I'm watching that — and I ordered this — after listening to the Daily podcast, "The Forgotten Sense/What can the coronavirus's strangest symptom teach us about the mysteries of smell," and hearing about "smell training" for the first time.
I've never had covid 19 (as far as I know), but I have had a profound (but not complete) loss of the sense of smell for more than a decade. The loss of smell is getting a lot of attention these days, and it hasn't been taken very seriously in the past. That's something discussed in the podcast, and we're getting the podcast now because the symptom has become so common. Even though I look for stories on this subject all the time, I had never heard of smell training!
I've often tested to see if my sense of smell is improving by sniffing at various jars in the kitchen cupboard — vanilla, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, curry powder. I get a little something, almost nothing, but I keep hoping to get a bit more. But I'd never thought to train rather than merely test, and I've never been methodical about it. It would be more of a spontaneous reaction to thinking I'm smelling something. I'll say "I feel like I can smell the bacon." Feel like. Is it just a memory of smell? A vague warmth?! I don't know, but I hopefully sniff at a few jars and try to remember if I'm getting anything more than the last time.
The smell training is methodical. You have 4 essential oils to smell and get "mindful" about, and you do them twice a day for at least 4 months. Don't give up! Keep going for 4 months. I'll let you know how this works.
ADDED: After publishing this post, I scrolled down the front page of my blog, saw the title, and did a double take. Huh? Smell train?!
I think most of the comments on this post are people riffing on the notion of smelling a train. Meade was kidding around acting like he could smell a train in the house, and it unlocked a memory for me, a song I had not thought about in over 60 years:
The title of the song is actually "In the Middle of the House." It was a minor hit in 1956, and it was something kids loved. There were a lot of novelty songs that kids loved back in the 50s. I'm not talking about children's music, such as you'd find in later decades. Just novelty songs that everyone loved. They kind of competed with rock and roll music, and, in fact, at least to me, as a kid, they made rock and roll music seem like more novelty music. What puts "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Pink Shoelaces" in different categories?
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57 comments:
It was easier when they burned coal.
It was easier when they burned coal
...and we already have a winner...
On publishing this post, the phrase "how to smell train" felt wrong, as if it involved approach a locomotive.
I see the first 2 commenters had the same reaction to the post title that I had (only after publishing).
It's a quote from the video.
There's kits of wine aromas they use for educational purposes. They have way more aromas than four- forty, fifty intense odors. It might be a good way to identify what registers, if anything.
Hahhahahah! I had the same thought. Of all smells, why choose train?
Good luck with this, Althouse. Truly.
Oh Smell Train smelling worser
Shite on the Smell Train
Come on now Smell Train
Yes, Smell Train make you holler
Haha. Same here on “training.” I’ve been helping out with my 18-month-old grandson during COVID-19. A Metra station is around the corner so most days we walk or drive to watch the :28 Inbound and the :31 Outbound. I always take a big sniff in and tell him “That’s the locomotive smell.”
The daily sunrise run and photos for well over a year are a good indication that Ann will be successful, at least in the training part.
My thoughts in order...
(1) Oh, something to do with synesthesia?
(2) That's an awkward sentence.
(3) Would a hyphen be helpful?
(4) Smell-train?
(5) Oh like that bullshit wine-tasting kit Cody gave me last year
(6) God I hate wine-tasting. Bunch of pretentious babble. Notes, aromas, bouquet, finish.
(7) What the fuck does a gooseberry taste like?
(8) What was I reading?
Best of luck! Apparently my great-grandfather lost his sense of smell entirely in his fifties or so, and it was a struggle to get him to eat thereafter because nothing tasted right or good to him. I wish you a universe of aroma!
But I'll add my bemusement to that of other commenters about what a train smells like, and why one needs instructions to smell it.
Well...that's a relief. When I first read, then re-read the header, I thought we were going to be introduced to a new niche fad about pulling out the different smells in trains. I was thinking that this is a time when people have finally run out of things to write about.
Then I read your post.
J. Farmer referred to this, but wine tasting involves smell training. Years ago I sold fine wine and as part of it, went all over the country training food servers in restaurants/hotels how to discern various smells coming out of different wines. There's actually a lot to it. And, like J. Farmer received, some use smell kits that include things like vials of tobacco, leather, various dried fruits (apricot, pear, peach), essential oils, and other aromas. It can get pretty crazy and after a few years I got tired of it. It made me lose my love for wine. That was years ago and a trip to Napa in recent years brought me back onto the wine train. If I can say that.
The thing is, smell is a key part of taste. So if you cannot smell, you cannot taste. At least, not well.
