Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with aroma

Where can I find these cool and comfy chairs in TO?

JPDD — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:58:58 -0800

Where can I find chairs like the ones at Aroma Espresso Bar in Toronto (pic). They're really comfortable and I want some for my apartment. Need not be an exact match, the cheaper the better.

Anisole is to anise seed as 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline is to ???

Infernarl — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:52:48 -0800

Is there a descriptive list of aromatic compounds that is more complete than this wikipedia article? i.e. cis-3-Hexen-1-ol (fresh cut grass), Oct-1-en-3-one (blood, metallic, mushroom-like) I'm looking for the most complete list of aromatic compounds and their perceived analogous smells. If I need to compile my own list then books, websites, wine tasting guides, anything would be welcome.

Help me sniff out the right wine aroma kit!

solipsophistocracy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:39:23 -0800

What wine smell kit do I need? I know that Le Nez Du Vin is the "official" wine aroma kit, but I want to know if there's a significant difference between it and other kits like this one. Obviously, there's a huge difference in the number of aromas you get for the price, but I have no clue as to the difference in quality. Ideally, I'd like to eventually have the complete Le Nez Du Vin set, but I'm curious as to whether I should buy a smaller official kit now or a broader, but less sanctioned set of smells. What are your experiences with different sets of wine smells?

Why does Subway™ stink?

sportbucket — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:43:26 -0800

Every Subway smells the same, and it's rank and pervasive. What is it? There's a distinct smell to Subway restaurants. I suspect it has something to do with the bread, but no other bakery or sandwich shop smells like this. And no other bread smell is so pervasive. I had a sandwich several hours ago, and I can still smell it -- oddly wet dog -- on my jacket and hat. When someone else in the office gets subway, they announce it silently upon their return. The smell is unmistakable.

As far as I can tell, it's universal -- I've been to numerous locations on the west coast that all had "the smell", this guy in the UK knows what I'm talking about, as does this guy and numerous MeFi commenters. Commenters on Chowhound think it's bad yeast.

Any food chemists in the crowd care to weigh in on this?

Need professional (in Brooklyn) to make car smell better.

blapst — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:20:54 -0800

Know of any car care specialists in or around Brooklyn that can make my car stop smelling so bad? About a year ago my girlfriend left my back window down overnight and it rained. Ever since, the entire car -- front seat, back seat, floor mats, and trunk -- has reeked (I can't tell if the air blowing from the vents also smells or not). The smell is not acrid, just very musty and pervasive. I assume it is some sort of mold or mildew, but can't say for sure.

I've tried most of the tricks suggested in related Ask MeFi threads -- fabric softener, Febreze, Borax, activated charcoal -- all to no avail.

I've also gone to two professionals so far (one in Boston, one in Brooklyn) both who claimed they could do it, but they just did a standard shampoo and sprayed the car down with some nasty perfume, which did not dampen the smell, just made it temporarily more complex.

Because of this, I feel I can't trust anyone I call. I need hard core anecdotal evidence from a group of strangers on the internet. Any suggestions?

Memories Triggered by Smells

peacay — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:02:56 -0800

For a lot of people, a particular aroma can be a strong trigger for memory. I don't think it works in reverse: why is this? If I get even the faintest whisps of aroma from a certain musk joss stick [incense], I am immediately transported back to the streets of Bangalore and Hyderabad which I visited many years ago. This can be as mild as a passing thought of 'India' in general or if I stop and concentrate, it can be vivid remembered scenes and colours and peoples' faces - you know, strongly evocative.

But in the absence of some aroma trigger, if I think about India (and I just use this as an example), even if I concentrate to try and remember events or people or places, I may get passing 'visions' or thought rememberances perhaps, but they never involve actually experiencing the same smells. In other words, smells don't seem to be able to be evoked but are themselves strongly evocative.

Is this just me? Do some people experience aromas when they think about specific people/places from their past? Are there all different grades of aroma-memory-responses? What's the interplay going on here? Is the sense of smell different in this respect to our other senses? Why? And I guess, arising from this, why can the smells make me remember things more vividly than my non-aroma mediated powers of concentration?