Harry Slatkin Turns Scent Critic for the Boston Globe {The 5th Sense in the News}

Just as I was trying to do a comparison, in my head, of the most typical smells of New York City and Paris, I happened on this article in the Boston Globe which attempts to assess the scents of Boston. More particularly Harry Slatkin of Harry Slakin & Co. was invited to tour the city to give his opinion on the way stores are perfumed, normally to attract customers.

And let me tell you how this is important. Only the other day I overheard someone complain about how a section of a store smelled as soon as he approached it. It smelled he said. It smelled of something that was difficult for him to identify. That person literally freaked out and had to leave after a few moments because it was apparently unbearable to him. The people accompanying him were not noticing anything and he seemed even more upset for that fact.

The sense of smell can be so visceral...

"...the assessment of Boston's aroma comes directly from the nose of Harry Slatkin, the home fragrance impresario who has crafted custom candle scents for Elton John and Madonna, along with decadently fragranced candles for Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. He even showed Martha Stewart how to make a candle on TV.

The upshot is that Harry Slatkin has one very talented nose. But he does not randomly pull up in a city and start sniffing. He's in Boston because I asked him and his nose to assess the smells of the city. I am interested in finding out how successful retail stores are at scenting their environs, but I also want Slatkin's olfactory skills to assess a few of the city's more popular locales. Shockingly, he agrees to my experiment."

Read more in The Talented Mr. Sniffy...

Photo credit: Cold Boston by Shutterscript