Knowing Ann’s discipline, the smelling problem will soon be resolved.
After my surgery nothing smelled right and I had trouble eating I lost weight but was miserable.
It all came back (including half of the weight) but some things, like rum, have not gotten any more attractive.
Good luck, Ann!
-XC
@Temujin:
There's actually a lot to it.
It's just a pet peeve of mind. I detest the use of food and drink as a kind of status-signaling urbane affectation. I just think it's abhorrent to use food and drink to divide people in an elitist fashion. It's sort of like using etiquette to make people feel awkward or inadequate. The exact opposite of what etiquette is intended to do. The beautiful thing about food and drink is its capacity to bring people together and nourish community.
The ability to process smells and tastes is a delicate thing. After radiation treatment for throat cancer, one's ability to process food is placed on hold while the cancer is eradicated. In my case, that resulted in the loss of about a third of my total mass as well as relearning how to taste and process food once again. Simultaneously, my sense of smell was amplified to a degree that the presence of a cut onion on one floor of the house was sufficiently nauseating to require me to go to another floor. Fortunately, that passed with time.
In my late sixties, the thing that has kept me sane and positively motivated is the ability to remember what the process of learning to eat was like as an infant. Unlike then, I can now cook, which is a plus.
For the first time since I was four, I'm not hungry all the time. I have spent a lifetime fighting my natural desire to eat as I like and find it strange that it is now the least of my worries. Overall, I am far healthier at this point by most standard measurements and more physically fit by far than I was before the cancer was discovered.
My takeaways:
Life's a funny thing, but you have to see it through the pain.
Be careful what you wish for. You never know how you might get it.
Sounds like you are talking the first step on a path that leads to a new age cult. Next thing is yoga. Pretty soon you will be addicted to Goop recommendations.
Meade, send out the Crack signal to save your wife.
Some people like cars or puzzles comic books or Sherlock Holmes. It's a hobby. You can be as in or out as you want but if you're in you gain knowledge. People in the trade or for fun enjoy sharing it with anyone. If you see snobbery or elitism it's on you.
Pretty soon you will be addicted to Goop recommendations.
Hi, my name is rehajm...
It's sort of like using etiquette to make people feel awkward or inadequate.
Etiquette is useful in letting you know what to do in an unfamiliar situation. Good manners are useful for making sure that those who slip in their knowledge of etiquette don't feel embarrassed.
There's a story about a dignitary visiting Queen Victoria. The dignitary was unfamiliar with finger bowls and so he drank from it. Seeing that, the queen did likewise. She knew the etiquette but she also had good manners.
I recently had nasal surgery, and I was surprised how much I could actually smell afterwards. The loss of smell wasn't something that I had particularly noticed, probably because the inflammation/blockage had come about slowly until it reached a tipping point. But it was certainly noticeable when it returned.
Failing the smell train, get a smelling-nose dog.
Good luck.
I think of how a person "lights up" after experiencing a pleasant smell. Like me, when I go outside after putting birch in the wood burner.
Smell tells you the difference between what is wonderful and what is awful.
If you smell train, stay off the tracks.
There's a lot in that podcast about *paranosmia* in covid victims. They get their sense of smell back distorted, and things smell bad — like sewage and whatnot — so life is awful and it's difficult to eat and even to drink water.
J.Farmer:
It's just a pet peeve of mind. I detest the use of food and drink as a kind of status-signaling urbane affectation.
Yeah, I agree with you, but it doesn't have to be. It got out of hand to me, which is why I left the wine biz. And that was years ago. It's worse now in some cases (Yountville, anyone?) And though Napa has turned into a capital of self-centered affectation and overwhelming excess, at the heart of it, at the heart of the wine community, is farming. The best of these people are grape growers, crafts people, scientists, artisans. They work the soil, hone their reading of the grapes, combine grapes, select fermenting or aging processes. There's so much to it. And what they do best is bring people together around a bottle and some food. The frills around it came from the outside.
When techies and VCs and hedge fund managers with too much money entered the picture, the wine world got stupid. But there are many wine makers who remember where they came from. I have met a few in my time and there are some great people among them. I try to support those I've met, or know of. Just a personal thing.
First thought: railroad
Second thought: offensive sexual act
Third thought: "Hey, Soul Sister"
The best wine merchant I ever went to was the one who, when I asked, "What would you recommend at such-and-such a price point for a day when my neighbor and I have both gotten bad news?" And he would always come up with something great that went with the feeling.
