Feb 14, 2023 - News
Here's your pick for Colorado's official state aroma
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We have a winner: Colorado's official aroma should be marijuana.
- That's what you told us in our reader survey last week. We received hundreds of responses via email and social media, and cannabis grow houses and marijuana smoke combined for a clear victory.
- "Pioneers in pot legislation so it's gotta be weed!" one reader wrote to us.
Catch up quick: We highlighted New Mexico's push to create an official state aroma — the roasted green chile — and asked what Colorado's scent should be.
What we found: The runner-up was pine — whether piñon or ponderosa forests. "Ponderosa pines have a particularly gorgeous vanilla and butterscotch smell," one email stated.
- A close third place: beer brewing and hops. "When the wind blows in the right direction, you can smell the malted barley lofting from the Coors plant in Golden," a reader said.
- Other aromas that received a handful of votes were crisp mountain air and cows.
Between the lines: Other submissions that made us giggle:
- "Burning brake pads from Texans seeing snow on the road."
- "The weird smell of the inside of the flagship REI."
Of note: Rachel Woolcott, the founder of Denver-based Wooly Wax Candles, says her best seller is called "Mile High," a "fragrance found only in the Rocky Mountain foothills on a hot summer day.
- "As the bark of the ponderosa pine heats up, it emits a distinct sweet smell that mixes with the dry, minerality of the red earth. This candle evokes memories of the wild outdoors," she writes to us.