In short
A useful daily routine takes about ten minutes: one recall drill, one material studied properly, and one thing from everyday life smelled on purpose, all noted in your journal. It works because it is short enough to keep up, and recognition builds through repetition over weeks rather than through long, occasional sessions.
What you will learn
- Follow a short routine that combines study, recall and everyday smelling
- Distinguish perfumery practice from clinical olfactory training
- Review your progress at the end of Level 2
Before this lesson: Blind Smelling Practice for Beginners
Be clear about what kind of training this is
The phrase olfactory training means two different things. In medicine, it usually refers to a regimen for people who have lost some sense of smell. A well-known study by Hummel and colleagues had patients sniff four odors twice a day for twelve weeks, and those who trained improved on smell tests while an untrained group did not. In perfumery, the phrase means practice aimed at recognizing and describing materials.
The routine below is the second kind. It is our suggestion, based on common practice and the lessons before this one, and it has not been tested as a program. It is not a treatment. If your sense of smell has changed, particularly suddenly, please speak to a clinician. The NIDCD's page on smell disorders is a sensible starting point.
The ten-minute routine
| Minutes | What to do | Comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clear the air and your hands. Check that you have no cold or strong smell on you. | Olfactory fatigue |
| 3 | Recall drill: three coded samples. Name them, then check. | Recognition drills |
| 4 | Study one material on a fresh strip. Write three words, and compare it with yesterday's material. | Smelling method |
| 2 | Revisit yesterday's strip for the long-term note, then write up the session. | Volatility |
Then add the last piece during your day, at no time cost: smell one thing on purpose. It might be the peel of an orange, a wet pavement or a cedar pencil. Name it, and add a word to your lexicon if you can.
A weekly rhythm
- Most days: the ten-minute routine. Missing a day or two is fine.
- Once a week: a comparison session with a similar pair or a family.
- Every two weeks: a blind check, with the score written down.
- Once a month: reread your old notes, and correct anything that no longer seems right. This is often when you notice your progress.
Keeping it going with few materials
You do not need a large collection for this level. Kitchen spices, citrus peel, tea, soap, cedar pencils, a few essential oils and any fragrances you own will keep you busy for weeks. If you would like a starting point for buying, read the beginner materials list, but wait until Level 3 teaches you how to handle them.
When a routine stops
Everyone's routine breaks at some point. If it does, restart with the shortest version: one sample, one word. Keep your journal and your materials in the same place, near where you will use them. Link the session to something you already do each day, such as a morning coffee, although you should do the smelling before the coffee.
Check yourself before Level 3
You are ready to move on when you can do most of the following, not necessarily all of it:
- Describe a smell with specific words, not just reactions.
- Follow the strip method without having to look it up.
- Tell a handful of familiar smells apart blind, with a score above chance.
- Name at least one material or type of smell you are weak on.
Practical exercise: Keep the routine for two weeks
- Choose your starter set: five to eight smells you can keep on hand. A good mix is one citrus, one herb, one floral, one wood, one spice and one sweet smell.
- Do the routine for two weeks. Each session gets a dated journal entry, however short.
- At the end of the two weeks, write a full evaluation for each item in your starter set.
- Run a blind check on the set and record your score.
- Reread your first entries. Write one paragraph on what has changed in how you describe things.
This completes the Level 2 project: documented evaluations of a starter collection.
You have done this well if you kept the routine for the stated period, each session is dated with its materials and scores, and you can point to a specific change in how you describe or recognize a material. Missed days stay on the record.
Common mistakes
- Treating this as a health program. It is practice for perfumery. A clinical regimen is a separate matter, for a clinician to advise on.
- Waiting until you have the right materials. Start with what is in your kitchen.
- Doing it all at the weekend. One long session does not replace the regular ones.
Key terms
- Olfactory training
- Repeated, structured smelling. In clinical use it refers to a specific regimen for people with smell loss; in perfumery, to practice aimed at recognition and description.
Knowledge check
Written and reviewed by the RUŌOD Lab team. This is general education, not legal, regulatory, medical or safety advice. Example dilutions and exercises are for learning, are not validated products, and have not been safety-assessed. Completing a lesson confers no qualification. How we check these lessons.