I know that must of that was wish fulfillment on my part - what made him so great was that he never scoffed or rolled his eyes at my questions (at least not while I was in the shop!), he never failed to appear to take them seriously and to make a recommendation, and he never sold me a bad bottle.
Some years ago my sense of smell declined after a cold, but it came back. ISTR that taste was also affected, everything tasted salty.
This isn't your main point, but I'm curious about people's experiences with essential oils. I have a friend who sells them full-time, and has done well for herself. I've heard mixed things. I've used a few, but not consistently enough to notice a substantial difference. What do others think? Beneficial, or a scam?
Regarding wine tasting/smelling:
https://youtu.be/OC6ysvOG1ao
Regarding drinking from the finger bowl:
https://youtu.be/rmpFmJfEZXs
@rehajm:
People in the trade or for fun enjoy sharing it with anyone. If you see snobbery or elitism it's on you.
One does not preclude the other. Do you disagree that there is a virtue-signaling and elitist aspect to food and drink? The issue of elitism in the "slow food movement" and among local food scenes is widely discussed in the culinary press. There was no expose on a Williamsburg-based chocolate company called "Mast Brothers." Check it out to get a sense of what I am talking about.
When I was practicing criminal defense law, when you met clients at the jail, you got that distinct and prominent human body locker room smell. Part of it was because of the limited showering opportunities, part of it was the increased warm temperature and the decrease in air circulation. It was especially overwhelming when you met guys in the old jail, where you basically met them at the open barred doorway to general population.
No doubt the inmates were all nose blind to it. But over these past months of being in home jail myself, I wonder if the same has happened to me. Have I become desensitized to the smell test of whether or not to wear a set of clothes again rather than pile up laundry for the washing machine.
Then again, the sense of smell plummets as you age.
Do you disagree that there is a virtue-signaling and elitist aspect to food and drink?
I think bitching about wine snobs is a far more sinister form of elitist virtue signaling.
@Temujin:
I have met a few in my time and there are some great people among them. I try to support those I've met, or know of. Just a personal thing.
Both sets of my grandparents were in the food business. My paternal grandparents owned a few restaurants, managed several others, and had a catering company. My maternal grandmother owned a restaurant that specialized in low-country cooking. They had a much more communal, ethnographic approach to food and found a lot of "haute cuisine" absurd. Their idea of what a chef should be is something like Paul Prudhomme.
Seeing the video reminded me I had a train like that when I was a young girl
I have no idea what happened to it.
I wish I knew.
Best place I ever went to do wine tasting/smelling was Italy.
I learned the reason they plant rose bushes in the vineyards (generally at the end of the rows) was because roses get any bug infestation BEFORE the grape vines do so they can take preventative action to save the grapes.
@rehajm:
I think bitching about wine snobs is a far more sinister form of elitist virtue signaling.
I think bitching about someone bitching about wine snobs is an even more sinister form of elitist virtue signaling?
p.s. In case "what the fuck do gooseberries taste like" and "pet peeve" didn't tip you off, I'm not being all that serious.
J. Farmer said... Do you disagree that there is a virtue-signaling and elitist aspect to food and drink?
Are you referring to people who shop at Whole Foods? clears throat
I used to be an oenophile and built a wine rack in my basement. People in my consulting business were into wines and we traded tips as well as bottles. One thing I learned is that anyone can find a good bottle of wine for $50-100. It takes a great deal of luck and effort to find one for $10-15.
My local wine guy tippled me off to a 1995 Chilean Merlot that went for $5.99. "Buy all you can", he said, "this is just a really lucky year for them". It was a delicious wine. One colleague turned his nose up at it and refused to try it. This was a guy who had all the pretentious toys and struggled to pay off his credit cards.
In case "what the fuck do gooseberries taste like" and "pet peeve" didn't tip you off, I'm not being all that serious.
Yah, I think I gauged your tone, I just find the argument about elit-ism (everyone drink!) rather fruitless...er...pointless. What does it mean? People who enjoy food and wine to the point they gain knowledge of a pursuit they enjoy are bad people? Bilge. Hard working, risk-taking farmers that have dirty clothes and love what they are doing doesn't sound like much of a recipe for snobbery.
What the fuck does a gooseberry taste like?
We have a couple bushes. Thorny things. I lack the vocabulary to describe the taste, other than "tart".
My local wine guy tippled me off to a 1995 Chilean Merlot that went for $5.99.
Heh. Was that on purpose?
@rehajm:
What does it mean?
People who see themselves as members of an elite group that is superior to non-members.
People who enjoy food and wine to the point they gain knowledge of a pursuit they enjoy are bad people? Bilge.
