The Smell of Tiki

What do you think a tiki bar should smell like? Tropical fruits are kinda obvious, and the drinks smell like that anyway. The ocean is good, but I don't think there's a good artificial ocean scent available. Reality doesn't help, as I have it on good authority that New Guinian longhouses smell like smoke, sweaty bodies, rotting food, and worse. I'm thinking in terms of musk...

Any ideas?

Blue Moose

I love waking up and beginning the cleanup job the morning after a huge tiki party the night before. The whole house smells of rum, coconut cream, & pineapple juice. That's one of the nicest smells I know. I'll count the mugs as I gather them and bring them to the kitchen and usually mutter, "My God, we had over 60 people here last night!". That rum smell usually lasts for a few days, (I'm sure because some of it's soaked into the carpets)

Sabu

It should smell like bamboo and lauhala matting with a nice side of dust.

The sugary stench of mixed drinks dried on the floor...The musty smell of 40 year old fruitwood carved tikis.

You get the idea.

It should not smell like anything manufactured (ie- floral spray, vanilla candles, potpouri)

With burlap on the ceiling and thatch, that's a constant smell. A sort of old smell. Go to the Mai Kai and walk into the Molokai Lounge. That's the smell. Creosote too!

I'd add tropical flowers & Mai-Tais. Have you thought of putting some essenses into the water of a mist humidifier? Add a few drops of essense of rum, jasmine/plumeria & a touch of tropical fruit(s) to the humdifier's water & turn it on.

My boss bought a plumeria scented air freshener or cologne spray from the ABC Store. She sprays it around the office when she wants to reminded of the islands.

If you are looking for a good Ocean Breeze scent, Gold Canyon sells a really great one. I have it at home.

I tuck a California Scents desert jasmine air freshener among the plastic landscaping in the corner of the Spectacular East Indies Room... it is subtle enough to give a little tropical presence around the foliage, without stinking up the rest of the bar... which smells like thatch & bamboo.... with an occasional hint of fine rums......!

My bar smells like thrift stores and Oceanic Arts. It is both appealing and unappealing.

I found this dried pineapple.
http://www.hii-lani.com/401_airfresh.htm
Somehow they use ingredients to shrink it and it still holds it's fragrance.
It's a little strong at first but then it smells great for a long time. Plus it's an awesome prop for the bar.
I rate this two tikis up.

Don't forget the Smell of Fresh, Juicy, drippin Pork, Right out of the Underground pit with bananna leaves and rice, but mostly Pork Fat UUUMM.

On 2004-04-16 13:56, Monkeyman wrote:
...The musty smell of 40 year old fruitwood carved tikis.

I agree completely. The smell of wood seems to be a necessity as well as wafts of fruit and flowers (and vodka from martinis)

You forgot "Teen Spirit!" Doh! (for you Cobain fans)

or-

It should smell like a tiki bar! Ya, that's it.

Rotting vegetation, sweaty bodies, livestock and the ocean

Party at Atomic Cocktails house! :)

Trader Woody
(Mine currently smells of fresh paint and mildew)

[ Edited by: Trader Woody on 2004-04-17 02:43 ]

I love the smell of Tiki Bars in the morning. It smells like victory!

Man, I've been pondering this.

I gotta go with that mildewy smell you get in tropical buildings, especially the dark parts. The bar area in the Mai Kai has it in spades.

It smells timeless and universal, and juxtaposes nicely with fresh coconut, pineapple, rum, mmmm pork, and the other scents of fresh tiki uniquely.

Lemme bust some science here...

You don't make a tiki bar smell like a tiki bar, it just does!

And as for all the ocean smell, come on, the classic tiki bars are in Detroit and Chicago and Columbus!

The morning after a big party I remember the smell of spilt Rum - and lots of sticky spots on the floor - all those plastic half drunk drink cups laying around with cigarette butts in them - and lots of half full beer cans and bottles, aging peices of pineapple, cherries, limes and lemons! And of course the smell of the oil of the still smoldering tiki torches from the night before - you know they will burn right through the next day if you don't die them out!

But the day of party prep in our old house, we had wood floors, and I used to get these great scented oils at this herbal shop on Burbank Blvd. near Lankershim in North Hollywood and use a little cedar wood oil in the mix to give the floors a damp mop before; it was great. And they have a ton of different scented oils there at great prices too. The best floral oil they had was carnation.

