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New York Bans the Smell of Autumn 

I don’t think so.

Today your leaves, tomorrow your cologne. No burning leaves for you!

Posted by Avery Gilbert at 9:27 PM Labels: environment, perfume, smellscapes


Olfacta said...

We've had the "burn ban" here for years. It has truly taken so much pleasure out of autumn walks. Boo.

October 14, 2009 at 8:07 AM Nathan Branch said...

My best memory of childhood is walking around the on chill Autumn weekends as the leaf raking and leaf burning was on in full-force. The entire (small) town smelled like burned leaves -- it was fantastic. I miss that smell.

Christopher Brosius at CB I Hate Perfume offers a good approximation of the smell of burning leaves with his "Burning Leaves" accord. It doesn't smell exactly like the real thing (how could it?), but there's just enough of that charred, smoky ghost to bring some nostalgic satisfaction to the day.

October 18, 2009 at 8:21 AM Avery Gilbert said...

Olfacta & Nathan Branch:

Should the leafy bonfires of freedom be extinguished without a protest? I think this is the moment for a Dada-ist political statement. What if someone loaded one of Mitch Heinrich's scent-graffiti spray cans with Burning Leaves by Christopher Brosius and spritzes a little around the offices of the NYDEC Commissioner?

Olfactory protest art!

October 18, 2009 at 7:28 PM Eliza said...

I agree! Having a bonfire is a wonderful thing. And the leaf raking that Nathan Branch mentions seems to be a thing of the past too. Whoever invented leaf blowers... So now there's no bonfire smoke, lots of noise and the smell of gasoline instead.

October 19, 2009 at 11:42 AM 

Exactly. I'd like to see a comparative analysis of pollution from leafblowing a pile of leaves with an inefficient gas-powered motor and driving them to a dump versus raking and burning them in situ.

October 21, 2009 at 8:01 AM