SERVPRO of Murrieta Knows What the Noses Know

When the Event is finished, but the Odor Remains

Some aromas have staying power. Skunk spray, incense, some kinds of vandalism, soot from fires, and pet urine are often hard to eliminate. A home or business might look clean, but even tiny particles can produce huge odors.  Air fresheners or masking scents just add to the smell. There’s no relief without removal of the odor-causing particles.

That’s where SERVPRO® of Murrieta comes in. We offer professional cleaning services that include disinfection and odor removal. Call us at 951-894-4392.

In case of emergency (such as trauma, crime, Biohazardous waste), we have 24-hour/day service, every single day. We don’t even take off for the boss’s birthday.

Perfumes: odd and (we hope) interesting things to know

Perfumes won’t cover up the skunk smell, but we aren’t recommending that you try. We’re just offering a delightful medley of odor-related facts.

The word “perfume” comes from the Latin words per (“through”) and fumare (“to smoke”), meaning something like “through burning”. People burned substances to produce a pleasant (or not) aroma.

A musky scent is supposed to attract romantic attention. Musk is the name originally given to substance that came from the glands of musk deer, but perfumers have found it in several other animals, certain plants, and in lab-created substances. It’s used to fix scents (keep them from wafting away) and for the scent itself.

Castoreum comes from beavers’ anal sacs, and supposedly has a pleasant vanilla scent once it is diluted with alcohol. We have no idea how anyone ever even thought to check whether secretions from beavers would make good perfumes.

The good news is that perfumers rarely use castoreum any more. The bad news is that they use hyraceum, which comes from hardened, concentrated hyrax urine. Again, we have no idea how or why perfumers thought to check whether this substance would be good for anything, let alone perfumes.

There are now synthetic versions of both castoreum and hyraceum, but we remain unconvinced that the use of these scents is a good idea.

Perfumes that really exist

To conjure the memory of graffiti, there’s a perfume made to smell like roses, spray paint, leather, and asphalt.

For people who want the baby smell without the baby, there’s a fragrance that smells like scented talcum powder. Wouldn’t using the powder be easier (at least it would be cheaper)? We’re just thankful that powder is the only reminder of babies the perfumers bottled.

One perfume combines orange incense and the smell of bubble gum. It sounds like a high-school teacher’s nightmare.

There’s a perfume designed to help wearers get over the afternoon slump; it includes the aroma of roasted coffee beans. Are we being difficult when we remind people there’s a coffee maker in the kitchen?

The pizza-aroma perfume must be someone’s idea of a joke. If any of us at SERVPRO of Murrieta smell pizza, we want the real thing.

Finally, for people who miss paper books, there’s a perfume that is supposed to remind people of old bookshops.

Much more than trivia

SERVPRO of Murrieta removes odors from homes and businesses in Riverside County. Call 951-894-4392.