Resurrecting the 3x3 Blind Sniff

Seems there is (still!) some interest in that in our community, Please PM me your ideas about the topics, houses and scents to be covered, notes to be included, general remarks. I do not want it to be a single-sided affair, so I thought I would ask for help. Please? We need volunteers to both send and sniff if you all would.

For the newbies: there are no rules, they are developing as we go. One person sends three identical 1-2 ml vials with three different scents marked A, B and C to three sniffers (9 altogether) trying to cover niche, designer and lower end categories (not necessarily, though!), all united by the same theme, like Chypres, Roses, Sharp Greens, etc. At the appointed day each of the sniffers posts their impressions of scent A, trying to identify the notes and describe the fragrance development; the readers, in their turn, make their best to guess the fragrance. The person who had sent the vials out, moderates the whole discussion making it easier and fun for everybody. It can go for hours or days, depending on the scents or on how verbose the sniffers are, it all depends. If the original sender is not available to post, she/he hands the responsibilities of moderating this particular round on to someone else. There are NO PRIZES involved. (In my never so humble opinion, Lady_in_Black was the best moderator ever so far! )

How about starting "live" mid-March? Like the third weekend of each month and doing it just once a month?

Great responses so far, thanks bunches!

Veuve, I am not sure how to post the multiple links, but please click on this one and then the links provided in Replies ## 17, 30 and 33. Sorry if I am leaving something/someone out.... http://community.basenotes.net/showthread.php?t=212077

Lian, you have got the PM on its way.

All sounds great! Thanks to you for all your PMs too.

No need to send the money to cover S&H, it is all about give and take. (In 2007 we had one little package lost in the shipping and the scheduled round had to be postponed. We also had computer mulfunctions, faraway vacations, families and life in general, all worked out just fine in the end. So fear not!) I will also try to include something personal besides A, B and C in your packages, scent/life related. And again, what is not related to life/scent? Chocolate? That said, I suppose it is only fair that in case of multiple volunteers to participate in sample receiving, the preferences are given to those people who send as well or volunteer to send.

Small vials: there are multiple resources on the net but my personal favorite is exoticfragrances.com out of NYC although their S&H is most cost effective when ordering in bulk. It can be further discussed through PM in detail in each particular case (last time we had a couple of emergencies that had been successfully resolved).

What's in this for me personally? Lots! An educated community of friends being the most important of them all. Really, it has never been intended as some sort of pyramid scheme where I get all the samples and enjoy them for the rest of my days.

I also tend to Edit my messages as I am not the best speller out there and often times my fingers are faster than my brain.

How the scents are chosen? My firm belief is that anything even the most disconnected fragrances can be presented in the manner that relates them to each other. One of the working titles for a forthcoming round was "Starry, Starry Night" -- alas! never happened though! -- and please tell me what can NOT fall into this category? Everything goes, or so it seems! Let's see: from night blooming jasmine, Datura Noir, Van Gough , pop music of the 70s (or, was it late 60's?), scents in dark blue bottles, scents having the variations of "Evening", "Night" and "Star" in their names, to scents connected with nocturnal animals/birds, etc., you get the idea!

We can also go by Miss Q's schedule for the Orientals, Chypres, Aquatic, Florals, etc. or come up with something seasonal like Easter (lilies, incense, bunnies and chicks), summer vacations ("Mojitos and Mosquitoes" ), there are no limitations, seriously.

Kickoff time: in the very first post I wrote that, perhaps, mid-March would be a good idea. How about March 15, 2009?

I will be sending the samples for Round 1 and the recipients are going to be chosen in the order they submitted their replies to this thread. I am also thinking that to remind everybody on how it is played we will just go with the older BN members, those who were around when we played two years ago. The topic I am planning to cover is "Cuckoo for Coco" (think whatever you want ): Spicy Orientals, M-lle Chanel, chocolate, coconuts or, even something I received from our Hong Kong Basenoter named Coconut, whatever tickles your fancy! Any volunteers to sniff? Personally, I am inclined towards purplebird7, mikeperez and L_i_B.

The sender for Round 2 (mid-April) will be Lady_in_Black, and the sender for Round 3 (mid-May) will be mikeperez23. How about this?

