: Re: How do I define smells I have never experienced? I am a lifelong writer, who was also born without an ability to smell. I have been trained to engage the reader by applying the five senses,

@Goswami879

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Keep it Specific.

Here's why: The nose has thousands of specific odor receptors, not just a few general ones like 'sweet'. The receptor sites in the nose respond to molecular shapes and polarization. Two different chemicals almost never smell the same.

Often, in chemical papers you see a note like 'the smell is distinctive'. Some have objected that this is unhelpful, but in fact it is precise. A molecule can activate neurons leading to an odor you cannot describe because it smells like nothing else in the world.

There are a few receptors that are not very specific. 'flowery' smells all contain similar but not identical chemicals. Other categories like 'woody' exist because all wood has a few chemicals in common.

Most odors are a mixture of chemicals. People can pick out the smell of coffee and detect the cinnamon and vanilla added. But you cannot describe a new smell that you experience to someone who has not. Pure odors are not 'close' to each other. Mixtures can be close -- This cup has less cinnamon than usual. But the smell of cinnamon is not 'a little like vanilla and a bit like banana'.

So in your writing you would be safest to keep it specific. Things like the smell of old books, or recognizing the smell of a particular brand of perfume. "You use Evian skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, but not today."

Another point to be aware of: smell fades from awareness in less than a minute. When you walk into a room you may smell the coffee. But not after being there. If you leave for a minute and come back you will smell it again.

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