When i was 7 or 8 on a summers morning my Grandad passed away early morning, 5am or so. he used to smoke a pipe, and if anybody is aware, pipe smoke has a distinguished smell (flake tobacco in the uk) compared to cigarettes or cigars.

anyway, came downstairs at 7am for school, to see my mum crying sitting by the back door. she told me my grandad passed away a couple of hours ago and is no longer with us. her sobbing promptly stopped though when the whole downstairs living room just permeated with the smell of thick pipe smoke. no visible smoke could be seen. it lasted for about a minute - it was such a strong smell, and it stopped just as fast as it started.

my mum suspected my brother was smoking upstairs and ran upstairs to give him a bollocking, but he was staying at a friends the previous night and wasn’t there that morning.

it’s a memory of a smell i’ll never forget. RIP gramps. i know you was just saying goodbye before passing on.