One customer once messaged us to say she opened a jar of cinnamon candle and burst into tears, because the scent was like her grandmother's kitchen thirty years ago. She said she had not even had time to think before the tears came. This is not rare, and the reason lies in how our sense of smell is built.
Scent molecules fly in the air, settle on the mucous layer in the upper nasal cavity, then bind to the olfactory receptors. The signal from there goes to the olfactory bulb, a small structure lying just beneath the frontal lobe of the brain. From the olfactory bulb the signal spreads to the amygdala and the hippocampus, two places that take part in processing emotion and storing memory. Sight and hearing usually pass through the thalamus first, while smell has a branch running straight to those areas. This is anatomy long described in the biomedical literature, not something we made up in order to sell candles.
Because the road is so short, the reaction to a scent usually arrives before the explanation. You recognise the feeling before you can name what you have just smelled, and sometimes a whole distant afternoon comes back in two seconds.
Why each person remembers differently
Scent memory is tied to the circumstances in which you first met that scent. With the same cinnamon, someone born in the highlands remembers a kitchen fire, someone else remembers a winter tea stall, and both are true to their own lives. That is why we usually stop at the name of the material and one picture, and leave the feeling for you to place in yourself.
RUNG GIA leans towards cinnamon, black pepper and agarwood, and what we picture is a damp forest canopy after rain, the ground still holding warmth. NUI NON leans towards bergamot, lavender and cedar, like early morning on a mountain slope before the mist has cleared. THONG REO leans towards pine, sweet orange and cedar, like a pine forest with wind passing through. You may find something completely different, and that is just as true.
A few questions you often send us
Why does a scent bring back memory more strongly than a photograph
The scent signal reaches the brain areas concerned with emotion and memory by a very short road, so the reaction arrives quickly and strongly.
Does scent affect health
We keep this part at the level of describing materials and how to use them; for questions about health it is best to ask someone with medical expertise.
How do I choose a scent for someone else
Choose by where that person usually sits, and by the family of scents they already like, for instance woody, citrus or warm spice.
You can see the directions of scent on the scented candles page và shop, or read more about ZUNGZA.