“A great scent is a world you can return to over and over - A keyhole into another realm.” - David Seth Molty
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.” - Helen Keller
“Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off. It enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.” - Patrick Suskind
“Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.” - Diane Ackerman
I’m not all that positive why it happens when it does; these thoughts are usually strange, sort of a surprising, unexplained phenomenon. Random in frequency, they usually surface at odd intervals.
Over time it’s been decided that these private and often antique moments seem to frequent the near end of the day. Why the last hour or so of light taps into these old memories is more than confusing at times. The sun slides slowly behind the western tree line in stark, darkening contrast to the pale sky and her hovering, shimmering clouds.
That’s when this happens most often.
There are many other odd triggers. Bacon softly crackling in a badly blackened camping skillet over an open fire, cast iron next to an enameled, gurgling coffee pot, near dawn.
The odor inhaled from two fresh shot shells after the blast off of a big covey rise.
The sensation of the olfactory inhaled experience that drifts over a fast pool bordered with dew laden laurel and moss, after a mountain rain, on a pristine high elevation trout stream.
There’s something, maybe a lingering scent, here and there, that the nostrils gather and transmit to the brain around, or in, a high mountain trout steam, that’s maybe just too difficult to accurately describe, but, that pungent and rather faint odor is all that difficult to forget.
It’s equally troubling to explain, but these memories come, more often than not, because of some drifting odor lingering at the end of the day.
It’s easy to suddenly find that you’re lost in the past with these memories. Lost with the past when they weren’t passed. Past shared with friends, partners, compadres, dogs, and steady horses who shared pleasant days, some would refer to as simply glorious. Now spending brief moments again in the form of end of the day thoughts, dredged up by some faint scent, of the finest days afield.
It’s equally as odd, how far back these things go. This unearthing of the past lacks any sense of melancholy. No, there’s a simple fondness at the pinnacle. These memories can at times be a tad haunting. Mostly, they elicit a slow smile. A sly grin and pondering exactly how long ago it’s been since all of this actually transpired.
Odd how far back these things go. How long ago these events were seared into the memory and how clearly they’ve been allowed to be maintained with the help of some fleeting odor.
Old canvas tents dripping relentlessly on the inside during a cold rain. A Korean War vintage down sleeping bag that’s all but useless when wet.
The impacts on the nose that come from a wet horse and a soaked saddle and steaming blanket at the end of a long days ride in the mountains.
It’s not the same olfactory sensation as the soft and sweet fragrance of the first girl’s neck, when you kissed her behind her ear. Something that’s almost forgettable but really isn’t.
Where all these memories are retained, based on something that lingers on the nose and in the memory bank, is truly mysterious. Where are they catalogued? Why do they show up in the fleeting light of day? How is it that they confuse, yet make you smile, when they take you back to some time so long ago?
Maybe past good days with old passed on friends, summoned by the senses of olfactory, really is a haunting. Maybe it’s time for a new acronym; Unexplained Olfactory Phenomenon (UOP).
Could it be some desire to return to the best of the best? Or, is it, that this UOP, just wants to trick the nose and the brain in some weird exercise to keep you and those gone on, moving forward? Ahead to more good days, and new olfactory trips, before the next sunset.
We’ve lived some big hunts. Fine as they come. We’ve caught some fine fish, big enough. Vivid the memories, as good as it gets. We’ll always fondly remember.
The Theory of Olfactory:
The vibrational theory of olfaction assumes that electron transfer occurs across odorants at the active sites of odorant receptors (ORs), serving as a sensitive measure of odorant vibrational frequencies, ultimately leading to olfactory perception.
The Quantum Theory of Smell:
Molecules can be viewed as a collection of atoms on springs, so the atoms can move relative to one another. Energy of just the right frequency - a quantum - can cause the “springs” to vibrate, and in a 1996 paper in Chemical Senses, Dr. Lucca Turrin said it was these vibrations that explained smell.
The Power of Scent:
Scent is incredibly powerful because it bypasses the conscious mind and directly intercepts with the brains emotional center, the limbic system, triggering strong emotional responses and memories.
Dr. Turrin also shared an old Italian parable from his extensive research on smell;
“There’s the devil, and he appears to a peasant, saying; “I can do anything. If you say something I can do it. If you say something I can’t do, I’ll give you untold riches.” And the peasant farts, and says, “Paint it white.”
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