How I Brought My Nose Back to Life

How I Brought My Nose Back to Life

Stephanie Feuer

There is a proper way to sniff — measured, deliberate, no urgent draws of breath. Our sense of smell is dependent on the first smell signals the olfactory receptors detect. The power of the top note. I brought the oil-soaked paper up to my nose. I breathed in and hoped to be lifted from the bleak, flat reality of my odorless world.

I didn’t smell the eucalyptus, but I could feel it. The trigeminal nerve, which runs through the face and nose, responds to scent. It’s the reason menthol feels cool and that there’s a burning sensation when you breathe in ammonia. The trigeminal nerve serves up the joy that is the spicy food I can feel but not taste. It’s the reason I always have hot sauce in my purse.

I dipped the watercolor paper into the lemon oil and took a whiff. Nothing.

I decided that if smell training was going to work for me, I’d have to add another layer. I’d reverse engineer the Proust effect, the power of smell to unlock memory — the name a tribute to the narrator in Swann’s Way, who dips a madeleine pastry in tea and unleashes a flood of memories...

From the title of the thread, I thought this was going to be about a Nose Death Experience.