Ever get them? I occasionally do.

It's always strange but its almost like you can get transported back to an earlier time period in your life where that smell reminded you of something. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way.

When I smell lemon lime soda I think of when I saw my grandparents as a kid. I guess thats what they had in their fridge that i drank? I don't remember the exact details but its one of the closest ways to "travel back in time" without actually doing so.

I also had a phantom smell recently that smelled like my grandparents house...after they aired it out from smoking. Fresh air mixed with some staleness and dust, idk but when I notice these smells, they are exactly the same.

What puzzles me is that olfactory receptors and smells are technically so small that they are subject to quantum effects. Now I dont know much about quantum physics and mechanics at all, but i do know that they act...much differently than classical stuff.

I know head injuries, tumors, can cause this stuff but also it can be random. For me i have had only two phantom smells in the last year maybe.

I find this fascinating stuff.