house of sampoerna

House of Sampoerna is a former factory of Sampoerna turned into a museum that tells the story of the struggle of Sampoerna, a former cigarette worker who became the owner of Indonesia's most prominent cigarette company.

In this museum we can smell to various sorts of local tobacco leaves, and as the museum is still used by workers to make cigarettes during the day. So there's a strong aroma of tobacco in every corner of the museum.

And after 45 minutes, I got extremely nauseous from the tobacco smell.. just like what happened to me when going to the 2010 Ars Electronica in Linz, where the main art space was the former cigarette factory.

ps: this post is a part of the mwoatravels, a travel journal of maarten and i across java and bali in january-march 2012.

herbs bought at akar sari

here are the herbs i bought at akar sari a week before.

not only that i like the smell, but also the visual design of the packages! :-)

various type of bumbu's

bumbu opor

bumbu kare

bumbu sate

vetiver, cinnamon, sappanwood

sappanwood (secang)

vetiver (akar wangi)

cinnamon (manis jangan)

ps: this post is a part of the mwoatravels, a travel journal of maarten and i across java and bali in january-march 2012.

akar sari

Akar Sari is a jamu (traditional herbal medicine) company from Solo, Central Java. The shop was filled with all sorts of herbs and it was perfect for my olfactorial visit :-)

So we went to their shop on a cloudy Saturday afternoon (unfortunately there was a black out, so the inner store was completely dark) and bought some herbs and bumbu (Indonesian seasonings).

I was so amazed by their collection of herbs!

ps: this post is a part of the mwoatravels, a travel journal of maarten and i across java and bali from january-march 2012.

[smell in a song] scissor sisters - any which way

A man that smells like cocoa, butter, and cash

[2.36]

[link] How to Make Your Own Perfume

Meredith Tucker of Sweet Anthem, a Seattle-based perfume studio, shared a tutorial on making your own perfume here. Something that I should try really, really soon!

(via Makezine)

[smell in a song] saint etienne - like a motorway

He said her skin smelled just like petals

[2.48]
anyway at first i thought sarah said the skin smelled like pebbles, which somehow is difficult to imagine how pebbles smell like, but probably very serene..

[smell in a song] rufus wainwright - out of the game

say, come over here,
let me smell you for one last time

[2.24]

[news] ‘Old-Person Smell’ Really Exists, Scientists Say

from Time

Elderly people have a distinct smell, confirm researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, but contrary to stereotype their scent isn't all bad.

"Similar to other animals, humans can extract signals from body odors that allow us to identify biological age, avoid sick individuals, pick a suitable partner and distinguish kin from non-kin,” said senior author Johan Lundström, a sensory neuroscientist at Monell

[read more here]

[bliff] game session at altermyth

So finally Bliff was played in Indonesia!

Every Friday night Altermyth, a digital game company where Titing works, holds a game night, so I proposed to bring my olfactory board game Bliff.

There was quite a lot of preparation to present Bliff to new players; I had to make sure that the scents were still strong and recognisable, while in the same time not unfamiliar to Indonesian noses. Some scents were replaced, like the rosemary for example, because it was not very common.

Three players took part in the Bliff tryout premiere. Titing, Joko, and Chen. Since they were all experienced with games, it was not difficult to explain the rules.

chen and joko

titing, chen, joko

chen the bliff winner

The game ran for about an hour and Chen, being very good with game strategies, won.

[link] 10 Ways to Smell Like A Geek

This article (How to Smell Like a Geek) lists 10 perfumes that will take you to your bedroom when you were a kid - either playing with play doh, organising your superhero collection cards, or reading books by the window sill for hours. Plus some few more ordinary-daily-stuff-scented perfumes.

My favourite was of course the Paper Passion by Stiedl. I am so curious about how it smells!