimeograph ink
Library paste
Fresh Christmas trees
Cows
Lake water
Bee balm
Caladryl
Kerosene stove
Grandma's summer cottage (a kind of piney-musty smell)

[Brigid]

29. My mother's chocolate chip cookies baking.

And her chili cooking.

[Callmecrazy]

30. Only Las Vegas DUer's know of this...

The smell in the air after a rain. I miss that.

[panader0]

32. No, that smell is in Tucson too.

The creosote bushes smell great after the rain.
Nobody has mentioned weed yet...?

[HereSince1628]

31. Well, my top 4 would be ...Burning leaves in the fall...

The whiff of chlorine on opening day of the city's swimming pool.

Lily of the valley perfume on my grandma and her clothes.

The smell of my grandfathers pipe tobacco.

on edit, I miscounted...the smell of pumpkin pie baking in the oven

[amerikat]

33. Roasted chestnuts from NYC street vendors. White paste glue

from grade school and honeysuckle.

[ConcernedCanuk]

34. Applesauce

.
.
.

That's what jumped right into my head.

We had 3 apple trees in our yard in the 50s - 60's in my hometown.

We climbed them, had "apple fights" with the ones rotting on the ground,

but mother made us tons of apple sauce - we gathered, used the cullender to squish them up after coring, peeling and boiling them, then mom canned dozens of mason jars for future use.

She also made us "baked apples" - just cored (without peeling) - filled with brown sugar and cooked in the oven.

Oh, and "bacon bunnies".

Simply a slice of cheese (Velveeta) on an open slice of bread (well buttered) with slices of bacon on top of that broiled in the oven.

MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm!

to all . . .

CC

[Broken_Hero]

35. My baseball glove

I'm from a city where it rains most of the time, but during the summer break we would get some sunny days and busting my glove out of our duffel bag to throw the ball around...I always like the smell of the leather glove.

[elleng]

39. cotton candy!

[mwdem]

40. Old Spice....

The only after shave my dad ever wore. 22 years after his passing and I still love that smell!

[Art_from_Ark]

41. At the very top of my list would be

Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2013, 03:03 AM - Edit history (1)

my grandparents' garage, their freezer, their house.
Hickory nuts.
Magnolia blossoms.
Honeysuckle vines.
Autumn leaves.
Mom-and-pop gas stations (inside)
Tom's snack foods
Peanut butter logs
Tomato plants in the garden
Marigolds
The aroma coming from Harris Baking Company
Old Spice in the bottle
Mosquito spray
The smell of freshly-shot bottle rockets
Popcorn at the movie theater
The public pool in summer
The county fair (including the livestock area)
Real bayberry candles

and last but definitely not least

The Christmas tree

[erinlough]

56. you hit all of mine and I'm lucky I still live where I smell these things....

I would add the smell of prince albert tobacco in my grandfather's pipe.

[Art_from_Ark]

57. My grandfather smoked Dutch Masters

and White Owls

[pink-o]

43. The smell of Maxwell House Coffee when Mom opened a fresh can...

Seriously, at age 6 I was like a dog with the biscuit box: I'd hear that key winding up the (seriously sharp and dangerous) metal strip on the can, and my nose would be there getting an aromagasm. I'm positive the smell made me the caffeinated, crazy person I am today--at least sniffing it was a gateway to drinking it by age 9. And there's been no letup in the 50 years that've followed!

Bummer it didn't stunt my growth, though. I still was 6'1" at 14 in 1969 when even the men were 1/2 foot shorter.

As for other scents, I loved the smell of acetone or laquer thinner. We used to clean our wooden pallets with it when we finished painting, and combined with turps and linseed oil it takes me right back to my childhood.

[antiquie]

44. When the breadman opened the back of his truck

with the aroma of fresh bread and doughnuts.

[FloridaJudy]

45. That glue that came in giant jars

That was kept in the art supply closet. It smelled like peppermint. True confession; I ate my share of that stuff.

[Gormy Cuss]

53. Ooof!

It did smell good.

[FloridaJudy]

46. Sun-dried laundry! n/t

[KurtNYC]

47. pile of leaves

the grove of pine trees at summer camp
the air before a thunderstorm
the air after a thunderstorm
cooking bacon
peppers, onions and italian sausage at the county fair or a fete
the smells of fresh coffee and donuts frying down the street
the pacific ocean
coq au vin in the oven
marijuana smoke at a Fleetwood Mac concert
the waiting room at the tire store (rubber)
a new baseball glove
popcorn in the movie theater lobby
band aids (in the metal box)
salt water taffy on the puller at the fair

[HERVEPA]

48. Passing by a fresh-squeezed open-air orange juice stand

[blueamy66]

49. my Mom's cabbage

the Christmas tree, plumerias, ammmonia (jellyfish stings in Hawaii), books and suntan lotion

[yuiyoshida]

50. I WONDER HOW many people chose baby powder?

I love the smell of baby powder... especially the kind with corn starch.

[riverwalker]

51. new Barbie dolls

had a distinct odor

[mulsh]

52. tomatoes being canned at the Del Monte plant in East Oakland.

Hills Brothers and Peerless plants roasting coffee a couple of times a week are two of the best smells from my child hood. When the wind was right they permeated the east bay from Hayward to Albany.

[steve2470]

58. the smell of Florida air just after a heavy rain downpour, so clean, so fresh, I loved it nt

[MoreGOPoop]

59. Mr. Bubble,

Black Cherry Kool-aid
Lily-of-the-Valley

[texanwitch]

60. The smell of new hay in the hay barn.

The smell of my Grandfather's pipe.

The smell of the big wood stove in the living room when it was so cold outside.

Coming in from doing chores and smelling the wood burning.

My Grandmothers cooking, she could coke.

[texanwitch]

61. I remember the teacher passing mimeographed sheets of the times tables.

Everyday.

I thank that teacher for this, I was always good in math.

The smell of that ink never goes away in your mind.

It smelled of homework.

[blueknight]

63. several

but most is honeysuckle vines

[MissMillie]

64. wet mittens on the radiator

Coppertone suntan lotion
Mom & Dad making coffee first thing in the morning (in a stove-top percolator)
my 6th grade teacher's after-shave (English Leather)

[hobbit709]

65. My grandmother making apple strudel in Vienna.

[Quantess]

66. Play-doh

crayons

[alphafemale]

67. The crackly smell of ozone just before it starts raining.

Wisteria.

A newborn baby.