It started last fall, and only on Thursdays, a sweet, maple syrup smell wafting throughout parts of New York and New Jersey.  Some people feared it could have been some bizzare bio-terrorism threat, others  thought it might be a Manhanttan Candy factory emmission. Now, reports the New York Times, people are pointing the finger at our very own Garden State, home to many toxic chemical producers  the world’s largest flavor manufacturer, and several fragrance producers. In addition to the pancake breakfast odor, Smell Police have found witnesses claiming olfactory overload of strawberry, ginseng, and our favorite, butter. “When it’s concentrated, it’ll make a skunk blush”, commented chemist Chris Rutkowski about the butter smell. Barista thinks this unsolved mystery could refocus the campaign for our state slogan. (The voting deadline, originally last Sunday, was extended to this Sunday.)

17 replies on “New Jersey: It’ll Make a Skunk Blush”

  1. In addition to the frangrant odors wafting from our state, I wish someone in the media public, wherever would pay attention to the tons of litter that blight the borders of the bus lane along the Rte 495/Route 3 intersection as one leaves NJ. An awful site to endure each day and an awful welcome/goodbye to those toursits we are creating a slogan for.

  2. KANSAS state slogan:
    “Kansas: As big as you think”
    NEW JERSEY state slogan:
    “New Jersey: √¢‚Ǩ≈ìAs smelly as you think.√¢‚Ǩ¬ù
    NEW JERSEY: “Come SMELL for Yourself”

  4. Near where Rutt’s Hutt is, there used to be/or may even still be, a scent manufacturing plant and I remember the smell-and no it never smelled like popcorn or maple syrup-horrible in fact.
    Years later down on Lawrence Street in Bloomfield, I remember also a site where they created scents, I remember learning that they would create smells like cookies or coffee to enhnace purchase of product.Sounds more like the one they are describing. But you never really smelled anything on Lawrence the way you did by Rutt’s Hutt.

  6. Clarice, Budweiser used to have a wee yeast-making operation in Bloomfield long years ago. Whole damn town would smell like brew 2-3 nights a week, the sort of place where Iceman and self could have hung out outside and gotten a “contact high.”
    Kevin Lee, no smell is as sweet as those rippers in hours-old oil. Not even the scents Givaudan used to come up with nearby (and IFF still does din Monmouth County on Rte. 36). The cholesterol literally wafts (and cuts)through the sweet Jersey air on truly blessed nights with a light NW breeze down there in the Delawanna section.

  7. For 14 years used to live 50 yards from the Maxwell House plant in Hoboken. Nothing like the smell of roasting coffee in the morning, until they would burn a batch… Ugh! But I knew when I moved there the plant was there and so was the smell. I just lived with it, and now I look back on it as a memory lost to history- they’re building multi million dollar condos at that location now.

  8. There’s a Hartz dog food factory near the intersection of Watsessing and Bloomfield Ave., and occasionally you can smell baking dog biscuits. Not that appetizing — to this human, anyway.
    Growing up in Richmond, Va., there was a Sauer’s spice / extract company. *Loved* the vanilla days, and found the black pepper days invigorating.

  9. there is a fragrance place by my hometown (of Keyport, NJ) called IFF. Everytime I drive by the place I make everyone in the car roll down the window to see what we can smell. Sometimes they can make the whole town smell like whatever they are cooking up. I recall reading that all of McDonalds flavors are produced in factories off the NJ Turnpike, boy was I craving McD’s breakfast today (it’s because it was 8am and I hadn’t slept yet)

  10. One of the most unpleasant smells, to me anyway, is the one that emanates from a paper processing plant. Ugh! Got a whiff of that while driving through NH once.

  11. I grew up in Port Chester, NY which for many years had the only Lifesavers factory. My dad even worked there for a short time. Each night that he’d come home from work, he reeked of ALL of the flavors AT THE SAME TIME. Ewwwwwwwww!
    However, the elementary school I attended was around the corner from the factory and we would smell single flavors during recess. My faves were cherry and then butterscoth.

  12. Rutt’s Hut…rippers…contact highs…cathar, I’m gonna put on the first Quicksilver Messenger Service album and play air guitar till may fingers hurt.
    Rock On!!!!

  13. How about in the 70’s when coming home from East Orange Catholic H.S., and travelling on the City Subway at Park Ave.,we would smell chocolate from a nearby factory. Never knew where that factory was, but boy, did it ever smell great! Made you want a brownie or chocolate chip cookies for an after school snack

  14. I used to date someone who lived in Hackettstown right across from the M&M Mars facility. It was great on cool nights, but on those really hot, sweltering nights, it could smell really awful!
    BTW….every Saturday before Easter they open up the complex for FREE candy for the kids – there is usually a huge line, but they divide it up by age groups with a max of I think age 10. Tons of good chocolate and all for free!! Just check their web site for details around the holiday.

  16. In the glory days of Famous Amos, Iceman, they used to actually make the cookies in Nutley. And Wally Amos himself would then pop round in his Rolls to the Nutley Pub (which a friend owned) for lunch, always bearing a warm bagful or two.
    Through high school, by the way, there was not just Rutt’s where it is now (somehow they seem to have raised the shoreline of the Passaic there) but two other hot dog joints, Bertlin’s and Neilley’s. The odor of rippers in oil ran up and down the river a few miles. An amazing time, the high water mark of cholesterol, you might say.

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