Colorado’s official state aroma is marijuana, readers say

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.