New Candle Replicates ‘Print’ Smell For E-Ink Users

One of the more common and baffling complaints about electronic reading devices is that they don’t feel as ‘warm’ as real books or newspapers, or that the ‘book smell’ is absent.

A lifelong book-devourer and compulsive reader, I can honestly say that these aesthetic concerns never entered into my decision to switch over to electronic-only reading materials. But again and again, I encounter this idea- that book smell is somehow going to keep the tradition of printing on paper alive. Because horse smell did so much to keep humanity from adopting cars.

Anyway. Consumerist covered a new candle that is meant to replicate the smell of books, so when you’re reading your Kindle you don’t feel like that much of a culture-killing jerk:

Various Projects and Josée Lepage of Bondtoo were close collaborators and friends of [Tobias] Wong’s. We have realized his Times of New York candle in a limited edition of 1000.

The scent of the candle is newsy, with hints of guaiacwood, cedar, musk, and spice. Characterized by “a powdery note and velvet nuance,” the scent is meant to mimic the aroma of black ink on newsprint.

The candles, designed by the late Tobias Wong, are available for a mere $65 from this site.