The Artisan Insider
  • Home
  • Small Biz
  • Artisan Stories
  • Scent
    • Perfume
    • Olfaction
  • Personal
    • Personal Updates
    • In My Garden
    • Favorites
    • Sonoma Finds: Art, Garden, & More
    • DIY
    • SSS Updates Archive
  • Blog News
  • About

The Artisan Insider

celebrating and supporting artisan businesses

  • Home
  • Small Biz
  • Artisan Stories
  • Scent
    • Perfume
    • Olfaction
  • Personal
    • Personal Updates
    • In My Garden
    • Favorites
    • Sonoma Finds: Art, Garden, & More
    • DIY
    • SSS Updates Archive
  • Blog News
  • About
OlfactionPerfume

More on the sense of smell

written by Laurie March 11, 2011

Now Smell This linked to an interesting article today on Yahoo News titled Super Sense of Smell Not Innate (by Marlowe Hood on Wed March 9). The article discusses how perfumers gain much of their ability to detect and identify scents through years of training and experience rather than being born with these skills. The article also mentions an ongoing theme we’ve discussed here concerning the differences in the way people experience the same scents (for more, see other posts under the blog’s Olfaction category).

An excerpt from the Yahoo News article:

“Patrick MacLeod, former head of the Laboratory for Sensorial Neurobiology, near Versailles, says that olfactory thresholds vary dramatically.

“No two people will ever smell the same thing in the same way,” he noted. “When we perceive an odour the exact nature of the sensation that is produced depends as much on the observer as the object.”

In experiments, he has shown that a small quantity of a given molecule may be imperceptible for one person and easily detected by another. For a different chemical, it may be the reverse.

These thresholds can easily vary from one person to the next by a factor of a thousand.

Mac Leod also points out that the human genome contains nearly 350 olfactory genes — far more than for vision or hearing — resulting in highly individualised odour detection.”

When I send samples out to testers, I do see these differences in sensitivities to ingredients. I try to distinguish between people’s preferences and the way they smell a scent because both will determine whether a scent works for them, and differences in people’s skin will add yet another variable. Several questions become relevant. Does the tester like the smell of some ingredient like ambroxan or cosmone musk or jasmine sambac, etc? How strongly does the tester smell it, from being very sensitive to being average to being anosmic to it? And how does it do on the tester’s skin? Of course interactions between ingredients affect the outcome too, so I need to think about both the parts and the whole. It’s a fascinating topic to me.

geneticsperfume generalperfumery
3 comments
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Laurie

previous post
Email address reminder
next post
Drawing for Incense Pure on CaFleureBon

You may also like

Perfume in the news

June 11, 2008

Review of Aera Home Scenting System

July 6, 2017

Some links: free essential oil chemistry database and...

November 16, 2014

Scents of the Mediterranean — group blog post

August 1, 2010

Some Fragrance News Tidbits

December 19, 2011

In The News: Czech & Speake Dark Rose...

February 22, 2009

Quick Update

July 21, 2008

The discussion about ingredient costs

February 7, 2008

For the aspiring natural perfumers out there…

August 28, 2012

More thoughts on tobacco scents and ingredients

February 15, 2009

3 comments

Anne March 21, 2011 - 1:31 pm

Fascinating topic indeed, dear Laurie !

I hope you don’t mind, I’ve translated Hood’s article and parts of your other topics on this subject in french, to make it possible for my french friends to understand them.
http://www.beaute-test.com/forums/index.php?topic=259229
These questions are crucial to us perfumistas, when we come to test fragrances and exchange on our feelings, which can be so different.

I just love what you said here(nov 2008):
“The upshot of all this for me is to be aware of and tolerant of our differences. Remember when you sniff or review something that your experience is just as valid as anyone else’s, but that other people may differ greatly in how they experience the same scent and their scent truth is just as real to them as yours is to you.”

Thank you for helping us understand, and for sharing your ideas so sincerely !

Reply
Laurie E March 21, 2011 - 2:55 pm

Thanks, Anne, and thanks for doing the translation work! I hope the information is helpful to people. And you’ve chosen a quote that does sum up my sincere hope that this information and research will help us understand each other as well as the fragrances we’re sniffing!

Reply
More Discussion About Individual Scent Perception « Perfume in Progress September 28, 2011 - 8:18 pm

[…] are some of the other posts I’ve made on this topic: More On The Sense of Smell Every Human May Have A Unique Nose Possible Reasons For Why We Differ In Our Perception Of Scents […]

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Search

SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE NEW POSTS VIA EMAIL




SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEED

The Artisan Insider

Categories

  • Artisan Stories
  • Blog News
  • DIY
  • Favorites
  • In My Garden
  • Olfaction
  • Perfume
    • Featured Perfumery Posts
  • Personal
  • Personal Updates
  • Small Biz
  • Sonoma Finds: Art, Garden, & More
  • Sonoma Scent Studio Updates

Perfumery Highlights

  • The Fragrance Creation Process
  • Running An Artisan Perfume Business
  • Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools
  • Ten Tips for Exploring the World of Perfume
  • Safety Standards For Natural Ingredients
  • Talking fragrance Design With Miriam Vareldzis
  • Interview with Dabney Rose: artisan perfumer, expert distiller and plantswoman
  • Defining Niche, Indie, and Artisan
  • Scent Concentration
  • A Brand’s Signature Base
  • Tincturing Ambergris

Olfaction Highlights

  • Study Finds 30% Difference in People’s Scent Receptors
  • More Discussion About Individual Scent Perception
  • Our Own Scent Truth
  • Every Human May Have A Unique Nose
  • More On Our Individual Sense Of Smell

Artisan Stories

  • Talking fragrance design and more with Miriam Vareldzis
  • Dabney Rose: artisan perfumer, expert distiller and plantswoman
  • Melissa Groben, perfumista & jewelry artist

Recent Posts

  • Sonoma Scent Studio Has A New Owner
  • Happy Easter/Passover!
  • How To File A USA Trademark For Less Than $300
  • Spring Visit to Garden at Ferrari-Carano Winery
  • Dreaming of Spring 2019

Recent Comments

  • Laurie on Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools
  • Wendy Gardner on Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools
  • Laurie on Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools
  • Josefa on Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools
  • Laurie on Learning Perfumery: Classes & Schools

Archives

Tags

allergens awards biotech botanical art chemical deer DIY employee EU restrictions Ferrari-Carano Winery garden gardens genetics gifts GMO Healdsburg how to IFRA infringement interview jewelry learning perfumery mandevilla vine mother's day mustard natural perfumery perfume general perfumery Preston Winery reviews roses Scent Perception skin care small business Sonoma sonoma scent studio spring TEAS TEAS Plus TESS trademark tulips USPTO winery wine tasting
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Email
Footer Logo

@2019 The Artisan Insider. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy