I remember, as a little girl growing up in Norfolk, Virginia, around six or seven years old, sneaking into the living room and picking up my parent’s pack of cigarettes on the coffee table. I would be all alone, and I’d sit on the couch and just sniff the pack. It was a divine smell. I could smell the tobacco oozing through the package, through the cellophane wrap; it was the smell of raw tobacco before it’s burned. I just love that smell.

It was a secretive thing going to smell that pack when nobody was around. Cigarettes were a grown-up thing, an adult thing, children didn’t handle or play with cigarettes. Not even my brother or sister was around. It was only me, that pack of cigarettes and that beautiful smell of tobacco.

I have no idea what made me pick up the pack of cigarettes. Maybe I got a whiff of them when my mother opened them. I’m not sure. Whatever it was, I remember enjoying that smell of the whole pack of cigarettes - the combination of the menthol and the tobacco. It felt like inhaling extra oxygen, something that opens and refreshes your mind. It was refreshing because of the menthol, but then it had the earthiness of the tobacco. It’s a rather layered and complex scent, a base note, so it’s very grounding, but it has a little lift to it as well.

Today when I think of the smell of tobacco, it immediately takes me back to that living room. It was a place where people gathered. It was where my mom had her girlfriends over. Where they’d sit and talk and smoke their cigarettes. It was a cozy place. A place where I opened my Christmas gifts, and where we hung out when there were parties. It was the fun room in our home.

The smell of tobacco reminds me of comfort and family. It’s that cozy feeling of being wrapped in a warm blanket. I have my own line of perfumes now and, because I love the smell so much, I’ve put tobacco notes in three of my perfumes. Yeah, I just love it! I am appreciative that I have the option to create perfumes that are formulated with tobacco. What a treat, that tobacco comes in a bottle.

If the scent had a sound, what would it be? A jazzy base note.

If the scent had a color, what would it be? A rich, dark brown.

If the scent had a texture, what would it be? Cashmere.

If the scent could give you advice, what would it tell you? It would tell me to slow down and relax. To enjoy the moment and take the time to reflect on life.