A true story about what it’s like to lose your sense of smell.
The Power of Scent
It was a Friday, and my grandchildren were coming to visit. The house would soon be full of life again — laughter, noise, and all sorts of little adventures. One of their favorite things to do is come to my study and dig out my smell-testing notebooks. They almost know all twelve scents by heart now, just like I do. It’s such fun — “What’s this smell? And this one?”
That day, I noticed I was feeling slightly under the weather. Nothing serious, I thought. But by Monday, the cold had gotten worse.
And then, suddenly, I realized something was wrong — terribly wrong. I couldn’t smell a thing!
On Tuesday morning, I walked into the kitchen. Nothing. No aroma of coffee, no toast, no fresh juice. Just silence in my nose.
I even took out the smell-testing notebook and went through it like I do with the kids. Not a single signal. What an awful feeling.
By evening, I was feeling worse. I thought, maybe a little whisky will help. So I poured my familiar Jim Beam Rye into my trusted SAVU glass — a scent I could normally recognize blindfolded. I waited, lifted the glass to my nose… and nothing. No aroma, just burning liquid.
I tried a single malt. Same result. And, being Finnish, I refused to give up. I opened my favorite — Hibiki 17. Still nothing. Just the burn.
There was no point in tasting more whiskies. It struck me hard — this is exactly what I talk about in my lectures. Now, for the first time, I truly experienced it myself. If a distillery spends ten years crafting the delicate aromas in whisky, how can we not take even ten minutes to truly sense and identify them with our noses?
A couple of weeks passed, and I slowly began to recover. Then one morning, I walked into the kitchen as usual. My wife had brewed coffee.
And I shouted out loud — “Life is back! I can smell again!”
The aroma of Juhla Mokka coffee was heavenly, almost overwhelming. What a perfect way to start the day.
That evening, I took out the SAVU glass again and poured a little Jim Beam Rye. Everything was back — banana, toffee, vanilla.
From that day on, I’ve appreciated my nose more than ever. It truly brings joy to life.
– The inventor himself, Jari
