Certain Smells

[Bo8a_Fett]

Huge baby biscuit that can be given to them when they are teething or mashed up with baby milk as solid food...yum yum...great stuff. Studants used to have a huge following of rusk eating over here years ago.

[toys2cool]

uhhh I forgot the smell of the 80's slime i dipped all my figures into that.I still have a couple that smell like it

[Evel KMego]

Gotta go with the smell of Play Doh. That is such a distinctive smell, it takes you back to your childhood. I believe they have a patent on the smell.

[RG]

I've pulled a few vintage Star Wars figures off the card and the smell takes be back to the 80's.

The smell of fresh cut wood reminds me of being a kid as my dad was building our house.

a nice summer rain fall and the earthy smell takes me back to being in Jr. high and hanging out with friends

the smell of some flowers takes me to when my brother was killed and our house was full of flowers that people had sent us (not a fun one, but a very powerful one)

[Marvelmania]

Trading/sports card gum. Man as soon as I smell it I have great memories! Mennon after shave. When I was a kid my dad wore this stuff all the time.

[HardyGirl]

*bump*

You know, I'm gonna resurrect this thread b/c of the comments made by Global Observer on the Cast-A-Way "something completely different" thread. I was gonna post this, but the topic sounded familiar, so I searched and came across this thread.

So for any of you who haven't replied, what smells take you back in time?

[emeraldknight47]

"Old Spice" will always remind me of my father, God rest his soul, because that was his aftershave/cologne of choice (not that there were many more when he was around) and the smell of Old Grandad Bourbon, his favorite alcoholic beverage to consume....

"Jontue" cologne will forever remind me of my first girlfriend because it's all she ever wore.

The smell of a freshly-sharpened #2 pencil always takes me back to elementary school....

German chocolate cake will always remind me of my birthdays because it's the cake my Mom always made me for that particular ocassion....

Sausages with green peppers and onions will ALWAYS make me think of the Kentucky State Fair....

I also love the smell of greenware (that would be ceramic bisque before it's been fired) because it reminds me of how much I love doing ceramic work and it reminds me a Maxfields north of Cincy, the very BEST ceramics shop in the world----or at least they were before they decided to close about three years ago....

Burning leaves will always take me back to my kid-dom in the autumn because my Dad ALWAYS burned the leaves (back in the day when that was allowed)......

[Rallygirl]

The smell of books will keep me reading real paper books until they pry them out of cold, dead hands. No Kindle for me!

[MicromanZone]

Old wooden cigar boxes. My dad didn’t smoke, but he would get them from the corner newsstand and give them to me to store stuff like toys, school supplies and the like. And I stored all of my Microman/Micronauts paperwork (instructions, catalogs, etc…) since I was a kid. Still have the box, and the smell has faded but it’s still there.

Also others have mentioned it, but Ditto/mimeograph machines. I rarely run into them nowadays, but occasionally at antique shows or flea markets I will stumble on one and HOLY CRAP, straight back to school.

[emeraldknight47]

The smell of books will keep me reading real paper books until they pry them out of cold, dead hands. No Kindle for me!

Amen, Rallygirl, amen. It reminds me of this particular exchange between Giles and Jenny Calendar in the first season episode of BTVS "Me Robot, You Jane"...

Jenny Calendar: Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell.
Jenny Calendar: Computers don't smell, Rupert.
Giles: I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It's-it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

With all of the industry these days in the suburbs where I live, I rarely get a fresh oxygen smell to the air in the morning, but on the days that the air is fresh and crisp, it immediately takes me back to when I was three years old playing right outside of our kitchen door or riding my peddle car. Before school, where every day was a play day.

[Hector]

Crayola Crayons
Christmas trees
playdoh

If those are not childhood smell memories...I don't know what is...great picks, Sharry.

I'd also like to add my favorite lunch smells from my metal lunchbox as a kid...plain ham & cheese on white sandwich (or sometimes a peanut butter & jam sandwich)...a little bag of Fritos...a banana...and half pint of milk...those combined smells were Heaven on Earth to me...a brown paper bag instead of the metal lunchbox works too...lol.

Your before-mention of chlorine pool water in the air on a hot day takes me back to the 60s and 70s at Hayward Plunge swimming pool...my family used to go there on many Saturdays (awesome times)...so every time I smell that swimming pool chlorine...I'm right back there in time.

I also love the smell of wet dirt after a rain...that takes me back to my childhood memories of Mexico (ages 7 to 14)...same applies to the smell of the forest...awesome...lol.

The ocean is another one...so many great childhood smells...lol.

[Hector]

The smell of books will keep me reading real paper books until they pry them out of cold, dead hands. No Kindle for me!

That's another good one...

[Hector]

Trading/sports card gum.

Yet another great one...lol...

[theantiquetiger]

The smell of a tire store today still reminds me of the old Western Auto stores.