Day 26 ~ One Year, One Nose

Rubber soles



I am addicted to the smell of brand new rubber soled shoes. The rubber soles are what attract me most. I tried doing some research on this, but my ADD tackled my resolve and I got only as far as links to sites discussing pica (eating stuff you're not supposed to like dirt, rubber, toilet paper, baby powder, powder laundry soap, et cetera) or sites about huffing rubber cement glue. Not useful info to this study at all.

I also love the smell of gasoline, and I can say this even after having had a very nasty experience at around age 14 wherein I was siphoning gas from the lawn mower to put into a dirt bike and inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of the stuff in the process. The memory of the burps are what give me shudders to this day.

The absolute best rubber soled shoes are in Anthropologie stores. The strange ritual, which makes my kids roll their eyes and walk away in embarrassment, includes a trip to Sephora to sniff the goodies there, then a pop into Anthropologie and a beeline to the discount racks in back where those particularly delicious rubber soled shoes are on discount. I once walked the entire store with a pair held up to my face while the kids shopped and tried desperately to escape me.

I can't even adequately describe the scent I'm talking about here -- it's rubber! It smells like rubber. However, not all rubber is the same -- there are some rubber soled shoes that have very little of that new, out-of-the-package rubbery intense smell, while others simply reek of it. It's an industrial smell, like gear grease and solvents and sweat. I can't say that I catch a 'buzz' smelling it, as some around here have suggested. I don't go all wonky eyed and euphoric, but I do really, really enjoy the smell.

Bicycle tires smell pretty good too.