With as many as 400 olfactory receptors, the human nose may be able to distinguish among at least a trillion different odors.

So even though we have a list of more than 800 of them that we can reproduce as part of our expertise in scented printing, it’s a jaw dropping bit of context that suggests we have a way to go before we run out of possibilities…

But of course, we’re all about possibilities here at H&H Graphics and we have an R&D Department that lives for a challenge.

If you have an idea for a scented print promotion that’s never been done – and there are apparently more than nine hundred and ninety-nine billion of them – we’d love to hear it.

What exactly is the smell that makes someone want to bury their nose in a freshly washed towel that has been line dried in the outdoor air?

It sounds like a question for a poet, or maybe a marketer hawking a new detergent brand, but in fact, it was scientific inquiry that settled the matter, at least in the most literal sense:

“…the smell of line-dried laundry is due to the unique combination of traces of atmospheric hydrocarbons, sunlight and a wet fabric surface. This surface photochemistry is likely to be widespread in the environment on surfaces of natural materials.”

That was the conclusion of researchers at the University of Copenhagen, who decided to get to the bottom of what was so appealing about that fresh laundry smell. They washed a set of cotton Ikea towels in ultra-purified water, hung them in various locations and then sealed them into bags for testing. Their research identified a collection of aldehydes and ketones responsible for the lovely smell that has been inspiring poets and detergent campaigns since long before its source had been decoded.

Consumers were already snapping up aromatherapy products like scented sleeping masks, candles, oil diffusers, and scented jewelry even before we all found ourselves housebound.

Scent can have a powerful effect on our mood and sense of well-being – a connection that helped drive the home fragrance market to $6.7 billion in 2018. And who couldn't use a bit of aromatherapy these days to lift our spirits as we "shelter in place"?

Aromatherapy has been around for centuries, as Harpreet Gujral, program director of integrative medicine at Sibley Memorial Hospital explains on the Johns Hopkins Medicine website.

“When inhaled, the scent molecules travel from the olfactory nerves directly to the brain and especially impact the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain," Gujral says.

In a season rich with nostalgia and tradition playing out against a backdrop of crackling fires, twinkling lights and tidings of comfort and joy, the marketplace was clamoring for something mas.

And that something was taco-scented wrapping paper.

So many people, in fact, recognized that wrapping gifts in paper that looks and smells like a Taco Bell Crunchwrap was an awesome idea that supplies quickly ran out. That is what happens when you take something as popular as a taco and you create a multisensory experience around it. Who wouldn't want to wake up on Christmas morning and follow the smell of tacos to a stack of gifts wrapped in five layers of paper taco ingredients?

As the latest in a string of quirky, branded holiday products, Taco Bell – with an assist from the H&H Graphics special effects  team – released wrapping paper infused with the scent of its Triple Double Crunchwrap. With sheets designed to look like beef, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes, tostadas and a tortilla, the limited edition scented paper was offered exclusively on Amazon by Taco Bell Canada and sold out within 48 hours.

Below are highlights from our 1st Quarter newsletter of 2014. If you're interested in receiving our newsletters, please fill out the form here...

H&H Innovates

H&H Graphics is committed to innovation with it's own dedicated R&D team creating and testing new custom inks and coatings for our clients.

Our newest custom formulation is called: FLOCK-INK

Flock-Ink simulates traditional flocking and has been tested on a variety of substrates, from paper to plastic. Flock-Ink provides customers with an alternative to standard soft touch inks to achieve a velvety, fuzzy texture. We are even able to add glitter particles to the Flock-Ink.