What’s That Smell?

Researching ideas for a book called A Pheromone Affair brought some interesting tangents. First the definition of a pheromone may help. It’s a substance produced by a species to affect the behavior of like species. Biologists know a buck deer uses scent glands on his back legs to emit pheromones to attract does. You may have heard ants leave a trail of pheromone from a food source back to the ant hill so others can also find the food. In the case of the book, well, maybe
you should read it.

Because of the surge of aroma therapy back in the 1990s, I determined to seek out the professionals in the business. The Fragrance Foundation in New York City seemed like a great place to start. After a short call/email trail a slot opened to speak with the Executive Director. Annette Green, a frail, gentle soul started with the foundation at its inception in 1949. She greeted me warmly and loved the opportunity to speak about her passion.

In a path hoped to build a reasonable expectation of suspense, questions led to how the industry markets aromatherapy. “Then you mean I could take my wife to a restaurant and have the most romantic evening and its cause is the air freshener?”

Annette leans forward and says, “Oh, yes. We have to be very careful how we market these products.”

Now we’re getting somewhere! “Then, I could go to a football game in a domed stadium and have an outrageous time and it would be because of the deodorizer?”

“That’s right.”

And so went the interview. Annette also suggested I contact a perfume research chemist since my protagonist, Audrey Leclaire, trained as one. She gave me a short list to contact and I did communicate with a lady who responded.

Annette handed me off to another employee who supplied me with a filing cabinet drawer full of fragrance news and history. I know more about top notes, middle notes, and bass notes than most men ought to. I learned about how flower petals change from squeezed to emit oil, to a concrete. It’s from the concrete essences derive. I learned how those research chemists, known as noses, use their olfactory senses to not only identify what essences are within a bottle of perfume, but also how to use their talent in creating new ones.

For instance, if Word Weavers wanted to peddle a perfume we’d all get together and make a list of words representative of what we want the perfume to exude. Things like ink, paper, creativity, maybe character strengths, love, fear, tension. It doesn’t matter what comprises the list; it’s what we want the ultimate fragrance to bring out of the customer. Once we have the list, we send it to noses we select. Maybe five or six of them. Each will take the list and concoct what they believe fills the bill.

After several months they each bring their creation to our conference. The bottles reside on a table in random order. Our select committee whiffs each in turn and votes on the one most closely fulfilling our desire. That’s the new Word Weavers perfume.

Another research arm takes us to technology. With today’s gas analyzers, spectrographs, like what Abby uses in NCIS, it’s not necessary for a nose to tell us what’s in the bottle. However, the creation ability lays only within the brain of a nose whose expertise includes knowing four thousand different essences. It’s this wide base of knowledge that allows a nose to create.

Through the years a need arose to once again contact the Fragrance Foundation. I learned Annette had since retired, but the receptionist forwarded a note to Annette on my behalf. I received an email from her and sent her my regards. I suspect by now she may have passed, but the relationship we had back in the 1990s rekindled because of her gracious and friendly manner. If I learned anything from this research project, perhaps you’ll find The Pheromone Chronicles an
interesting read.

The three books will be The Affair, The Affect, and The Affirmation if the working titles stick.

Warren’s varied experience runs the gauntlet from delivering babies as an EMT, to public speaking, to forest technology, to surveying, to manufacturing where he traveled around the world, and writing. These activities offer readers a wide view of life as Warren focuses on details surrounding all of us. 

He lives with his wife of forty-eight years, Barbara, in northwest South Carolina. Their three children bring twelve grandchildren and many foster kids into the picture.