Recently, I was enjoying the fall at a campfire and sitting quietly thinking about smoke. Ultimately, what a feeling. My brain recognized such a pleasant perception of the birch smoke. Earlier in the morning I was doing log jobs – cutting and splitting trees. I did spruce, pine and birch. While lumbering I found very nice smell of those trees. Scent of birch is very mild; spruce is moderate and pine is the best one. The pine resin volatile molecules smell so good.
When I sat at the campfire, I considered the smell of those trees I mentioned above. The smoke of burnt birch is most pleasant. The smoke of pine I felt somehow squeamish and thick. Anyway, I like the smell of smoke a lot.
I wondered how similar is the perception of a campfire smoke to the smoky scents of whiskey. Smokiness of a whiskey is very dominating feature. I understood easily why people like smoky whiskey. Liking smell of whiskey is somehow written in genes. It is a very primitive sensation.
Sensing smoky whisky and a campfire smoke is pretty much the same. However, the origin and chemical composition is different. What is worth noting, is the key odour compound in both cases is a phenolic guaiacol. Its odour active value is high and a mixture of phenolic compounds make our mind.
My fire has gone out and no more smoke can be detected. Next time drinking whiskey from SAVU Glass, I definitely remember my authentic Savu (Finnish for smoke) experience.
– Jari
