The duo behind Los Angeles–based home-fragrance company P.F. Candle Co on hot springs, skunks, and their most memorable summer nights
Thomas Neuberger and Kristen Pumphrey. Photo: Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co. Scientific studies confirm that, of all the senses, smell offers the best recall. In “Scent Memories,” the Cut asks people about the scents they associate with different times in their lives.
T.N.: Happiness smells like freedom and no responsibility. Every so often, I’ll be walking or driving at night, and there’s this cool, minty, medicinal smell coming off the wilderness areas here in Los Angeles. It’s probably a dry creek or something, but it reminds me of being a teenager, when I would just walk across the city because I had nothing else to do. That smell reminds me of being carefree — no parents, no rules, no responsibilities. It’s the scent of freedom, to me.T.N.
K.P.: I think my friends smell a little better [laughs]. Friendship smells like balmy night air. This is probably a teenage memory — when you’re driving around with the windows down, and you’re up later than the rest of the world, so it’s cool and balmy at the same time. It smells a little humid, a little dewy, balsamic, woody, and a little spicy and smoky.T.N.
K.P.: The worst scent molecule I’ve ever smelled is civet essence. It’s extracted from the perennial gland of a civet. They do it synthetically now, but it’s just so sharp and uric and disgusting. It smells like soggy litter box. It’s like decay in a scent. It’s a really important and popular part of French perfumery, where they just use a little bit of civet to get that body and that lift, but when you smell it on its own, it’s disgusting.T.N.: New Mexico.
K.P.: I’d say sulfur too, because I love the smell of a just-struck match. It also reminds me of this hot spring that we go to in the Sierras. It’s one of the things that people think is going to smell bad, but because I have such good associations with it, I don’t mind it.K.P.: I didn’t lay the groundwork well, did I?