We all have plenty of time to exchange addresses or find Partners in crime, i.e. team up with other people (we have a small but mighty powerful Lincoln NE representation *khm khm* in case nobody else noticed, we have interesting scents hiding in CA closets too!) and host a round or several. Aiona, I read your PM, and will team you up with someone, I promise.

If it helps any, the name of the forthcoming round may be announced in advance or may be kept in secret till we go "live". If a sniiffer feels confident about the scent he/she is sniffing, they may contact the Round host through PM with the correct answer thus giving a chance to the rest of us to guess and come up with our own answers.

What also worked in the past: being a host for Mean'n'Green round, I have informed another member about the contents of the vials in question and she was standing by ready to jump in if something happened to me (it was Tinker). Miss Tao chose me to be her back up, and I suspect Miss R. was a backup for Lady_in_Black's rounds. Now we all have buddies, don't we?

So far so good?

Somewhere, down the line I would like to be a sniffer too!

So wonderful of you all to be interested!

Anyhow, just wanted to inform you that the samples marked A, B and C have been mailed out and should reach purplebird7, MikePerez23 within the next couple of days and Lady_in_Black -- within the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed.

Thanks again, we are going to rock!

OK, here is what I got:

March -- Round 1 -- Cuckoo for Coco -- host Twolf, sniffers MikePerez23, Purplebird7 and Lady_in_Black.

April -- Round 2 -- ___________________ -- host Lady_in_Black, sniffers Lian, Ubuandibeme and veuve amiot (how about making it easy on the host and sending at least 2 packages within the same continent?). Please comment.

May -- Round 3 -- _____________________ -- host MikePerez23, sniffers debbbora, lizzie_j and Black_Cat.

June -- Round 4 -- ______________________ -- host Asha, sniffers Wordbird, Twolf and exquisitely me.

July -- Round 5 -- ____________________ -- sender whisperingleaves, sniffers Asha, Haunani and jillsy.

August -- Round 6 -- _________________ -- hosts kumquat and purplebird7, sniffers whisperingleaves, Aiona and RHM.

September -- Round 7 -- _______________ -- host lizzie_j, sniffers lushdoup, kess and arwen-elf.

The following people will be sniffers for the future rounds after September:
-- kumquat,
-- Taolady,
-- SommervilleMetroMan.



Of course, if you want to host a Blind Sniffing round, just jump in. And, everybody, of course, can participate in guessing or asking questions when the sniffers post their impressions.

Perhaps, you have noticed, I was assigning sniffing/sending positions strictly in the order you guys posted replies on this thread. Topics/names for the Rounds have to be further discussed/ thought out.

If there is a round you are particularly interested in doing either way -- sniffing or hosting -- please let us know. Or, vice versa, if someone can't stand even a thought of wearing, say, a tuberose based scent even for a day -- and there are a few among us! -- please speak up!

Certainly, very glad to have you with us, elf! Lizzie_j will be the sender for the August round, and I will include you in the list in my previous post. To keep everything organizational together.

You are very welcome, MikePerez23! Another reason for me trying to revive this game is an opportunity to share the bounty. I have too much for one person to use up during one life time, and I am not a cat in case you did not know....

However, there are some changes in post #38, as per a Basenoter request. Black_Cat, please pay attention!

We need to keep this one somewhere for resolving organizational issues, like who is sending and who is sniffing and who is jumping in, what topics have been covered, etc.

For each round there will be a dedicated/separate thread, I suppose. Like somewhere in the middle of March please watch out for 3x3 Blind Sniff Round 1 Cuckoo for Coco. On the other hand it would be easier to have all of our sniffing impressions in one place, but the thread will become so large that it would be hard to follow I am afraid. Whatever works for all of us, works for me.

Please do not despair, darling! This time I said a secret word over a box as I was packing it, and it promised it would reach you next week. :bounce:

This probably should not appear here on this thread, but here goes: not necessarily! I am also a sock fairy, a junk book fairy and a Ghirardelli -- something Italian not available in Italy -- fairy too. All part time jobs!

Thanks lizzie_j! In the meantime, Round 6 (August) has shaped up, please check post #38.