A Smell of Death - centuries later, smells sweet

Death comes in varying smells

I am not a coroner or forensics person
but have read
that the smells range
from vanilla to scatological to
smelling ghosts of perfumes past

Woody TopNote

Here is an interesting article on the use of essential pine oil for Vietnamese mummification some centuries ago. Also of note, cinnamon wine, rice, pemou wood, coffins made of shell, lime, rice paste, sand, molasses and/or honey ...

... the mummy's joints were still supple hundreds of years later, as were the pine oil soaked betel and areca leaves (the two leaves are often chewed together).

picture: areca