Aroma Hooey?

250pxylang_cananga_odorata "I'd like to tell you" I said to the perky sales associate "that this is the best shaving cream I've ever used. But I loathe coming in to buy it because of your store's over-powering assault on my nose!" Seeing her dismay I quickly added "You see, I work with wine, where a sensitive and well-trained nose is a valuable tool." My comment had been offered in sympathy for the workers in this boutique shop, which features hand-made soaps and cosmetics with no packaging. I figured they too must dread the over-powering essence of jasmine, watermelon, cucumber, Ylang-Ylang and dozens of other scents figuratively screaming for the attention of every nostril within 50 feet. But my words were not taken kindly. Visibly bristling, the Sales Associate gave me a look she likely reserved for the heathen, the non-believers... "Well, SOME customers actually LIKE the ambiance our scents create. And though packaging would mute the scent of our products, we don't believe in it - it's bad for the environment! Besides," she continued "perhaps you're not aware of the aromatherapy benefits of our products?" She pushed on... "Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils, either inhaled, dissolved in baths, or applied to the body, for physical and emotional healing." If you're like me you'll find such claims for aromatherapy's benefits just slightly more convincing than those for subliminal advertising or astrology. Or so I thought, until I found this alternative definition:

We have all experienced a memory triggered by a particular scent; perhaps the scent of a favorite flower or a past lover, or the perfume your grandmother used, or the linen closet of your childhood. A scent can produce positive or negative memories, such as positive or negative thoughts about a person or place in your past.

Wine as Aromatherapy Ahhh, that sounds a bit more mentally digestible. We're talking about scent memory here, right? Hey, give me a beautifully aromatic wine and my memories of good times past begin to meld with the anticipation of ones yet to come. If that's armatherapy, I'm all in! Now I'm just waiting for someone to come out with a line of "Aroma Therapy Wines". Likely candidates? Viognier, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Roussanne, Marsanne, Torrontes, Vino Verde, Lacryma di Morro d'Alba, Cabernet Franc... A little dab will do ya! Quote of the Day: If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. JEFF BEZOS
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