SMELLBOOK REFERENCE · SB-0158
Black Pepper
Permanent ID: smellbook: · updated 2026-10-14, revision 5
Character EDITORIAL
Black pepper smells dry, sharp and pungent, with a woody warmth and a faint citrus and pine freshness that shows most clearly when it is freshly ground.
Words: spicy, pungent, dry, warm. Families: Temperature and texture, Sharp and bitter.
Met in: Kitchen.
Evidence
Scientific evidence
- Black pepper has a complex volatile profile (CLM-PEPPER-001). Noura S. Dosoky et al., Volatiles of Black Pepper Fruits (Piper nigrum L.), Molecules, 2019.
- How perfumers described black pepper oil (CLM-PEPPER-002). Leopold Jirovetz et al., Aroma compound analysis of Piper nigrum and Piper guineense essential oils from Cameroon using solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography, solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and olfactometry, Journal of Chromatography A, 2002.
Molecules named in these claims: limonene, sabinene, α-pinene, β-caryophyllene, β-pinene, δ-3-carene, germacrene D. A molecule listed here is named in a VERIFIED claim about this smell. It is not presented as the cause of the smell; each claim says what its source supports.
Cite
SmellBook. (2026). Black Pepper (revision 5, 2026-10-14). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:black-pepper. https://smellbook.com/smells/black-pepper
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