That was never what I was objecting to. It was the "use of food and drink as a kind of status-signaling urbane affectation," not people who "gain knowledge of a pursuit they enjoy."
I don't think Cristal became a cliche in hip-hop in the 90s because a dozen different rappers had a passion for sparkling wine production in Champagne. It was because Cristal was expensive and conveyed luxury and wealth. It's not something the hoi polloi can afford.
The entire Patron strategy was to set it at a high price-point and market it as an "ultra-premium" category. Fiji followed a similar strategy in the bottled water category.
p.s. Have you never really come across the trope of the pretentious, pedantic wine taster?
what the fuck do gooseberries taste like?
J Farmer says he wasn't being serious, but i've been thinking for the last hour how to describe the taste, other than "tart". (like Madman)
Here's what i've come up with: Think of Sour Grapes... But Far Worse
{i come from a family that was not only filled with knee jerk liberals, was filled with Gooseberry fanatics. Have you ever had a gooseberry pie? If you Ever get the chance to NOT have a slice of gooseberry pie, i'd Highly recommend you Take that chance}
I engage in smell training every day with French wine.
First Rule of snake oil cures is that when it doesn’t work you blame yourself.
Smelling Boot Camp?
Glass half full mindset notes shopping in Walmart w/o that pesky aroma of Trump supporters.
Honest question Ann.
Can you smell shit?
Jamie said...
My local wine guy tippled me off to a 1995 Chilean Merlot that went for $5.99.
Heh. Was that on purpose?
No. That was the genius of autocorrect.
@gilbar:
J Farmer says he wasn't being serious, but i've been thinking for the last hour how to describe the taste, other than "tart". (like Madman)
I was trying to think of one of the more quizzical "notes" that people identity when tasting wine. My first choice was "forest floor" but then I realized that was actually more relatable than gooseberries. I've never tasted one in my life.
I may have been subliminally channeling on old joke from Taxi by Rev. Jim Ignatowski: I wonder about things, like, if they call an orange an "orange," then why don't we call a banana a "yellow" or an apple a "red"? Blueberries, I understand. But will someone explain gooseberries to me?
"What puts "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Pink Shoelaces" in different categories?"
The beat!
We use an essential oil anti-itch remedy that actually works. The clove oil in the mixture numbs the site. Other than that, I've concluded they're expensive, pleasant smells.
We use an essential oil anti-itch remedy that actually works. The clove oil in the mixture numbs the site. Other than that, I've concluded they're expensive, pleasant smells.
I wonder if anyone has done a study of the placebo effect with regards to essential oils - if you can be made to associate the odor with a particular sensation or relief of a symptom, then it works, even if the oil itself is not active in the treatment.
I envision this: 4 naive (that is, not knowing anything about essential oils) groups who suffer from frequent mild headaches. One group is told to sniff lavender whenever they have a headache because the New England Journal of Medicine has recently concluded that this is an effective treatment for some sufferers. Second group is told to sniff asafetida (I don't think it's supposed to be good for headaches), same explanation. Third group sniffs an empty glass bottle, in case something about deeply inhaling had an effect, but no explanation. Fourth group sits in a room, no sniffing, no explanation. All groups report when or if their perception of headache pain changes.
Oh, and interview all about their religious beliefs, whether they read their astrological forecasts, whether they cross under ladders, etc. Just for the data.
Believe me, I'm not knocking the placebo effect - on the contrary, I'm counting on it, if I am ever unfortunate enough to have a hard-to-treat ailment. I used to avoid reading about cancer treatment effectiveness in order to maintain as much possibility of placebo success as possible, until I read about a study indicating that the placebo effect works even if you tell the person it's a placebo.
I remember the song "In the Middle of the House." As I recall, some musical group (the Doodle Town Piper's?) used to sing it on the Captain Kangaroo showy. Actually, the Captain used to play a recording of the group singing the song. It was unusual in that the group was supposed to die at the end. The song ended with, "We're singing this song in the middle of the house-- only to be suddenly cut off by the sound of a train roaring through the house. I guess the sound of screams and the train crunching on bones would have been too much for the tykes.
GEEZ! I remember watching Captain Kangaroo as a tyke (as you say) - that certainly would have been upsetting!
"What puts "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Pink Shoelaces" in different categories?"
Carl Perkins
A garden path headline. Very nice!
I wonder if it is like what Rush said about listening to music after he lost his hearing and was forced to use cochlear implants, that he couldn’t listen to new music, but the old music was fine because his brain could reconstruct it from memory and the limited hints that the implants would give him.
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