Musings: Essence of Starbuck's

My oldest son has a bloodhound's nose; he can smell a roadkill skunk five seconds sooner than I can. I have a dachshund's nose though; I once smelled a hairline natural gas leak in my basement which neither the technician nor his sniffer could detect until he soaped the pipe.

Another time at work, however, I thought I smelled natural gas when it turned out to be a co-worker's garlic bagel.

A man sat near me in public this morning who seemed to smell strongly of cigar. Then I noticed he had a travel mug of coffee (brand unknown) and suddenly I was reminded of trademark pungent aroma of Starbuck's coffee. I never realized how similar a whiff of a cigar vs. Starbuck's coffee really are.