Hey all,
I’ve been in Finland for 6 years and I have a lingering question that seems surprisingly difficult to answer.
Whenever fall arives (aroud now), and also sometimes in spring, certain places fill up with this unmistakable “fresh” aroma that’s so typical of boreal forest. I’ve smelled it when I lived in Canada too. This smell is half the reason why I moved here: I just can’t get enough of it. It’s not pine: it’s rather subtle most of the time when it happens. I’m 95% certain it comes from the birth trees (koivu) when the temperature swings wildly - typically in spring and fall.
I’d like to know for sure it’s the birch trees that emit that smell, because then I’d plant a bunch of them on my property. But here’s the thing: I’m not entirely sure it’s birch trees, because none of the artificial koivu scents I bought manage to smell anything remotely close to that - if that’s what they’re trying to come close to.
And here’s the mystery: when the smell arrives and fills the air, I ask people around me and if they know what that smell is. And almost nobody I ask seems to be able to smell it at all! The best answer anyone’s ever given me once was “It smells like winter coming”, which is not terribly botanical 🙂
I chalked it up to the locals having lived here all their lives and having become nose-blind to that smell. But I recently invited friends from abroad, and they can’t smell it either.
I’m beginning to think being able to smell that smell is a genetic trait - like certain cats being totally unaffected by catnip.
Do you know what smell I’m referring to ? And if you do, can you confirm it’s koivu?
My wife has an acute sense of smell and she suggested ‘worm smell’ - the earthy smell that happens when the ground is wet and you’re likely to spot earthworms (I must have taken in the smell of earthworms as a kid, since I know they have a particular smell to them, and I know what she’s talking about).
Then again, birch does have an aroma to it as well. We have a pile of birch branches in the back yard from felling one in the winter. Definitely smells particular. Take a whiff of a birch sauna whisk and you’ll have a representative sample!
It’s not that. I know earthy smells. I used to spend a lot of time outdoors, and I’ve smelled earthy smells in all the countries I’ve lived in. The mystery smell I’m interested in is only found in boreal regions.
Hmm, I did buy a sauna birch whisk in a cheap discount store once (wrapped in plastic and all) and it didn’t smell of anything. But now you have me curious again: maybe it truly was too cheap a store. I’ll go get another one tomorrow.