And the smell of fresh flowers. Lilies are the smelliest, they get really strong the longer you keep them! Really strong.

Makes me want to throw a party!

On 2004-04-17 23:12, Swanky wrote:
Lemme bust some science here...

You don't make a tiki bar smell like a tiki bar, it just does!

Perfect answer, but...

More Gertrude Stein than science, Swanky!

"A tiki bar is a tiki bar is a tiki bar"

Or even Shakespearian!

"Would a tiki bar by any other name smell as sweet?"

Hey, thanks for all the ideas. My tiki bar is still in the planning stages, and I forgot that matting and thatch have their own smells.

Blue Moose

Also, maybe you should incorporate the scent of tiki torch fluid and have it waft inside from near the doors.

Smells like chicken to me.

Looking for some kind of exotic/earthy diffuser scent to add to my bar. Anyone using anything they particularly like?

Seems like there are some good fragrances out there these days that don't smell artifical and sickly sweet.

Mine is in constant flux. Mint. rum, lime, pineapple roasted meat , fish and much more. Just like yours.
Cheers

I've been thinking about the same for a while now. How do you bottle up the scent of the ocean? That's what I want my bar to smell like.

Take a look at pipingrock.com. Their prices on oils are lower than other places I've found, although I haven't done more than a fairly basic search. I settled on these guys due to their quality, selection, and prices. And they offer 2-for-1 and 50% off sales at various times of the year.

The benefit of using these oils, from my experience so far, is that they are natural and they can produce very concentrated aromas. And you can blend them yourself into any mix you like.

Oils I have bought from them for my bar:
Peppermint and spearmint, cedar, lime, lemon.

I have not yet tried their vanilla, oakmoss, ginger, "creamy coconut," or pineapple. The pineapple oil is $2.89 for 15ml, or two for $5.29. You can spend quite a bit of time viewing their huge selection. And if you don't see something you're looking for, definitely use the search bar. Some oils, like pineapple, aren't shown in the main section of essential oils.

I'm guessing that oils seem to be priced by how hard or how easy it is to extract them, and how readily available raw materials are.

I have used the scent oils alone, and I have mixed a few, mostly in small quantities. For my tests, I have been using flat round cotton skin cleansing pads (from the dollar store, so don't overpay, lol) to absorb the oils and then let it evaporate naturally. This has worked decently well, but not good enough. To improve the effect, I may test a water/oil diffuser in the future when I decide to buy one. But -- I'm not convinced that water/oil in a diffuser will work the best, but that's where I'm currently at in the process of playing around. I'm leaning much more towards buying some sort of small warming device with which I can use pure oils and omit the water altogether. I have thought a little bit about the old method of using a light bulb and a dimmer, but I don't want to mess with something that gives off light and could interfere with the ambiance of the bar. I'm looking forward to eventually settling on a good way to warm the oils and using a small very low-speed fan to circulate the scents. I have seriously thought about buying a digital temp control single-burner induction hot plate and using a small 4"-5" cast iron pan to warm the oil pad. As long as I can digitally control the temp, and keep it fairly low, that might be the ultimate best way to control the scent. The 5" cast iron pan has enough room to add 3 or 4 pads. I already have and use two of these small cast iron pans when I infuse apple wood smoke into rocks glasses. They're kind of hard to find, even more so with a flat interior surface and a very low rim, but they're out there.

I think the world of real natural oils has grown dramatically since this thread was started.

Thanks for bringing up this old thread, great read :D

I think that smell is the forgotten sense when crafting an experience. My Tiki space is a patio, I have tied silk flowers to my seasonally non-flowering gardenia plant and hidden a gardenia oil diffuser in the bush :lol:

A couple of months ago, when we were visiting an antiques show, The Wife called me over to a 100-year-old liquor cabinet. "Smell," she said, opening the cabinet doors. It was the most richly-layered rum odor I'd ever had the pleasure of smelling. The cabinet was way out of our price range, but that's what we aspire to. :)

That said, since my tiki digs are outside, I've had my eye on jumbo incense sticks for a while now. I enjoy then at the various renaissance festivals we visit, and we regularly used the normal versions (cedar, frankincense, etc.) inside. The various tropical ones look like they'd go well with our outside space:

Pineapple/Coconut
Hawiian Plumeria

Lots of vendors have different scents available, and if you're more into essential oils, well, they do that, too.