One of the most iconic scents of childhood, Play-Doh's, has been trademarked.

Hasbro, the company behind the modeling clay, made the announcement Friday:

The trademarked scent, which Hasbro formally describes as a unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough, makes the PLAY-DOH brand one of the few active and certainly most famous scent trademarks in the country...

“The scent of PLAY-DOH compound has always been synonymous with childhood and fun,” said Jonathan Berkowitz, senior vice president of Global Marketing for the PLAY-DOH brand. “By officially trademarking the iconic scent, we are able to protect an invaluable point of connection between the brand and fans for years to come.”

Apparently it's not easy getting a scent trademarked because few qualify. The Wall Street Journal reports, "In the U.S., you have to show that a fragrance serves no important practical function other than to help identify and distinguish a brand. The smell of an air freshener or a women’s perfume wouldn’t count, for example."

To obtain a non-conventional trademark such as scent, it first has to be accurately described. A sample of the scent then has to be sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for inspection, which Hasbro did in February 2017. They were granted the trademark on May 15, 2018.

Interesting side note, Play-Doh wasn't invented for children. It was first created as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s. Read the rest

Almost directly behind the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California is a garage that has been converted into a tiny museum dedicated to fragrance. Its curator, author and perfumer Mandy Aftel, opened the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents just last year.

Bianca Taylor of KQED Arts recently visited the archive and writes:

Aftel tells me that the natural oils in her perfumes are not as pungent and long-lasting as the synthetic oils that you’d find at a makeup counter.

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents was founded as a way to share her love of natural fragrance with the world...

Aftel says perfume is more than just Chanel. Scented materials have been used in spiritual traditions from Buddhism to Catholicism, and Native American rituals. She has created nearly all of the 300 scents in the museum.

“Perfume has a very tangled history,” she explains. “There is no civilization that didn’t revere and want scented materials.”

The New York Times Style Magazine visited in 2017 and reported:

...[It] is not just the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to perfume, but more beguilingly, the first one dedicated to the experience of fragrance. This tiny museum manages to contain the olfactory history of the world: hundreds of natural essences, raw ingredients and antique tinctures gathered from every corner of the globe, and all available for visitors to smell.

The museum is only open on Saturdays from 10 AM to 6 PM, and tickets are $20. That buys you one hour and "3 letter-press scent strips to dip in essences and take home." Read the rest

"It's a rose flavor; it's an orange flavor; it's lemony," said President-elect Trump about one of his signature fragrances. And he had several, dating back to a 2004 partnership with Estée Lauder on Donald Trump, The Fragrance, that apparently smelled of "hints of mint, cucumber and black basil.” The two more recent fragrances had the alluring names of Success (2012) and Empire (2015). According to the Environmental Working Group, Success by Trump Eau De Toilette Spray, Empire by Trump Shower Gel, and Donald Trump the Fragrance Eau de Toilette contained various toxins.

The various Trump fragrances have been discontinued but you can find enough of a supply on eBay to last you the next four years.

Also this from Weird Universe: "In a case of satirical prophecy, back in 1992 MAD magazine had imagined a Trump fragrance line:"

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